Line #19 Creator/RobertRankin


1	Author of "Far-Fetched Fiction". Rankin's works are best described as [[MindScrew completely insane.]] Mostly they have a plot of sorts, but beyond that anything can happen. He's particularly fond of NoFourthWall moments and [[ShootTheShaggyDog Shooting The Shaggy Dog]]. His writing style consists almost entirely of SophisticatedAsHell.
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3	Although his books can be divided fairly firmly into series, most of them have {{Crossover}} characters, and {{Running Gag}}s that follow from one series to another, either because of a tradition, or an old charter or something, or else because of the transperambulation of pseudocosmic antimatter. If it wasn't for all the NegativeContinuity it might even count as CanonWelding.
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5	One of the books, ''The Brightonomicon'', received a full cast audio dramatisation in 2008, starring some comedic celebrities such as Creator/AndySerkis and [[Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978 Mark Wing-Davey]]. It starred David Warner as Hugo Rune (the Cosmic Dick) and Rupert Degas as Rizla.
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7	----
8	!!Works by Robert Rankin with their own page include:
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10	* ''Literature/HollowChocolateBunniesOfTheApocalypse'' (2002)
11	* ''Webcomic/RobertRankinsEmpires''
12
13	!!Other works by Robert Rankin include:
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15	[[foldercontrol]]
16
17	[[folder:The Brentford Trilogy]]
18
19	'''The Brentford Trilogy''' - [[TrilogyCreep Nine volumes]] (three more than the galaxy's [[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxyTrilogy second-largest trilogy]]), detailing the adventures of two layabouts named Jim Pooley and John O'Mally in an area of West London which comes under attack from supernatural forces more than you'd expect.
20	----
21	[[AC:The books are:]]
22	* ''The Antipope'' (1981)
23	* ''The Brentford Triangle'' (1982)
24	* ''East of Ealing'' (1984)
25	* ''The Sprouts of Wrath'' (1988)
26	* ''The Brentford Chainstore Massacre'' (1997)
27	* ''Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls'' (2000)
28	* ''Knees Up Mother Earth'' (2004)
29	* ''The Brightonomicon'' (2005)
30	* ''Retromancer'' (2009)
31	* ''The Educated Ape''
32
33	!!!The ''Brentford Trilogy'' contains examples of:
34	* Creator/AleisterCrowley: The Brightonomicon keeps scattering throwaway references.. "Do wotcha like is the whole of the law." "I am perplexed". And there is the suit of BOLESKINE tweed[[note]]after Boleskine (boll-ESS-kin) House in Scotland - home of Crowley and Led Zeppelin guitarist and producer Jimmy Page.[[/note]]
35	* AliensInCardiff: Aliens in Brentford, among other things.
36	* TheAntiChrist: In fact, several.
37	* BizarreAndImprobableGolfGame: Allotment Golf, and leading up to it, the antics which saw our heroes barred from every club in the county.
38	* CanineCompanion: Young Chips to Old Pete
39	* CityOfAdventure: Brentford
40	* CloneJesus: In ''Brentford Chainstore Massacre''. They're twins. One's evil.
41	* CrazyPrepared: It takes a ''lot'' to catch Professor Slocombe off guard. Among other things, he can ''see through his eyelids''.
42	* {{Crossover}}:''Knees Up Mother Earth'' is also the second book in the ''Witches of Chiswick'' trilogy
43	* CulturallyReligious: John’s relationship with the Catholic faith is complex. In ''The Brentford Triangle'' he claims that the Church’s answers only raised more questions for him, but he is willing to go toe-to-toe with the demonic anti-pope in ''The Antipope'' on the grounds that ”I’m a Catholic. Not a good one, but a Catholic nonetheless.” He is also listed as Catholic in his Army record.
44	* FingerPokeOfDoom: Dimac, the world's most lethal martial art, which can maim or disfigure an opponent with the mere pressure of a fingertip.
45	* GenerationXerox: In ''Brentford Chainstore Massacre'' it turns out a long line of Omalleys and Pooleys have been assassinating each other over the Brentford Scrolls. The friendship between the current versions is a ScrewDestiny.
46	* GrumpyOldMan: Old Pete.
47	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Mahatma Campbell. Fighting off ''[[Creator/HPLovecraft Cthulhu.]]'' ''SINGLE-HANDEDLY.'']]
48	* HeterosexualLifePartners: John and Jim. The author claims that every man has a "bestest friend" whom they "love in a manly, mannish way".
