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Only Human by

Book Cover - Tom Holt: Only Human

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Cover by
Paul Cemmick

Book Cover - Tom Holt: Only Human

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Cover by
Paul Cemmick, the backside

Book Cover - Tom Holt: Only Human

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Book Cover - Tom Holt: Only Human

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You can read more about this book at Amazon's websites (where you also can order the book):
Normal paper editions
Amazon UK (Paperback) Only Human
Amazon USA (Paperback) Only Human
Amazon Canada (Paperback) Only Human
Amazon Deutschland (Paperback) Only Human
Kindle (eBook) editions
Amazon UK (Kindle edition) Only Human
Amazon USA (Kindle edition) Only Human
Amazon Canada (Kindle edition) Only Human
Amazon Deutschland (Kindle edition) Only Human
Category: comic fantasy fiction
First published: 4 Mar 1999
Publisher: Orbit, published
ISBN: 1857236939, Hardcover, 352 pages
Size: 21.6 x 14.5 x 3.3 cm
Publisher: Orbit, published 6 Jan 2000
ISBN: 1857239490, Paperback, 343 pages
Size: 2.5 x 10.8 x 17.1 cm
Publisher: Hachette Digital, published 1 Oct 2009
ISBN: B002TZ3DKS, Kindle edition, 343 pages

Book synopsis (The back of the book says)

Something is about to go wrong. Very wrong. What do you expect if the Supreme Being decides to get away from it all for a few days, leaving his naturally inquisitive son to look after the cosmic balance of things? A minor hiccup with a human soul and before you know it you're on the road to chaos.
A gag about God regarding the pursuit of happiness as something to be done with a fly-swatter resulted in this book.

Reviews of this book

After reading this book wrote this
God and Jay Christ have decided to take a break and go on a fishing trip leaving Kevin, God's younger son in charge. The only trouble is that Kevin's a teenager who decides to have play on Mainframe, God's computer, but ends up screwing things up... Some humans find that they have swapped places with paintings, machines, a Duke of Hell and a Lemming.
At the same time an alien, Zxprxp, is on a reconnaissance mission to Earth and encounters the humans containing the souls of a centuries old painting, a machine, a Vicar with the soul of a Duke of Hell and the Prime Minister with the soul of a Lemming!
In this outing Tom Holt takes a sideways look at theology and the Human condition, and as his his usual way he does it with style, class and a wicked sense of humour.
All Holt's books take an existing mythology and spins it on its heels, but that raises a fear... What if he's run out of myths to take the piss out of? But yet again he proves that fear to be unfounded by taking one of the world's most famous myths (or belief system if you prefer...), Christianity.
The characters all have a vulnerability that makes them real without being pathetic and retain their inherent farcical qualities. The plot races along with plenty of laughs and a well rounded story that we have come to expect from Tom Holt.
Tom Holt is on form with Only Human and you feel all the better for it...
After reading this book wrote this
I was quite delighted to find this in paperback at the Munich airport. Tom Holt is one of my favorite authors, but for some reason the most recent book that I've ever found here in America is Ye Gods. Sucks to be me. There's this whole bibliography I knew nothing about that made me want to go to London and rob a bookstore. Anyway.
  Loved the book. Can't go wrong with a story that starts with God and Jesus going on a fishing trip and Kevin, little brother of Jesus, being left in charge. Enjoyed everything about this book, the Computer that was designed to be operated by an omnescient Being, the demon in a vicar's body, the liberation of machines, the revolutionary new philosophy of "not jumping" growing among the lemmings. Great great stuff.
  Now I just have to close that huge gap in my Tom Holt collection.

Other people's reviews of this book

Steven Silver's review

If you have read this book and have written down your thoughts, please mail me the location of your review and I will link it from here.

What critics have said

`Brilliantly funny'
--

Quotes from Only Human

Time, the thief who breaks into our bodies at night and steals a third of our lifetimes
If at first you dont succeed, put someone else's initials on the worksheet.
'-- here we go, surfing the Net again, something done by humans and very gullible fish'


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Book Cover of Faust Among Equals

Quote from Faust Among Equals

"It's not just the hours. It's the hours and hours and hours that get to me."
(Tom Holt, "Faust Among Equals")
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