In 1986, comedian Les Dawson released a sci-fi novel, A TIME BEFORE GENESIS. It weaves together (deep breath) JFK's assassination, UFOs, Nazis, vampires, Moses, devil worship, and the Second Coming of Christ. It's deadly serious, and I need to read it so badly. - ThreadSky

I'm not sure if it was this one but Llanelli library had one of his novels.

Chock full of ideas, from what I remember. The ending tended to have a lot of them thrown together a bit. Worth a read.

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biomassart.bsky.social•1 day ago

Wtf

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johnneyred.bsky.social•1 day ago

To my mind, this is made to deliberately look like a Len Deighton paperback.

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rednecklefty.bsky.social•23 hours ago

I was thinking the same thing.

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thepeterbriggs.bsky.social•7 hours ago

I said the same thing!!!

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robmcf.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Bernard Samson:The Blankety Blank Years 😋

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breakintoprogram.co.uk•1 day ago

Wait, what?

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bugbear6502.bsky.social•1 day ago

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12373238-a-time-before-genesis

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mykl.sparkle.blue•22 hours ago

Heh. “I have a signed copy which Les Dawson put, in memory of good taste.”

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leegrice.bsky.social•1 day ago

whaaaaat?

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edoffannyside.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Don't.

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thedreadedlurgy.bsky.social•1 day ago

I believe @cheeseford.bsky.social is the man to talk to about this book.

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thingshalfglimpsed.bsky.social•8 hours ago

Does this qualify as winner of the "Least likely author/subject matter" mashup in history?

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voodooroy.bsky.social•1 day ago

Holy shit.

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1630revello.bsky.social•22 hours ago

I own a copy. Les Dawson's love of language shines through, and you can read the entire novel in his voice - as though it were one of his brilliant monologues, but it's so much more than that. It's genuinely weird and oddly prophetic. Just be thankful that the QAnon crowd hasn't discovered it!

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uncannyengland.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yes, when reading it, I couldn't help but hear the voice of Les.

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scarredforlife.bsky.social•1 day ago

It goes for silly money online. One of these days I'll win the lottery and buy three.

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leepkelly.bsky.social•1 day ago

There really is a gap in the market for someone to start a digital imprint for books that, whether out of print or not, have never been released as ebooks. Granted it wouldn’t be MUCH of a market given the immediate piracy that’d ensue, but the publisher would be doing God’s work…

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scarredforlife.bsky.social•1 day ago

You're giving me ideas... ;)

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scarredforlife.bsky.social•1 day ago

It'd be even better if physical reissues could be managed, along the lines of Paperbacks From Hell. But the audience is probably so niche it'd be a toughie.

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andyhemming.bsky.social•3 hours ago

I’m right here.

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leepkelly.bsky.social•1 day ago

I guess it comes down to marketing. There’s a lot to play with in the book’s blurb. If, say, A Voyage To Arcturus can find new life, a new generation of readers, a century after it was published…

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andrewmale.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Scarred For Life publishing wing! Genius idea!

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alisdairwood.bsky.social•1 day ago

It’s the sort of thing you’d randomly find in a charity shop for £2 as well.

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kitty666.bsky.social•1 day ago

I had Come Back With The Wind but never read it. Also had a few Eric Morecambe novels!

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8bitnorthxstitch.bsky.social•14 hours ago

I’ve still got Eric Morecambe’s children’s novels.

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thepeterbriggs.bsky.social•7 hours ago

Jesus. Only two copies on the Internet, both for silly money, and both in America!? Is this an expose of Conservative party misdoings, that all got suppressed and pulped!?

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thepeterbriggs.bsky.social•7 hours ago

I wonder how many people blearily plucked that off the stand and bought it, thinking it was a Len Deighton novel. Good typography!

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suzyburn.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’ve just seen the price, but I really need to read it!

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thestevec.bsky.social•1 day ago

I tried to find a copy recently. I think whatever remaining copies there are now are selling at stupidly expensive prices. Amazon are currently flogging a copy for just under £125.

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kanaratron.bsky.social•12 hours ago

What the actual fuck!

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lordjubalonflux.bsky.social•1 day ago

I bought that when it came out and still have it

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scarredforlife.bsky.social•1 day ago

Blimey!

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lordjubalonflux.bsky.social•1 day ago

Complete with author photograph on the back!

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douglashartley.bsky.social•1 day ago

Is it good?

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lordjubalonflux.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’ve not reread it in decades, so I’ll go with a vague feeling that “interesting curio” would be a good fit

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glesga-grognard.bsky.social•3 hours ago

he was a true renaissance man

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paulfranklin.bsky.social•13 hours ago

I remember reading somewhere that he went to live in New York when he was trying to be a full time novelist before switching to comedy

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uncannyengland.bsky.social•1 day ago

Like Robert Shaw, he saw himself a novelist first and a performer second.

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thepeterbriggs.bsky.social•7 hours ago

I guess this goes next to the Gene Hackman and Ken Russell novels?

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annebillson.bsky.social•9 hours ago

I would LOVE to read Eric Morecambe's vampire novels!

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mal3gordon.bsky.social•9 hours ago

There's a BBC TV adaptation on the way.