49	* KillAndReplace: [[spoiler: Happens to the ''entire cast'' except for Jim in ''East of Ealing''. Fortunately, [[SnapBack everything is back to normal by the time the next book begins]], albeit likely because ''Ealing'' ended with Jim in the past in a position to prevent the devastation.]]
50	* LazyBum: John and Jim.
51	* LiteralMetaphor: When Rune says that Danbury Collins' lectures are always a riot. One duly ensues.
52	* LocalHangout: The saloon bar of the Flying Swan.
53	* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: When a ''zulu warrior'' goes up in smoke on the 7.15 bus, the public response is along the lines of "Meh, that was just SpontaneousCombustion. Could have happened anywhere."
54	* MadScientist: Norman. He creates a perpetual motion machine to power a robotic Norman...which gives him more time to work on building [[spoiler: a time machine]]. He has also [[spoiler: teleported the Great Pyramid of Giza to the Brentford football ground]] and calculated the location of the Great Pit. [[spoiler: It's in his kitchenette.]]
55	* UpdatedRerelease: ''The Sprouts of Wrath'' had a rewritten ending for the Corgi edition, due to the author not being happy with ending the book in a sad way.
56	* SelfInsertFic: The author has said in several interviews that he based Jim Pooley on himself and that Hugo Rune was based on his father (who incidentally knew Aleister Crowley). He also said that when he finished writing 'The Brightonomicon' he realized that he'd written a story about his father and himself having an adventure.
57	* SeriousBusiness: Celebrating the Millennium in 1997 and saving Brentford FC football grounds, among others.
58	* Literature/SherlockHolmes: Appears in ''East of Ealing''
59	* TheConstant: Professor Slocombe. It's implied that he has been the Comte De Saint Germain and Merlin, among others. He is present when [[spoiler:Norman travels back in time]] in ''East Of Ealing'' as well as Literature/SherlockHolmes recalling working with him more than a century ago in the same book.
60	* TontoTalk: Paul and Barry Geronimo.
61	* TookALevelInBadass: Archroy evolves from ChewToy to [[WalkTheEarth globetrotting]] Dimac master in ''The Antipope'', while Soap Distant, a demented [[HollowWorld Hollow Earther]] presumed dead in the same book, returns in later books as a valued ally.
62	* TunnelKing: Soap Distant, like his father before him, a Flat Earther looking for the underground kingdom of Ridgijenpo or something.
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64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:The Armageddon Trilogy]]
67
68	'''The Armageddon Trilogy''' - This one is only three volumes, which starts off AfterTheEnd, and gets steadily weirder as Rex Mundi encounters [[ElvisHasLeftThePlanet Elvis and his talking Time Sprout, Barry]], leading to numerous misadventures.
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70	[[AC:The books are:]]
71	* ''Armageddon: The Musical'' (1988)
72	* ''They Came and Ate Us (Armageddon II: The B Movie)'' (1991)
73	* ''The Suburban Book of the Dead (Armageddon III: The Remake)'' (1992)
74
75	!!!They contain examples of:
76	* AlternateHistory: ''The Suburban Book of the Dead'' is set partly in a timeline created by Music/{{Elvis\|Presley}}.
77	* BizarreAlienBiology: plant-based technology.
78	* ChurchOfHappyology: One of the three religious leaders/TV execs that run the world is Creator/LRonHubbard the 23rd, although he isn't a significant part of the plot.
79	* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Spoofed.
80	* DeusExMachina: Played for laughs.
81	* EncyclopediaExposita: I and III have two very different books called ''The Suburban Book of the Dead''. II introduces Hugo Rune and ''The Book of Ultimate Truths''.
82	** Played with somewhat, as excerpts from ''The Book of Ultimate Truth'' are accompanied by quotes from the work of Sir John Rimmer that try to discredit them, which ultimately leads to Hugo Rune complaining about it.
83	* ExpositionOfImmortality: During ''They Came and Ate Us,'' Rex points out that not only did he recognise Elvis, despite his wig and glasses, his aliases weren't exactly concealing, either. ''"Theodore Henry Edward King? T H E King? Mr No-ah Never?"''
84	* FridgeLogic: [[invoked]] At the end of the first book, Elvis ''points out'' that it doesn't make any sense.
85	* MeaningfulName: Rex Mundi, and his sister Gloria. Oh, and President Wormwood.
86	* MetafictionalTitle: ''The Suburban Book of the Dead: Armageddon III: The Remake'' is named after ''The Suburban Book of the Dead'', a religious tome within the book ... but which turns out not to be the same ''Suburban Book Of The Dead'' that appeared in ''Armageddon: The Musical''.
