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Well when I was in school I read every single one of his books back to back and, um, strangely lost the urge to kill..
I'll try not to do the whole Rankin evangelist thing again, but I really think that at his best, as well as all the pop culture pillaging cheap gag fun, he's a genuinely great absurdist comic writer in the vein of Flann O'Brien or Ishmael Reed.. you shouldn't be ashamed to read him, and if anyone gives you shit for it, you should argue that the likes of A Dog Called Demolition and The Book of Ultimate Truths are fine, fine books!
However, I really think it's a shame that these days he seems content to play down to expectations (and play up the Pratchett comparisons) by knocking out a book every six months, all of which have pretty much the same plot and are largely written on autopilot (though they're still hugely enjoyable nonetheless).. he seems to be gradually losing the freewheeling "Goon Show written by Philip K Dick" madness that made his best work so great, and just churning out increasingly uninspired books about how evil technology is, with lots of dick jokes and the devil turning up at the end.. makes me want to weep, it really does..
Though having said that, all it takes is one more appearance of Lazlo Woodbine or Hugo Rune and he's won me back as a loyal fan for a few more months..
As he's now written over 20 books, here, for the records, is a list of all the ones I reckon are the best:
The Antipope
The Brentford Triangle
East of Ealing
The Book of Ultimate Truths
Armageddon the Musical
They Came And Ate Us
A Dog Called Demolition
Nostradamus Ate My Hamster
The Garden of Unearthly Delights
Sprout Mask Replica
Acocalypso |
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