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 The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived by Robert Rankin
reviewed by ??
Original appearance: Albedo one issue ??, 1997?
THE MOST AMAZING MAN WHO EVER LIVED is Hugo Rune, the character at the centre of ROBERT RANKIN'S latest comic novel. Or is it Robert Rankin himself? It's possible. He certainly comes off sounding like one of the inventions of his own fevered brain in the author bio that accompanies the very strange photograph of Rankin (or is it Rune?) on the inside flap of the dust jacket.
The plot of this novel, as with all Rankin novels, is simple. Hugo Rune has decided that as real estate, the Earth would be far more valuable without all those annoying people running about all over it. He has discovered a method for extracting gold from seawater which will make him the wealthiest man in the known universe, and in the history of the known universe. As an extra bonus attraction the process will also electrocute the entire population of the planet.
Rune plans to set up the machinery for his gold from seawater process in scenic Skelington Bay and make his escape in a flying saucer stolen from the ambassador from a previously undiscovered race living beneath the sea. (Told you the plot was simple, didn't I?) His machine will draw its immense power by sucking up all the spirits of the dead who are awaiting reincarnation and turning them into pure energy. (Something like that, anyway.) So not even the dead are safe from destruction.
Who will stop him? Well, it looks like its down to the heroic Cornelius Murphy ( the stuff of epics as we learned in previous Rankin novels like RAIDERS OF THE LOST CAR PARK) and his diminutive sidekick, Tuppe, a couple of bimbos they meet through car theft called Thelma and Louise, a dead kid by the name of Norman and the previously mentioned ambassador from the lost undersea race.
Robert Rankin is a breath of fresh air, a piquant delight to the palate of the jaded reviewer. He writes humorous SF/Fantasy without ever straying down the path of the Terry Pratchett clone or , worse yet, churning out second rate copies of Douglas Adams' later, second rate Hitchhiker novels. Rankin's voice is original and untainted by just about anything that has gone before. If I were to accuse him of having influences it would be Spike Milligan of the Puckoon era. And I can offer no higher praise than that.
 The Garden of Unearthly Delights by Robert Rankin
reviewed by Underview
Original appearance: Albedo one issue 10, 1996
ROBERT RANKIN is one of those authors with a peculair world view that counterpoints reality by a determination to have nothing to do with the stuff. THE GARDEN OF UNEARTHLY DELIGHTS inhabits that world, even offering an explanation for its existence this time - if only because it claims to start off in a world based upon our subjective reality.
I'm sure if Robert Rankin ever, through some highly unlikely twist of serendipity, stumbles across this review (which is exactly the sort of thing that is always happening to the heroes of his books), he will be mightily amused by the sub-literary critical twaddle above. Still, it never does any harm to check that everyone is paying attention. So, on with the review. A Bonking Good Read - Sunday Sporty. Fast Paced - The Arthur Daly Express. Be Prepared for a Good Laugh - The Scoutish Daily Record. Asbolutely Wunerrfull - The Yorkshire Pissed.
Such is the quality of this book that the above sample of quotes are just the ones that will fail to make the back cover of the paperback. There probably won't even be room for a synopsis like - One moment Maxwell Karrien was wondering why he had received the Queen's Award for Industry, never having done a day's work in his life, and the next it was about the only vaguely normal thing about the world in which he found himself. According to the dust jacket (pre reviews) this is because the Earth has left the age of reson and entered a time of myth, legend and heroes. Maxwell Karrien, waster, downtrodden husband and all around nerd finds himself transformed into Max Carrion, Imagineer. Anything he can imagine will happen. Or so he is informed by the characters from a book he was reading just before the change. Or maybe he was writing it.
Or whatever. Anyway, pretty soon he finds himself soulless, it having been stolen, and in order to get it back he must journey to the city of Rameer, which is always 'Over yonder hill,' and wrest from the magician in charge a female automaton. Between him and success lie magical barriers, knights in armour, schoolboy cricket, more magic, lies and deceit. And a lot of fun for the reader. Don't worry what it's about, just sit back and enjoy the ride. You may experience some turbulence in the logic department if your disbelief is improperly suspended but you'll probably be too busy laughing to notice.
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