87	* MindScrew: While this applies to some degree to ''everything'' Rankin has written, ''Armageddon 2'' takes the cake, paints it pink, and wears it like a hat while running naked down the street to tell its aunt all about it.
88	* NoFourthWall: Most prominently in Book II. When one scene turns awry, Rex notes that they're probably going to rewrite it for the movie version.
89	** Also used at the beginning:
90	-->'''Rambo Bloodaxe:''' It's Rankin, he's in the pub again and he's writing.
91	* ObliviousToTheirOwnDescription: The people of Phnaargos, who spend most of their time watching a reality TV show depicting life on planet Earth, think that the show has gone downhill since the humans turned into couch potatoes who do nothing but watch reality TV. It's so unrealistic, for one thing!
92	* PoliceCodeForEverything: Even a demon-possessed vehicle in a tow-away zone.
93	* PrivateDetective: Lazlo "Some Call Me Laz" Woodbine.
94	* PrivateEyeMonologue: In Lazlo's line of work having a decent monologue can mean the difference between sitting on the dock of the bay and a sing-song in Sing-Sing, if you know what I mean, and I'm sure that you do.
95	* RunningGag: The most prominent running gag involves people commenting on how bad the running gags are.
96	* ShoutOut: Not only is one of the characters an [[Film/ThisIslandEarth 'Inter-rositor' operator]], but with a flash of FridgeBrilliance, faulty parts cannot be replaced. [[note]]That very warning was given in the construction notes for the original Interocitor.[[/note]]
97	* SleepsWithBothEyesOpen: In Rex's dystopian future, people are paid according to how much television they watch. Rex has trained himself to sleep with his eyes open so that the tracking gadget will think he's still watching.
98	* TextualCelebrityResemblance: A group of minor characters with NoFourthWall insist that, since Rankin never bothered to describe them, they can decide they all look like celebrities.
99	* TimeTravel
100	* TwistEnding: The second book has several, including O'Mally and Pooley complaining that none of their books had a silly ending like that.
101
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:The Cornelius Murphy Series]]
105
106	'''The Cornelius Murphy Series''' - Three books that give us more details of the Guru's Guru, the Lad Himself, The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived, Mr Hugo Rune, as Cornelius Murphy (the Stuff of Epics) and his friend Tuppe try to find a copy of ''The Book of Ultimate Truths'' or Rune himself.
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108	[[AC:The books are:]]
109	* ''The Book of Ultimate Truths'' (1993)
110	* ''Raiders of the Lost Car Park'' (1994)
111	* ''The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived'' (1995)
112
113	!!!They contain examples of:
114	* BigGuyLittleGuy: Cornelius Murphy and his best friend Tuppe; Cornelius is described as being six feet tall, while Tuppe is so short that even dwarves look down at him and he apparently made a living impersonating babies in commercials before the trilogy began.
115	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Anna, Cornelius’s love interest in ''Raiders of the Lost Car Park'', is simply never mentioned in ''The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived''.
116	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Mr Yarrow from ''The Book Of Ultimate Truths'' became convinced as a boy that the point of the "Happy Families" card game was that the secret of happiness was to find, as Mr Bun the Baker and Mr Thread the Tailor had, an occupation that... began with the same letter as your surname. Consequently, he became Mr Yarrow the Youth Employment Officer and devoted his life to bringing happiness to others. It hasn't worked, for him or anyone else, but he keeps trying...
117	* EncyclopediaExposita: ''The Book of Ultimate Truths'' again.
118	* EvilTwin: In ''The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived'', Hugo Rune has four of these after he used his power of preincarnation to be reborn as quintuplets on his original birth date.
119	* FictionalColour: In ''The Book Of Ultimate Truths'', when Brother Rizla is explaining to a sceptical Cornelius and Tuppe about the amazing discoveries made by Hugo Rune, he reveals that there are actually three colours whose existence has been concealed from humanity. Apparently this is with good reason, as when Cornelius' brain tries to make sense of one of them, "a reddy yellowy bluey greenish blackish sort of white -- except that it was not", his eyes start watering; Rizla tells him that the second will make him break out in hives, and the third will put him in a coma.
