From rec.arts.sf-reviews Fri Aug 23 01:58:45 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!know!mtgzy.att.com!ecl From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER by Tom Holt Message-ID: <31616@know.pws.bull.com> Date: 19 Aug 91 04:04:00 GMT Sender: wex@pws.bulL.com Reply-To: ecl@mtgzy.att.com Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Lines: 50 Approved: wex@pws.bull.com Original-From: mtgzy!ecl (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) [Please forgive if this is a duplicate. They were evacuating the building in preparation for Hurricane Bob while this was in the queue and I don't *think* it made it out. --AW] EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER by Tom Holt A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper I don't normally enjoy "humorous" fantasy. For one thing, it's usually not very humorous. But Tom Holt's EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER is funny--funny enough that I frequently laughed out loud reading it (much to the distress of my spousal unit, who was trying to read something serious). Holt takes as his background Richard Wagner's "Ring" cycle of operas. Malcolm Fisher, schlemiel supreme, runs over a badger one night. The badger is not really a badger, however--it is Ingolf, a Frost Giant who had seized the Ring and the Tarnhelm from Siegfried's funeral pyre. If you're not following this, that's okay. Malcolm didn't either, so the badger ... excuse me, Ingolf, provides some explanation and Malcolm later does his own research as well. At the end of Malcolm's research, Holt describes his state as follows: "Malcolm had never been greatly inclined to metaphysical or religious speculations, but he had hoped that if there was a supreme being or divine agency, it would at least show the elements of logic and common sense in its conduct. Seemingly, not so. On the other hand, the revelation that the destiny of the world had been shaped by a bunch of verbose idiots went some way towards explaining the problems of human existence." Now that Malcolm has the Ring and can rule the world, of course, everyone else wants it back--gods, valkyries, Rhinemaidens. He also need some practice to get the knack of the Tarnhelm. And throughout all this Holt demonstrates a wry wit that other humor writers often fall short of. My only objection is the somewhat abrupt resolution, but then any long drawn-out serious stretch would spoil the comic timing. If you are a fan of Wagner's operas, you *must* read this book, but even if you've never heard a note, EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER is highly recommended. (Extra note to opera fans: Anna Russell would have loved it.) %T EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER %A Tom Holt %C New York %D September 1990 %I Ace %O paperback, US$3.95, copyright 1987 %G ISBN 0-441-22332-X %P 231pp Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Nov 20 10:47:05 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!seunet!mcsun!uunet!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!pacbell!pbhyc!djdaneh From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: WHO'S AFRAID OF BEOWULF? by Tom Holt Message-ID: <1991Nov19.191319.28512@pbhyc.PacBell.COM> Date: 19 Nov 91 19:13:19 GMT Sender: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: Pacific * Bell Lines: 37 Approved: djdaneh@pbhyc.pacbell.com WHO'S AFRAID OF BEOWULF? by Tom Holt A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper Since I thought Holt's EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER was the funniest writing since Anna Russell summarized the Ring, I eagerly awaited this book, which was actually first published before EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER. Was I disappointed? Well, I hoped for (expected?) a 10 and got only a 9, so in a sense I was. I guess what I'm saying is that you *can* finish your breakfast before rushing out to buy this book. One thing it has going for it (in addition to Holt's style, of course) is that it is not a prequel, sequel, coquel, or in any other way related to EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER. No Norse gods inhabit WHO'S AFRAID OF BEOWULF?, just Vikings, chthonic spirits, and the odd sorcerer or two. Oh, yes, and an archaeologist to serve as the "straight man" (or in this case, "straight woman," and the reference is theatrical, not sexual). Not surprisingly, having all these beings from a thousand or more years ago running around in 20th Century England causes some