I think we have a problem in fantasy and science fiction when it comes to books that make us laugh. In film, a movie like The Guardians of the Galaxy comes along and not only do we embrace it, but we largely (Yes, I’m looking at you, Drax. No, not literally) laud the humor and the outlandish space opera elements and implausible science. But when it comes to SFF fiction, we tend to do two things:
Diminish the value of the work because it’s simply entertaining.
Diminish the value of the work because it’s not Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.
This summer I’m publishing three books that have various levels of “ballsy chicanery,” outright slapstick, and sardonic plots. They are, respectively, Dark Run by Mike Brooks, which is a heist novel/space opera; Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja, which is a humorous military SF novel and the funniest SF novel I’ve read since Redshirts; and The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez, which hits Joss Whedon levels of clever snark and feels. Two debut novels, and an award-winning pro. Now I’m not talking about critical reception, because I’m not about to get into the merits of the reception on a particular review of one of my books as that’s just crass and unprofessional. I’m talking about how we value humor in this post-Pratchett industry—that knee-jerk reaction that feels specific to the use and value of humor in the field. So I thought I’d talk about ten of my personal favorite SFF works that made me crack up.
BIG OBVIOUS EXEMPTIONS: No Pratchett, because that’s both too easy, and too hard to just pick one. (Admission: I’m more Team Tiffany Aching.) No Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, because Douglas Adams’ genius here, and in the first Dirk Gently, are required reading. Also out is Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett because we all agree it’s brilliant. And so, in no order of best:
Redshirts by John Scalzi
The Hugo Award-winning novel is both a critique of science fiction and particularly science fiction television of the past—okay, it’s a Star Trek pastiche on the surface, but unlike Galaxy Quest, which I think mostly pandered, Redshirts is clever and heartfelt and plays out the ramifications of what it sets up.
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
A fantasy novel about a princess captured by a dragon who doesn’t need rescuing from the stupid, sexist, lazy knights and princes as she’s doing just fine. And these dragons aren’t so bad; our heroine elects to become one dragon’s princess and soon helps her on the road to defeating wizards and gets embroiled in the trials to choose the next King of Dragons. Brilliant, and the first in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which are a must-read.
Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff
Vonnegut-level wit here in this near-future SF novel about an eco-terrorist piloting the waters and sewers of NYC in his submarine the Yabba-Dabba-Do, a 181-year-old Civil War veteran, a mutant great white shark, and best of all, a holographic Ayn Rand trapped in a hurricane lamp. Satire doesn’t get finer. (Did I mention Ayn Rand trapped in a lamp? So good!)
Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones
Oh, I love Diana Wynne Jones! I told a little story about her, from my days as a bookseller. Everything you love about Pratchett, Gaiman, Rowling, and Jane Austen. Why this one versus so many others: Well, a certain character herein reminds me of certain publishing executive I know, and I have never thought of that individual any other way. Also it’s set in the world that Jones sends up in her hilarious The Tough Guide to Fairyland.
Soulless by Gail Carriger
Carriger’s humor is so precise and cutting that I think you just may bleed out from laughter and not realize until you’ve dropped. Far more than steampunk adventure-romance, this is smart fantasy about a woman with no soul whose lack is a key feature against supernatural forces which turn out to have little sway over her.
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
A novel told from the point of view of an aging heart-worn supervillain that is part Watchmen and part The Incredibles. Our narrator is a mad scientist/Lex Luthor supervillain who’s only gone bad because of that goddamn perfect hero who does everything perfectly. The feels, my friends, are deep. I LOVE this book with the same passion I have for M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable and Martinez’s aforementioned The Last Adventure of Constance Verity. If you love comics, or the Marvelverse films, go pick this up.
Dork Tower by John Kovalic
Everyone who’s played D&D or Pathfinder, or heck, any pen & pencil game, please raise your hand, I’ll wait…. Dork Tower follows a set (a party?) of friends, glorious geeks all, as they delve into all manner of geek culture and fandom, and possible unrequited love. Dork Tower is heartfelt and sweet and better than The Big Bang Theory. I came across the strips in Dragon Magazine, and now Kovalic posts them online, and sells individual collections here. Kovalic’s art is also recognizable if you’ve ever played Munchkin (you must!) or Apples to Apples.
Schlock Mercenary by Howard Tayler
Staying on the comic theme, Schlock Mercenary is in the same groove as Redshirts and Mechanical Failure, playing with tropes we love from military science fiction, Star Trek, and science fiction in general as you follow a team of mercenaries and their ridiculously fun adventures across the galaxy. Tayler doesn’t just play with tropes and deconstruct them; he plays with and deconstructs these tropes because he loves them and that joy is self-evident. You can find the strips online here.
