[.ca] Red Dwarf Omnibus (ISBN 0140174664)

the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to oblivion:
Well,one can but think that "Grant Naylor" wanted to outdo Great Douglas Adams in weirdness. And in a sense he did it! Not even the Syrius Cybernetic Corporation could have devised a contraption as annoying as the Talkie Toaster! And Arthur Dent was a brilliant socialite,and almost normal, compared whit Arnold J.Rimmer! The "Better than life" game was pure intuition of Virtual Reality to come, and the strange variations the charachters impose to their own dreams are pure surrealism! Not to mention the tragic irony of Rimmer's ideal dream turning against the dreamer! How Freudian that is! If I can make a paragon between Douglas Adams' weird romp and Grant Naylor's crazy fugue, I'll say that in Douglas Adams the absurdity was basically centered in the external universe ("I'm more differed than differing", says Arthur Dent)when in Grant Naylor the crazyness resides in the very internal mind of the charachters (we're crazy thinking of making love to Wilma Flintstone, says the former lover of Christine Kokchanski, and the Cat (who is,by the way, the most fashion-conscious alien in Science Fiction!)replies "She'll never leave Fred, and we know it!"). If Douglas Adams is like Escher (so to speak), Grant Naylor is Magritte.

I love this book:
This book really has to be one of the best books I have ever read. It combines irresistable humour with bittersweet sensitivity, a very powerful combination which made me a huge Red Dwarf fan. I love the way Lister and Rimmer, these seemingly very different people, react to the most impossible stuations so comically.My only objection is that there wasn't more - Last Human was rubbish and Backwards was OK but not quite up to scratch. Read this. You must. Anyone who loves to laugh and cry can will love it - I was hysterical both ways.