COMEDY LITERATURE FOR WINTER Reviewed by JAMES JILLIANS It's Winter time again... cold, wet days spent at home with little or nothing to do... (Except adventuring, of course!) Well, if it's amusement you want, get your laughing gear round these tasty literary morsels: RED DWARF - INFINITY WELCOMES CAREFUL DRIVERS --------------------------------------------- a Sci-Fi Comedy Novel by GRANT NAYLOR (œ4.99 paperback) Dave Lister regains consciousness after his birthday drinking orgy in a burger bar on Minas, one of Saturn's Moons, wearing a lady's pink crimplene hat and a pair of yellow fishing waders. His passport is in the name of 'Emily Berkenstein'. With no money and no other means of returning to his home planet, Lister decides to join the Space Corps as a lowly third technician. He boards the Red Dwarf, a huge, clapped-out mining vessel bound for Earth. The ship never completes its journey. A radiation leak wipes out the rest of crew, leaving only Lister, who was in suspended animation at the time. 3 million years later the ship's computer, now senile, revives him. The only other life-form on board the ship is a creature evolved from Lister's pregnant cat which was safely stored in the ship's hold at the time of the blast. Rimmer, an obnoxious, selfish, would-be officer (without even the remotest chance of ever becoming one), has been revived as a hologram to keep Lister company... The book deals with the adventures of the crew/space-bums and their vain efforts to return to Earth . As you may have guessed, the book follows the plot of the mega-hit T.V. series quite closely and is written by the programme's creators. As well as a modified introduction to the story, the book offers a fresh look at some of the adventures shown on T.V. Comedy, of course, is the author's principal objective and it is brilliantly achieved. The jokes are both old and new. Although many of the television series' gags are repeated, there is enough new material to keep even the most well-versed of Red Dwarf fans enthralled. The book is well written too. Even if you haven't got a sense of humour the story will keep you interested. I can happily say that the novel is satisfying to read plot-wise as any decent non-humorous Science Fiction novel must be. A great story well told. J.J. ROUND-UP All in all, this book is recommended to everyone, especially Red Dwarf fans who will be delighted by another dose of the much-admired humour. Between the covers you'll find incredibly funny, sometimes breathtakingly un-subtle, yet surprisingly original jokes and a corker of a plot. A laugh a minute with this one (and I mean the side- splitting, jaw stretching sort)! FUN-FACTOR : 9 / 10 JILLI-READ RATING : 8 / 10 BETTER THAN LIFE ---------------- also by GRANT NAYLOR (œ4.99 paperback too) I won't linger on this one because it's really just the not-very-long- awaited sequel to Red Dwarf (see above). Still three million light-years from Earth, Dave Lister and his companions (with the addition of Kryten, a service robot discovered halfway through the last book) have begun to despair. They have nothing to do during the long days except kill time and have practically no chance of ever seeing another human being again. The perfect antidote to boredom comes when they discover some head-sets for the virtual-reality computer game, "Better Than Life". With these they can plug themselves in to an alternative reality formed entirely from their inner-wishes and desires... There is only one problem - the game was so realistic, it kills you! Once inside the game there's no way to leave unless you really WANT to. And who would want to leave personal paradise? Rimmer has even greater problems. He finds himself trapped in a hellish world controlled by his own subconscious. Unfortunately his subconscious doesn't like him one little bit! And such is the complexity of this tortured character that it loves to loathe itself! This book is nearly as funny as it's predecessor but has been changed vastly from the television series' equivalent (and is a vast improvement). It is written in much the same style. As well as dealing with the characters' escape from "Better Than Life" it also re-tells some of the later T.V. series' tales. J.J. ROUND-UP Red Dwarf Fan's will love BTL. If you're not familiar with the series, however, I recommend you read "Red Dwarf - Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" before you try this. FUN-FACTOR : 8 / 10 JILLI-READ RATING : 7 / 10 ****************************************************************** OTHER RED DWARF SPIN-OFFS AVAILABLE: ------------------------------------ - Cassette versions of 1st novel (2-cassette abridged and full 6-cassette set) - Red Dwarf videos (all episodes seen on T.V. now available, RRP - œ10.99 each) - Red Dwarf programme guide (paperback œ4.99) - Red Dwarf Smegazine (Published by Fleetway Editions) - And of course, the obligatory T-shirts, posters and badges. ****************************************************************** GOOD OMENS - THE NICE AND ACCURATE PROPHECIES OF AGNES NUTTER, WITCH -------------------------------------------------------------------- By TERRY PRATCHETT & NEIL GAIMAN (œ4.99 paperback) Having read a few of Terry Pratchett's novels with great enjoyment, I borrowed this novel (co-written by him) from my local library. After reading the immensely funny preview of the story, and the even funnier "All About The Authors" section I had great expectations... Once upon a time (1655 to be exact), during a period of public interest in the occult and fortune-telling (akin to the recent dinosaur mania), a book company by the name of "Bilton and Scaggs" decided to print a book of prophecies. Miraculously, the next day a manuscript arrived on their doorstep - exactly what they were looking for. Their book was printed but they couldn't sell a copy. In fact the only one that ever hit the streets was the single gratis copy that was sent to the author! The problem was that all the prophecies were correct, right down to the tiniest detail. The books author, Agnes Nutter, a witch, could scarcely believe that this might not be what the consumers wanted... Later on, in the late twentieth century (around about now!) the book has been inherited by a descendant of Agnes, Anathema Device who discovers a prophecy predicting the end of the world. The cause of the destruction is the Anti-christ, a small, 11 year old boy who was born with incredible but as yet undiscovered powers. Armageddon is anticipated and hastened into being by the occupants of heaven