Jhereg by Steven Brust
Where to begin on my love for the Vlad Taltos books? Maybe by saying that I recently listened to Jhereg on audio after reading it years ago and The Suck Fairy™ is not anywhere near this gem. It concerns a lowly human working the angles of crime and assassination on the planet of Dragaera, in an empire where humans are definitely second class. Vlad embraces this by taking on the seldom used, and often disdained, powers of witchcraft and that gives him an edge. The first few books are set up in the manner of detective novels and Jhereg is a set of short and long cons that are as riveting as Brust’s dialogue is hilarious.
Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis
Many of Willis’ novels and stories exude charm and wit, but none more so than one of the few books I reread almost annually: Willis’ collection of eight holiday stories. “Adaptation” is my favorite, and in this we follow a divorced book clerk in London who is hampered by the greed and avarice of the season and the superficialities of his ex-wife. All the while, two important sub-plots are surrounding our hapless book-loving everyman: He tries to juggle his work schedule to see his daughter before she is swept away for the holidays and so he can enjoy some tender time with her—and the three spirits of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol are personified, and become temp holiday help at the bookshop. I may be a sap, but nothing beats having The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come as an overwhelmed bookseller on Christmas Eve! I know, I’ve been there! This collection is Damon Runyon come back to life, and is a lovely showcase of the range of this treasured author.
Ha-ha Bonus: The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris
Okay, I published this on my first list at Saga, but this international bestselling novel, in which Harris’ Loki proclaims up front, “Well, this isn’t the Authorized Version,” is a re-telling of the Norse myths from Loki’s point of view. It’s bawdy and cynical, and a gem from start to end.
Joe Monti is the editorial director of Saga Press. He can be found on Twitter @joemts and posts irregularly on the Saga Tumblr page Drinks with Odin.
Well, my TBR pile just got a bit bigger.
I’d add One for the Morning Glory by John Barnes to this list. Also, I laughed more than once at the dry, sardonic wit in Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel.
Phule’s Company and the Myth series by Robert Asprin. One science fiction and one fantasy, both built as comedies.
But the one that always cracks me up is “How Much for Just the Planet” by Ford. It’s a Star Trek (TOS) novel. And it ends with
SPOILER ALERT
a pie fight between Klingons and the crew of the Enterprise.
Isn’t the dragon in Patricia Wrede’s books a female?
I am startled and pleased to be able to mention A Night in the Lonesome October from Roger Zelazny a second time in as many days on unrelated tor.com threads!
Wow, much more love for Redshirts than I give it. To me, Galaxy Quest is a classic because it not only pokes gentle fun at the adventure trops of TV SF, it is also a good example of adventure SF in itself. In Redshirts, I found everything after the reveal to be boring because Scalzi doesn’t give us much in the way of emotional stakes for the characters in that world (except for the manipulative tear jerking). On top of that, the body replacement just read nonsensical; worse than any subspace interference/reverse the polarities moment that I’ve ever seen. I’d prefer almost any Scalzi novel as an example of humour in SF, from Old Man’s War, to The Android’s Dream, all the way back to Agent ot the Stars.
I haven’t heard of most of these, but the one I do know, I love. One point to note about Schlock Mercenary – Howard Taylor publishes a new strip online every day, and has been doing so for over 16 years with out fail. He manages to tell marvelously complex stories and still have each individual strip be worth reading. I highly recommend it.
And keeping with the graphic novel tone, more praise needed for Jeff Smith’s BONE series, which is sober and serious and frequently hilarious. And has Dragons and maidens in distress and a badass grandmother. And stupid stupid rat creatures.
I’d tweak the Wrede recommendation personally and go with the 4th installment (first written), Talking With Dragons. I found it to be a real cut above the later prequel trilogy as far as her actual writing goes. Less humorous, but if you liked that I’d also highly recommend her Mareilon books.
Strongly seconding the Aspirin books btw.
For Willis, I’m more fond of the sarcasm of Bellwether, although in the time travel novels, To Say Nothing of the Dog is a stitch.
What, no Bujold? The Vorkosigan saga rarely misses an opportunity to have the reader rolling on the floor. In particular, A Civil Campaign, featuring scenes with a kitten, and the butter bugs (don’t ask, just read), can leave you unable to breathe.
But my favorite humor in SF is when science is taken to the level of absurdity: Bujold’s butter bugs are a good case, but the rogue goat farmers in Bruce Stirling’s Heavy Weather, the uses for wellstone in Wil McCarthy’s Queendom of Sol books, Charles Stross’ eponymous Lobsters (part of Accelerando), Dean Ing’s various vehicles featured in almost every story… it’s the ability to go beyond what’s rational and reasonable that lets you see how truly absurd the real world is, and why I read Science Fiction.
