Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite

The Grail and the Saucer (The Time Wanderer Series) by Robert Manis is, simply put, a fun, farcical look at history and myths through the eyes of a time traveler. Our Time Wanderer has already been zapped to various historical times courtesy of Talmo and Lamo, two Venusians who travel across the space/time continuum ensuring that the Prime Directive is being adhered to. Most recently he found himself in Galilee at the time of Jesus, dumped, as he puts it, into the sandals of Matthew, one of the dodgiest apostles. In this iteration, he finds himself thrust into the body of a Spanish knight in the court of King Arthur the Just and his famous Round (actually oval according to our time traveler) Table. Here he finds himself in an invidious position of having to choose sides between King Arthur, the king’s errant cuckolding favorite knight, Sir Lanslod, or the usurper to the crown, King Arthur’s illegitimate son, Mordred. Complicating things is the question of the mythical Holy Grail. Everyone seems to think he knows where it is and he is faced with a stark choice – hand over the Grail or be burned at the stake. All in all, our time traveler is convinced he needs to escape from this particular period but how can he unless he can contact his Venusian saviors, Talmo and Lamo?

The Grail and the Saucer is a genuinely funny story, with a big nod to Monty Python. Robert Mantis’ style is very Pythonesque in many ways, with clever asides to the reader, as well as numerous plays on words. I particularly enjoyed the author’s thoughtful and innovative discussions over such philosophical conundrums as predetermination, the time-travel paradox, reincarnation, and spiritual enlightenment. What perhaps distinguishes this book from other attempts at satirical or farcical humor is that there is a real plot and an actual story here. It is more than a collection of funny sketches; there is character development and clever plot twists that will surprise and enthrall readers. Perhaps the best parts of the story for me were the time traveler’s interactions with the other Knights of the Oval Table, most of whom he had very little time for. There is an element of arrogance, through both advanced knowledge and superior technology that runs through the narrative, and yet our hero's frequent views of his mortality and his desire not to experience severe pain remind us we are all human and we all bleed red when we are cut. This is a clever, witty, and extremely readable story that has more depth to it than a reader may initially credit it. I laughed and chortled my way through and can highly recommend it.