The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse (Gollancz S.F.) (Hardcover)

In Robert Rankin's latest warped fantasy, a serial killer is murdering notable nursery-rhyme characters and leaving very special sweeties as calling cards at the scene of each crime: The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.

Humpty Dumpty is the first of Toy City's upper crust to sleep with the fishes. Boiled alive in his own swimming pool. A nasty fate, but maybe not as nasty as Little Boy Blue's, with his own shepherd's crook thrust a long way into a place where the sun does not shine.

Bill Winkie the P.I. has gone missing, and his hard-drinking teddybear sidekick Eddie takes up the case. Down these mean streets a bear must go. He needs a hand, though--two hands, owing to a lack of opposable thumbs--and reluctantly teams up with "gormster" country boy Jack, who foolishly thinks he can make his fortune in Toy City.

Of course the police, jolly bouncy rubber policemen who are sadistic at heart, object to interfering freelances. So does the mystery assassin, who seems to be a curvaceous woman in a kinky rubber outfit--death on high heels. Even kindly old Mother Goose, madame of the Toy City brothel, gets her neck wrung before she can talk, and Eddie is in serious danger of losing his very stuffing.

Fast, demented, fairytale-noir action, filled with gruesomely silly deaths, self-referential thriller gags, and the true meanings of those nursery rhymes whose royalties made Humpty and the rest so rich.

Robert Rankin is fond of introducing peculiar, repeated figures of speech, and this book's is the Maddeningly Incomplete Simile. Like this: Hollow Chocolate Bunnies is as good as. It's as weird as. It's as deeply bonkers as. In short, it's as Rankin as.--David Langford

This is our first book with Robert Rankin and initial reports are very promising. I have organised a big bash with his fan club which will take place at the Children's Museum in Bethnal Green, on Saturday 7th September. Features:Robert will do the 'It's your funeral' interview for the Night and Day supplement which is part of The Mail on Sunday. Feature in SFX on their convention, it included coverage of Robert. A full interview with tour listing to appear in the September issue of SFX. Reviews: SFXStarburstDreamwatch 'A worthy addition to Rankin's oeuvre... entertaining and mildly disturbing.'The Morning Star 'Fast, demented, fairy-tale noir avtion, filled with gruesomely silly deaths and referential thriller gags.'Amazon Events:Robert was a guest at the SFXconvention in Blackpool back in June. Robert will be the Guest of Honour at Gencon 2002, a role playing convention which takes place at Olympia from 29thAugust through to 1st September. 4,000 to 6,000 people expected to attend. Tour:Robert Rankin's tour started on 5th September at Borders Brighton, from there he toured all over Britain up to the 26th September. Full details are available from me or can be found on the Author's Event Schedule. SIGNINGS... Robert sold 203 books at the Gencon convention two weeks ago. Shame they only count as special sales... Robert's launch also went with a bang. We sold 30 books and even had a visit from Publishing News (who joined Robert's tour on the Museum of Childhood). Border Brighton sold out of all their books (they even resorted to grabbing copies out of the window!).Forbidden Planet sold over50 and had another 50 signed. The turn out was unusually good for a Forbidden Planet Event. The rest of the events and signings also went fantastically, at one event in Chelmsford, one punter bought 20 hardbacks and fourteen copies of Robert's paperbacks. In Edinburgh, Robert, fell victim to his own sarcasm when the people at the event began to heckle him back and come the end of the event initially refused to buy a book... Robert freaked out but then realised they were joking. In Golucester we attracted a number of his fans and ended up in the pub with Robert regaling them whilst in Cardiff the exact same thing happened... All in all the tour paid off really well, Robert got to meethis fans, pick up some free books from gratefull booksellers and we even managed to outsell Raymond Feist in about 3 of the shops!! And one more thing, Robert's methods of selling were also rather unconventional, at each event Robert managed to encourage at least 4 people to purchase two books rather than one... if we can get him to be more convincing we may just hit number 10 on the bestseller list next year! MISC Robert's It's Your Funeral piece in the Mail on Sunday appeared two weeks ago, but it obviously made an impact in Scotland as he was quoted in The Scotland On Sunday's 'Quote Unquote' section. Here's the quote: 'I have often pondered the best way to die. All things considered it would be ideal to be killed at the age of 97 by a jealous husband...' I