For many of us, the '60s were a nonstop "trip" with the music of the Beatles the soundtrack to historical events like the race into space.
Both were incredible in their own way. Combining the two would be another way to bring a new element to the Beatles' story.
And that's what author Ronald P. Grelshamer has done with "Into the Sky With Diamonds" (Hey Bulldog Press).
The Beatles' part of the book is intertwined around fictional letters from Beatles roadie Mal Evans to a NASA scientist who's the central character. The two first meet on a bus in Hamburg, and later meet for beer in a club where a rock group with a certain five young men in leather are playing behind them.
From there, they become pen pals and the two exchange letters as their lives move on. The Beatles' history in the book runs the gamut from Hamburg to the breakup, and even includes mention of Lennon's death. Events in the space program are mentioned through the mid '70s.
Mal Evans, who always stood in the shadows, is in the spotlight in this book and for that alone, the author should be commended. But it's all silly and good fun and an unusual sort of fan fiction.
Oh, the Beatles don't end up as astronauts. In some people's heads back then, though, they probably were.
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