The Paths of the Perambulator (1985

1985 in literature

The year 1985 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Isaac Asimov - Robots and Empire*Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale*Jean M. Auel - The Mammoth Hunters*Iain Banks - Walking on Glass...

) is a fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 written by Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...

. The book follows the continuing adventures of Jonathan Thomas Meriweather who is transported from our world into a land of talking animals and magic. It is the fifth book in the Spellsinger

Spellsinger

Spellsinger is a series of fantasy novels written by Alan Dean Foster. At present the series consists of eight books, and although there was a significant gap between the writing of book six and book seven, it seems unlikely that any more will be written....

 series.

Plot introduction

The strange world Jon-Tom has found himself trapped in takes a turn for the decidedly weird as Foster’s fantasy series take a page from Kafka’s Metamorphosis when the Spellsinger wakes up one morning as a giant crab. The cause, as determined by the turtle wizard Clothahump

Clothahump

Clothahump is a fictional character in the Spellsinger series by Alan Dean Foster. Clothahump is a wizard who pulled Jon-Tom into the world where the books take place. He is apparently the most powerful wizard on the planet. He is a turtle who walks upright with various secret drawers in his...

, is a trapped perambulator: an inter-dimensional creature that wanders through different universes leaving behind random changes to the fabric of the world. Jon-Tom and his friends attempt to free the perambulator before it wreaks permanent havoc on their world.

External links

• Alan Dean Foster homepage