# Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers

By Grant Naylor · Red Dwarf, book 1

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/red-dwarf-infinity-welcomes-careful-drivers-d7a7e6dc/

A pub crawl leaves Dave Lister stranded on one of Saturn's moons. He joins the mining ship Red Dwarf hoping for a route home, but ends up three million years into the future as the last human. His companions include a dead crewmate's hologram, a deteriorating computer and a creature descended from his cat.

## What makes it funny?

On Mimas, even parking is an escalation: the cars bounce through the streets and drivers stack them on other cars. The futuristic technology has done little to improve anyone's judgment.

### The comedy at work

Lister's slovenly habits and Rimmer's hunger for status keep them at odds. Sardonic asides and verbal inventions carry the jokes beyond their arguments, giving a grim future a persistently flippant narrator.

### Try this if…

The novel starts the story afresh and expands the characters' backgrounds, so familiarity with the television series isn't required. It suits readers who enjoy science-fiction ideas filtered through petty grievances and domestic squabbles.

### Good to know

The ending leads into the next novel rather than resolving everything. Fantasy Book Review also flags a detailed scene of drunken vomiting among the physical jokes.

## What to expect

- Genre: Science fiction
- On the shelf: Space opera
- Kind of humor: Absurdism · Banter · Wordplay
- Format: Novel
- Published: 1989

## Sources & further reading

- Review: [Fantasy Book Review](https://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/Grant-Naylor/Red-Dwarf-Infinity-Welcomes-Careful-Drivers.html)
- Library catalog: [Library edition record](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1348062M/Red_Dwarf)