The Antipope
Corgi Adult (1991 edition) cover
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| Author | Robert Rankin |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Brentford Trilogy |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Pan Books and Corgi Adult |
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Publication date
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1981 (Pan), 1991 (Corgi) |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 249 (Pan edition) 288 (Corgi edition) |
| ISBN | (Pan edition) (Corgi edition) |
| OCLC | 16539882 |
| Followed by | The Brentford Triangle |
The Antipope is a comic fantasy novel by the British author Robert Rankin. It is Rankin's first novel, and the first book in the Brentford Trilogy (which, as of July 2010[update], consists of 9 novels). The book was first published in 1981 by Pan Books, and from 1991 by Corgi books, an imprint of Transworld Publishers. Although typically found in the Science fiction section of bookshops, it is a difficult novel to categorise; Rankin himself joked that he wanted to create a new genre of fiction, called "Far Fetched Fiction", so that he would have his own bookshelf in Smiths.
The Antipope charts Brentford's anti-heroes' (Jim Pooley and John Omally) drinking, work avoidance, womanising, and further drinking as they try to foil the eponymous antipope in his demonic attempt to establish a new Holy See.
Jim Pooley and John Omally live in the London borough of Brentford, spending much of their time drinking in the Flying Swan, backing horses, womanising, and being generally feckless. Their problems start when Archroy's wife sells his beloved Morris Minor for five magic beans. Or perhaps they start when a hideous tramp appears in the neighbourhood, putting the wind up Neville the part-time barman something rotten. To cut a long story short, the tramp is none other than Pope Alexander VI, the last of the Borgias, and the beans grow into hideous homunculi, whose only purpose is to serve their dark master, the Antipope.
Pope Alexander takes up residence in the local Seaman's Mission, and eventually there is a final showdown between the forces of good and evil, with Alexander and his bean-men on one side, and the massed might of Brentford on the other, including Pooley and Omally, Professor Slocombe, Father Moity, and Archroy, now a master of Dim Mak, a deadly martial art. Before the denouement, though, there are numerous sub-plots such as Channel-wading, a cowboy night at the Flying Swan, a trip underground with Soap Distant, and meetings with several other interesting characters, like builders Hairy Dave and Jungle John, and the elusive Other Sam.
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