Mehndeke (3): Thank you! My copy is in storage so I was going from memory about Kazul. Fixed.
Robert Sheckley’s works from between the early 50’s (Untouched by Human Hands) to the mid-70’s (Options) show that he mastered absurdist SF humour long before Douglas Adams got started.
I’ll chime in for Peter David’s Sir Apropos of Nothing novels, about a sarcastic bastard (literally) who goes on a wacky adventure after killing the Designated Hero.
David’s also done a range of Star Trek novels, the best being his semi-ongoing New Frontiers series; an original 24th-Century series with a crew of oddballs (there’s one in every fleet), perfectly designed for PAD’s occasionally cartoonish humour.
For comics, I’d recommend Dave Kellett’s Drive, which is set in a beautifully-constructed sci-fi universe and focuses on its own crew of oddballs.
http://www.drivecomic.com/
@2 In HOW MUCH FOR JUST THE PLANET, for me, the great scene is Scotty’s “golf game to the death” with Chekhov as his caddy, the payoff being Chekhov’s epic meltdown about his status when they come under enemy fire.
Since no one has mentioned him yet, I’ll add Tom Holt to the list. I prefer his earlier stuff like Grailblazers, Who’s Afraid of Beowulf, and most especially Flying Dutch. Somewhere along the way his books became less good, still funny but without any heart or depth to them (he may have been focused on being KJ Parker at the time, I don’t know), but they’ve gotten better the last few years. They aren’t just funny, they’re about something, which is also what elevated Discworld to being actual literature.
I have always had a great fondness for Pandora’s Planet by Christopher Anvil. Aliens invade Earth, and find that they have bitten off more than they can chew.
And I recently did a TOR.com review for Sleeping Planet, by William Burkett, which plays the alien invasion trope a bit straighter than the Anvil story, but also has a very humorous tone.
Another of my TOR.com reviews featured Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison, a sardonic view of military life in the far future.
And a friend recently mentioned the humorous character Kelvin Throop, a character I had not thought of for many years, who appeared in a number of stories in Astounding/Analog starting in the mid-60’s.
The Keeper Chronicles by Tanya Huff. Only 3 books (alas), but each one filled to the brim with humor. Magic, ghosts, talking cats, angels, demons, a boarding house with a literal Hole to Hell in the basement! Fun times!
Schlock Mercenary hype! I don’t know how Taylor cranks out the strips at the volume he does and keep the humour and storytelling so on point. I’ve read through the complete archives a couple times now, which is an increasingly daunting task with 5876 strips and counting. Still, totally worth it.
@5, I would agree that either Agent to the Stars or The Android’s Dream would have been a better example here. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Redshirts, but the novel was just a little too focused on its conceit. Compare to The Android’s Dream, which kicks off with an assassination via farts joke; how can you not love that!
Speaking of A. Lee Martinez, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my love for Divine Misfortune, which is one of my go-to reads if I am in need of a laugh. I’m super stoked for their newest novel!
Charlie Stross’s Laundry series are mainly humour (except for the horror bits), although a lot of the jokes are quite niche. It did take me several years to get the joke behind Bob Howard’s middle names being Oliver Francis.
I was fortunate enough to be the copyeditor on two of the three Joe mentioned, and let me tell you, there is NOTHING like a job where you’re paid to giggle your way through several days.
(Author under discussion enters the arena; crowd gasps)
It’s certainly true there is a lot of (intentional) humor in most of my books, Redshirts is significant in that it’s the first novel of mine where it was marketed as being a humorous book. And that was, if I may say so, kind of a big deal. My other books had humor but were marketed as military science fiction, or “Heinlein-like” or what have you. But it took me eight books and a bunch of award wins and nominations — and a lot of sales — before we could push humor as a selling point (and let’s not lie — the fact it was humor in the service of something that’s at least superficially a pastiche and parody of one of the most successful science fiction franchises of all time didn’t hurt).
Having it marketed as a humorous book makes sense — it is, always was, a defining feature — but it also puts a target on its back, as comedy doesn’t fail as gracefully as drama. If you don’t connect with a dramatic scene 100%, it can still have a positive effect on you, just not as strongly. People are generally less forgiving of humor that doesn’t work for them. This is why I expected going in that Redshirts would have a wide range of reviews, with people either really liking it or really not. I was not disappointed: The professional reviews ranged from a starred review in one of the trades to the review in a different trade that said “Check the date. If it isn’t April 1st, you’ve been had.” With the other books, if you didn’t like the humor, you could skip over it for the other action or plot development. Redshirts didn’t have the option. Fortunately, overall more people seemed to like it or not. But it is an example of why marketing as humor can be risky. People will have knives out if they think you’ll failed at the task.
