The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse

From Publishers Weekly Like a mad toymaker's fever dream, Rankin's uproarious book imagines a town where toys and nursery rhymes come to life and pursue human activities: they walk, talk, eat, drink and commit heinous crimes. Thirteen-year-old Jack goes to the City to find his fortune, unaware that the City is in fact Toy City, where legends and fables walk (or stumble, if they've had too much to drink). He meets up with detective teddy bear Eddie, who is investigating the murder of Humpty Dumpty. When Little Boy Blue is offed, it's clear that a serial killer is prowling Toy City, leaving behind the titular chocolate bunnies as his calling card. Rankin doesn't just drop names of familiar characters but gives them riotous back stories: Miss Muffett hosts a daytime TV talk show called "The Tuffet"; Mother Goose (who prefers to be called Madame Goose) runs a brothel; Humpty Dumpty was likely a failed television stuntman named Terry Horsey. Although the story is wickedly clever and the payoff is a great and satisfying surprise, the real delight comes from watching Rankin work his linguistic magic: characters talk in hilariously circular and self-aware dialogue, and puns and wordplay are packed into the prose like sardines in a tin. Although substantially darker and edgier than the Hitchhiker's series, this gem will appeal to Douglas Adams fans, as well as lovers of British humor in general. Copyright В© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review This is our first book with Robert Rankin and initial reports are very promising. I have organised a big bash with his fan club which will take place at the Children's Museum in Bethnal Green, on Saturday 7th September. Features:Robert will do the 'It's your funeral' interview for the Night and Day supplement which is part of The Mail on Sunday. Feature in SFX on their convention, it included coverage of Robert. A full interview with tour listing to appear in the September issue of SFX. Reviews: SFXStarburstDreamwatch 'A worthy addition to Rankin's oeuvre... entertaining and mildly disturbing.'The Morning Star 'Fast, demented, fairy-tale noir avtion, filled with gruesomely silly deaths and referential thriller gags.'Amazon Events:Robert was a guest at the SFXconvention in Blackpool back in June. Robert will be the Guest of Honour at Gencon 2002, a role playing convention which takes place at Olympia from 29thAugust through to 1st September. 4,000 to 6,000 people expected to attend. Tour:Robert Rankin's tour started on 5th September at Borders Brighton, from there he toured all over Britain up to the 26th September. Full details are available from me or can be found on the Author's Event Schedule. SIGNINGS... Robert sold 203 books at the Gencon convention two weeks ago. Shame they only count as special sales... Robert's launch also went with a bang. We sold 30 books and even had a visit from Publishing News (who joined Robert's tour on the Museum of Childhood). Border Brighton sold out of all their books (they even resorted to grabbing copies out of the window!).Forbidden Planet sold over50 and had another 50 signed. The turn out was unusually good for a Forbidden Planet Event. The rest of the events and signings also went fantastically, at one event in Chelmsford, one punter bought 20 hardbacks and fourteen copies of Robert's paperbacks. In Edinburgh, Robert, fell victim to his own sarcasm when the people at the event began to heckle him back and come the end of the event initially refused to buy a book... Robert freaked out but then realised they were joking. In Golucester we attracted a number of his fans and ended up in the pub with Robert regaling them whilst in Cardiff the exact same thing happened... All in all the tour paid off really well, Robert got to meethis fans, pick up some free books from gratefull booksellers and we even managed to outsell Raymond Feist in about 3 of the shops!! And one more thing, Robert's methods of selling were also rather unconventional, at each event Robert managed to encourage at least 4 people to purchase two books rather than one... if we can get him to be more convincing we may just hit number 10 on the bestseller list next year! MISC Robert's It's Your Funeral piece in the Mail on Sunday appeared two weeks ago, but it obviously made an impact in Scotland as he was quoted in The Scotland On Sunday's 'Quote Unquote' section. Here's the quote: 'I have often pondered the best way to die. All things considered it would be ideal to be killed at the age of 97 by a jealous husband...' I A hilarious comic fantasy from the bestselling cult creator of the Brentford Triangle Trilogy Once upon a time Jack set out to find his fortune in the big city. But the big city is Toy City, formerly known as Toy Town, and it has grown considerably since the good old days and isn't all that jolly any more. And there is a serial killer loose on the streets. The old, rich nursery rhyme characters are being slaughtered one by one and the Toy City police are getting nowhere in their investigations. Meanwhile, Private Eye Bill Winkie has gone missing, leaving behind his sidekick Eddie Bear to take care of things. Eddie may be a battered teddy with an identity crisis, but someone's got to stop the killer. When he teams up with Jack, the two are ready for the challenge. Not to mention the heavy drinking, bad behaviour, car chases, gratuitous sex and violence, toy fetishism and all-round grossness along the way. It's going to be an epic adventure!