Higgs & Soap: Galaxy Delivery: Vol. 1 by Tony Cooper (book review).
Writing humour is very difficult as the audience for it is very variable. Not everyone appreciates the same kind of humour so tailoring it to a particular readership is an almost impossible task. As a result, it is best written for an audience of one, the author. With luck, there will also be others who see the same quirks. What works in one medium doesn’t always lend itself to another.
In this book, ‘Higgs & Soap: Galaxy Delivery: Vol. 1’, Tony Cooper has produced something that is essentially slapstick. Higgs Dittum is a regular human male who has great ambition but seems to have problems planning ahead. His partner in the Galaxy Delivery business is Soap, a genetically altered pilot who now has characteristics of a cat. She regards herself as trans-species.
Their latest delivery is a small data card. It seems a simple job, but suddenly they appear to be the target of others who want to either kill them or steal the data card from them, possibly both. The first sign of something wrong is when three men pursue Higgs onto the roof of a train and throw him off. Not only are they after them but a sneak thief keeps trying pick up the card.
The situations develop at such a fast pace that it is difficult to keep up with them. It is also surprising that neither Higgs nor Soap are seriously injured giving a surreal dimension to the tale. Personally, I’d prefer the book to be longer with more description of the places and environments, fleshing out the alien planets to give a greater context for the action. As it stands, I could imagine this as an animated production, possibly animé rather than text. This would not normally be my choice of humour but I can see that some readers, particularly teens, would love it.
My really big gripe is the fact that the first chapter is first person while the rest of the book is in third and the question is why?
Pauline Morgan
March 2019
(pub: CreateSpace, 2015. 194 page paperback. Price: £ 8.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-51511-912-8)
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