and hell - angels and demons who are impatient to stage their final battle... All except for Crowley and Aziraphale, a demon and angel who have grown to like the world and don't want to see it destroyed. It becomes the mission of these two, as well as Anathema's, to hunt out and kill the cause of the problem... which is a shame really because he is a nice kid who loves his dog, cares about the environment and is the kind of person you'd be proud to have as a son. For people with vivid imaginations, this book is great fun to read. The unique Pratchett brand of humour is plain to see but I am pleased to say that Good Omens is twice as funny as one of Pratchett's other novels (probably due to Neil Gaiman)! You find yourself quietly giggling most of the time you are reading and even loudly guffawing at points. (Pretty embarrassing if you're reading the book on a crowded train, believe me!) The book will be well received by school-teachers, traditionalists and other people who prefer to avoid dirty humour and bad language. The book manages to be tremendously funny without being rude or offensive in the least. There are very few swear words so the book is suitable for everyone, unlike, for instance, a book written by Ben Elton (see below). Many of the jokes are in the form of footnotes, often handy titbits of information for people who might not understand the Proper English language, eg. "Americans and other city-dwelling life-forms". This is a great idea and really livens things up. Unless you really concentrate, things can seem pretty confusing at first. There are so many different things going on at once you tend to lose track. Even now, I'm still not quite sure I understand what happened at the end! * Still, this means that the book has a great deal of variety - and the more variety, the more jokes! Almost caricatures - and the funnier for it - the characters are appealingly ludicrous, silly but never childish. As someone who formats ten hour's worth of adventure code, I can really sympathise with poor old Newton Pulsifer for whom everything goes wrong and who is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. The book does seem a bit weird and the plot is quite far-fetched. I know that if I gave this to my gran she'd say it was "a load of --------------------------------------------------------- * The footnotes don't help either - you tend to go off on a completely different track halfway through a paragraph! silly old nonsense!" If you're an experienced SF or Fantasy reader (or certainly if you're a comedy reader) you shouldn't be put off by this! J.J. ROUND-UP Good Omens is a wonderfully ridiculous, and immensely funny novel which I would heartily recommend to anyone (although slight insanity is recommended!). You may find the book a little weird or confusing at first, but persevere because it's funny enough to be worth the effort. You never know, you might discover that this is one of the best books you've ever read! FUN-FACTOR : 10/10 JILLI-READ RATING : 9/10 STARK ----- A "General Fiction" Novel by BEN ELTON (œ4.50 paperback) You'll find this in the "General fiction" section of your local book- shop but I reckon it counts as "Science Fiction" - it's fantastical, it's set in the future and there's a picture of outer space on the cover. What more could you want? Ben Elton is well-known for co-writing many of the "Blackadder" programmes and also for his own stand-up comedy show, "The Man From Auntie". Stark is his first novel. James Judge reviewed his second, "Gridlock", in a previous issue. The action takes place in Australia where a group of Eco-Activists, a "Pommie Poser" and his sweet-heart, a mad Vietnam veteran and a few Aboriginals who have lost their land, discover a huge plot hatched by some of the richest business tycoons in the world. Earth is in the grip of a pollution crisis caused by the members of the conspiracy, others like them and their ecologically unfriendly money making methods. As the members of the conspiracy liquidize their assets to finance the plot, the stock markets around the world simultaneously crash... Although it is a comedy, Stark deals with some pretty big issues. It is a tale warning us of what could happen if we carry on polluting the world at our present rate. The book forces you to consider the issues that we prefer to forget about and leaves you feeling shocked at the possibilities. The novel is immensely funny. It oozes with Ben Elton's sarcastic, irritated style. Themes which might seem wholly unamusing are transformed. Many of the jokes emphasise the absurdity of aspects of modern life, often breaking the boundaries of good taste. Admittedly, the book is full of dubious or even dirty humour and contains much bad language. Personally I feel that the author goes too far - some passages are almost unenjoyable. Unfortunately, Ben Elton's humour is over dependent on smut and outrage. You'll need to put up with a lot of "naughtiness" to get any satisfaction from this novel! The plot is very well thought-out, persuasively arguing serious points with irreverent wit. Although Stark is a worthwhile read it is not as good as the author's second book, "Gridlock", which is much better than James Judge cracked it up to be in his review. Similar to Stark in style, it is much, much funnier and full of truly excellent ideas. It occupies a number-one position in my Top-ten. But that is another story... J.J. ROUND-UP Stark is a very funny book that goes too far with the bad language and filthy jokes. It is often in extremely bad taste. The story is interesting and has a great moral. It's definitely worth a read although you may have mixed feelings about it afterwards! FUN FACTOR : 7/10 JILLI-READ RATING : 7/10 ****************************************************************** ALSO BY BEN ELTON : ----------------- - GRIDLOCK (Novel) - GASPING (Play-script) - SILLY COW (Play-script) ****************************************************************** J.J. TOP-TEN COMEDY NOVELS -------------------------- 1) GRIDLOCK (Ben Elton) 2) HITCH-HIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (Douglas Adams) 3) GOOD OMENS (Pratchett and Gaiman, See Above) 4) RED DWARF (Grant Naylor, See Above) 5) SORCERY (Terry Pratchett) 6) BETTER THAN LIFE (Grant Naylor, See Above) 7) THANK YOU, JEEVES (P.G. Wodehouse) 8) STARK (Ben Elton, See Above) 9) THE LIAR (Stephen Fry) 10) DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY (Douglas Adams) ****************************************************************** HAVE A CHUCLKESOME CHRISTMAS!