120	* GodIsFlawed: In ''The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived'', it's revealed that, while [[GodIsGood very much]] an AllLovingHero, God has had his share of bad ideas over the years; testicles being on the outside, without any sort of [[GroinAttack protective shell]], is cited as an example (for what it's worth, there is an actual biological reason for this: if they were on the inside, most sperm would die due to overheating). In fact, the entire reason the [[CelestialBureaucracy Universal Reincarnation Company]] exists -- and why the BigBad's EvilPlan is even possible -- is because God shut Hell down after [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realising]] that by including a commandment against coveting, he had unwittingly sentenced untold numbers of ''babies'' to eternal damnation for [[DisproportionateRetribution coveting others' toys]].
121	* GroundhogDayLoop: Not explicitly shown, but since ''The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived'' reveals that Hugo Rune has mastered the power of preincarnation (allowing himself to be reborn after death in his own body on his original birth date) he must have been through these a few times by the time the narrative begins.
122	* IdenticalGrandson: Tuppe and his uncle, Brother Eight, apparently look and sound exactly the same (to the point where Cornelius thinks he is hearing and seeing double when he sees them both together), although Eight is presumably somewhat older.
123	* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: ''Raiders of the Lost Car Park''. The lands of TheFairFolk are normally inaccessible to humans because they're on the areas of a rectangular map that don't fit when you glue it onto a globe of the same scale. These can be accessed by playing the right combination of notes on an ocarina that has been 'reinvented' through the correct application of a power drill. There's more, but [[YouAreNotReady the world is not prepared]].
124	* LastRequest: Rune claims he was once sentenced to death by firing squad by President [[UsefulNotes/JuanDomingoPeron Juan Perón]] of Argentina for sleeping with [[UsefulNotes/EvaPeron his wife]]. Granted a last request, he asked that the squad aim for his heart, for it had been his undoing. Perón, having evidently forgotten that the reason Rune was in Argentina in the first place was to demonstrate a magical bulletproof vest which [[AttackReflector deflected the attacker's bullets back at them]], permitted this; the entire firing squad promptly fell dead.
125	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: Murphy is Rune's son]].
126	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Clearly invoked in ''Raiders of the Lost Car Park'', when Cornelius realises that they can’t expose the ‘fairies’ that rule the world because it would spark potential revolution as humanity started turning on itself and accusing each other of being aided by the fairies.
127	* NotUsingTheZWord: In ''The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived'', [[NamesToRunAwayFromVeryFast Gwynplaine D'hark]] QC is very obviously a vampire (and not even making any attempt to hide it), but the word is never used. Instead, he's described as "one of the undead", a "coffin dweller" and a "[[YouKeepUsingThatWord necrophile]]" (though he's rather annoyed by the last one, pointing out that he's not a living person who makes love to corpses, he is a ''dead'' person who sucks the life blood of the living.)
128	* OhCrap: Hugo Rune is caught off-guard in ''Raiders of the Lost Car Park'' when he learns that the armies of the secret rulers of the world can only be killed by swords rather than conventional modern weapons.
129	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: God is basically presented as this in ''The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived'', as He shut down Hell because He recognised that it was impossible for anyone to obey the Tenth Commandment about coveting what belongs to others as everybody has wanted something that someone else has at some point in their lives.
130	* ShapedLikeItself: In ''The Book of Ultimate Truths'', a group of monks reveal that one of their number- Brother Rizla, a former associate of Hugo Rune- suffers from a condition that has proven impossible to diagnose beyond that it is what it is, so the monks have taken to calling it ‘Bloke-What-Has-All-Them-Little-Lines-And-Stuff-Coming-Out-Of-His-Bonce-Like-What-You-Get-In-Cartoon-Strips Syndrome’, which does exactly what it says (as well as giving the sufferer the ability to see the ‘thought bubbles’ of others).
131	* SuperSargassoSea: The Forbidden Zones hold huge quantities of things that went mysteriously missing over the centuries, from ballpoint pens and umbrellas to rare antique cars and lost fortunes in diamonds.
132	* YouMightRememberMeFrom: An InUniverse example in ''The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived'' with the bit-part player hired by Rune to play the part of the magistrate at Cornelius' staged trial. Everyone can remember him from ''some'' movie or other, and Cornelius even lists a number of the films he's been in -- apparently he was killed by Tor Johnson in ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace''[[note]] Johnson's character doesn't actually kill anyone[[/note]] and also provided the alien's hands in ''Film/DarkStar''[[note]] this was actually [[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0145309/ Nick Castle]], who wasn't in any of the other films listed, and in fact was only nine years old when ''Plan 9'' came out[[/note]]. Nobody can remember what his name is, but he says it isn't any of Cornelius' guesses (Cash Flagg, Bruce Morgan, Charles Winthrope, Clive [=McMurty=] or Bill Seabrook) and, despite what other characters seem to think, probably isn't Kyle [=McKintock=] or Clive Webley either.
