Books : Fiction : Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards : Authors A-Z : E

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The Gathering

Anne Enright
The Warrior's Princess

Barbara Erskine
Blind Faith

Ben Elton
American Psycho

Bret Easton Ellis
Fashion Babylon

Imogen Edwards-Jones
Beach Babylon

Imogen Edwards-Jones
Chart Throb

Ben Elton
Pop Babylon

Imogen Edwards-Jones
Less Than Zero

Bret Easton Ellis
Daughters of Fire

Barbara Erskine
The Name of the Rose (Vintage Classics)

Umberto Eco
The First Casualty

Ben Elton
American Psycho

Bret Easton Ellis
The Rules of Attraction

Bret Easton Ellis
Lady of Hay

Barbara Erskine
Child of the Phoenix

Barbara Erskine
Foucault's Pendulum

Umberto Eco
American Tabloid

James Ellroy
"Blackadder": The Whole Damn Dynasty

Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, Rowan Atkinson, John Lloyd

For many people under 35, their most vivid glimpses of Britain's illustrious history have been through the Blackadder chronicles which brightened television screens from 1983 to 1989. Their constantly reborn protagonist, Edmund Blackadder, flounced through a bloody Middle Ages, a campy Elizabethan court, even camper Regency revels, and the rat-infested trenches of the Great War, armed with only his repulsive servant Baldrick, and a fine line in complex insults ("you would bore the leggings off a village idiot"; "he's got a brain the size of a weasel's wedding tackle").
Now you can brush up your Blackadder with a fine collection of the complete scripts, interspersed with useful titbits on medieval torture instruments, the menu in Mrs Miggins' coffee house, and the Prince Regent's laundry list. Bereft of their familiar faces and voices, television comedy scripts often fall flat--and Blackadder without the rubber-faced consonant-spitting of its hero Rowan Atkinson is surely unthinkable. But here the Blackadder oeuvre, penned by Richard Curtis and various collaborators, stands up wonderfully.
Curtis's bizarre, surreal take on English history takes up where 1066 and All That left off, wickedly skewering venerable historical personages, and hilariously literalising the classic clichés of textbook history (marvel again at the Puritan Whiteadders sitting on spikes so they won't enjoy their dinner). Classily produced, and with royalties going to the entertainment charity fund, Comic Relief, this is one TV tie-in well worth getting. --Alan Stewart
This Other Eden

Ben Elton