As in Robert Rankin.
Based on the suggestions of you folks on other humorous British writers, I've been plowing through the relatively small selection of Rankins available through my public library system. So far, I've read (in order, although not necessarily wisely)
The Toyminator
Raiders of the Lost Car Park
(Forgot the name) The one with the evil protagonist who gets a job flicking a light switch all day for the telephone company)
Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls (still in it)
My overall impression is that, while entertaining and often very funny, Rankin shares Jasper Fforde's terrible flaw of trying to out-clever Doug Adams, PTerry, Neil Giaman and other, far superior and original British humor writers.
His characters are not particularly deep, compelling or distinguishing, his plots are not very original, usually some kind of very explicit parody of detective, SF, crime or other Hollywood genres. And his use of overly 'cure' literary tricks (like repeating narrative sentences as dialogue, or using annoying made-up words like "bestest") gets cloying after awhile.
In other words, well-written but rather forgettable trash that is fun to read for its own sake but doesn't leave you thinking "Wow, this is an amazing book" the way PTerry's best work often does.
Just my .02
J-I-B
Based on the suggestions of you folks on other humorous British writers, I've been plowing through the relatively small selection of Rankins available through my public library system. So far, I've read (in order, although not necessarily wisely)
The Toyminator
Raiders of the Lost Car Park
(Forgot the name) The one with the evil protagonist who gets a job flicking a light switch all day for the telephone company)
Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls (still in it)
My overall impression is that, while entertaining and often very funny, Rankin shares Jasper Fforde's terrible flaw of trying to out-clever Doug Adams, PTerry, Neil Giaman and other, far superior and original British humor writers.
His characters are not particularly deep, compelling or distinguishing, his plots are not very original, usually some kind of very explicit parody of detective, SF, crime or other Hollywood genres. And his use of overly 'cure' literary tricks (like repeating narrative sentences as dialogue, or using annoying made-up words like "bestest") gets cloying after awhile.
In other words, well-written but rather forgettable trash that is fun to read for its own sake but doesn't leave you thinking "Wow, this is an amazing book" the way PTerry's best work often does.
Just my .02
J-I-B
