The alternative books of the year

Yes, it is pretty much time for my almost traditional annual look back at some of the books of 2006 which didn’t actually happen, at least not in this dimension:

Sheik: an Arab Word, by Fejj UndarWhere. A fascinating novel written as the memoir of a Muslim mushroom grower in a strange city, annotated by his sister who much preferred potatoes. A heady mixture of family history, civil war, arts and root vegetables.

The Voyage of the Stacey Keach by Meal Smasher. A group of the scientifically resurrected dead travel to a far world in the path of the only man to successfully come back from the other side, Stacy Keach. Can they make their reusirrection permanent or is the truth that only Stacey Keach is tough enough to kick Death in the nuts?

Tar Night by Callen Bellman. A strange city suspended over the world’s largest pothole; a murderous supernatural being, the church of the dark god of the roadworks and the dangerous nocturnal festival where armed groups attempts to patch damaged roads in a few hours, Tar Night.


Lead Feet by Greene Ghroacer. The seventh in the series of excellent books starring the Chicago detective who also happens to be a purveyor of mystical fruit and veg, Barry Hendon.


Smellboy: Strange Hairs by Meek Tombola. At long last a new graphic novel volume of Tombola’s great Smellboy character. After walking away from everything he knows in the previous volume Smellboy is in Africa, trying to work out where his life is going and why strange hairs are growing on different parts of his body.


Victoria and Circle by Meek Hairy. The second prose novel by from the top comics scribe Meek (author of Spoonifer which follows the Fallen Angel of Cutlery and Fellblazer, a comic about a Liverpudlian who moves to the Lakeland hills) featuring his new creation Castor Sugar, a psychic baker of cakes who investigates an outbreak of haunted confectionary between two routes of the London Underground.


Flickback by Stave Flloyd. A cracking new work from the artist of the classic P For Poinsettia, in which the central character, a fast-combing hair stylist on the take, decides to reject the corruption endemic in the city’s hair salons after being betrayed by his curling tongs manufacturer.


Pride of Antarctica by Flyan T Paughn and Kiki Onandon. After an American invasion of the ice continent to search for alleged Icicles of Mass Destruction a group of brave penguins are forced to flee the chaos and bombing of the liberation; based on a true story.


Toblerone by Taya Floor, Alien Floor and Bon Scepticon. An inventive re-working of the eccentric superheroes from Swiss comics of yesteryear in a modern setting, incorporating elements of the War on Chocolate.