Book Review: Iznogoud; The Caliph's Vacation by Goscinny & Tabary

Iznogoud; The Caliph's Vacation is a collection of short, animated stories which follow the attempts of the evil Grand Vizier, Iznogoud, to depose the Caliph of Baghdad by taking him on a series of ridiculous and potentially fatal vacations and days out, all of which fail hopelessly.

The stories and dialogue are written by Goscinny, who is most famous for the Asterix series, and the illustrations are excellent, provided by Tabary. Each of the stories revolves around the evil Grand Vizier trying to kill the Caliph in various, typically comic-strip style, vacation strategies each of which goes totally wrong and end up leaving Iznogoud in various states of disarray including being turned into a louse, turned into a shell and stranded in a desert.

Books to be Reviewed: Tracks by Mike Gordon

Many thanks to David Gordon for sending me a copy of Tracks by Mike Gordon for reviewing; Tracks is a self-published book and is Mike Gordon's first novel.

"The future of the surveillance society… In Boston, Global HealthCare Corporation is hoping to recover its fortunes with a new micro-chip technology which can eradicate disease - until Peter Miller, the brilliant but troubled architect of the program, quits his job and goes to work at a psychiatric hospital in London, helping develop a system to track dangerous patients. When a deadly threat to the US emerges, a covert Federal agency becomes involved, and Miller is caught up in a web of lies, love, insanity and murder - and finds he's opened the door to a frightening future."

Currently I am about halfway through the book and I have to say that I like it - the story is gripping, there are some interesting characters and it is well-written: a review will appear here when I have finished the book.

Anyone wishing to support a new, self-publishing author can buy Tracks from the book's website: Tracks by Mike Gordon.