The Philosophical Strangler (Joe's World) - Softcover

Flint, Eric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743435419 ISBN 13: 9780743435413

Publisher: Baen, 2002

Synopsis

When Greyboar, a professional strangler, discovers the Supreme Philosophy of Life, he seeks to atone for his villainy by undertaking a series of philosophical studies, until his sister asks him to assist a group of persecuted dwarves escape from their human oppressors. Reprint.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

This oddly satisfying humorous fantasy usually achieves the zany and frequently the bizarre. In the city of New Sfinctre the professional strangler and amateur philosopher Greyboar and his agent and sidekick, Ignace, accept a contract they're unable to fulfill, but which leads to some amusing adventures. At their watering hole, the Sign of the Trough, the pair encounter a nearsighted swordswoman named Cat (actually Schrdinger's Cat, but she can't find Schrdinger) and learn that Gwendolyn, Greyboar's Amazonian sister (who's active in the literally underground dwarf-liberation movement), has an artistic lover named Benvenuti. After Benvenuti's disappearance, the duo have to spring Cat from prison, help Abbess Hildegard of the Sisters of Tranquility intimidate a fallen angel and harrow hell and several even worse places to get Benvenuti back. The author's inventiveness is unblushingly demanding of the reader passages in the journey to hell satirize (or more accurately, skewer or even impale) role-playing games, Dante, the Greek playwrights and the Norse sagas with ferocious accuracy and a complete lack of scruples. Good taste prevails most of the time, and there are a fair number of serious grace notes, such as the cult of Joe, the caveman who invented God (aka the Old Geister). The sexual content is higher, but otherwise Flint can stand comparison with at least early Terry Pratchett. Fans of Harry Turtledove's elaborate wordplay will also revel in this volume. (May)with David Drake, and for the novel 1632.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

A good picaresque yarn is like history--one damn thing after another. Certainly that's what the adventures of gigantic professional assassin Greyboar and his manager, 4-foot-11-inch Ignace (who is not a dwarf), are like. The two spend their time frequenting the toughest alehouse in New Sfinctria in eastern Grotum, putting the squeeze (literally) on corrupt Cardinal Fornacaese, doing the same to Abbess Hildegard of the Sisters of Tranquility to get a fallen angel to cough up the Harmony of the Spheres, and descending into the Netherworld to spring Greyboar's sister's honey. Fortunately, their adventures also involve Jenny and Angela, who know how to run through a guy's hard-won earnings but also how to make Ignace forget all about money. There are also thieves, spies, real dwarves, a proper witch and her familiar, a wizard, ogres, trolls, and Even Worse Hands--and only the last lacks a smart mouth. Monty Python and Bill and Ted let loose in Tolkien's Middle Earth couldn't be any funnier than this gang of fantastic clowns. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Baen
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0743435419
• ISBN 13: 9780743435413
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 448