Science Fiction Novel Review G K Chesterton The Flying Inn

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1914 – Rajas Press – Spoiler alerts. This could have been so much better than it is. The story is a satire about an alternative Britain that has somehow formed an alliance with the Ottoman Empire leading to the Westminster establishment and Muslim prophets to impose a Prohibition on Britain, closing pubs and making alcohol only available to the rich who can get spirits on medical prescription. The quiet coup is foiled by an English publican, Humphrey Pump, and an Irish mercenary, Captain Patrick Dalroy, who roam the land with a large barrel of rum, a ball of cheese and a pub sign for The Old Ship. The outlaws use loopholes and clever ingenuity to avoid capture, while making up songs and poems to entertain themselves on their travels. When centred on Pump & Dalroy, this is huge fun, but the treatment of Muslims is blatantly racist in a way that would guarantee the book would not get published today. The story fails to show that the British Temperance Movement could have pushed for just what the Muslim conspirators bring in (the story was written just a few years before real Prohibition was introduced by the Christian Right in the US). It also seems unlikely that only two men would resort to bootleg rum or beer distribution in the entire country. The edition I have is downright peculiar. The text is pressed in as close as possible on itself, with no paragraph breaks or page numbering at all. They have printed the book as cheaply as possible for selling it on Amazon. Arthur Chappell