The Chickens of Atlantis and Other Foul and Filthy Fiends

Japanese Devil Fish Girl #4

by Robert Rankin

Robert Rankin, the master of far-fetched fiction, presents, for the first time, a book written in 'the first monkey'. Sure to be taken up as the newest of literary fads, Darwin, the Educated Ape here tells his life story to his legions of fans.

Featuring: Chickens! Martians! Doodlebugs! The Far Future! The Distant Past! Sherlock Holmes! Winston Churchill! Dynamite! More Monkeys than you can shake a stick at! Barmen! Pubs! The End of the World and more!

The fourth in Robert Rankin's series of steampunk-tinged Victoriana novels featuring the master detective Cameron Bell (who has an unfortunate fondness for blowing up major landmarks) and his companion, Darwin, the Educated Ape, this is another masterpiece of comic fiction and SF.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk, Science Fiction

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 19, 2013

About the author

"When Robert Rankin embarked upon his writing career in the late 1970s, his ambition was to create an entirely new literary genre, which he named Far-Fetched Fiction. He reasoned that by doing this he could avoid competing with any other living author in any known genre and would be given his own special section in WH Smith."
(from Web Site Story)

Robert Rankin describes himself as a teller of tall tales, a fitting description, assuming that he isn't lying about it. From his early beginnings as a baby in 1949, Robert Rankin has grown into a tall man of some stature. Somewhere along the way he experimented in the writing of books, and found that he could do it rather well. Not being one to light his hide under a bushel, Mister Rankin continues to write fine novels of a humorous science-fictional nature.

Reviews

[Cory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know. I used to be a massive fan of Rankin's, back in the days of the Brentford and Cornelius books, (I diligently collected them all, even first editions) but this one left me a little cold. The lampshading of changing narrative voices and styles, plot holes and historical/literary details, and the self-referential footnotes didn't work for me. The same depths of allusion were there as in his earlier works, and I think I would have enjoyed the stylistic changes more if the characters or footnotes didn't comment on them quite so much.

The illustrations are a lovely touch (I wish I were a talented writer AND artist; that doesn't quite seem fair), and there's a lot of familiar Rankin devices (e.g. repeated phrases and sentence structures, visits from well-loved characters); the storyline is quite madcap, but more than the older books felt like a connected set of short stories rather than one longer narrative. I don't know if my tastes have changed and I'm remembering the older books with a nostalgia that doesn't reflect their contents, or if Rankin's style and my tastes have diverged, but I'm not sure I'll try any more in this set; it was quite an interesting read, but sadly, not really my preference anymore.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps not the best of Mr. Rankin's steampunk books but it's the usual silly far-fetched fun nonetheless. Newcomers to Rankin's ouvre might want to start elsewhere though.

[Jonkers Jonkers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read a Robert Rankin for some time as I'd been disappointed with a few of them. Pleased to say that I found this one back to his best. I loved the fact that it was written in 'First Monkey'. Lots of the usual style of gag but really well done. Some genuinely funny parts (I won't say laugh out loud because I don't tend to, but very close). Recommended.

[[ J o ] · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fourth in a series of Victorian London Steampunk novels of varying absurdity where airships rule the world, Monkeys can fly time-travelling space-ships and Great Britain rules the galaxy. An alternative historical telling that encapsulates the essence of the British Empire with a steampunk edge.

I am a huge Rankin fan - his books share shelves with Terry Pratchett - but his sci-fi books are much, much better and this one was probably one too many in the series. The humour, however, was most definitely classic Rankin and the fact that it was "penned" by an ape called Darwin only makes it even more surreal, which is all you can expect from the master of Far-Fetched-Fiction. As is, it felt out-of-steam which is what I'd expect from the fourth in most series. The first three of the series are much weirder, have more thought-through plots and are more what you'd expect from Rankin.


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[Debby Kean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Rankin is what Douglas Adams wanted to be! Without snark and without self-referential pseudo-cleverness, Rankin is genuinely funny. This book features Darwin the Educated Ape and Cameron Bell, and time travel, lamp-shaded plot holes and at times is lol funny!

[Nathan Dehoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth, and presumably the last, book in Rankin's series of novels taking place in a steampunk Victorian England where War of the Worlds was true history. It focuses once again on detective Cameron Bell and educated monkey Darwin, who travel through time to prevent the plot of Bell's old boot boy Arthur Knapton to rule in all times and places at once. The two of them visit ancient Egypt, World War II London, a future where everyone lives underwater, and even fairyland (which is accessible from Brentford). Winston Churchill, Aleister Crowley, and H.G. Wells all make appearances. There's also an episode where Darwin and an urchin who's a distant ancestor of Rankin's commit suicide and visit a country in the clouds with sky pirates. As is typical for this author, there are a lot of inside jokes and comments by the characters themselves about how the plot doesn't make sense. I do think there were some missed opportunities here, especially with the titular chickens themselves, who are built up without any real conclusion. Knapton's final defeat is cleverly done, however.

[boxesfullofbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was my first Robert Rankin book, perhaps I picked a bad one, but it would take a lot to make me try another. I hated this book so much I couldn't even finish reading it, the writing wasn't to my taste, the comedy was non existent. I don't know how this author has been compared to Douglas Adams, or the late great Terry Prattchet, I'll stick with the true masters of witty odd-ball British sci-fi/fantasy the likes of Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde, artisans of their craft and magicians with their words.

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ripping great yarn

[Dutch Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

rambling book about date on and Cameron bell and time travel.

[Andrea (mrsaubergine) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot more than the previous three books in the series. Sad to see this is the last Rankin book published by Gollancz - the more recent books are self-published on Amazon.

[Ralph Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

An acquired taste, if you like a little salt in your red wine. This was too much salt for me, and not enough wine, so to speak (where was the menace?) but

[Falko Rademacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

As great, funny and ridiculous as always. This time no travels to other planets, but time travel instead, and Rankin doesn't even try to tidy up after himself. It's nonsense from start to finish, but hilarious and imaginative, penned by the stark-raving genius the author still is. Being German, it was hard for me to read for the flamboyant vocabulary, but my Kindle Fire provides the Oxford Dictionary, so I could cope. I have one thing to criticize: Within the novel there is a story that spans over almost twenty percent of the whole book and is frankly crap. It has almost nothing to do with the main plot and seemed to me just a page-filler.

This appears to be the last one of the Victorian novels, and I must say, I will be happy to read something more contemporary by Rankin. Another Hugo Rune romp would be wonderful...

[Stan Barker · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - Sorry Rob, there was once a time I absolutely lapped up any Robert Rankin title but after what looks like a generous 4* for the majority of this series, I didn't enjoy it. It's been *checks notes* six years since I read my last RR book due to health issues, and I know I'm not the same person I was pre pandemic so don't take this personally. Still love ya, old boy, and glad you're still with us x

[Steve Gillway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly a witty book, which I enjoyed much more than some of his later work. Clever puns abound, but sadly few outright chortles of guffaws.

[Henrik Rostoft · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not up to his usual standards

[Alan Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another romp across Victorian fictional history from the Master of Silliness. A joke on every page.