Picture of author.

Tom Holt (1) (1961–)

Author of The Portable Door

For other authors named Tom Holt, see the disambiguation page.

Tom Holt (1) has been aliased into K. J. Parker.

67+ Works 14,036 Members 305 Reviews 2 Favorited

Series

Works by Tom Holt

Works have been aliased into K. J. Parker.

The Portable Door (2003) — Author — 851 copies
Expecting Someone Taller (1987) 801 copies
Who's Afraid of Beowulf? (1988) 707 copies
Flying Dutch (1991) 529 copies
In Your Dreams (2004) 506 copies
Falling Sideways (2002) 497 copies
Earth, Air, Fire and Custard (2005) 462 copies
Nothing But Blue Skies (2001) 384 copies
Only Human (1999) 378 copies
Ye Gods (1992) 366 copies
Valhalla (2000) 329 copies
Little People (2002) 328 copies
Grailblazers (1994) 312 copies
Barking (2007) 292 copies
Paint Your Dragon (1996) 275 copies
Faust Among Equals (1994) 272 copies
The Outsorcerer's Apprentice (2014) 262 copies
Doughnut (2013) 247 copies
Blonde Bombshell (2010) 246 copies
Here Comes the Sun (1993) 242 copies
Odds and Gods (1995) 240 copies
May Contain Traces of Magic (2009) 232 copies
Djinn Rummy (1995) 230 copies
Overtime (1993) 226 copies
My Hero (1996) 216 copies
The Better Mousetrap (2008) 205 copies
Open Sesame (1997) 195 copies
Wish You Were Here (1998) 190 copies
Alexander at the World's End (1999) 187 copies
The Second Tom Holt Omnibus (2002) 179 copies
The Walled Orchard (1997) 178 copies
Lucia in Wartime (1985) 156 copies
When It's A Jar (2013) 153 copies
Tall Stories: Omnibus 5 (2004) 139 copies
Lucia Triumphant (1986) 138 copies
An Orc on the Wild Side (2019) 89 copies
The Walled Orchard (1990) 44 copies
Expecting Beowulf (2002) 21 copies
Bitter Lemmings (1997) 12 copies
The Walled Orchard (1772) 10 copies
Holt Who Goes There (1998) 8 copies
"Poems by Tom Holt"; (1973) 6 copies
Richards Blockbuster (1997) 3 copies
Pizza To Go (1998) 1 copy
Without Fire 1 copy

Associated Works

Works have been aliased into K. J. Parker.

The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy (1998) — Contributor, some editions — 502 copies
The Mammoth Book of Seriously Comic Fantasy (1999) — Contributor — 332 copies
The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy (2001) — Contributor — 184 copies
The Mammoth Book of Sorcerers' Tales (2004) — Contributor — 161 copies
Shakespearean Whodunnits (1997) — Contributor — 143 copies
The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits (2003) — Contributor — 127 copies
The Mammoth Book of Roaring Twenties Whodunnits (2004) — Contributor — 116 copies
Futures from Nature (2007) — Contributor — 113 copies
The Mammoth Book of Historical Crime Fiction (2011) — Contributor — 91 copies
Royal Whodunnits: Tales of Right Royal Murder and Mystery (1999) — Contributor — 70 copies
The Mammoth Book of Sword and Honour (2000) — Contributor — 51 copies
Xenofilkia #54 August — Contributor — 2 copies

Tagged

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Common Knowledge

Legal name
Holt, Thomas Charles Louis
Other names
Parker, K. J. (pseudonym)
Birthdate
1961-09-13
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
London, England, UK
Places of residence
Chard, Somerset, UK
London, England, UK
Education
Oxford University
Occupations
solicitor
novelist
fantasy writer
Relationships
Holt, Hazel (Mother)
Awards and honors
Guest of Honour, Eastercon, UK (1999)
Short biography
Tom Holt was born in London in 1961. At Oxford he studied bar billiards, ancient Greek agriculture and the care and feeding of small, temperamental Japanese motor engines; interests which led him, perhaps inevitably, to qualify as a solicitor and emigrate to Somerset, where he specialized in death and taxes for seven years before going straight in 1995. Now a full-time writer, he lives in Chard, Somerset, with his wife, one daughter and the unmistakable scent of blood, wafting in on the breeze from the local meat-packing plant. [from The Portable Door (2005)]

Members

Reviews

The story of the first Olympics.

DNF. The author's stylistic quirks to show we are in a semi-legendary period just got on my nerves.
 
Flagged
Robertgreaves | 3 other reviews | Dec 6, 2023 |
This isn't the sort of book I would normally read because - apart from a few honorary exceptions such as Douglas Adams' Hitch-hiker's Guide - I quite often find humorous stories rather too heavy handed and to be trying too hard to be funny. However, this was passed to me by a friend who enjoyed it, so I thought I would give it a fair try. At first, I found this to be rather too overworked in the usual fashion, but after persisting was able to find the odd gem and to smile wryly or chuckle here and there. So not raucously funny, but fairly acceptable as a one-off.

I've just discovered it is the last book in a series, but it doesn't seem to suffer for that. Everything you need to know to understand the strange events transpiring are more or less explained during the course of the book, apart from the two odd people employed to deter the 'hero and heroine' at one or two junctures: I now realise they might be explained in an earlier volume. I use the terms hero and heroine loosely because the hero is the goblin King who is meant to be evil though didn't really come over as such and the heroine is his Elf woman sidekick who wants to become editor of the Elves' snobby newspaper.

There are a lot of jokes which are really poking fun at things in our world, although I thought the author was steering a bit too near the wind with a derogatory description of a well-known food product, considering that brand names are usually all right to mention in fiction as long as nothing negative is said. The cover is also slightly misleading - no dragons actually appear and no one goes around armed with a bow and arrow, least of all the heroine. Anyway, it was a decent page-turning read and would probably appeal more to readers who really enjoy comedy fiction. A solid 3 star rating therefore.
… (more)
 
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kitsune_reader | 4 other reviews | Nov 23, 2023 |
As per usual I will not give a star rating on a book that just wasn’t clicking for me. I actually got about half way before putting it aside. I liked the first book but this one was a no go.
 
Flagged
cdaley | 4 other reviews | Nov 2, 2023 |
Fantastic. Really captures E.F. Benson's style, although there is something a little modern about the way it is done - but in a good way. It's a shame Holt didn't write more, because the next attempt to revive the characters, at the start of the 21st century, would be a grim failure.
 
Flagged
therebelprince | 2 other reviews | Oct 24, 2023 |

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Tamsin Berryman Cover artist
James Nicol Cover artist
Parin Shah Cover artist
Lauren Panepinto Cover designer
Geoff Spear Cover artist
Omar Rayyan Illustrator
Zander Nyrond Illustrator

Statistics

Works
67
Also by
13
Members
14,036
Popularity
#1,638
Rating
½ 3.5
Reviews
305
ISBNs
316
Languages
6
Favorited
2

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