DC Farmer's Frivolous Pursuits was published by Wyrmwood Books in July 2015.
Information about DC Farmer:
Once a successful doctor of medicine, DC Farmer now works two days a week for the NHS and, thanks to the wonders of Krudian physics, the other nine days a week for Hipposync Enterprises, as a scribe.
Hipposync was established in the early fourteenth century as a purveyor and publisher of rare books, the sort of stuff you are not able to get elsewhere and which contains information as varied as how to guard your castle against the Hordes of Maltasub using Harpie blood and tar, and how to change a beetle into a useful toothpick.
Of course, you will have gathered from all of this that Hipposync is, in fact, just a cover. What lurks beneath that thin veneer of respectability (yeah, right) is much, much more interesting. Hiding behind an office on the banks of the canal in Jericho, Oxford is the Department of Fimmigration (as in Fae immigration). Hey, there has to be one, otherwise just anyone could walk in, right?
DC's role in documenting the work of the Fimmigration Service has, over the years, led to the realization that the world needs to know. Moreover, if he doesn't tell someone soon he is going to burst. So, within these pages you will find actual accounts of the splendid work of the Fimmigration Service, beginning with The 400 Lb Gorilla – a sample of which is also on this site, and which will soon be published in its totality by Spence City once appropriate clearance from the 'authorities' has been obtained.
Some people say that this is contemporary fantasy fiction. Believe me, it's real enough on planet hipposync.
DC Farmer is alive and well in darkest West Wales.
Click here to visit the author's official website.
Information about Frivolous Pursuits:
Darren Trott has a job, a feisty girlfriend (with plans) and a house with potential. Oh yes, he's living the dream. It just isn't the dream he applied for.
You see, Darren likes taking photos of plastic models in real world settings. He calls it art. His girlfriend Amanda calls it a frivolous pursuit. She wants him to give it all up and turn his garage studio into a nail bar. Trouble is, his 'art' won't let him. Every time Darren takes a picture, something very peculiar happens. Something amazing, and weird, and genuinely out of this world.
Psychopathic relatives, aboriginal demons, warrior queens, and a Brownie called George (with claws, a pork-pie hat and an attitude bigger than a banker's wage), all want a piece of Darren. But they'll have to form an orderly queue because there's the small matter of an impending apocalypse to sort out first...
DC Farmer cordially invites you to join him in exploring the next white-knuckle case report from the Hipposync archives, following on from the highly received, The 400Lb Gorilla.
A REVIEW OF DC FARMER'S FRIVOLOUS PURSUITS
Frivolous Pursuits is the second novel in the delightfully quirky and humorous Hipposync Archives series. It wonderfully continues the series and adds freshness to it.
Because I enjoyed reading the author's previous Hipposync Archive novel, The 400lb Gorilla, I was eager to read Frivolous Pursuits and could hardly wait to hold it in my hands. I was positively surprised when I noticed that it was everything that I hoped it would be, because it was an entertaining and fresh novel with good ideas, and just like its predecessor, it was something a bit different.
In my opinion, Frivolous Pursuits is just as funny, entertaining and unpredictable as The 400lb Gorilla, because it contains plenty of happenings and the story is coated with deliciously quirky, satirical and sharp humour. I can honestly say that it's one of the best and funniest urban fantasy novels I've ever read. It's easy for me to praise it, because I enjoyed reading it and found myself chuckling and laughing out loud at certain points.
I think it's good to mention that although Frivolous Pursuits is a sequel to The 400lb Gorilla, it can be read and enjoyed as a standalone novel. By the way, if you haven't read the first novel yet, trust me when I say that you'll definitely want to read it, because it's worth reading (if you like this novel, I urge you to read the previous novel as soon as possible).
I've often mentioned that I'm difficult to please when it comes to urban fantasy, because I've been more or less disappointed by the low quality and poor entertainment values of contemporary urban fantasy novels (most authors tend to recycle well-known elements in a boring and repetitive way). Too many authors choose the easy way out and write stories that have little or no originality at all. That's why finding good authors like DC Farmer is difficult.
DC Farmer has managed to impress me with his writing skills, originality, humour and imagination. He has more imagination, style and sense of humour than many other authors combined. I especially enjoy his sharp and stinging humour, because he delivers sarcastic humour in a genuinely amusing way (there's something charmingly British about his sense of humour that I find compelling). He also has a thrilling way of blending urban fantasy with quest fantasy elements.
After reading this novel, I can mention that DC Farmer is one of the best and most talented urban fantasy authors. He has found a place for himself among other authors and uses his own voice to tell stories. In my opinion, he deserves to be read by readers who love humorous urban fantasy and appreciate good entertainment.
Frivolous Pursuit is a satisfyingly told fantasy story about a young man called Darren Trott and his life. Darren is a normal young man who suddenly finds himself in the middle of strange happenings.
Because there's quite a lot going on in this novel, it's slightly difficult for me to summarise its contents with a few sentences. This novel contains so many happenings that what you find below is only a small glimpse into its exhilarating contents.
Here's a bit of information about the story:
In the prologue, Darren Trott is nine years old and experiences something strange in the bathroom. He sees how a tiny figure of a man comes alive and tells him to "warn the others". This frightens him... After the prologue, the focus shifts to a grown-up Darren who takes photos of miniature models in various positions and settings. He enjoys his hobby, but his girlfriend, Amanda, doesn't like it and thinks it's not a proper hobby for him. Amanda feels that Darren should spend his time doing something else and calls his hobby a frivolous pursuit. One day Darren receives a model by mail from Hipposync Archives. The name of model is Roxana and she seems to be able to speak. Roxana tells Darren of the great threat that is coming to her land and asks for his help. Soon Darren meets Kylah and Matt Danmor from the Department of Fimmigration and learns that Moldarrenovians are in great trouble...