difficulty. (Even in Scotland, they're a bit outre', but in London, they're real standouts.) But they adapt surprisingly well--the sorcerers are even running a multi-national, which probably surprises no one. In short, Holt was *not* a one-book author and shows promise of becoming the best fantasy humorist around. Buy this book! %T WHO'S AFRAID OF BEOWULF? %A Tom Holt %C New York %D September 1991 %I Ace %O paperback, US$4.50 [1989] %G ISBN 0-441-88591-8 %P 206pp Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com From rec.arts.sf-reviews Sun Aug 25 20:07:41 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!kth.se!eru!bloom-beacon!mintaka!think.com!samsung!know!mtgzy.att.com!ecl From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER by Tom Holt Message-ID: <31615@know.pws.bull.com> Date: 19 Aug 91 04:04:00 GMT Sender: news@pws.bulL.com Reply-To: ecl@mtgzy.att.com Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Lines: 47 Approved: wex@pws.bull.com Original-From: mtgzy!ecl (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER by Tom Holt A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper I don't normally enjoy "humorous" fantasy. For one thing, it's usually not very humorous. But Tom Holt's EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER is funny--funny enough that I frequently laughed out loud reading it (much to the distress of my spousal unit, who was trying to read something serious). Holt takes as his background Richard Wagner's "Ring" cycle of operas. Malcolm Fisher, schlemiel supreme, runs over a badger one night. The badger is not really a badger, however--it is Ingolf, a Frost Giant who had seized the Ring and the Tarnhelm from Siegfried's funeral pyre. If you're not following this, that's okay. Malcolm didn't either, so the badger ... excuse me, Ingolf, provides some explanation and Malcolm later does his own research as well. At the end of Malcolm's research, Holt describes his state as follows: "Malcolm had never been greatly inclined to metaphysical or religious speculations, but he had hoped that if there was a supreme being or divine agency, it would at least show the elements of logic and common sense in its conduct. Seemingly, not so. On the other hand, the revelation that the destiny of the world had been shaped by a bunch of verbose idiots went some way towards explaining the problems of human existence." Now that Malcolm has the Ring and can rule the world, of course, everyone else wants it back--gods, valkyries, Rhinemaidens. He also need some practice to get the knack of the Tarnhelm. And throughout all this Holt demonstrates a wry wit that other humor writers often fall short of. My only objection is the somewhat abrupt resolution, but then any long drawn-out serious stretch would spoil the comic timing. If you are a fan of Wagner's operas, you *must* read this book, but even if you've never heard a note, EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER is highly recommended. (Extra note to opera fans: Anna Russell would have loved it.) %T EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER %A Tom Holt %C New York %D September 1990 %I Ace %O paperback, US$3.95, copyright 1987 %G ISBN 0-441-22332-X %P 231pp Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 03:30:21 1994 Xref: liuida rec.arts.sf.reviews:324 rec.arts.books:62244 alt.books.reviews:948 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!uunet!psinntp!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: Evelyn.Chimelis.Leeper@att.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books,alt.books.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: FLYING DUTCH by Tom Holt Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9308121104.ZM636@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com> Date: 12 Aug 93 23:20:00 GMT Lines: 37 FLYING DUTCH by Tom Holt A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1993 Evelyn C. Leeper First it was the Ring of the Niebelung in EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER. Then it was BEOWULF in WHO'S AFRAID OF BEOWULF? And now Tom Holt is busy looking at what the Flying Dutchman would REALLY be like. Holt's humor relies largely on the matter-of-fact tone he adopts, whether he's talking about bores ("Such was Paul's skill at grabbing the attention of the viewer that if he told you your ears were on fire you'd be so bored with the topic you wouldn't bother putting them out") or world order ("So if we have third world poverty and nuclear weapons and East-West hostility and