Raiders of the Lost Car Park

HE�S BACK. And this time he�s brought his ocarina ... Cornelius Murphy, the Stuff of Epics, must rescue Hugo Rune, author of the Book of Ultimate Truths. This is once more into Robert Rankin�s peculiar universe where not only does magic really work, you can also buy ten Woodbines for 1/6 and the Tylwyth Teg are starting to seriously undermine life as we know it. Or don�t. Anything can happen in a Robert Rankin novel, it sort of goes with the territory. Cornelius Murphy, being the Stuff of Epics, has to prevent the Hidden King of the World from unleashing nameless evil upon humankind, assisted by his dwarf sidekick Tuppe and his potential girlfriend Anna.

Hugo Rune plans to kidnap the Queen at a concert by the world�s best band, Gandhi�s Hairdryer. Omally and Pooley stagger in from the earlier novels, creating a kind of barroom-temperature fusion between the Brentford Trilogy and the later Armageddon trilogy which made much of Elvis Presley. Well, there are no Elvisses in this one. No sprouts, if I recall. There is a New Age Traveller called Bollocks, there is a car called the MacGregor Mathers that uses water for fuel (hence the title: Our Heroes have stolen the motor from the King of the World�s underground car pound). Star Hill and Gunnersbury Park are revealed as the mystical centre of the universe.

Running jokes for this one include the use of incomprehensible architectural descriptions (okay wise guy, so what is an aurora in the tympanum of the central pediment?) and referring to sex as �taking tea with the parson�. Don�t try understanding this novel. Just buckle yourself into the green upholstery of the MacGregor Mathers and let Cornelius (no relation to a certain Michael Moorcock character who also liked big old cars) take you through the Forbidden Zones and out the other side.
He�s back. And this time he�s found his father.