This is the beginning of a well written urban fantasy story that contains plenty of humour and intriguing surprises.
It was nice to read again about Matt Danmor and Kylah, because I enjoyed reading about them in The 400lb Gorilla. When they make an appearance in this story, Darren is pulled into quite an adventure and a whole new side of the world and other dimensions is revealed to him.
It was interesting for me to read about what happened when Darren and his companions arrived in Moldarrenovia, because they found themselves in a strange land where things were different and where strange and dangerous beasts roamed the land because of the evil Ysbaed. The author wrote well about how Darren and his companions explored the world and helped its inhabitants.
Worldbuilding works well, because Moldarrenovia is a fascinatingly different kind of a world. I'm not going to go into details about Moldarrenovia, but I can reveal that Darren is quite smitten by one of the inhabitants and her sensual appearance. He also has a fascinating connection to Moldarrenovia and its existence.
Characterisation is exceptionally good and fluent in this novel, because the protagonist is realistic and endearing while the supporting characters are interesting and wonderfully quirky and vivid.
Darren is one of the most realistic and interesting protagonists ever to appear on the pages of urban fantasy novels. The author writes fluently and engagingly about Darren's life and his problems. The readers get to know him and come to care about what happens to him, because he's an easily likeable protagonist.
Darren has a relationship with Amanda Cray, but their relationship isn't very happy, because Amanda and her nightmarish family cause quite a lot of stress to him. There are times when Darren thinks about their relationship and what's going on between them, because Amanda is different from him.
What makes Darren an especially interesting protagonist is that he has an ability to communicate with the things that he photographs. This special ability separates him from normal people, because there aren't many who can do something like that.
Amanda is a well-created character, because she's completely different from Darren. She has many plans and she systematically tries to change Darren's life, because she has her own vision of how things should be. She's a determined and nasty young woman who has her own opinions. Her relatives have clearly had a huge effect on her personality.
There are many colourful supporting characters in this novel, including Sanjay Bobal (Darren's best friend), Malcolm Burns (a semi-pro gamer) and Vivette Campbell-Fripp (an owner of a fashion house). It was wonderful to read about these characters, because they added depth and humour to the story. All of them are vivid and have their own characteristics and eccentricities that define them.
George Hoblip, a brownie, deserves a special mention as an unforgettable supporting character with a big attitude. He's a charmingly different kind of a character who's difficult to forget once you've read about him.
The relationship between Darren and Amanda is handled surprisingly well, because the author writes fluently about how they feel about each other and how Amanda tries to change Darren. Their relationship feels almost like a relationship from hell, because Darren doesn't have much to say about certain things. Amanda seems to be the boss and wants to control Darren all the time. What makes Darren's situation worse is that Amanda's nasty relatives are anything but normal and he has to endure them.
One of things that I like about this novel is that the character interaction works perfectly. It was a pleasure to read the dialogues, because they were full of funny and sharp comments about the world, people and relationships.
I also have to mention that the author seems to have an inborn ability to write humorous prose. His approach to such delicate issues and themes as relationship problems, love and sex feels fresh and exciting because he gives a humorous treatment to them.
It's great that the author has plenty of imagination and he doesn't repeat himself. I was impressed by his way of delivering surprises and writing about ordinary life in a delightfully quirky and funny way. He seems to understand what good and clever humour is and how it can be used to entertain his readers (his humour has a delightfully sharp edge to it).
Just like in the previous novel, the author plays nicely with the idea of what's real and what's not and how a person's life can be affected by happenings that can't be explained. What happened to Darren when he was a child had an enormous effect on his life, because he had to learn to accept that it wasn't real. His whole life changes when he finds out that he actually didn't imagine anything and learns new things about himself and the world around him.
With this novel, DC Farmer proves that it's possible to write fascinating contemporary urban fantasy novels without resorting to using overused elements (vampires etc) that cause clenching of teeth and almost allergical reactions to many readers who are fed up with reading about them. I think that many readers will notice how easily the author avoids using clichés and creates something new from well-known and ordinary elements. To be honest, I think that many urban fantasy authors could take a few lessons from this author.
Frivolous Pursuits is a genuinely funny romp with plenty of humour to satisfy the needs of those who want humour from their fantasy novels. It manages to be both entertaining and thrilling, and it easily captures the reader's attention from the very first page and makes the reader want to read the whole story as soon as possible to find out what happens to the protagonist. I seldom find myself almost skipping pages to find out what happens at the end when I read urban fantasy novels, but in this case I had to read the story as soon as possible, because I enjoyed it.
I sincerely hope that DC Farmer will soon write the next Hipposync Archive novel, because this kind of entertainment is the best possible kind of escapism to fantasy readers who want to read good and well written stories. There's a short and intriguing preview chapter of the next novel at the end of this novel. Based on it, I can mention that the next novel seems to be worth waiting for.
If you're a fan of humorous fantasy, DC Farmer's Frivolous Pursuits should be on your reading list. It's essential reading material for those who love Terry Pratchett-like humour and enjoy well written humorous stories. I'm sure that all who read this novel will have this question on their minds when they've reached the final page: "When will the next Hippposync Archive novel be published?"
My final words are:
Frivolous Pursuits is wonderful entertainment to fans of humorous urban fantasy. It's something a bit different and deserves to be read by readers who love good stories.