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Quest for the Holy Ale

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This is a book of two halves. The first half is pretty dire but the second half is reasonably enjoyable. It tells of 3 men, a monk, a barbarian and a barman, on a quest to find the recipe for the best ale in the world in order to save their local pub. All the while being pursued by 5 Hull's Angels from the competing pub.

Being an ale drinker myself, I had high hopes of enjoying what looked like a fun and entertaining romp. Instead it rather shambled along and up to about page 200 was very easy to put down and difficult to pick up again.

Saturday

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I found this novel well written but rather tedious. It was an interesting experiment to see how a single day in one man’s life could be made to fill an entire book. However, if such an experiment were to be done again, I would suggest finding a more interesting man to follow. The main plot line of the book lies in Henry’s confrontations with the psychotic Baxter but there was not enough action to hold my interest.

I, Lucifer

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This is a seriously good book, well written and compelling. Lucifer is
placed in a human body and given a chance by God to redeem himself. The story is told from Lucifer’s point of view and and one can’t help but feel empathy with him. Some seriously scary questions are asked, such as ‘Since God is all seeing, how did the Serpent get into the Garden of Eden in the first place?’ God, from Lucifer’s point of view is unkind, unfair and full of ulterior motives.

Fairy Tales for Grown-ups

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A charming and very funny collection of fairy tales for grownups. Written with a wicked sense of humour, the stories take modern romance and give them a rougish twist that can warm the cockles of the most jaded heart. An ideal stocking filler, this little book is pure gold

Beyond the Blonde

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I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. It is light but very well written. Without being either catty or judgemental, it gives a delicious insight into the excesses, self absorption and jostling for position of the gossip fuelled jet set of New York. The main character goes from small town hair dresser to celebrity colourist but never forgets her roots (pun intended). The main characters are engaging and I found the book hard to put down, perfect holiday reading.

The Devil Wears Prada

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An enjoyable, easy to read book about an aspiring writer, Andrea Sachs, who somehow gets herself sucked into becoming the junior assistant to Miranda Priestly, the nightmare boss and exalted fashion guru not from hell, but from somewhere pretty close. She is told that a year with Miranda Priestly equals three years with anybody else and is a short cut to her ideal job. However, can she survive a year?

The Glass House

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I find I need to get in a particular mood to read a Charlie Stross novel. This suits me fine, since once I'm in such a mood there are few other authors I find satisfy it. I generally find myself in such a mood about once a year, which means Charlie is writing them slightly faster than I'm reading them.

Finding myself in the right mood, I picked up The Glass House, which must have been sitting on the "to read" shelf for at least a year, and found myself engrossed in it for about a week, which is fairly quick for me (I can struggle through a book for months).

I Survived The Brentford Triangle

To Celebrate the Pirate Party Weekend for Roberts 60th Birthday a limited edition t-shirt was designed by Robert. The "I Survived The Brentford Triangle" was produced in limited numbers and will not re-print so get yours while any stock remains!

x-large now sold out! The large is a good size large but not many left of those now.....

The Official Club T-shirt

As demanded by you and designed by Robert Rankin himself, the official club t-shirt finally goes into production.

Available in Black or...... OK, just black. Price includes postage and packing.

A great shirt that all sprouts should be wearing!

Were £12.50 but now available for a limited time at £10.00 only. This price includes all postage and packaging and is only available to UK customers. Overseas customers please contact the club via the link for price.

Four - June 2009

(Webmaster's note: apologies if anyone receives this twice. We had a technical glitch with our webserver, which should now be resolved, but a few copies may have gone out twice. Also, if anyone has been trying to reset their password in the last few days and didn't receive the email, please try again. If you still have trouble please drop us an email. Now back to your usual Newsletter...)

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Computer Death

Switched on my 'puter this morning, it made a fizzy noise followed by a pop and went dead. Found a new power cable (after much digging in the garage) - fitted it and all seemed to be right with the world.

Two hours late, and half way though editing some video to DVD it stopped dead and has stubbornly refused to work since, boll**ks.

Have now stripped it down and removed the hard drive and am jury rigging a power adaptor and SATA to firewire 400 adaptor to see if I can rescue all my files!

The Brightonomicon

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Reviewed by James Bacon.

As most of you know, or will shortly learn, I am a discerning reader of Roberts books. They are not always to my liking, sometimes I can’t get into them, and then again, I still rate some of his books in my Top five ever. So I don’t usually write about them. 

BIOGRAPHY

Robert Rankin is the worlds only perveyor of far fetched fiction, at least that is what he claims. He has been known to make things up.

Not a bad thing actually, to date he has made up THIRTY stories that have successfully made it into the printed form, or what we now commonly know as novels. And very enjoyable they are too.

