Bass Instinct

"Tolkien meets Spinal Tap!"Bass Instinct is the fourth book in The Banned Underground collection of comic fantasy books. Each is a stand-alone novel, needing no previous acquaintance with the characters.The Banned Underground are a dwarf rhythm-and-blues band, led by a luminous green, saxophone playing bog troll with a passion for mushrooms, beer and pizza ... and more beer ... and for playing jazz, blues and rock 'n' roll, of course. The latest addition to the group is a bright red Welsh dragon that plays bass guitar. But he's in trouble.Dai the Drinking Dragon has been kidnapped by the Dark Lord for nefarious purposes, and by the Dark Lord's dragon receptionist for even less reputable reasons. Without their bass player, the Banned Underground are now in deep trouble with their record label. They have to produce a set of recordings for an album, and someone has stolen the tapes from the last gig. Can they make some more recordings, or will Freya, the renegade dwarf bass player hired by the Dark Lord, distract the boys whilst the Dark Lord's evil schemes come to fruition?The Dark Lord has found some thugs to help him in his latest plan to invade the underground Dwarf Mansion he would like to own (as an alternative to his garden shed as a place to hide from his wife), but they have other things on their minds - like looting and pillaging the locals - and it's all going wrong for him again.Described on The Guardian newspaper's book review pages as 'Lord of The Rings as written by stand-up comic Milton Jones to the soundtrack of Led Zeppelin IV', The Banned Underground series is an underground hit, full of both crackling one-liners and more subtle jokes.