Comic Fantasy 2001
New Comic Fantasy Titles
2001
W.E. Bowman
The Ascent of Rum Doodle
Pbk published October 2001 by Pimlico at £7.99
ISBN: 0 7126 6808 X
First published in 1956, The Ascent of Rum Doodle quickly became established as a mountaineering classic. As an outrageously funny spoof about the ascent of a 40,000-and-a-half-foot peak, many thought it inspired by the 1953 conquest of Everest. But Bowman had drawn on the flavour and tone of earlier adventures, of Bill Tilman and his 1937 account of the Nandi Devi expedition. The book’s central and unforgettable character, Binder is one of the finest creations in comic literature.
‘I just love this book. Everything about it is nearly perfect ...hugely enjoyable and brilliantly sustained.’ From the Introduction by Bill Bryson
‘Wonderful...Rum Doodle does for mountaineering what Three Men in a Boat did for Thames-going or Catch-22 did for the Second World War. It is simply an account by the leader of an expedition up Rum Doodle, a 40,000-and-a-half-foot peak in the Himalayas, in the same way that Scoop is simply a tale about newsgathering in Africa. The tone is nearer to Pooter than anyone else I can think of, but the flavour is all W.E. Bowman’s own’ Miles Kington, Sunday Times
‘Exceedingly funny ...as if the hero of Diary of a Nobody had, in a mood of abandon, turned to mountaineering.’ Dublin Magazine
‘It is an epic. It is Homeric. It is inspiring. It is very, very funny… Read it and be moved.’ Books of the Month
New Books by W.E. Bowman at Amazon.co.uk
Secondhand and Out of Print Books by W.E. Bowman at Alibris.com
Harvard Lampoon Bowman
Bored of the Rings
Published September 2001 by Gollancz at £6.99
ISBN: 0-575-07362 4
Available for the first time ever in hardback, first UK publication
‘If I were thee’, said Goodgulf, ‘I would start on thy journey soon’ Frito looked up absently from his rutabaga tea.
‘For half a groat you can be me, Goodgulf. I don’t remember volunteering for this Ring business.’
‘This is not the time for idle banter,’ said the Wizard, pulling a rabbit from his battered hat. ‘Dildo left days ago and awaits you at Riv’n’dell, as will I. There the fate of the Ring will be decided by all the peoples of Lower Middle Earth.’
For more than 30 years rumours have spread of a dark and wicked manuscript that came from out of the fabled West
It tells of the adventures of Frito, his ‘faithful’ friend Spam, the wizard Goodgulf, Arrowroot the ranger, Legolam the elf and Gimlet the dwarf as they take that ring to the Zazu pits of Fordor.
Even though it only takes one volume not three, it is a long and perilous journey, for the untrustworthy companions are dogged by the doleful Goddamn and hunted by Sorhed’s fearsome minions, the Nozdrul.
Dare you follow them?
Inspired, irreverent, rude, occasionally downright silly, Bored of the Rings is, nevertheless, an always affectionate parody of the century’s greatest book.
It is both laugh-out-loud funny and a tribute the enduring power of Tolkien’s masterpiece.
About The Author
Douglas C. Kenney and Henry N. Beard wrote Bored of the Rings when they were still at Harvard University. They went on to form National Lampoon.
While they were the cofounders of America’s most influential and notorious satirical institution (Beard was National Lampoon’s Executive Editor 1970-72 and its Editor-in-Chief, 1973-75, Kenney was Editor-in-Chief, 1970-72, Senior Editor 1973-74, Editor 1975-1976) their most famous and enduring collaboration in book form remains Bored of the Rings.
New Books by Harvard Lampoon Bowman at Amazon.co.uk
Secondhand and Out of Print Books by Harvard Lampoon Bowman at Alibris.com
