Before & After

by Matthew Thomas and Matthew Thomas

That rare find: comic fantasy that actually makes you laugh. Douglas Adams10;Terry Pratchett, but with more jokes. A dark, deadpan millennial tale. 'The sheep shall be the first sign. Those that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 000648302X
• ISBN13: 9780006483021
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: HarperCollins (UK)
• Length: 426 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.4" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

True British Humour with a Twist

If you're looking for something that's funny in a twisted sort of way, this is a must-read. Thomas has an amazing ability to capture the essence of things in bizarre imagery and exuberant one-liners. The writing is fresh, and the book is one of the most original I've read recently. You have to have a dry sense of humour to really enjoy this book, but I loved it - exploding sheep and all.

around the world

I picked this book up in Greece and I couldn't put it down. Eventually I had convinced so many people that it was worth reading that I began a "traveler's reading list." Before and After is now on her maiden voyage across the world- I can't imagine how many people have read that particular copy by now, but I do know she has been in Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, Germany, London, and New York and Alaska. I can only imagine who is enjoying her now.

A Funny And Brilliant book for the new Millenium

Matthew Thomas has written one of the best books that I have read this year, and I have read quite a few! He has a funny and witty way of writing that kept me involved in the book. Exploding sheep, the 'downfall' of the Millenium Dome, the final armageddon, and a new Satan called Nick; all combine to make a great The story is one of your basic end of the world stories, which rely on the main characters to stop it. This time, though, Prof. Mike D. Nostrus (Nostradamus, now a 500 yr old prophet) and his beautiful young assisstant, Deborah, are not out to save the world, just themselves. With his great insight into the future happenings Mike knows when and where the events will be happening, and tries to get as far away as possible. How wrong can one man be.... The final battle scene is one of the best that I have read, and the pictures that are conjured in your mind as the knights of the round table give chase to 'Jean Paul' the abbot of the Masticating Monks of Montpellier are... well read the book and, I promise you will not be disappointed!

Hitchhiking with Skinny Legs During the Apocalypse

The back cover of this book says it all..."The sheep shall be the first sign. Those that frolic and hop will detonate with great concussions, The strongest glues will not hold then, their suffering will go unheeded, Until the great triangles depart" "Not with a bang but a BAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOM!"I purchased this book at Heathrow on a flight back to the US who could resist a cover with a sheep munching grass and then on the back luanching into space? The entertainment factor of this book is extremely high. If you like Tom Robbins with his ability to impart personality onto inanimate objects or the Hitchhikers guide series with its ability to comically critisize daily life, then you will LOVE not just like this one from Mattew Thomas. Here are just some of the questions answered by this one.1. What did happen to nostradomus 2. Is the Y2k bug really a problem 3. Who built those pyramids and do they want em back? 4. What does an oxygen deprived fish think as it is dying and being stared at by us humans?I can only hope Mr. Thomas keeps on and this is not just a 1 hit wonder. I would love to see this one made into a movie.

Quite hilarious--people smacked me for laughing out loud!

The book is a painfully funny satire about the end of the world. Written by an author who writes with incredible intelligence inter-twined with simple, stupid, potty humor, it is appreciable by both sarcastic rocket scientists and drivelling trailer-trash. Thomas uses witty headings, much in the style of "Frasier:" "Route 666" (the deamons must drive a semi along a British motorway, and it's just hell), "Hell's Kitchen" (a section about the Masticating Monks of Montpellier; demons who are great French Chefs), and "Jesus Wants Me For an Electromagnetic Wavefront" (read it and find out). Also, he comes up with crazy metaphores and outlandish discriptions: (describing the spacial dimensions of Hell...)"FORWARD was twisted around UP, which doubld back on itself in a fit of pique. RIGHT did an inverted barrel roll around DOWN, and, after wraping itself twice around LEFT, shot off into infinity. BACKWARDS just gave up on trying to get a look-in and went off to do its own thing. If some bright yound origami expert wsa ever able to build a model of this arrangement it would have sling-shotted him into another dimension." The list of characters is also a high in the book. We have Michael Nostros, a 500-year-old-prophet/professor who has decided to cash in on the end of the world and hole up to save himself. His accomplice is Deborah, a smart, young, beautiful, karate-chopping undergraduate. Along the way they meet Adam; who falls in love with Deborah and takes out all of his little-man syndrome symptoms on her; Young Nick, the ruler of Hell; Rubicante and Gruttlehog, two stupid assassin demons; Sid, Adam's ego; Ted Trundell, the leader of the Church of the Eloquent Announcement (he got a message from God through Boo-Boo on Yogi Bear), and his followers, the Spiritual Marines (the prereq's to be part of this: go through Bible College, fight on the front lines in a major military battle, have an expensive Italian suit and a sidearm with enough power to knock out a cow, and be six feet tall.) And of course the exploding sheep. If you like twisted humor, I would VERY HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book. But make sure you read it alone--when you break out laughing more than one time in 5 minutes, the people around you start to get kind of upset. And, when you start feeling like you've just gotta share this wealth of literary genius with all those around and read it out loud, they really get crabby. But it's worth it. Very muchly so.