A Bad Day For Ali Baba

Sinbad #2

by Craig Shaw Gardner

When Ali Baba stumbles across the hidden lair of the notorious Forty Thieves, the thieves force the humble woodcutter to join their throng, and soon he is off on a quest for treasure and adventure.

Genres: Fantasy, Humor, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Craig Shaw Gardner was born in Rochester, New York and lived there until 1967, when he moved to Boston, MA to attend Boston University. He graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Broadcasting and Film. He has continued to reside in Boston since that time.

He published his first story in 1977 while he held a number of jobs: shipper/receiver for a men's suit manufacturer, working in hospital public relations, running a stat camera, and also managed of a couple of bookstores: The Million Year Picnic and Science Fantasy Bookstore.

As of 1987 he became a full time writer, and since then he has published more than 30 novels and more than 50 short stories.

He also published under these pseudonyms:

Peter Garrison

Reviews

[Doc Opp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is notable for its story within a story structure. It starts with the classic Shaharazod (sp?) Arabian Nights theme - she's telling a story to save her life... but then within the story, a character will tell a story... and within THAT story, a character might tell a story. At one point, I counted 7 layers. Its really quite a clever architecture for a book. And Gardner is quite the humorist, so its full of laughs as well.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tropes are mined, the knees are all slapped, and the deus are thoroughly ex machina'd. I found the plotting of Gardner's previous books to be so unpredictably silly as to be unsatisfying, and this book has some of that same energy, but maybe I've been worn down or maybe the scope of the story works slightly better here, but either way, this was a fun little excursion.

[Glenn Bresciani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book because of comedy fantasy. The Arabian setting was fascinating and the plot was good fun.

[William Leight · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bad news is that the plot of this book is either nonexistent -- one thing happens, and then another, and then a third, and then one of the characters takes three or four chapters to tell his life story, etc. -- or nonsensical, and the characters are either Orientalist cliches (if female: perhaps luckily, there are only three female characters of even minor importance in the book) or one-dimensional (if male). The good news is that Gardner is genuinely funny, a quality which is (at least among fantasy novelists) considerably rarer than an ability create interesting characters and enjoyable plots. He's not exactly Terry Pratchett, but this book made me laugh despite my extremely low expectations. In particular, with the exception of the women -- on the evidence of this book, Gardner has absolutely no idea how to write women -- he stays away from the trap of Orientalism that it is all too easy to fall into when writing a parody of "One Thousand and One Nights": aside from the characters' names and a general tendency for everybody to go around in beards and robes the book could be set almost anywhere in the world. The result is sufficiently amusing that I was willing to tolerate its flaws, at least until the end, at which point Gardner, flailing for some resolution, basically drives the plot off a cliff. Still, a fantasy parodist who is actually funny is sufficiently unusual to be a welcome discovery.

[Omer Sadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

good

[Hafsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A modern and witty twist on a classic tale? Sign me up any day! Loved every bit of it. I'm a fan of Gardner after this.