Tom Holt, a bibliography
Humourous fantasy:
"Expecting Someone Taller" (1987)
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Synopsis: All he did was run over a badger - sad, but hardly catastrophic.
But it wasn't Malcolm Fisher's day, for the badger turned out to be
none other than Inglof, last of the Giants. With his dying breath,
he reluctantly handed to Malcolm two Gifts of Power,
and made him ruler of the world. But can Malcolm cope with the responsibilty? Whilst averting wars, plagues and famines, he also has to protect himself against gods, dwarves, valkyries and other nefarious manifestations of the Dark Ages - none of whom think he is right for the job.
I've written a review of the book, you find it here.
"Who's Afraid of Beowulf?" (1988)
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Synopsis: Well, not Hrolf Earthstar, for a start. The last Norse king of Caithness, Hrolf and his twelwe champions are woken from a centuries-long sleep when Hildy Fredriksenn, archaeologist of the fairer sex, finds their grave. Not only that, Hrolf decides to carry on his ancient war against the Sorcerer-King. In a mixture of P.G. Wodehouse, Norse mythollogy and Laurel and Hardy,
Hildy and her Viking companions face such perils as BBC film crews, second-rate fish and chips and the Bakerloo Line in their battle agaainst the powers of darkness.
I've written a review of the book, you find it here.
"Flying Dutch" (1991)
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Synopsis: It's amazing the problems drinking can get you into. One little swig from the wrong bottle and you go from being an ordinary Dutch sea-captain to an unhappy immortal, drifting aroundthe world with your similarity immortal crew, suffering from peculiary whiffy side effects. Worst of all, Richard Wagner writes an opera about you. Little does Cornelius Vanderdecker, the Flying Dutchman, suspect that a chane encounter in an English pub might just lead to the end of his cursed life, one way or another.
"Ye Gods!" (1992)
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Synopsis: It's easy to get maladjusted when your mum's a suburban housewife and your dad's the Suprume Being. It can be a real drag of slaying
fabulous monsters and retrieving golden fleeces from fire-spitting
dragons, and then having to tidy your room berfore your mum'll let you
watch Star Trek. But it's not the relentless tedium of imperishable glory taht finally
brings Jason to the end of his rope; it's something so funny that it's
got to be taken seriously. Deadly seriously ...
"Overtime" (1993)
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Synopsis: Only in a Tom Holt novel can you discover the relationship between
the Inland Revenue, the Second Crusade and God's great plan to build starter
planets for first time life forms... It all started for Guy Goodlet somewhere over Caen. One moment he was heading
for the relative safety of the coast, aware that fuel was low and the
Mosquito had more than a few bullet holes in it. The next, his co-pilot
was asking to be dropped off. This would have been odd if Peter had still been alive. Since he was dead, it was downright worrying. But not quite as worrying as when Guy found himself somewhere in the
High Middle Ages - rather than in 1943 - in the company of one John de Nesle. Unsurprisingly, Guy's first thought was to get out and home sharpish.
But then he saw John's sister, Isoud, and somehow found himself agreeing
to help John, also known as Blondel, in his quest to find Richard Coeur de Lion...
"Here Comes the Sun" (1993)
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Synopsis: The sun rises late, dirty and so badly in need of a service it's a wonder it gets up at all. The moon's going to be scrapped soon and a new one commisioned - but then, they've been saying that for years... All is not well with the universe, and though there's a hell of a tidying up job to be organised after some carelessness with earthquakes and tidal waves, surely it's crazy to get mortals to run the show? Things may be bad, but isn't that going to extremes? The irrepressible Tom Holt hits the mark yet again with a dazzling foray into fantasy ... of the hilarious kind.
"Grailblazers" (1994)
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Synopsis: Fifteen hundred years have passed and the Grail is still missing, presumed ineffable; the Knights have dumped the Quest and now deliver pizzas; the sinister financial services industry of the lost kingdom of Atlantis threatens the universe with fiscal Armageddon; while in the background lurks the dark, brooding, red-caped presence of Father Christmas. In other words, Grailmate. Has Prince Boamund of Northgales (Snotty to friends) woken from his enchanted sleep in time to snatch back the Apron of Invincibility, overthrow the dark power of the Lord of the Reindeer and find out exactly what a Grail is? And just who did do the washing-up after the Last Supper?
