Tom Holt

Thomas Charles Louis Holt (born 13 September 1961) is a British novelist. In addition to fiction published under his own name, he writes fantasy under the pseudonym K. J. Parker.

Biography

Holt was born in London, the son of novelist Hazel Holt, and was educated at Westminster School, Wadham College, Oxford, and The College of Law, London.

His works include mythopoeic novels which parody or take as their theme various aspects of mythology, history or literature and develop them in new and often humorous ways. He has also written a number of historical novels writing as Thomas Holt. Steve Nallon collaborated with Holt to write ''I, Margaret'', a satirical autobiography of Margaret Thatcher published in 1989.

K. J. Parker

K. J. Parker is the pseudonym under which Holt has published fantasy fiction. Holt's assumed identity as K. J. Parker was kept secret for 17 years, until April 2015.

While Parker's stories take place in secondary worlds with fictional geographies and world history, some of the typical features of fantasy fiction such as explicit use of magic are not present in his novels. His short stories, on the other hand, frequently deal with magic and the problems it brings for sorcerers. The stories tend to have tragic themes with characters whose actions are unintentionally, ultimately self-destructive. Other major themes in the books are politics, technology (especially disruptive innovation), and either or both of the former as a means to power.

Bibliography of Tom Holt

Novels

Humorous fantasy

*'' Expecting Someone Taller'' (1987), based on the mythology of Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''.
*'' Who's Afraid of Beowulf?'' (1988), based on Norse mythology and history.
*'' Flying Dutch'' (1991), based on the story of the Flying Dutchman.
*''Ye Gods!'' (1992), based on elements of Greek mythology including a parody of Heracles.
*''Overtime'' (1993), based on the legend of Blondel combined with time travel.
*''Here Comes the Sun'' (1993), based loosely on the Celestial Bureaucracy reinterpreted along the lines of the British civil service.
*''Grailblazers'' (1994), based on Arthurian romance and the quest for the Holy Grail.
*''Faust Among Equals'' (1994), an imagined continuation of the story of Faust.
*''Odds & Gods'' (1995), which features assorted pantheons and their adventures after "retirement".
*''Djinn Rummy'' (1995), based on the antics of various bottle-trapped djinn along the lines of a modern Aladdin.
*''My Hero'' (1996), in which literary characters can move between fiction and the real world. One of the main characters is Hamlet.
*'' Paint Your Dragon'' (1996), based on the adventures of statues carved to portray the legend of St George slaying the dragon.
*''Open Sesame'' (1997), based on characters from the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
*''Wish You Were Here'' (1998), in which a lake spirit grants four people their heart's desire whether they like it or not.
*''Only Human'' (1999), in which four human souls are switched respectively with a machine, a painting, a lemming and a demon.
*''Snow White and the Seven Samurai'' (1999), based on fairy tales (Brothers Grimm and others) making a world within a computer simulation.
*''Valhalla'' (2000), based on ideas from Norse mythology and the notion of tailoring an afterlife to suit the client.
*''Nothing But Blue Skies'' (2001), which features Chinese dragons which cause rain, and the problems caused when one of them falls in love with a human.
*''Falling Sideways'' (2002), which features human cloning and interference from a race of powerful alien frogs.
*''Little People'' (2002), in which a boy sees elves, and discovers they are being shrunk, imprisoned and enslaved.
*Featuring J.W. Wells & Co., the magic firm from ''The Sorcerer'' by Gilbert & Sullivan:
**''The Portable Door'' (2003), which features office politics with a magical twist.
**'' In Your Dreams'' (2004), in which the Fey use people's dreams to try to invade the world of humans.
**''Earth, Air, Fire, and Custard'' (2005).
**''You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But It Helps'' (2006).
**''The Better Mousetrap'' (2008).
**''May Contain Traces of Magic'' (2009), where a JWW travelling salesman breaks the rules and converses with his car's demonical navigation system.
**''Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages'' (2011), subtitled ''A Comedy of Transdimensional Tomfoolery'', with a genius pig, human chickens, and reality misfunctions.
*''Barking'' (2007), based on vampires and werewolves transposed into modern day legal firms.
*'' Blonde Bombshell'' (2010), an alien canine race is trying to destroy Earth.
*Featuring YouSpace, a multiverse-based entertainment system, with doughnuts as portals:
**''Doughnut'' (2013), a disgraced physicist is bequeathed a very strange legacy.
**''When It's a Jar'' (2013), an ordinary fellow becomes a reluctant hero.
**''The Outsorcerer's Apprentice'' (2014), a fairy tale universe is exploited economically.
**''The Good, the Bad and the Smug'' (2015), Rumplestiltskin-based economies and Evil goes for a new, more appealing look.
**''An Orc on the Wild Side'' (2019)
*''The Management Style of the Supreme Beings'' (2017), God and his oldest son Jay sell Earth to the Venturi brothers, leaving behind younger son Kevin, all the archangels, and Santa Claus.

Historical

Using Thomas Holt as author name.
*''The Walled Orchard'' (1997), which was originally published in two parts as ''Goatsong'' (1989) and ''The Walled Orchard'' (1990)
*''Alexander at the World's End'' (1999)
*''Olympiad'' (2000)
*''A Song for Nero'' (2003)
*''Meadowland'' (2005)

Other

* Poems by Tom Holt (1974) (Collection of early poems)
*continuations of E. F. Benson's "Lucia" series set in Tilling
**''Lucia in Wartime'' (1985) fiction
**''Lucia Triumphant'' (1986) fiction
* I, Margaret (1989) (satirical biography of Margaret Thatcher, with Steve Nallon)
* Bitter lemmings (1997) (Songbook)
* Holt Who Goes There? (2002) (short stories)
*''Someone Like Me'' (2006).

Short fiction

*

Parodies of musical works

* Impractical Man – a parody of the song Practical Man by Pete Atkin and Clive James

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