That said, I think it’s important that there is more humorous science fiction and fantasy out there, and that more books are marketed as humorous. Before Redshirts, what I heard was “We can’t sell humorous science fiction.” Immediately after, I heard “We can’t sell humorous science fiction unless it’s Scalzi.” If we’re at a point where we’d decided we can sell humorous science fiction in general, then not only am I happy as a reader, I think it’s going to be better for the field.
(Author tips hat, wonders briefly where he got a hat to tip, then disappears back into the ether)
I remember reading A Personal Demon by Brown, Brown and Richardson back in the Eighties. Still a favourite – a slightly modernized take on a Thorne Smith novel.
And speaking of Thorne Smith…. how can any article on humourous fantasy not refer to the father of the genre (Topper and, especially, Night Life of the Gods).
As for more modern takes, I am a huge fan of A Lee Martinez’s books but have a special fondness for his first one – Gil’s All Fright Diner.
*gasp* Is that a Scalzi up there?
Nah, it’s probably some punk pretender.
With good points.
I would add Steven Erikson’s Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas. The Lees of Laughter’s End and Crack’d Pot Trail are especially hilarious.
Also, because I can’t mention this book enough, The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins has more than a few hilarious moments.
Bimbos of the Death Sun is a murder mystery set at a SF con.Very funny
Anything by Esther Friesner, though for me the best were Elf Defense and The Water King’s Laughter.
I’m thrilled with this list, especially the mentions of Wrede, Jones (or is it Wynne Jones?), and Brust. I do have to recommend one more Wrede book, though: The Seven Towers. There’s a ditzy-seeming sorceress named Amberglas, who is, of course, much more than she appears. Plus a wisecracking fighter who’s the sister of the old king, a squire (also wisecracking) whose parentage is a secret, and more. Not that the book is all funny, of course. But I have a weakness for those sorceresses, like Wrede’s Morwen, who has a sign on her fence that says, “None of this nonsense, please.” Who can resist that?
Phil Foglio’s Buck Godot comics. The eight-issue series Buck Godot: The Gallimaufry might be my favorite comic book ever, and I’ve read a LOT, believe me. Also, Kate Danley’s Maggie MacKay books; no one brings the snark to vampire hunting and dimension-hopping like Maggie. (And I’ve added the Tanya Huff books to my wishlist; thanks for the recommendation!)
wiredog, @23 above, “Bimbos of the Death Sun” was by Sharyn McCrumb. She also wrote a sequel “Zombies of the Gene Pool”.
Do collections of short stories count? If so, Lewis Padgett ‘s (Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, writing together) Gallegher stories… well, there really aren’t words. I first read “The Proud Robot” as a kid, in my father’s copy of the Healy & McComas Adventures in Time and Space, and eventually tracked down the rest of the stories.
And then there are their Hogben stories… especially “The Cold War.”
*wanders off to re-read some of these*
Harry Harrison, of course.
One nitpick: It’s Howard Tayler, not Taylor. (Although he’s resigned to the fact that his name will be eternally misspelled.)
@30 – Fixed, thanks!
What a fantastic list! I am glad in particular to see shout outs for The Dark Lord of Derkholm (one of Diana Wynne Jones’ more underrated works) and Miracle, which is my favourite Connie Willis collection -I love to read it every Christmas. I have consumed more films and books because of Connie Willis than any other writer – I love the way she folds pop culture into her work, and the Miracle collection feels like a chocolate-scented hug every time.
I started writing and publishing in SF with comedy books, and it bemused me how reviews would so often only talk about the humour, as if it being marketed as funny meant that it was somehow not real fantasy fiction – it was so rare for anyone to mention the worldbuilding or the characters or whatever, only whether or not the book made them laugh. I learned from that, and promised myself not to TELL people that my work was funny in the future. If it’s marketed as humour then it will only receive a pass/fail response, whereas if you make readers laugh when they’re not expecting it (with a Connie Willis or a Diana Wynne Jones you never know if it’s going to make you laugh or break your heart or BOTH AT THE SAME TIME) readers tend to be a lot more appreciative.
Which is a shame, because sometimes you want to pick up something that you know is going to be light and enjoyable, and those books can be hard to find.