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annebillson.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Really?! Are vampires in (yet) again? (ie please can someone adapt MY vampire novel, which is now a period piece; I really really need the money)

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mal3gordon.bsky.social•7 hours ago

First announced a couple of years ago and no casting announced yet but I gather it’s happening.

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jessicakiang.bsky.social•8 hours ago

I read them as a kid and loved them. "She was a strikingly beautiful woman who at that moment was striking him beautifully over the head with a candlestick" was the kind of thing that made 8-year-old me lol before lol-ing had been invented.

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annebillson.bsky.social•8 hours ago

Now I want to read them MORE THAN EVER!

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katelaity.bsky.social•9 hours ago

I started reading one of his crime novels and 😬

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mickmuldoon.bsky.social•1 day ago

Perhaps @cheeseford.bsky.social can turn you on to a copy at a reasonable price?

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dandalek.bsky.social•1 day ago

I need this.

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worldoftelly.bsky.social•1 day ago

I have a copy. It’s quite something. But it’s nothing like as barmy as Barry Norman’s End Product which remains the most disturbing of the books in my unexpected novelists collection.

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scarredforlife.bsky.social•1 day ago

Okay, now I need to check out the Barry Norman book too...

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mattfromthemat.bsky.social•1 day ago

Have you got any of Steve Bruces? They're mystery novels about a football manager who solves crime, don't know who he based the character on

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worldoftelly.bsky.social•1 day ago

No. But I have loads of Terry Venables’ novels including several editions of They Used to Play on Grass but they are in the loft.

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worldoftelly.bsky.social•1 day ago

Here's the shelf where they live.

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andrewscreenbskys.bsky.social•1 day ago

I had no idea, until I looked at the photo, that Herbert Lom had written a novel!

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worldoftelly.bsky.social•1 day ago

To my shame I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve heard good things about it.

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andrewscreenbskys.bsky.social•1 day ago

Just looked it up. About the inventor of the guillotine. Sounds intriguing. I may have to track a copy down.

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worldoftelly.bsky.social•1 day ago

The annoying thing about these books is that they often cost a fortune. It was only thanks to @davidbrunt.bsky.social that I picked up End Product at a a halfway reasonable price. I got A Time Before Genesis years ago for a snip. No chance now.

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tonykeetch.bsky.social•1 day ago

I bought a copy in a Forbidden Planet sale many years ago, & when I got home I discovered it was signed

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robonabike.bsky.social•6 hours ago

Maybe I should hang on to my copy of Robert Robinson's "Landscape With Dead Dons".

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worldoftelly.bsky.social•5 hours ago

I didn't know about that one. I've added it to the list.

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robonabike.bsky.social•5 hours ago

It's not the very best book ever written, but it has its moments as I recall.

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scarredforlife.bsky.social•1 day ago

Wow 😍

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0tralala.bsky.social•1 day ago

Cor

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apcrft.bsky.social•1 day ago

Wait, The Sioux was written by THE Irene Handl? 🤯

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xanderl.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yep …

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2021/01/28/the-most-appalling-appealing-psychopaths/

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davidbrunt.bsky.social•1 day ago

She did another novel too. The Gold-Tip Pfizer.

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worldoftelly.bsky.social•1 day ago

Also on my shelf, and I struggled with that as well.

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silver-ruby.bsky.social•22 hours ago

Well that was an, ahem, interesting Sunday night rabbit hole for me... looking into some of these books. Blimey!

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tonykeetch.bsky.social•1 day ago

From Noel Coward’s diaries

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jonnysb.bsky.social•15 hours ago

This is brilliant. Fantastic stuff.

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simplerdave.bsky.social•4 hours ago

I'm sure you have it somewhere, but have you read Hugh Laurie's excellent The Gun Seller?

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hanrahanistan.bsky.social•1 day ago

what a collection 🤩🤩

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gossjam.bsky.social•14 hours ago

GOSH

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stupc.bsky.social•1 day ago

Can you post a pic of the back blurb? Please??

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worldoftelly.bsky.social•23 hours ago

Here you go.

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stupc.bsky.social•23 hours ago

Thank you, John. 👍

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bwianair.bsky.social•1 day ago

Just had a look online and the cheapest copy on eBay is £65 😬

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stupc.bsky.social•23 hours ago

There's a Kirkus Review online, but it's pretty scathing.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/les-dawson/a-time-before-genesis1/

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stansinderin.bsky.social•1 day ago

Can you imagine if he'd done the audio book?

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scarredforlife.bsky.social•1 day ago

I can hear it in my head right now.

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stansinderin.bsky.social•1 day ago

With a piano accompaniment...

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binyizdabbalah.bsky.social•1 day ago

"Steel reveals the leg-end."

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dfpaxton.bsky.social•1 day ago

They tried, but more than a third of it was silent mime, eye gestures and lip reading!!

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lerrup.bsky.social•1 day ago

Oh what have I missed?

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sparkeface.bsky.social•12 hours ago

@johntucker.bsky.social

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reaston.bsky.social•6 hours ago

Please tell me the main characters were Sissy and Ada.

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windust.bsky.social•1 day ago

The cheapest on eBay is 65 quid! Over a ton for the hardback!

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stephengraham.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Looking at the money this goes for, I wish I'd stolen the copy I once found in a holiday cottage my parents rented about ten years ago (and didn't read, because they also had Mr Lonely by Eric Morecambe).

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