Favourite Authors

When people ask me who is my favourite author (and they rarely do, but I'm going to tell you anyway) I'm torn between Christopher Brookmyre, Robert Rankin, and Jasper Fforde. These are the three authors whose books I am always willing to read regardless of reviews (if/when they are).

Brookmyre's "tartan noir" appeals to the Scot in me. Not a sentimental shortbread box lid image of Scotland, but crime thrillers with a singular sense of humour and Scottish references that might not make sense south of the border. I first came across him when I bought a paperback with the title "Boiling a Frog" and have been hooked ever since.

Rankin's books first caught my attention when I bought a paperback of The Antipope as a student in 1981 on my year's work experience (building a prison in the middle of an old airfield in Norfolk). The alternative reality of a Brentford with links to other worlds, running gags, and a love of the occasionally obvious but unavoidable bad pun keep me amused. Every time Brentford do well in the FA Cup I start to worry about the future of the planet...

Jasper Fforde appeals to the book lover in me. Again, an alternative reality. This time it's Swindon but the Crimean War is still rumbling on, dodos are not extinct, some people can jump in and out of novels, and croquet is a contact blood sport.