I may have mentioned before a novel called The Planets by James Finney Boylan. It is brilliant, weird and funny. It is set in the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania which is a real place but is one of the strangest aspects of the book. Anyway, I lent this book to someone at work who then went sick for a year and never returned (The book wasn’t responsible: lets not fall into the post hoc fallacy now).

I wouldn’t mind reading the book again, but you just don’t see it around.

Today I learned two things about the book. Firstly that there was a sequel called The Constellations, published in 1994. So thats two books for me to look out for.

I don’t see how I can not read The Constellations after reading this description of it:

Picking up six years after The Planets concluded, The Constellations follows the lives of several of the characters from The Planets, along with a generous helping of new, strange people. The Constellations, published in 1994 by Random House, is just as energetic as its precursor, as characters flee from angry cows, discover a latex brain, and begin a life of dognapping.

Secondly I learned why I could not previously find James Finney Boylan on Wikipedia when I tried before. The book was actually written by Jennifer Finney Boylan under the name James, and that she is actually transgendered. Or is it that James wrote the book but now goes by the name Jennifer so all references are to the new name? She has written a set of memoirs called She’s Not There, published in 2003, which might explain it all a bit more. So thats three books to look out for now!