"Faust Among Equals" (1994)
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Synopsis: The managment buy-out of Hell, wasn't going quite as well as planned. For a start, there had been that hasty business with the perjurors,
and then came the news that the Most Wanted Man in History had escaped,
and all just as the plans for the new theme park, Eurobosch, were under way. But Kurt 'Mad Dog' Lundqvist, the foremost bounty hunter of all time,
is on the case, and he can usually be relied upon to get his man - even
when that man is Lucky George Faustus... Exuberant, Hell-raising comedy from Tom Holt at his inventive best.
"Odds & Gods" (1995)
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Synopsis: It's a god's life... ...at the Sunnyvoyde Residential Home for retired deities. Everlasting life can be a real drag when all you've got to look forward to is cauliflower cheese on Wednesdays. For a start, there's a major techincal problem with the thousand-year-old
traction engine which has been lovingly restored by those almighty duffers Thor, Odin and Frey...the damn thing actually goes.And then there's Osiris, pushed one tapioca too far by a power-crazy godson with friends in very smelly places, and forced to set out on a quest which will test his wheelchair to the very limits. Only one thing might save the world from an eternity of chaos ... dentures. It's true. Honest to god.
"Djinn Rummy" (1995)
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I've written a review of the book, you find it here.
"My Hero" (1996)
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Synopsis: Writing novels? Piece of cake, surely ... or so Jane thinks. Until hers start writing back. At which point, she really should stop. Better still, change her name and flee the country. The one thing she should not do is go into the book herself. After all, that's what heroes are for. Unfortunatly, the world of fiction is a far more complicated place than she ever imagined. And she's about to land her hero right in it.
"Paint Your Dragon" (1996)
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"Open Sesame" (1997)
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"Wish You Were Here" (1998)
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Synopsis: It was a busy day on Lake Chicopee. But it was an eclectic bunch of sightseers and tourists that had the strange, local residents rubbing their hands with delight. There was Calvin Dieb, the lawyer setting up the property deal, who'd lost his car keys; there was Linda Lachuk, the tabloid journalist
who could smell that big, sensational story; there was dumpy Janice DeWeese, who was just on a walking holiday but who longed for love. But most promising of all, there was Wesley Higgins, the young man from Birmingham, England, who was there because he knew the legend of the ghost of Okeewana. All he had to do was immerse himself in the waters of the lake and he would find his heart's desire. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
"Only Human" (1999)
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Synopsis: Something is about to go wrong. Very wrong. What do you expect if the Supreme Being decides to get away from it all for a few days, leaving his naturally inquisitive son to look after the cosmic balance of things? A minor hiccup with a human soul and before you know it you're on the road to chaos.
"Snow White and The Seven Samurai" (Dec 1999)
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You can download a a sneak preview of the first chapter of the book.
Verse:
"Poems by Tom Holt" (1973)
His first book.
"Bitter Lemmings" (1997)
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Historical:
"Goatsong" (1989)
"The Walled Orchard" (1990)
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Synopsis: Athens is in the middle of her golden age: Pericles is building the Parthenon;
Sophocles, Euripides and Socrates are writing words which will live forever;
and Eupolis is herding goats on Parnes. Unfortunately, Athens is also
embarking on the Peloponnesian War, which she will eventually lose.
"Alexander At The World's End" (1999)
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Synopsis: The story of two men, one of whom conquered empires, one of whom tackled the drainage problems of a small village. Their paths crossed only briefly, but the encounter changed their lives forever. The first was Alexander the Great, the second, Euxenus, philosopher and tutor to the young Alexander.
Other:
"Lucia In Wartime" (1985)
"Lucia Triumphant" (1986)
"I, Margaret" (1989)
Biography on Margaret Thatcher