Science Fiction Books > Robert Rankin Science Fiction Books

Advantages: Great read, young adult humour, murders, search for fortune, what else could you want?
Disadvantages: You won't get any sleep as you'll be up all night reading it

...it's a long way from the little town of Brentford, a long way indeed. But that shock will soon fade and you will fall head over heels in love with a new set of characters. If you haven't read Rankin before, he's a lot like Douglas Adams on a sugar high, with this book being no exception. The book is centred around 2 characters, Jack and Eddie. Jack is off to the city to seek his fortune, after narrowly avoiding the tricks of what can only be described ...
...is actually "toy city". Let the chaos commence. After several soggy, drunken and darn right bizarre events, Jack finds himself teamed with Eddie Bear, who is not a happy bear. His owner has gone missing, and it is his job, as a private eye to find him, as well as solve all the toy town murders! The book is a great read with several twists, this combined with the young adult humour found in all Rankins book really make this book a winner. Pick it ... Read review

Advantages: It makes you use your brain in ways you never have before.
Disadvantages: none that I can think of.

The greatest show off Earth was the first Robert Rankin book I ever read and now he's my favourite author. I'll give you a basic idea of what the book's about but I'll try not to give too much away! There are two main characters, Raymond and Simon. Raymond is your average beer drinking 23 year old who loves life and tries to make everybody happy. One day he gets abducted by a flying starfish from Uranus and gets sold as food on the venusian market! ...
...gets told he's to save the world from a strange race who live above us although we can't see them!!! While all of this is going on, Simon is still on Earth. He's a bit of a lad and will sleep with anybody (which makes his girlfriend angry) but that's the least of his worries because he too has to save the world from a demonic half-man half-chicken (sate-hen) and he finds a book written in the future to help him. He has also been accused of killing ... Read review

Advantages: Easy reading
Disadvantages: But so's 'Where's Spot?' and I won't recommend that to you either

...lied to and that all the fantasy fiction of the Victorian era was in fact true. That 19th Century England was in fact full of airships and automata, where Oscar Wilde was a notorious ladies' man and Queen Victoria was the Empire Bike. Airships and automata are familiar enough to any reader of alternative histories. They crop up in anything where Rome didn't fall or the Nazis weren't defeated. To combine this kind of earnest but far-fetched academic ...
...people getting him confused with the man who created Rebus, Rankin is the slow-thinking man's Terry Pratchett. The author of a string of 'comedy' novels set around the London borough of Brentford, these books lure you in with admittedly brilliant punning titles such as '101 Damnations' and things. The contents are generally (I've read three or four over the years, hopefully I've learned my lesson now) meandering tales full of one-note characters, ... Read review

Advantages: A decent, entertaining piece of fiction
Disadvantages: None really, but a little strange -ooooooooh

...sure it’s very nice. Certainly the picture Robert Rankin paints of it in his novel, “The Antipope”, depicts an extremely interesting place to visit - full of places of interest and colourful (to put it mildly) local characters. I’m guessing the book is set in the very early seventies, the only clue we get is that two pints of “Large”, the preferred local draught, costs 10/6 (10 shillings and sixpence – ask ...
...that one of the central characters has been dead for a few hundred years the exact timing of the novel's “present day” seems a trifle irrelevant. Much of the action takes place in The Flying Swan, a local pub run by Neville, the part-time barman. Although never actually stated, we are left with the impression that Neville has been, and will be, a fixture in the bar for many years. Two of his work shy regulars, John O’Mally, a drunken ... Read review

Advantages: totally bizarre
Disadvantages: where's the time gone?

...answer is: it can't. Armageddon the Musical is often credited as the novel that 'made' Robert Rankin the purveyor of far-fetched fiction he's loved for. I for one am glad I decided to pick up that book (although it's since cost me a fortune in hardbacks over the years since that day). To get a true appreciation for Armageddon the Musical, you should also read Armageddon 2: the B-Movie and Armageddon 3. Only then will you fully appreciate the mad ...
...his characters find themselves in, and of course the rolling gags and the strange feeling of reja-vu (I'll be seeing this one again), which must be a tradition, and old charter or something. Put it this way, if I ever need to *seriously* cheer myself up, it's one of the few books I can safely say will keep me reading and laughing from start to finish. ... Read review