economic depressions, but all brought about by means of the democratic process, then that's all right, but if just one man is responsible, then it's tyranny. Sorry, I never did history at school, I don't understand these things"). I have only one minor quibble--the arithmetic on page 177 was done on a calculator that introduced a round-off error. But counter-balancing this is the fact that Holt mentions my old home town of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts (though there is, of course, no University of Chicopee Falls). I enjoyed FLYING DUTCH better than WHO'S AFRAID OF BEOWULF? and as much as EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER--which I loved. To anyone looking for a very funny book, I highly recommend FLYING DUTCH. %T Flying Dutch %A Tom Holt %C New York %D June 1993 %I Ace %O paperback, US$4.50 [1992] %G ISBN 0-441-24193-X %P 252pp -- Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | ecl@mtgpfs1.att.com / Evelyn.Leeper@att.com From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 03:56:23 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!uunet!psinntp!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: kcc@cs.wustl.edu (Ken Cox) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Review of Tom Holt's _Ye Gods!_ Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9310051635.AA15847@siesta.wustl.edu> Date: 06 Oct 93 02:14:34 GMT Lines: 44 YE GODS! Tom Holt A review by Ken Cox Tom Holt has carved a small niche in the humorous fantasy market with his books placing mythological or legendary characters in a modern setting -- Germanic myth and the Ring cycle in _Expecting Someone Taller_, Viking legend in _Who's Afraid of Beowulf_, and the Flying Dutchman in _Flying Dutch_. _Ye Gods!_ is Holt's look at classical myth. Welcome to a world where the primordial gods Cronus and Rhea had a brother. Where the gods play dice -- well, more like Monopoly -- with the universe. Where Platonic Forms -- Autumn and Fear and Efficiency and Indigestion and Venezuela -- walk the earth. And where Prometheus was punished not so much for giving mankind fire, as for giving them the _other_ thing. Enter Jason Derry, Hero, the son of Jupiter (king of the universe) and Phyllis Derry (suburban housewife). Jason is leading the normal life of a Hero -- recovering golden fleeces, slaying the odd gorgon or dragon, winning wars single-handedly -- when he meets Prometheus, who tells him what's really going on. Then things get interesting.... _Ye Gods!_ is worth reading simply for the one-liners. As usual, Holt is at his funniest when describing the interactions of the mythical figures with the real world. In terms of humorous content, I would _Ye Gods!_ slightly above _Beowulf_ but definitely below _Expecting_ and _Flying_. However, the plot is a bit weak and incoherent at times. Several plot lines are left hanging at the end, which always irritates me. On technical grounds, it is probably the weakest of the novels. %T Ye Gods! %A Tom Holt %I St. Martin's Press %C New York %D 1992 %G ISBN 0-312-08927-9 %P 296pp %O hardcover, US$19.95; first published in Great Britain by Orbit Books Ken Cox kcc@cs.wustl.edu From new Thu Jun 16 19:03:15 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!godot.cc.duq.edu!toads.pgh.pa.us!hudson.lm.com!terrazzo.lm.com!not-for-mail From: dani@terrazzo.lm.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Tom Holt: Ye Gods! Date: 12 Jun 1994 21:05:19 -0400 Organization: Telerama Public Access Internet, Pittsburgh, PA USA Lines: 45 Message-ID: <2tgbcf$96l@terrazzo.lm.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: terrazzo.lm.com Jason Derry is a Hero in the classical style. The son of Jupiter by a mortal woman, he slays monsters as a matter of course. (It can be a real nuisance when your son keeps coming home from school with dead tigers or dragons -- particularly if you're running out of room in the back yard to bury them.) If he's not remarkably bright, well, he's never needed to be. The need begins to arise when he encounters Prometheus, chained to a chain of mountains. (Don't believe the myth about Hercules having freed him.) Prometheus is not being punished for bringing fire, except incidentally, so much for having given humanity the ability to not take the Gods seriously. Since then the Gods hang out on the sun, playing complicated games and getting bored. Prometheus reckons that they (particularly Jupiter, who is a few planets short of a solar system these days) are a danger to our world, and has come up with a