false 49604 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick (Gollancz SF)]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 49604 5 48515 book 2003 Witches of Chiswick (Gollancz SF) total:184|5:2|4:6|3:4|2:1|1:0| 184 693 276 27 27944 3.78 2901 307 57307746 1710557 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.76 172 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 4 1 false Sat Jul 11 18:55:49 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 17:59:06 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 18:55:49 -0700 2009
This particular tale involves bad guys (or gals, as they are witches) mucking about w...more...]]> 45121987 1952313 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 5 1 false Tue Feb 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 03:58:09 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 10 21:36:12 -0800 2009 I'll be looking for more by this author.]]> 15285431 901936 1922509 0575075694 9780575075696 2 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1190377258m/1922509.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1190377258s/1922509.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1922509.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.83 6 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 5 1 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Feb 12 17:41:34 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 17:42:56 -0800 2008 more...]]> 9176037 46150 2044733 0575073144 9780575073142 1 <![CDATA[The Witches of Chiswick]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2044733.The_Witches_of_Chiswick 4.00 4 The Witches of Chiswick--which demonstrates again that everything you know is wrong, that Brentford is the true centre of the multiverse, and that nobody is quite as weird as Robert Rankin.

Will Starling lives in a dystopian 23rd century where Brentford Utility Conurbation is crammed with 303-storey tower blocks and synthetic food has made everyone vastly obese. Except for Will, who's mocked for morbid slimness and eccentric tastes--art, for example. When he notices the digital watch in a well-known Victorian painting, a murderous cover-up begins. The sinister Witches of Chiswick are determined to erase all traces of the other past.

Time-travelling Terminator-style automata keep arriving, not from the future but from that lost Victorian age of Babbage supercomputers, flying cabs running on beamed power from Tesla transmitters and the imminent launch of Her Majesty's Moonship Victoria. Thanks to the convenient time machine of a Mr Wells, Will finds himself in that other 19th century, complicating the stories of his own ancestors.

There he's tutored by the flamboyant guru or conman Hugo Rune. He stands in for Sherlock Holmes--called away to a Dartmoor case--and investigates the Jack-the-Ripper murders. As tends to happen in the Rankin universe, he acquires a Holy Guardian Sprout called Barry. Will even meets himself, another Will from a very different future. Even aided by his best friend Tim, by the Brentford Snail Boy (raised like Tarzan by wild animals, not apes but snails), and by the deadly martial art Dimac, can Will hope to foil a witchy plan to reprogram time and send high-tech Britain back to gaslight as midnight strikes on December 31, 1899?

Other walk-ons include Queen Victoria, the Elephant Man, William McGonagall (Poet Laureate), Doctor Watson, the Invisible Man, Oscar Wilde (a notorious womaniser), Wells' Martians, and--in unfamiliar guise--Satan. It's all suitably dotty, larded with running gags and bursts of disarming frankness:

... Perhaps both futures always existed. I don't know. This is very complicated, Tim, and I don't understand it. I'm just making it up as I go along. Like the author," said Tim.

But rather than wrap-up this novel with any of a dozen deus ex machina possibilities, Rankin leaves his hero with a very tough decision indeed. The insane, goonish humour made more effective by a touch of grimness. --David Langford

]]> 2003 4 0 false Thu Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Nov 15 19:28:45 -0800 2007 Fri Jun 13 17:19:48 -0700 2008


Young Will Starling is living a normal, if boring, life in the 23rd century. He works at the former Tate Museum, proofing the scans of artwork tha...more...]]> 985373 74723 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 5 0 false Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed May 02 07:38:20 -0700 2007 Wed May 02 07:51:07 -0700 2007 more...]]> 77890005 2729239 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 4 0 false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Sun Nov 15 15:59:32 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 16:06:39 -0800 2009 Very entertaining and imaginative...but a little scatterbrained as well. It was like a mad rush through Victorian history with various famous figures popping in and out. I thought the narrator especially suited to the book.

I got this out of a library years ago and have...more...]]> 71145565 2669340 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 2 0 false Mon Sep 14 01:55:59 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 01:57:39 -0700 2009 73743242 2676427 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 4 0 false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Oct 07 09:24:30 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 09:26:10 -0700 2009
]]> 72762575 1349017 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 4 0 false Thu Oct 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 08:02:20 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 07:14:11 -0700 2009 1 46810488 1183043 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 0 0 false Wed Feb 18 17:54:59 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 17:56:16 -0800 2009 60423620 2439897 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 0 0 false Sat Jun 20 11:19:48 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 11:19:48 -0700 2009 40263825 1409416 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 4 0 false Tue Dec 16 17:47:43 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 16 17:48:16 -0800 2008 47466365 1860134 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 0 0 false Wed Feb 25 04:04:34 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 18:09:07 -0800 2009 42515631 1888562 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 5 0 false Fri Jan 09 17:28:46 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 17:35:12 -0800 2009 44658360 612514 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 3 0 false Wed Jan 28 11:47:55 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 14 08:24:15 -0800 2009 35548575 1605591 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 3 2 false Fri Oct 17 08:52:38 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 19 07:38:25 -0700 2009 Terry Pratchett. Rankin's style is different than Pratchett. Pratchett has humor and points. His characters are real people. Rankin is funny, his characters aren't real people. What drives the book is the humor and the playing on ideas. This playing is very clever and very r...more...]]> 25285694 667542 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 3 0 false Thu Jul 03 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 24 03:07:46 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 17:40:35 -0700 2008 It is the MOST convoluted book I've ever read. There's time travel, Victorian England (complete with Queen, Sherlock Holmes, and other notable personages from that era - fiction and non-fiction), various possible futures, meeting ...more...]]> 14104271 857119 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 5 0 false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jan 30 17:28:24 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 30 19:32:20 -0800 2008 more...]]> 21850851 954957 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 3 0 false Thu May 08 08:09:54 -0700 2008 Thu May 29 08:51:49 -0700 2008 12853875 797058 49604 0575075457 9780575075450 24 <![CDATA[Witches of Chiswick]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891m/49604.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170360891s/49604.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49604.Witches_of_Chiswick 3.77 184 War of The Worlds was a true account of real events? That Captain Nemo’s Nautilus even now lies rusting at the bottom of the North Sea? And what about the other stuff? Did you know, for instance, that Jack the Ripper was a terminator robot sent from the future? In this book, learn how a cabal of Victorian Witches from the Chiswick Townswomen’s Guild, working with advanced Babbage super computers, rewrote 19th-century history, and how a 21st-century boy called Billy Starling uncovered the truth about everything.</div>]]> 2003 4 0 false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Jan 18 13:03:56 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 18 13:05:02 -0800 2008 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=49604