One of my favourite YA fantasy writers is Sarah Rees Brennan, who is hilariously snarky and fills her books with characters whose dialogue is joyous & irreverent and yet she is still capable of reaching into your chest and destroying multiple organs before the book is done.
Hell to the yeah about Harry Harrison and Phil Foglio. An author I am very much enjoying is Ursula Vernon; she mainly writes for YA and juvenile audiences, but Castle Hangnail and Digger (a huge graphic novel about dead gods, outcast hyenas, and a wombat with considerable attitude) will keep readers of all ages giggling.
No mention yet of Christopher Moore? A Dirty Job; The Stupidest Angel; Fool (while more Shakespeare than SFF, there’s a ghost. Oh, is there a ghost).
I must add Charles Stross’ Atrocity Archives to this list. It hits the full range of humor and is crazy-good SFF as well. One of the first funny SFF books I’d ever read and it opened up a whole new world to me.
thank you for this; just what I needed, more books to add to the TBR pile :(. I don’t think anyone has yet mentioned Harry Turtledove’s The Toxic Spell Dump, which is a charming and very funny book which I keep hoping will eventually have a sequel
Chester Anderson’s The Butterfly Kid (a Hugo nominee in 1968) featured space lobsters pushing drugs on hippies, but the amazing thing about it is that he found hippies as funny then as we do a half century later. Yes, the one-line summary sounds stupid, but trust me, it’s actually a lot of fun. Scour your used bookstores for a copy.
How sad it is that so few people remember.
When I first read ‘Sleeping Planet’ (which I love, by the way) I was sure Burkett must be a psued for Eric Frank Russell. He isn’t, but that book reads like Russell. And ‘Next of Kin’ (or ‘Plus X’) is still one of the funniest SF novels ever written. Russell made a career of making people laugh, and some of his short stories won him Hugos and Hugo nominations. His books are out of print, but still very funny indeed if you can find them.
‘The Butterfly Kid’ came second in the Hugo ballot of its year. It has two not-quite-as-good-but-still-worth-it sequels in ‘The Unicorn Girl’ by Mike Kurland and ‘The Probability Pad’ by T.A. Walters.
If you like Sharyn McCrumb’s ‘Bimbo’s of the Death Sun’ but prefer something a little less acid (and with no recognisable real people) try ‘We’ll Always Have Parrots’ by the only cozy writer I can actually tolerate, Donna Andrews (who has written real SF mysteries about an AI detective but which aren’t as funny) which takes place at a convention for an (imaginary) fantasy TV show.
And if we’re including ‘Star Trek’ novelisations (and I agree entirely about ‘How Much for Just the Planet’ – a wonderful book) stretch a little further to ‘The Vampire Affair’ an hilarious ‘Man from UNCLE’ novel, with guest appearance by Forrest Ackerman. And David Langford’s novel ‘The Leaky Establishment’ informed by his years at a certain British nuclear weapons research facility…
There are more.
I am pretty sure that Anvil’s ‘Pandora’s Planet’ doesn’t take place on Earth. (I prefer the fix-up ‘Strangers in Paradise’ myself but most Anvil is, indeed, funny.)
Although he’s probably best-known for the more philosophical Solaris, Stanislaw Lem was also a very funny writer. I’d heartily recommend The Cyberiad for anyone looking for something that’ll make them laugh and think.
The Princess Bride tops everything. It’s possible to believe in this fantasy world and still enjoy the humourous slant on everything about it.
I think the primary challenge with humour in fantasy is that as a reader I’m sensitive about spoofing the genre as I’m trying take/read it seriously, or else it reminds me of how silly is the whole concept of suspending belief so far as to swallow anything in the fantasy genre. It’s a sore point, in a way. It works most easily with comic-relief characters who help to lighten up otherwise dark stories, but who exist fully within the context of the world without snapping you out of it. Using Dragonlance examples to illustrate: Tasslehoff is all win for being true to his world, while Fizban is total fail for his modern Earth references.
Mike Resnick’s John Justin Mallory fantasy series (starting with Stalking the Unicorn) is a sometimes sexist but very enjoyable set of farcical detective stories in a hilariously random alternate Manhattan.
I read the Enchanted Forest Chronicles four zillion times as a kid, always ending with Talking to Dragons, and can scarcely imagine what it would be like to read that one without having first read the others.
@37: I’m a hippie among hippies, have been for most of my life, and often find us funny too.
I just want to say that I am a HUGE fan of humor in fantasy. A book doesn’t have to be wholly funny to touch the funny bone. The Vorkosigan novels do this well – serious topics, realistic life, funny situations that make you giggle out loud. Sure, slapstick and broad humor can be terrific but just that extra touch of humanity (even if the protags aren’t human) makes them much more relatable. Besides, we need more laughter in our lives. I’m always in search of more funny. Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I’ve added a couple of books to my to read list.
