The Fandom of the Operator (2001)
A novel by Robert Rankin

Another deranged performance from Robert Rankin: The Fandom of the Operator mixes surreal
silliness, ghastly old jokes and a vein of apocalyptic bleakness, as in his previous novel
Web Site Story

Young hero or anti-hero Gary Cheese grows up in a warped 1950s Brentford with two main
interests: death, and the Lazlo Woodbine private-eye novels (see Waiting for Godalming)
by PP Penrose When this revered author dies, it's only logical that Gary and his bestest
friend Dave should plan to crash the wake and reanimate him with voodoo Black comedy
follows, with highly uncomic results

Years later, Gary at 22 has a dead-end telecomms job of stupefying tedium He waits for
a light to come on, and turns it off That's all This work is implausibly connected to
the FLATLINE project--phone contact with the afterlife The dead can reveal bizarre and
terrible secrets, but meanwhile there's a lot Gary hasn't been telling us about his own
history Just how many people has he killed? Or was it actually him?

The mixture includes a barman who senses customers' True Names ("If it isn't the Honourable
Valdec Firesword, Archduke of Alpha Centuri"),unlikely celebrity parties, car chases, copious
and disgusting zombie sex, alien mind control, yet another secret base under Mornington
Crescent tubestation, an ever-growing body count, and so many onion-layers of conspiracy and
secret masters as to produce an effect of cosmic, transcendent pointlessness Eat your heart
out, Philip K Dick

Download File Size:248.03 MB

---