plan to take care of them. If the plan fails, the world will be destroyed, but this is a chance Prometheus is willing to take. As with most of Holt's novels, the best thing about "Ye Gods!" is the premise. The book never quite lives up to it, though it's often witty and often cute. Holt, as is his wont, gets as much mileage as he can from the humor implicit in placing classical myths in a modern setting, though this is far from his only source of gags. Unfortunately, the three-hundred pages of gags don't seem to add up to one interesting story. Even compared to his other books, this one is somewhat tedious. If you haven't read Tom Holt's books before, this isn't the best place to start. "Right," he said briskly, "this may hurt a little." Nobody knows exactly why doctors say that. It can't be to set the patient at his ease, becasue anybody above the age of three knows from bitter experience that the words are the invariable prologue to agony... %A Holt, Tom %T Ye Gods! %I Orbit %D 1993 %O L4.99 ($6.99 CDN) %P 296 pp. %G 1-85723-080-9 ----- Dani Zweig dani@telerama.lm.com dani@netcom.com "We live and learn, but not the wiser grow" -- John Pomfret From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Feb 13 18:11:59 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!news.tele.fi!uunet!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: alexmc@biccdc.co.uk (Alex McLintock) Subject: Tom Holt - "Odd and Gods" Message-ID: <18512.9501241415@biccdc.co.uk> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: The Internet Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1995 22:51:30 GMT Return-Path: Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 39 "Odd and Gods" by Tom Holt. A book review by Alex McLintock hardback, 14.99, publication date 19th January 1995 What do you do when you are a God well past his "Sell by" date? If you are Osiris then you open up a retirement home for gods and godesses, and check yourself in. But when one of your godsons tries to take over the world then what can you do but check out and save the universe? The two great British "comic fantasy" novelists Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett work by placing the familiar characters in totally unfamiliar situations. Holt starts off by doing the reverse and gives us supernatural beings who won't eat their rice puddings, and who fight over the correct reading of a map. This works well if you ignore the fact that all the Gods sound like they come from Oxford. The action is a bit confusing as the location darts across the physical and spiritual worlds as the "good guys" avoid being disincorporated by the evil godson and prepare themselves for the final showdown. The biggest problem for this book is that the gods have lost most of their powers but not all. Too often they can't wish the bad guys out existance because they aren't supposed to - its against the rules. I enjoyed this much more than the other two Holt books I have read. It gave me a good belly laugh every few pages - a much higher rate than Pratchett or Adams over recent years. But at 15 pounds I can hardly recommend you go out and buy it tomorrow. Anybody want to buy a second hand Modula 2 textbook? %A Holt, Tom %T Odds And Gods %I Orbit %C London %D 1995 %G ISBN 1-85723-266-6 %O hardcover, GBP14.99 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Apr 21 11:21:16 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.kth.se!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!news.sprintlink.net!noc.netcom.net!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: wex@media.mit.edu (Alan Wexelblat) Subject: Flying Bore -- review of Holt's FLYING DUTCH (REPOST) Message-ID: <9504051655.AA29350-repost@media.mit.edu> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@netcom6.netcom.com X-Now-Playing: Nothing Organization: The Internet X-Dj-In-The-House: Wex Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1995 21:11:36 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 41 Flying Dutch by Tom Holt Review Copyright (c) 1995 Alan Wexelblat OK, I give up. Tom Holt has taken a good idea -- update classic literary stories into modern England -- and bored it to death. His first effort "Expecting Someone Taller," was actually amusing, possibly because there's so much material for parody in Wagner's Ring cycle and the legends on which it was based. The second, "Who's Afraid of Beowulf?", wasn't per se funny, but it had a touchingly silly plot and I forgave its flaws. "Flying Dutch" doesn't even manage silliness. The plot