These are such good suggestions, several which were on my extended lists, too.
And the brilliant John Ford Star Trek novels will be raised by me elsewhere. They should be available as DRM-free ebooks guys, and even casual ST fans will enjoy them.
I also really appreciate John Scalzi and Tansy Roberts voices. There’s a lot of wisdom coming from experience in their comments. Celebrating the use of humor and wit in SFF is important as it is damn hard to pull off well.
Seems like these books have been since swept under the rug due to some weird allegations toward the author, but the first ten-or-so novels of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony has some hilariously terrible puns and clever, groan-inducing wordplay. I know those compliments are backhanded, but your appreciation of the humor also coincides with how funny you find puns.
I’m the type of person who thinks that the worse off a joke is, the funnier it is, so Xanth was really up there for me. Granted I haven’t read these since I was 12, 13, 14 years old, but I was glued to these pages like I was staring into a hypno-gourd.
Esther Friesner is perhaps one of the all-around funniest authors I have ever read. I got started with the anthologies “Chicks and Chain Mail” and laughed so hard I had a bellyache.
Of course, I have to tip my hat to Piers Anthony’s Xanth series despite it’s prior mentions. In 1990, I was diagnosed with cancer and had to wait 10 weeks for surgery. I was devastated, terrified, and depressed. A co-worker handed me the Xanth books and they were far better than Prozac. Of course, I moved from there to Robert Aspirin and Sir Terry Pratchett.
Thanks so much for an excellent article.
The Stainless Steel Rat.
Uh, what about Esther Freisner? The Hugo-winning Queen of Humorous Fantasy?
Esther Friesner is great, of course! And David_Goldfarb, the coworker who lent me his battered copy of The Butterfly Kid would be shocked to know that someone else knows of the book. But I’m posting again because there’s one book I completely forgot to mention, The Face In the Frost by John Bellairs. Incredibly fun (its first chapter mentions a wizard called Prospero, then adds that it’s not the one you were thinking of), but with some scary moments as well. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything else like this one.
What is this “humor in fantasy” thing of which you speak?
I shall investigate.
The Belgariad/Malloreon and Harry Potter are not advertised as humorous fantasy, but they are often funny.
A quick boost for Chris Woodings‘ Tales of the Ketty Jay, beginning with Retribution Falls. They can be fairly described as “Steampunk Firefly” featuring the roguish freebooting captain of a run-down airship and it’s equally ramshackle crew. The quality more than justifieds the clichés. :)
The lighthearted fast-paced criminal caperings are hugely enjoyable and at times laugh-out-loud funny; but like Whedon the author rounds his characters out so well that their later emotional travails unexpectedly hit you in the feels.
Patricia Wrede is one of my favorite authors ever, largely because of the humor! I highly recommend the Enchanted Forest chronicles, and also her Regency fantasy books – Mairelon the Magician and Magician’s Ward, and an utterly hilarious epistolary novel cowritten with Caroline Stevermer, called Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot: Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London and the Country. (There are two books that follow this but it’s also perfect on its own.) Finally, most of her books set in the fantasy world of Lyra are fairly serious, but for humor I would recommend The Raven Ring, which is serious but has some very funny characters.
Margaret Ball’s Mathemagics is an expansion of a short story in one of Esther Friesner’s anthologies – I think it was in the first “Chicks in Chainmail” book. Absolutely hilarious – a fantasy warrior woman trying to raise a kid in suburbia, with all the hazards involved…
Austin Grossman’s Soon I Will Be Invincible is indeed a joy. In my opinion the genius in the Grossman family is Austin, not Lev. It shows what you can do if you create your own superheroes instead of working in one of the established franchises.
And I immediately contradict myself, because I’ve just thought of another terrific novel that is set in one of the established franchises, if a relatively obscure one: Marta Acosta’s The She-Hulk Diaries. It tells how the 350-lb. green superhero and party animal nicknamed “Shulkie” is ruining the life (and legal career) of her human alter ego. It opens with her being thrown out of Avengers HQ because Shulkie took it in her head to re-enact the climax of King Kong, with the unwilling participation of Anderson Cooper as Fay Wray.
I’m really surprised that you didn’t at least mention the one author who is known for his predominantly humorous sci-fi, Mike Resnick. To be honest except for Terry Pratchett Mike Resnick is the only other author who does humor and does it well. Of course I also thought Red Shirts by John Scalzi was hysterical. Thank You for the recommendations there are two I will be buying today if I can.
