more conventional than her earlier efforts, they are
more technically polished, and the Merlin’s De-
scendants series in particular is evidence that she
is capable of producing significant and worthwhile
fiction.
“The Raft” Stephen King(1982)
Sometimes the best horror and suspense stories are
the ones that employ the simplest of concepts.
That is certainly the case with this early thriller by
Stephen KING, in which four young people find
themselves trapped on a raft in the middle of a
pretty little pond, isolated from outside contact
and unable to escape because of an amorphous but
deadly form of life living in the water.
The story opens with the introduction of four
college students, two male and two female. Deke is
an obvious jock, while Randy is less outgoing, less
physically intimidating, and mildly jealous because
of the way his date is watching his friend. They are
the only ones in the area because it is really too
cold for swimming, and, in fact, Randy has some
misgivings but is unable to dissuade his compan-
ions. Shortly after arriving Randy notices a dark
patch in the water, something like an oil slick, and
thinks it may have moved toward them deliber-
ately, but he dismisses the thought when he
reaches the raft in the center of the pond and
climbs up into the cool air. His fears return when
he sees the object moving toward Laverne and
Rachel, and he almost panics before they have
safely arrived at the raft.
Although they appear to be safe now that they
are out of the water, Rachel becomes fascinated by
some unexplained hypnotic quality radiating from
the creature, reaches toward it, and is caught and
engulfed by its flesh-dissolving properties. Rachel
dies, and the rest react in shock or panic even be-
fore they realize that they are trapped. Time passes
as the blob investigates the raft, finally reaching up
between two segments to touch Deke’s foot and
eventually kill him. In similar fashion it later
claims Laverne, and only Randy lives long enough
to see the dawn. But even though he can see the
shoreline, where he would be safe, there is no way
he can reach it, and the story ends with him finally
surrendering to the creature. “The Raft” became
one segment of the motion picture Creepshow 2
(1987), with a more satisfying though just as
downbeat ending.Rankin, Robert(1949– )
Robert Rankin’s unique style of humor moves
freely, almost chaotically, from science fiction to
fantasy to supernatural, so that labeling his fiction
as one or the other is sometimes futile. Although
there is a distinctly British tone to his novels, there
is little to unify them in the way that Terry
PRATCHETThas done with his own work, for exam-
ple. Most of Rankin’s novels are set in our world,
but a distinctly skewed version that is only some-
times recognizable.
His first success came with the Brentford Tril-
ogy, consisting of The Antipope(1981), The Brent-
ford Triangle(1982), and East of Ealing(1984).
The opening volume introduces us to the Brent-
ford area and its strange characters, jumps around
in time a bit, and presents us with a problem in-
volving magic beans. The middle volume is more
science fiction than fantasy, involving possible
aliens on Earth, and by the concluding volume it
is obvious that the prophecies of Revelation are
taking place in Brentford, although not quite in
the fashion expected. He returned to that setting
with The Sprouts of Wrath(1988) and later with
Nostradamus Ate My Hamster(1996) and The
Brentford Chainstore Massacre(1997), in the latter
of which a genetic expert clones a number of
copies of Jesus Christ so that he can hand them
out to various religions. Another spoof of religion,
The Suburban Book of the Dead(1993) and A Dog
Called Demolition(1996), about a talking dog, are
less successful, but The Garden of Unearthly De-
lights(1996), in which science and reason are re-
placed by myth and magic, is often side-splittingly
funny.
Demons attempt to take over the world in
Waiting for Godalming(2001) but find themselves
confused into submission. The Hollow Chocolate
Bunnies of the Apocalypse(2002) is set in Toy
Town, the place where toys come to life, but there
is a serial killer on the loose, though not one to be
taken too seriously. The Witches of Chiswick
(2003), Rankin’s funniest book, postulates that aRankin, Robert 285