Far-Fetched Fiction (Robert Rankin in general)

Member Name: khrys

Product:	Robert Rankin in general
Date:	13/06/01 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bizarre, Unusual, Unique

Disadvantages: You finish reading and want more!!, Once you have read them all you have to wait for six months to a year for another one!!, I can't afford hardback books

Robert Rankin is a man whom nobody can truly understand, and thus, is a man whom nobody can truly compare to, nor fault. He is in a class of his own; one could even say his own genre. Upon reading the cover slip from his latest book ("Web Site Story"), I noticed a paragraph claiming Robert Rankin set out to create his own personal genre (Far-Fetched Fiction, hence the title of my article), so that he would have no contemporaries, and his own section in WH Smith (!). When you read his books, you notice he has done just that.

Sadly, I could not afford to buy his latest offering, because, it still being in hardback form, costs £16.99 or thereabouts, and, as usual, I was feeling rather impecunious ;) But anyway, back to the point. There really is nobody who can stand up to Robert Rankin. His singular style sets him apart from even the mighty and well-established Terry Pratchett. Rankin's approach on every novel, the same in parts, and yet, so different, creates a new reading experience for every book, and yet also an experience which familiar readers will identify with.

His use of odd phrases which continually recur in places, such as "It's a tradition, or an old charter, or something" (which makes appearances in many books), references to "a lady in a straw hat", and references to the great Hugo Rune (there are books based around this character though!), will make the new reader curious, and the veteran reader smile. His humour is again, on another level that cannot be compared with other authors, simply because it is a different standard of humour: a standard that makes you think things through, and then, once you notice the ridiculous nature of the suggestion, and yet also notice it makes perfect sense, will have you spontaneously bursting into little laughs or occcasionally pauses from reading to catch ones breath back after being taken by surprise at a certain part (I am not joking or exaggerating: this actual
ly happens sometimes!).

Another thing you will notice about Rankin's books is that quite often they tie in with one another, even without being part of the same series. There are actual series of books, such as the Brentford Trilogy (which has five parts... another great idea), the Armageddon Trilogy (that series is a little standalone... but in almost every other case you will see exactly what I mean), the Hugo Rune series (not an actual series, but there are three books, in order, following the adventures of Cornelius Murphy and his friend Tuppe, who eventually find Hugo Rune...), and many more such cases. There are references to characters such as Jim Pooley and John Omally in many books (these two blokes are my absolute heroes... read the Brentford Trilogy, and some of the later books), and multiple places where storylines converge.

My final point I wish to make about Robert Rankin is his versatility. He doesn't get stuck in a particular style and just reel off book after book like that. Some of his books are written in first person, some in third person, and some books even change throughout, to show different characters (this has been used to comic effect in some books... such as when Lazlo Woodbine argues with Rex Mundi that only he, Woodbine, should be allowed to speak in first person, and it all gets very confusing... in a good way). You will have to concede that only a truly talented author can be so diverse, and yet still retain his original flair.

In conclusion, I have only this to say for Robert Rankin: he is a genius, in his own way, and his books are a testament to the fact that people who don't think in the "normal" way have ways of being rational (That doesn't make sense? Read and see...).

-k

PS If anyone has anything they would like me to add to this article, kindly notify me one way or another... I have almost all of Rankin's books, and quite a vast knowledge of his theorie
s, etc, but I didn't wish to post them all here to spoil the surprise of reading one for the first time!

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