100th Birthday Bash - Pirate Boat Party

24 Jul 2009 19:26
26 Jul 2009 16:26
Etc/GMT

The big event this summer will take place over the weekend of the 24, 25 and 26th of July. To celebrate Robert's 60th Birthday and the Necrophenia paperback launch we will be spending the Saturday cruising up the Thames on our private boat to Kew Bridge, from here we will disembark to Fangio's Bar where we will enjoy an evening of booze, buffet, music and toot....

Full itinerary here:

Necrophenia Book Launch - Tour T-Shirts

After the hugely succesful Necrophenia launch there are very few of these shirts left.

Get yours through these means before they are gone - they are a limited edition and no more will be produced.

Were £12.50 but now available for a limited time at £10.00 only. This price includes all postage and packaging and is only available to UK customers. Overseas customers please contact the club via the link for price.

Only mediums left, and just two!

Welcome

<img src="https://www.thegoldensprout.com/sites/thegoldensprout/files/images/robert_and_otto.small.jpg" alt="Robert Rankin and Count Otto Black" title="Robert Rankin and Count Otto Black" hspace="8" align="right" class="image image-small " width="150" height="117" />Welcome to the Order of the Golden Sprout, the new Robert Rankin Fan Club.

Please kick your shoes off and have a look around the public areas. We hope you will want to join us to get access to all kinds of exclusive member only content.

The Pirate Birthday Party

The Da Da De Da Da Code

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Reviewed by James Bacon

Funny man Robert Rankin does it again with running gags and humour and tall tales using urban legends and myths to create a laugh out read. With a Free CD too, mad stuff.

That’s what you expect to hear, isn’t it? when you read a Rankin review, be honest.

The Witches of Chiswick

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The first thing I'd like to say about "The Witches of Chiswick" is that the writing style feels like a hark back to the classic Rankin books, I meant those of the Brentford Trilogy (now in 5 parts) & the Armageddon trilogy (still only in 3 parts). That is not to say the plots are re-hashed or that Rankin is riding on past glories, because that in certainly not that case. It's just that this new novel has a creative spark which was so apparent in those earlier works. It could almost be viewed as a follow up to "The Suburban Book of the Dead" whilst by no means being a direct sequel.

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse

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Eddie Bear is a bear with problems. He has a head full of sawdust, no opposable thumbs and buttons for eyes. That, though, is just the beginning of his woe, because he’s also been dealt the lead roll as private detective in a richly embroiled plot to best the fiend behind Toy City's first ever serial-murders after his detective owner, Bill Winkie, mysteriously vanishes. To aid him in his epic quest Eddie enlists upon the help of Jack, an unlikely a hero as any, who has stumbled into Toy City, formerly known as Toy Town, seeking out his fortune.

The Fandom of the Operator

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Punning title aside, Rankin's latest novel has no connection with the Gaston Leroux's Parisian classic. However, it is one of his better ones, and a thankful return to form after the rather aimless and disappointing Web Site Story.

Web Site Story

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The world is changing every day and technology is moving even faster. Except for a London borough known as Brentford. The Year is 2022 and Jim Pooley and John Omally have fallen into the realms of the great myths and legends of yore. Such as the Brentford Griffin of course. So don't expect them to be in this book, because they are not. But just when you think that you can't have a Brentford book without them. Mr Robert Rankin does the spectacular and brings forth a tale of computer madness all bound up in the title Web Site Story.

The Sprouts of Wrath

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The fourth in the now legendary Brentford Trilogy. And why not. Many authors have had trilogies that go over three books, Douglas Adams for one.

East of Ealing

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The third of the highly successful Brentford trilogy once more sees Robert Rankin’s anti-hero’s Pooley and Omally strutting their stuff to save the London Borough from ultimate disaster.

Would you believe a diabolical plan to bar code every living person is going down. Not that this worry’s our Mr Pooley. Oh no. He has worked out from these revolutionary bar codes how to win his fortune on the horses. And of course his old friend and confidante John Omally will be their along side him to help spend it.

The Brentford Triangle

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The Second adventure in the Brentford Trilogy is an extremely addictive read. Not only for the quality of the story, but for the sheer absurdity of the mind of the author. Take a normal object like a golf club, a golf ball and add them to an allotment complete with sheds and water butts and a host of vegetables and you get to she Rankins genius at work. Pooley and Omally have been banned from every corporation golf course, so they result to using the local allotments for their ball whacking fun.

The Antipope

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Everything has to start somewhere. History has things starting all over the place. And it’s with no surprise that Robert Rankins Brentford Trilogy starts with the first novel The Antipope.

First Published in 1981 by Pan Books, Rankin takes you into a new genre in novel writing. The Tall Story. Although his books will always be found in the Sci-fi section of any book shop, you can’t really pin Rankin’s style down to that area of fiction. Although he writes about space ships and time travel from time to time, that is pretty much as scientific as it gets.

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