The Brightonomicon

The storyline was excellent, however, the format - divided into episodes was very irritating. Each time it started and stopped I had to endure the opening credits and closing credits including cast list. This did spoil the enjoyment somewhat. The other two Robert Rankin titles available are just as funny, but are not divided into episodes.

Very entertaining, and reminiscent of a Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy - the radio version. And good actors!

If you enjoy Radio 4 plays you will probably enjoy this. I don't and the format came as a shock. Enduring more than 3 minutes of credits and theme tune every half an hour was painful but not as painful as listening to some of the dreadful accents from the actors. I finally made it to the end by switching to double speed playback.

That said, if you can get past (or even enjoy, as some seem able to) this adaptation, the two lead actors are actually quite good and the story is entertaining.

I would have vastly preferred to have had the book just read by David Warner.

I love this story! It's quirky and quite different to anything I have heard previously. I am a big fan of dramatisations of books. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys Terry Pratchett books or the Steampunk genre or who enjoys BBC Radio 7's 'Seventh Dimension'.
Rankin falls into a category entirely of his own. The randomness and humour in this story work so well that it makes all the nonsense seem to make sense. The actors are brilliant and I feel they play the parts excellently.
There is probably only a very small target audience for this kind of writing, but I urge everyone to give it a listen. You'll fall in love with it!

So well narrated that you can picture the scenes as you listen. Haven't laughed out loud until now when listening to my books. Will certainly listen to it again - just in case I missed anything.

Rankin is what is often called a cult author, but often it feels more like a small cabal, of which it's members are unsure of who else may be a member. An underground fraternity, recognizing each other only by veiled hints at the depravity of sprouts, or the willfulness of the common or garden bicycle.



And it shouldn't be like this. There is no good reason why Rankin shouldn't be in the firmament of far fetched authors like Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams. Perhaps we guard him too jealously, fearful of him becoming mainstream. Perhaps, like the music of Tom Waits, you have to find him yourself at the right time.



The Brightonomicon is a jewel at the heart of Rankin's increasingly unreliable and inconsistent world. Focussing on the most remarkable man who ever lived, Hugo Rune (played with more relish than any number of hot dogs by David Warner), accompanied by the gormless Rizla (Rupert Degas), and featuring a truly unhinged Andy Serkis as Count Otto Black, the Yang to Rune's Ying. Or vice versa.



Rune is a brilliant creation, simultaneously a true magus and charlatan of the worst sort, and the plot is little more than an excuse to showcase him and make some truly epically bad puns. And why not?



The ending and revelations will mean little to anyone unfamiliar with the rest of the Rankinverse, so it may seem to to recommend this as a starting point. So what, listen to this, then get everything else he's written, then listen again to get the in jokes.



You'll thank me later. TAXI! Now where's my stout stick for dealing with the driver...

This is not really my type of humour or fantasy. I prefer my humour more subtle. I stuck with the book because I found the references to Brighton intriguing and my enjoyment would have been enhanced if I could have found anywhere on the web a map showing how the streets are supposed to trace out the images referred to in the book; the Hangleton Hound for example. I don't know if the print edition would provide this or whether it is convenient fiction of Robert Rankin. It would probably be possible to produce such images, however contrived so I was particularly disappointed not to be able to find any reference to them.

Yet another fabulous BBC audiobook serialisation! In this case it is a truly British story of amnesia, spaniels, free cab rides(!), aliens, conspiracy theory and (quite rightly) correct tailoring. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact it was split into episodes (gave me chance to draw breath!). Great fun and fabulously silly.

I normally love Robert Rankin but this is beyond painful. It's dragging on and on and on and I'm afraid that for the first time in thirty mumble years I'm going to have to abandon a book. Also the half hour episode things with an announcer is just annoying, I could understand if this was on tape but it was done in 2008 so there was no excuse to edit those bits out of the radio version other than sheer laziness.



One of the big things that's driving me nuts is the incredibly distracting background noises, when they are in a pub or a restaurant there are the sounds of people on a three second loop, but the shameful thing is that there is no difference between them, the BBC have a fine sound effects department but for some reason they decided to give this one to the 14 year old work experience kid who knows how the computer program works.



The actors are fine, but the production is shocking.

Sit down, relax and enjoy!! This is one of the most glorious displays of British humour I have ever had the pleasure of listening to - and I am a die hard Hancock fan!! It is wonderfully mad and surreal - PLEASE people buy this because the sooner that Rankin, Warner, Degas, Serkis (good luck in NZ ) et al can be brought back together again the better!!! I am not your typical sci fi fan so, go on, give it a try!!!

Beware the Spaniels!!!!!!!