I see someone finally mentioned Christopher Moore! The one constant in his books is the humor. Kevin Hearn has also brought his humor A-game to his urban fantasy series. Oberon, the Irish Wolfhound, is one of the funniest characters, in current fantasy.
Craig Shaw Gardner’s Ebenezum and Wuntvor books are hilarious. Not quite on the level of Asprin’s Skeeve and Aahz, but close. Very close. I’m happy to see some old favorites here. I especially like seeing Sharon McCrumb’s “Bimbos Of the Death Sun” and “Zombies Of the Gene Pool” listed. They’re even funnier if you listen to the audio books. Just a word of warning — DON’T listen to them while driving. I nearly drove off the road I was laughing so hard at “Bimbos”.
One third of the way through my first humorous SF novel I’m glad to see more attention shown toward the subject. I have felt for a long time humor in SFF has been under appreciated. Thank you for the article and encouragement. I hope my book will eventually be able to elicit a few giggles and brighten some SF reader’s hearts. Meanwhile Thanks!
Thanks for this list. I’ve read some of them, and now I have all your recommendations plus those in the comments. And thanks for your link to your story about Diana Wynne Jones. My sister has two kids, and over the years she would send me lists of kid books I’d like. DWJ books were all there. And thank you very much for getting her reprinted here in the States. It’s public service. (Another public service is when booksellers do the “if you like so-and-so, you’ll like these too” promos. So helpful.)
I just skimmed this list, and didn’t see Douglas Adams’ name. Probably because folks assumed he would have already been mentioned. His volumes of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “trilogy” are among the best books I have ever read, and the BBC radio dramas are even better than reading the books. I have them on disc, and visit them frequently during long drives.
How about Keith Laumer’s Retief books? Or Jerome Beatty’s Matthew Looney series, illustrated by Gahan Wilson, which were for younger readers but could be appreciated by their elders?
Don’t forget Bob Shaw and Who Goes Here? one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. Here’s a review someone wrote at amazon.
“Warren Peace wakes up to find himself on a chair, having just been subjected to “engram erasure.” It’s all part of the bargain when you sign up for the free process courtesy of the Space Legion. You give up your freedom, and the Legion removes things in your past you want to forget. Then they take custody of what’s left and send you around the galaxy fighting ethically dubious and unwinnable wars for consumer products like cigarettes and shrimp sauce.”
“Only Peace can remember nothing at all of his past before waking up in that chair. As he is told more than once: “You must have been a monster.”
“Having set up that smart concept, the novel builds quickly. Peace tries to piece together his past with growing urgency as Legionnaire duty becomes ever more comically hazardous. One early engagement involves an enemy so pathetic that it uses mere projectile weapons against the Legion’s lasers. A small caveat: lasers don’t work because of this planet’s smoky atmosphere. No matter, a commander enjoins his restless troops: “Can you imagine the daunting psychological impact of seeing proud Terra’s warriors marching line abreast and unafraid into the mouths of the cannons?”
When I began reading s-f in the 1950s, some of my favorite humorous s-f were the novels and fix-ups The Proud Robot by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner & Catherine Moore), The Remarkable Exploits of Lancelot Biggs, Spaceman by Nelson S. Bond, What Mad Universe and Martians, Go Home by Fredric Brown, Once Upon a Star by Kendall Foster Crossen, Earthman’s Burden by Poul Anderson & Gordon R. Dickson, and Plus X by Eric Frank Russell; the collections by Robert Sheckley and Fredric Brown (but Brown’s collections alternated humorous s-f with grim s-f); and the anthology Science-Fiction Carnival edited by Fredric Brown & Mack Reynolds. It’s a crime if these aren’t read any more.
Absolutely second the Sarah Rees Brennan rec. Her novels often have a lot of dark things happening, but there is never a shortage of badinage as well. And she has a portal fantasy with a very sarcastic protagonist available as a gift to her readers, if you want to get an idea of her writing: http://sarahreesbrennan.com/2014/10/the-turn-of-the-story-master-post-plus-new-story/
Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour novellas are a blast as well as true to restaurant.catering/event management.
I just read Sarah Kuhn’s Heroine Complex. It was hilarious, and there were demon cupcakes.
Jim Hines is another author whose work largely features humor even when it’s serious.
Lindsay Buroker’s Emperor’s Edge series features pretty much non-stop banter. (I’m sure I’m going to think of a ton more once I hit post.)
How has no one yet mentioned The Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon series by Spider Robinson? Puns, tall tales and phenomenal word play, not to mention time travel, talking dogs and a vampire. They were the first books to really show me what could be accomplished with language.