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134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:The Trilogy That Dare Not Speak Its Name Trilogy]]
137
138	'''The Trilogy That Dare Not Speak Its Name [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Trilogy]]'''
139
140	[[AC:The books are:]]
141	* ''Sprout Mask Replica''
142	* ''The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag''
143	* ''Waiting for Godalming''
144
145	!!!They contain examples of
146	* HandsomeLech: Arguably [[spoiler: God]] in ''Waiting for Godalming''
147	* {{Cyberspace}}: The main Plotline of ''The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag''
148	* NoodleImplements: Blown to smithereens in ''Sprout Mask Replica''. Also several characters are described as dying in a freak incident involving "Object X and object Y".
149	* NoMedicationForMe: [[spoiler: Lazlo Woodbine]] it allows one of his many CrowningMomentsOfAwesome
150	* SplitPersonality: In ''Waiting for Godalming'', [[spoiler:Lazlo Woodbine apparently uses this when he allows his other personality of Icarus Smith’s barking mad brother to take control, allowing him to go from an office to the rooftop for the final showdown with the villain without violating his four-set rule as it technically isn't ''him'' making the trip]].
151	* WindsOfDestinyChange: The lead character of ''Sprout Mask Replica'' has the ability to change major things with his minor actions, although he really doesn't use it wisely.
152
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	----
156
157	[[AC:Other books:]]
158	* ''The Greatest Show Off Earth'' (1994)
159	* ''A Dog Called Demolition'' (1996)
160	* ''Nostradamus Ate my Hamster'' (1996)
161	* ''Apocalypso'' (1998)
162	* ''Snuff Fiction'' (1999)
163	* ''The Fandom of the Operator'' (2001)
164	* ''Web Site Story'' (2001)
165	* ''The Witches of Chiswick'' (2003)
166	* ''The Toyminator'' (2006)
167	* ''The Da-da-de-da-da Code'' (2007)
168	* ''Necrophenia'' (2008)
169	* ''The Japanese Devil Fish Girl and Other Unnatural Attractions'' (2010)
170	* ''The Mechanical Messiah and Other Marvels of the Modern Age'' (2011)
171
172	!!Tropes used in all of his works:
173	* ComicSutra: "Taking tea with the parson"
174	* FeaturelessProtagonist: Used often for Lazlo Woodbine; as his novels are narrated in the first person, he claims that he never describes himself because that way the reader can imagine him as looking like themselves or some relevant hero, and thus make themselves feel like they’re part of the story.
175	* MasterOfAll: Hugo Rune is commonly presented as this in his appearances, being a man who has basically been everywhere, done everything, and learned all there is to know.
176	* MindScrew
177	* PunBasedTitle: e.g. ''Raiders of the Lost Car Park'' and ''The Witches of Chiswick''.
178	* RetroUniverse: While technology reaches into standard futuristic fare, the citizens of Brentford still seem to live a quiet life, down to the fact that the local pub deals in pre-decimalisation money.
179	* RunningGag: It is a fact, well known to those who know it well, that the now legendary Rankin books contain several Running Gags. This is a tradition or an old charter, or something, and while we sure know our running gags, (because in our line of work, knowing your running gags can be the difference between Kicking a kitten and fleeing the furballs) we couldn't possibly list ''all'' of them here, due to transperambulation of pseudo-cosmic anti-matter.
180	** "[[BreakingTheFourthWall I hope that's not going to be a]] RunningGag. It's crap."
181	** "I think that RunningGag may have peaked a bit early. -Ed."
182	* ToThePain: Many of Rankin's novels feature characters threatening others with their mastery of Dimac, 'the deadliest martial art known to man'; allegedly, the master of Dimac is capable of disfiguring and dismembering an opponent with nothing more than a fingertip, or causing so much damage to the victim that he will subsequently forever walk sideways in the manner of a crab. Subverted in that in most cases the characters making this threat don't actually ''know'' Dimac (and one character who learned it was defeated because he only knew the offensive side of Dimac rather than the defensive aspects), but there has been enough evidence to affirm that Dimac does exist in Rankin's work even if it is not explicitly demonstrated.
183	* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Many characters quoth things, without warning, and use old phrases.
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Context Creator / RobertRankin