A Novel Idea

When fourteen-year-old Khyran’s home is destroyed and his family killed, the obvious next step is to set off into a dangerous fantasy world in search of fortune, revenge and, preferably, a clean pair of trousers.

What follows, however, is anything but the usual heroic quest.

Khyran soon meets Bolgoroth, a mysterious old man who has somehow wandered in from another author’s book — and who has already read this one. Unfortunately, by becoming part of the story, he has changed it so completely that he can no longer remember what is supposed to happen next.

From there things become increasingly complicated. There are argumentative gods, assassins, necromancers, armies, magical mishaps, a dangerously competent female assassin, a hero blessed with extraordinary luck, characters who know they are fictional and an author who keeps interrupting the story to explain himself.

As Khyran is drawn deeper into this thoroughly unpredictable world, the boundary between the story, its characters and the person supposedly writing it becomes increasingly unreliable.

A Novel Idea is an irreverent comic fantasy that cheerfully breaks the rules of the genre — and quite often the fourth wall as well. Packed with absurd situations, self-aware characters and a narrator who refuses to stay quietly in the background, it is fantasy for readers who enjoy their adventures with a generous helping of satire and nonsense.

If you think you know how a fantasy novel is supposed to behave, this one may have other ideas.