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Robert Rankin was born in July of 1949 in Parsons Green, London, and is a prolific author of humorous fantasy fiction. There is also science fiction, metafiction, steampunk, urban legends, running gags, outrageous characters and the occult to be found in his work. In the late seventies, he started writing fiction and in the late nineties, he was able to crack the bestseller lists. This is after his previous books sold about a million copies combined. He never takes himself too seriously and goes on tour to sign fans’s books, do some stand-up, do a song with his air ukulele. Rankin also gives a question and answer session that is sure to entertain anyone who watches it. Rankin also draws the covers for all of his novels. He held a position as Brentford’s Writer in Residence at their Watermans Arts Centre in the eighties and put together a regular poetry event that Rankin says was the biggest in Britain and performed with some of the bands on the stage.
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Order of Brentford Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Antipope | 1981 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Brentford Triangle | 1982 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | East of Ealing | 1984 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | The Sprouts of Wrath | 1988 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | The Brentford Chainstore Massacre | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls | 1999 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | Knees Up Mother Earth | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | The Brightonomicon | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
| 9 | The Lord of the Ring Roads | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
| 10 | The Chronicles of Banarnia | 2019 | Description / Buy |
Order of Armageddon Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Armageddon: The Musical | 1990 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | They Came and Ate Us | 1991 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Suburban Book of the Dead | 1992 | Description / Buy |
Order of Barking Mad Trilogy Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sprout Mask Replica | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag | 1998 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Waiting For Godalming | 2000 | Description / Buy |
Order of Cornelius Murphy Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Book of Ultimate Truths | 1993 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Raiders of the Lost Carpark | 1994 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Greatest Show Off Earth | 1994 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived | 1995 | Description / Buy |
Order of Eddie Bear Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Toyminator | 2006 | Description / Buy |
Order of Japanese Devil Fish Girl Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Japanese Devil Fish Girl and Other Unnatural Attractions | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Mechanical Messiah and Other Marvels of the Modern Age | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Educated Ape and Other Wonders of the World | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | The Chickens of Atlantis and Other Foul and Filthy Fiends | 2013 | Description / Buy |
Order of Robert Rankin Standalone Novels
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Garden of Unearthly Delights | 1995 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | A Dog Called Demolition | 1996 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Nostradamus Ate My Hamster | 1996 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Apocalypso | 1998 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Snuff Fiction | 1999 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | The Fandom of the Operator | 2001 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | Web Site Story | 2001 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | The Witches of Chiswick | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
| 9 | The Da Da De Da Da Code | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
| 10 | Necrophenia | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
| 11 | Retromancer | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
| 12 | The Abominable Showman | 2014 | Description / Buy |
Rankin considers himself the master of Far Fetched Fiction, which is a term that he coined in an attempt to get book stories to give him his own section, at least according to his joke biographies that can be found in the jackets to his work. He writes the “Cornelius Murphy” series, “The Witches” trilogy, “The Trilogy that Dare Not Speak Its Name”, the “Brentford” trilogy, and the “Armageddon” series. Rankin has also written some stand alone novels as well as some short stories and has illustrated some works for other writers.
ROBERT RANKIN AWARDS
“The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse” won SFX Best Novel Award in the year 2003. “The Brightonomicon” won The Hub Best Comedy Audio Award. He is a Fellow of The Victorian Steampunk Society. Rankin has been nominated for some other awards as well for his work.
ROBERT RANKIN BOOKS INTO MOVIES/TV
“The Brightonomicon” was made into a thirteen part audio drama that involved a full cast. “The Antipope” was made for audio as well.
BEST ROBERT RANKIN BOOKS
For those looking to get into Robert Rankin’s work, this next section will help with that. It will look at the novels: “The Antipope”, “The Book of Ultimate Truths”, and “Armageddon: The Musical”.
The Antipope: The first book in the “Brentford“ trilogy that was released in the year 1981. Jim Pooley and John Omally live in Brentford, a London borough, and spend a lot of time in Flying Swan where they drink a lot, womanize, gambling, and behaving in a feckless manner. Archroy’s wife sells his much cherished Morris Minor for only five magic beans and that is when the problems begin. Pope Alexander VI shows up, and the beans grow hideously to serve their lord the Antipope.
The Book of Ultimate Truths: The first book in the “Cornelius Murphy” series that was released in the year 1993. Cornelius Murphy gets hired by a mysterious man named Arthur Kobold, who says that he represents a publishing company that wants to print a complete version of “The Book of Ultimate Truths” which is a set of great secrets that were found out by Hugo Rune. The book had not been published before because it was suppressed by some unknown factors. Cornelius and his friend from school Tuppe have to go and find the book, which they set out to do. Campbell, an evil man, is also out looking for the book so that he can go to the Forbidden Zones (which are forbidden from humanity, unless you are a London cab driver, of course).
Armageddon: The Musical: The first book in the “Armageddon” series that was released in the year 1988. It is 2050 and “The Earthers”, which is a popular soap opera, is raking in big bucks in intergalactic ratings. Alien TV executives have just the thing to make their off-world audience happy, and that is an Armageddon type finale. Aliens love Earth, they find that it is an entertaining place to watch, but right now, this reality show’s ratings are down. The Alien executives plan on meddling with time and go back and change Elvis Presley in such a way so that some of the old shows would have a twist to them. There is a war going on Earth between different religions, who each value good ratings for different reasons. The good guys in the novel are Elvis Aaron Presley, Rex Mundi (King of the World), and Barry the loquacious sprout.
When Does The Next Robert Rankin book come out?
Robert Rankin doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The Chronicles of Banarnia and was released on May, 28th 2019. It is the newest book in the Brentford Series.