Engelbrecht, Again — Rhys Hughes

Engelbrecht is a dwarf surrealist boxer who does most of his fighting against clocks. His exploits were first chronicled by Maurice Richardson back in the 1940s in the pages of the esteemed Lilliput magazine. Engelbrecht is the most famous member of the Surrealist Sportsman's Club, a very dubious society that spends the time it has left between the collapse of the moon and the end of the universe taking the concept of the 'game' to its logical limit, for instance arranging a rugby match between Mars and the entire human race, or playing chess with boy scouts and nuclear bombs as pieces.

Sixty or so years after his first appearance Engelbrecht has returned for another set of exploits that will take him on a voyage around the world, into space, down to Hell, into a labyrinth of plots and counter-plots that could mean the destruction of the entire membership of the Surrealist Sportsman's Club. Running the gauntlet with gorgons, competing in the mesmeric tour-de-trance bicycle race, climbing the north face of the largest ego in existence, playing tug-o'-war with entire continents and even indulging in a round of lipograms with the monstrous Père Ubu â€" all these are in a day's work for the plucky Engelbrecht!