is essentially the same as in "Who's Afraid..." -- in this case the Dutchman is not reawakened, but just comes to shore only once every seven years. Once again there's an evil wizard, er alchemist this time, who secretly controls the world and is responsible for most modern technological inventions. Once again there is a young woman who doesn't fit into the modern world, in this case she's a nebbish accountant rather than a reporter, to fall in love with the hero. Once again, there's a stupid (as in deliberately-written-as-unintelligent) crew with amusing names to go get drunk and smash up the local pubs. This time there isn't even any conflict to liven things up. The alchemist isn't really evil nor really opposed to the Dutchman and the cause they're crusading for is not saving the world, but getting rid of the stink. The problem is that the Dutchman and his crew drank the alchemist's potion which made them immortal and invulnerable but causes them to stink unbearably for six years and eleven months out of every cycle. It's deadly dull -- British humor at its worst (American humor at its worst is offensive). Unless someone can tell me things get better I won't be buying any more Holt books. %A Holt, Tom %T Flying Dutch %I Ace Fantasy %C New York %D 1991 %G ISBN 0-441-24193-X %O $4.50 From rec.arts.sf.written Mon Feb 5 00:04:58 1996 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!newsfeed.tip.net!cph-2.news.DK.net!dkuug!dknet!cph-1.news.DK.net!dkuug!dknet!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!newsfeed.ACO.net!swidir.switch.ch!nntp.coast.net!torn!nott!cunews!freenet.carleton.ca!FreeNet.Carleton.CA!aa692 From: aa692@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Alayne McGregor) Subject: Review of DJINN RUMMY by Tom Holt Message-ID: Sender: aa692@freenet5.carleton.ca (Alayne McGregor) Reply-To: aa692@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Alayne McGregor) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 02:08:03 GMT Lines: 59 DJINN RUMMY by Tom Holt reviewed by Alayne McGregor Pity a poor Force Twelve genie. Wasn't it bad enough that he got stuck in an aspirin bottle for fourteen years -- and then had to get let out by a woman bent on suicide? Was it fair that she had an execrable taste in slipcovers and *liked* beige, instead of proper Arabian Nights- style opulence? And how on earth did she manage to get him humiliated, threatened with immediate loss of divine status, and involved in a catastrophic fight with a fellow Force Twelve genie? Almost makes a genie want to have one too many milk sours at Saheed's, if he didn't have another million or so wishes to fulfill. This is the story of Kiss (otherwise known as Kawaguchiya Inte- grated Circuits III in honor of his commercial sponsor), a much-put-upon super-powerful genie, and Jane, who wanted to end it all over a lost love, but perked up immediately when she realized that Kiss' owners man- ual confirmed she could extend three wishes almost indefinitely. If Kiss then only had to deal with interior decoration and slipcovers, things might have been fairly quiet. Unfortunately, another Force Twelve genie called Philly Nine was just looking for a sponsor to make trouble, and life got rapidly interesting for everyone (as well as rather cluttered with flowers). Holt is back in top form with this hilarious fantasy. It's a beau- tifully orchestrated grab-bag of fantasy tropes and satiric comments that shouldn't work, but end up flying in a perfect pattern. Every time Holt adds another character, you're convinced he's going to drop every- thing, but the new bit finds just the right place. While Holt does make a few digs at modern mores, his humour is less based on current events than Terry Pratchett's, and comes more out of the situation itself. This has meant some of his past books have been weaker because the initial situation couldn't really support 200+ pages, but that's not a problem with Djinn Rummy. Holt embroiders fancy upon fancy on the themes of djinns and carpets and treasure -- and it's all believable (in its own cockeyed way) and original. And any book that made everyone on the bus stare at me while I was reading about Philly IX and the plague of locusts (I just couldn't stop laughing), has passed my highest tests for humour. Recommended for a wonderful couple of escapist hours. %T Djinn Rummy %A Tom Holt %C London %D 1995 %I Orbit %O hardcover, GBP 15.99 %G ISBN 1-85723-329-8 %P 277pp -- Alayne McGregor aa692@freenet.carleton.ca alayne@ve3pak.ocunix.on.ca mcgregoa@cognos.com