@59: Douglas Adams was mentioned in the post as one of the “obvious exemptions” (along with Terry Pratchett). The article neglected to mention the three stories Douglas Adams wrote for Doctor Who, which should appeal to anyone who enjoys his books (particularly Dirk Gently, which recycles a lot from these scripts). They are The Pirate Planet, City of Death and the never-fully-completed Shada: enjoyable novelizations of the latter two were recently released (by James Goss and Gareth Roberts respectively).
Jack Vance’s Cugel in the “Dying Earth” stories are very funny in a sardonic sort of way, as are most of his books. But poor, beat-upon, scoundrelly Cugel is a real piece of work.
I’d also like to put in a vote for Fritz Lieber’s “Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser” stories.
Tiffany Aching is my favorite also, although I love Going Postal too. / I’ve never been able to decide if I like Dealing with Dragons or Searching… better. / I love Diana Wnyye Jones, but haven’t read that one yet. I’ll have to look it up. / I didn’t even know Jhereg is funny, but it is on my TBR
Intriguing list. The only ones I’ve read are Pratchett’s. I haven’t even read Red Shirts yet. (I must put it on my wish list.)
I’m a big fan of Rob Kroese’s stuff, particularly the Mercury series and his latest The Big Sheep.
Loved The Dungeoneers, by Jeffery Russell. Like if Pratchett and Adams played a D&D game. And any of the books by Walter Moers are good picks. They’re almost Munchhausen style tall tales and have pictures to boot.
Alas. No one remembers L. Sprague DeCamp. His The Unbeheaded King trilogy was wonderful, although a little hard to read, as he went a little overboard (in my opinion) with the antiquated language.
By far the funniest D&D style book out there is Game Night by Johnny Nexus. I was given a copy at a Discworld con and I have read it at least a dozen times since.
I am surprised that the Retief & Stainless Steel Rat series aren’t listed. Those had me laughing out loud, disturbing all those around me.
The Black Ocean series by J.S. Morin. It is wonderful, humorous SF/Fantasy action series. Imagine a crew of space misfits, a few aliens, too with a wizard who bend science to his will. He is also the star drive for the ship. Try one and you will be hooked.
Reginald Bretnor/ Grendel Briarton
Papa Schimmelhorn stories, the immortal Ferdinand Feghoot
Sandy Mitchell’s Caiaphas Cain series from the Black Library
Michael Pryor’s Laws Of Magic YA novels – hilarious steampunk novels beginning with Blaze Of Glory, set in an alternative universe in which England, for example, is Albion and Paris is still called Lutetia. If you like Miles Vorkosigan, you’ll enjoy this hero, Aubrey Fitzwilliam. Imagine Miles on Earth in the Edwardian era. The adventures are exciting and laugh-out-loud and you care about the characters, including the strong, intelligent women.
I think we need a clarification of “pandering” in that comment about Galaxy Quest. It was funny and sweet and paid affectionate tribute to Trek and fandom in general. Is that “pandering”?
No mentions yet but Arthur C. Clarke’s “Tales From The White Hart.” I also have to support Stainless Steel Rat and Retief stories.
Robert Rankin is the stuff of epics, although I may be saying that because it’s a tradition or an old charter or something.
not so scary…
Thank you, Joe Monti, for the tip of the hat to humor in SF/F. I’ve always loved humor in those genres and others, both as a reader and a writer, and I agree that in novels humor is often regarded as “literary enough” to count. I did like L. Sprague DeCamp’s work and especially John Morressy’s gentle humor, and a few of my stories in Analog were flat-out humor. So thank you for agreeing that we all need the lighter side of a ofttimes dark genre. http://www.garyalanruse.com
Agree with the Sarah Rees Brennan and Kevin Hearne callouts, @32 and @55. Great snarky characters and teen dialogue from the former and goofy mutt dialogue from the latter.
Another urban fantasy author that can bring on the giggles is Karen Chance with her Cassandra Palmer series. Non-stop action romps through crazy scenes, with lots of laughs over the fun absurdity of it all.
I love this, as I write humorous SciFi. Definitely want to add those books to my TBR pile. I would agree with many others that the Harry Harrison “Stainless Steel Rat” books are a lot of fun. I didn’t see anyone else mention these, but I also like Jasper Fforde, esp. the Thursday Next books and Robert Rankin, which I really liked “Nostradamus Ate My Hamster” and I even liked “Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse”.
Wow. an eye opener for a guy who tries to write humor, including having published a humorous sci fi and fantasy collection.
I remember a guy named (I think) William Tenn?) whose stories I really enjoyed.
Good to know so much humor out there.