Product Description

The Ministry of Serendipity at Mornington Crescent runs everything. When it hears of a spacecraft that crashed into the Pacific 4000 years ago, it sends a team of paranormal investigators to recover it. Danbury Collins is in the team - but he isn't keen. What if a mad alien thaws out?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #283523 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 364 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Robert Rankin's comic fantasies have a laddish good humour which rely heavily, if not excessively, on teasing, class and beer. His protagonists are always forced to compete in a world in which someone else has a silver spoon in their mouth; they muddle their way through his amiably Heath-Robinsonish plots by a mixture of chutzpah, bluster and endurance. Porrig, hero of Apocalypso has a bad attitude that makes even his parents dislike him, but he inherits a shop from a conjuror uncle--a shop which serves as a gateway to other worlds. Not only has he to redeem his uncle from damnation, he also has to save the world from an unpleasant alien vegetable with the power to cloud human minds. Amid all this, we find out what Nelson's Column is for, why railway ticket clerks take so long to sell tickets and the secret that lurks under Mornington Crescent Underground Station. Rankin's humour is a scatter-shot that misses targets as often as it hits, but his unabashed preparedness to use old jokes and the crudest of slapstick is part of a shaggy-dog enthusiasm that is more endearing than otherwise. --Roz Kaveney

From the Back Cover
The Ministry of Serendipity at Mornington Crescent runs everything. And that means everything. When the Ministry learns of a spacecraft that crashed four thousand years ago into the Pacific Ocean it sends an elite team of paranormal investigators to recover it. A mad alien thaws out, there is hell and horror all around and thousands flee in terror.

Porrig has inherited a planet, or it might be a bookshop, or it might be a gateway into another world. And Porrig is worried, because he has learned a terrible secret. But if he told people, would they listen? No.

But perhaps they should, because a mad alien has thawed out, there is hell and horror all around and thousands are fleeing in terror. And there is every likelihood of there being a bloody big explosion at the end. Will Porrig manage to do anything about it at all?

About the Author
Robert Rankin
Robert Rankin is the author of Web Site Story, Waiting for Godalming, Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls, Snuff Fiction, Apocalypso, The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag, Sprout Mask Replica, Nostradamus Ate My Hamster, A Dog Called Demolition, The Garden of Unearthly Delights, The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived, The Greatest Show Off Earth, Raiders of the Lost Car Park, The Book of Ultimate Truths, the Armageddon quartet (three books), and the Brentford trilogy (five books) which are all published by Corgi Books. Robert Rankin's latest novel, The Fandom of the Operator, is now available as a Doubleday hardback.

Customer Reviews

Magic
Apocalypso, Robert Rankin's 18th novel, struggles a little during it's first half, with two seemingly unconnected tales; one concerning a young lad called Porrig who inherits a magical bookshop, and the other telling the tale of a god-like alien vegetable's awakening from cryogenic suspension and it's plan to enslave humanity - this being Robert Rankin the alien bears a liking not dissimilar to that of a giant sprout. The tale of the alien also features that trio of investigators Sir John Rimmer, Dr Harney, and Danbury Collins, the psychic youth and masturbator, who appeared in The Garden of Unearthly Delights and Sprout Mask Replica, although as they had previously only really appeared in cameos this book is well suited for the first time Rankin reader.

The first half of the novel ambles along in a reasonably pleasant fashion, but it's nothing we haven't had from Rankin before, and with his typically Rankin-ish mysterious family inheritance, and his foot in mouth habit not quite working as a running gag, hero Porrig fails to really engage with the reader.

It's only when the two story strands combine in a tale taking in alternate realities vibrating on different harmonic frequencies, a stage magician called Apocalypso caught in his own version of hell, and an 18inch tall imp called Rippington (that's him on the cover) who is obsessed with his own genitalia (or 'rubbing parts' as he calls them), that Apocalypso clicks into top gear, and the novels second half is as good as anything Rankin has ever written, with some laugh out loud jokes and terrific set-pieces.

While I wouldn't say Apocalypso was consistent enough to rank as one of Rankin's very best books, its still a damn fine comedy - an inventive satire on Hollywood action film cliché with even more bum jokes and knob gags than normal. Apocalypso is a marvellous example of good toilet humour, so come on in, the water's lovely!

A master piece in the makeing
While reading this book you are never drawn away,on almost every page there is a reason to pee your pants while laughing. This book is beyond hillerious. You'll be intrigued all the way through. Robert Rankin is a brilliant writer and always maneges to make you laugh. THis book is a perfect example of his work. So read and laugh

Another fine outing by Rankin
I have had the pleasure of reding most of his books, and while I have enjoyed them all, I have enjoyed this one in particular. This is a good book for someone who hasnt read any of the others, as they all have links to each other, which I find once you have read them increase the humour and enjoyment of his work. If you enjoy this book then I recomend you start reading everything from his first book "The antipope". I assure you, that you will find him consistantly funny, and unable to read anyone else until you have read all of his books. You`ll never tire of Robert Rankin