Jim Springman. An ordinary kid - the mundane youngest child of a suburban family living in Queen's Port. The Realm of Glory - Jim's older sister's fantasy novel and sole claim to fame. When Queen's Port becomes spliced with the world of The Realm of Glory via a massive screwup by Jim's older siblings, it's up to him to set things right. With the help of his neighbours the Cobbler girls (Ruthie and Josie), and his older brother Fletcher, Jim's fight against monsters, bandits, and a particularly nasty fire-breathing duck begins. A fun fantasy tale that can get quite postmodern.
Has a sequel, Springman Brothers Reality Repair.
Contains examples of:
- Adults Are Useless - Except for Fletcher, although Fletcher's a complete jackass. Mike the bus driver is the only adult who seems to cope reasonably with the changes, but he doesn't do much in the story, and seems less brave than the kid heroes.
- Affectionate Parody - The Realm of Glory has many aspects of this (although in universe it's meant to be a serious work).
- Author Avatar - Ingrid's is a plot point.
- Book Within A Book - The Realm of Glory
- Deconstructive Parody - Occasionally edges into this, particularly with Zevilleer.
- For Science! - One of Fletcher's two reasons for his experiments. The other is money.
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Fridge Logic - Various aspects of The Realm of Glory don't make sense. Some are Lampshaded once the characters are actually inside the story. - Genre Savvy - The characters can get interestingly meta, like when they try to contact the author of the book they're trapped in by finding her Author Avatar.
- The dragon Zevilleer becomes this in real life. In The Realm of Glory he was written as a black and white villain who kills gratuitously and without reason. Once he becomes real, he sees no point in staying 'in character', and becomes dangerously unpredictable.
- Jerkass Fletcher and Ingrid seem to be competing for who's the epitome of this. However, both are hinted at being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Or at least of rusty bronze.
- Mad Scientist - Fletcher is this taken up to eleven.
- Mad Scientist Laboratory - Fletcher improvises a low-budget one in his parent's garage.
- Medieval European Fantasy - The Realm of Glory is a parody of this. When it merges with Queen's Port, however, some technology remains, leading to the evil bandit using motorcycles instead of horses, among other things.
- Playing with a Trope - Various examples.
- Rule of Cool - Fletcher's science is based on this rather than, well, actual science.
- Rule of Funny - The
firebreathing duckFiredrake. - Trapped In Book Land
