Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Amusing British Sci Fi Novel: The Tea Must Flow!

I stumbled across this book description, and now I must have the book! Here it is:
The second instalment in the chronicles of Isambard Smith - Captain in the service of the British Space Empire - and of his android pilot Polly Carveth and loyal and noble friend the psychopathic alien headhunter, Suruk. Tea... a beverage brewed from the fermented dried leaves of the shrub Camellia sinensis and imbibed by all the great civilisations in the galaxy's history; a source of refreshment, stimulation and, above all else, of moral fibre - without which the British Space Empire must surely crumble to leave Earth at the mercy of its enemies. Sixty per cent of the Empire's tea is grown on one world: Urn, principal planet of the Didcot system. If Earth is to keep fighting, the tea must flow. When a crazed cult leader overthrows the government of Urn, Isambard Smith and his vaguely competent crew find themselves saddled with new allies: a legion of tea-obsessed nomads, an overly-civilised alien horde and a commando unit so elite that it only has five members. Only together can they defeat the self-proclaimed God Emperor of Didcot and confront the true power behind the coup: the sinister legions of the Ghast Empire and Smith's old enemy, Commander 462.
Hilarious! And I'm glad to see somebody (a) enjoy Frank Herbert, AND (b) not take Herbert too seriously.

1 comment:

lumpy said...

That sounds like a LOT of fun!