Funny Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Like your Science Fiction on the silly side? Want your Fantasy to be funny? Try these books and you won't be disappointed!
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his alien pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. Filled with witty satire and unusual characters, including Marvin the paranoid android, this is a must-read for all fans of Monty Python and British humor. This is the first in the increasingly inappropriately named 'Hitchhikers Trilogy.'
Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin
Meet Skeeve, apprentice magician, who is befriended by Aahz, a yellow-eyed green demon. Defending Clod (loosely-translated Earth) from a takeover plot, they outwit assassins and are befriended by a fire-breathing dragon named Gleep and a voluptuous witch. This light, funny Fantasy is the first in the Myth series.
Jennifer Government by Max Barry
In Barry’s near future, American corporations literally rule the world. Everyone takes his employer's name as his last name; once-autonomous nations belong to the USA; and the National Rifle Association is not just a worldwide corporation, it's a publicly traded stock. Hack Nike signs a contract and then reads it. He discovers he's agreed to assassinate kids purchasing Nike's new line of athletic shoes, a stealth marketing maneuver designed to increase sales...and dreaded federal agent Jennifer Government is after him.
Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David
An antihero for the 21st century, Apropos springs from his mother's womb with a full set of teeth, ready to bite anyone who gets in the way of his survival in this heroic fantasy satire. Apropos is a rogue, a rascal, a scoundrel and a cheat. When he travels to the court of King Runcible to find his father, seek retribution and line his pockets, he meets up with murderous unicorns, homicidal warrior kings and a psychotic arsonist who is also a princess. Also try The Woad to Wuin and Tong Lashing.
The Diamond Throne by David Eddings
A young queen's life and a country's future lie in the balance as an exiled Pandion knight, a Styric priestess, an aging squire and a mysterious child begin a long and arduous trek through foreign lands in search of an elusive cure for an unknown disease. The author combines heroic yet humorous characters with exotic settings and tangled politics to create a light, fast-moving fantasy. Also try the rest of the Elenium series.
Fantasy Gone Wrong Edited by Martin Greenberg
In this delightful anthology, 16 authors take traditional fantasy premises and color them ironic. The only criteria for inclusion is a whimsical sense of humor and a keen appreciation for the fantasy genre, giving the writers – among them veterans like Alan Dean Foster, as well as virtual unknowns – plenty of room to make their unique voices heard. Almost without fail, the results are entertaining, amusing and original. Look for this story collection to be filed under “Fantasy.”
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Welcome to an alternate surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where one can get lost (literally) in the great works of literature. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection, until someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature. When Jane Eyre is plucked from the pages of Bronte's novel, Thursday must track down the world’s third-most dangerous villain and avert a heinous act of literary homicide. Also try the rest of the Thursday Next series.
Good Omens: The Nice & Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter – the world's only totally reliable guide to the future – the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea... This zany tale of the bungling of Armageddon features an angel, a demon, an 11-year-old Antichrist, a doom-saying witch and the music of Queen; unmistakably British humor is in abundance. Also try Gaiman’s Anansi Boys.
The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus by Harry Harrison
Life is always full of adventure for Jim DiGriz, the master criminal known as The Stainless Steel Rat, but this time he may be in over his head. After taking a job infiltrating a suspicious circus on a four-million-credit-a-day retainer, DiGriz finds himself and his family bound up, literally at times, in a planet-wide swindle. Also try the rest of the Stainless Steel Rat series.
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein
After he firewalked in Polynesia, the world wasn't the same for Alexander Hergensheimer, now called Alec Graham. As natural accidents occurred without cease, Alex knew Armageddon and the Day of Judgment were near. Somehow he had to bring his beloved heathen, Margrethe, to a state of grace and, while he was at it, save the rest of the world.... Also try The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.
Corrupting Dr. Nice by John Kessel
In North Carolina author John Kessel's world, time travel has given humanity the ability to exploit an almost infinite number of alternate pasts. And exploit it they have. Sightseeing tours to the crucifixion and front-row seats at Caesar's assassination are just the beginning. But nice-guy Dr. Owen Vannice just wants to bring a dinosaur forward for study. Then he meets August and Genevieve, a father-and-daughter con artist team, and together they land in the middle of a past revolt.
Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching neck, superhuman strength and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her. Making the transition from the nine-to-five grind to an eternity of nocturnal prowlings is going to take some doing, however, and that's where C. Thomas Flood, a would-be Kerouac from Incontinence, Indiana, fits in. Also try just about any other of Moore’s other work, including the long awaited sequel You Suck: a Love Story and A Dirty Job.
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
When Rincewind, Ankh-Morpork’s most inept “wizzard,” meets Twoflower, the Discworld’s first tourist, and his homicidal luggage, the stage is set for a hilarious, world-spanning adventure. The two visit fabulous places (the temple of Bel-Shamharoth, the edge of the Disc) and meet amazing people and things (assassins, barbarians, giant trolls), not the least of which is Death. You know him: tall, extremely thin, wears a black robe, carries a scythe, TALKS LIKE THIS and rides a white stallion...named Binky? First in the popular and numerous Discworld series.
Nostradamus Ate My Hamster by Robert Rankin
They're making a movie in Brentford and all the film greats are there – all the dead ones, anyway. And it's not just any movie, either; this is the movie that will change the world forever! Robert Rankin writes as if he's half Terry Pratchett, half Jasper Fforde and half Douglas Adams. Throw in some time-traveling Nazis, a pub that's atomized off the face of the earth, and plenty of British wit and humor read by the author ,and you've got one hilarious audio book! Also try The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse and The Witches of Chiswick.
Callahan's Key by Spider Robinson
Nobody blends good science with bad puns as brilliantly as Spider Robinson, as his legion of devoted fans will attest. Now, from the creator of the Callahan series comes an improbable tale of impending doom, a road trip, space, drugs and rock 'n' roll. This is the story of a group of humans – more or less – who band together in a cosmic adventure – more or less – to make the universe safe for...well, probably more of the same. Also try Robinson's other Callahan novels.
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Vonnegut's satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet's ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist; a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer; and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny.
Bellwether by Connie Willis
In the near future, Sandra Foster studies fads, from Barbie dolls to the grunge look – how they start and what they mean. Bennett O'Reilly is a chaos theory scientist studying monkeys' group behavior. They both work for the HiTek corporation, strangers until a misdelivered package brings them and their research together.