Humorous Speculative Fiction
Submitted by timepiece on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 10:02
Tags:
- Good Omens - Gaiman and Pratchett
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
- The Princess Bride - William Goldman
- Xanth series - Piers Anthony (only the first 10 or so)
Author Comments:
not believable, but fun nonetheless
I can't believe I didn't comment on this list when you first created it, as I love everything here to varying degrees (although the Xanth books are more nostalgia-love).
If you liked Good Omens you might also like either The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers or Humans by Donald Westlake. Both are heavier, and only the latter deals with the Apocalypse, but both immediately leapt to mind.
While I loved HGttG, I prefer Terry Pratchett's Discworld books (not that they should necessarily be compared). Even my wife, who is not a fantasy reader, devours them.
Great list!
I tried one Discworld book, but I must not have been in the right mood for it. Which one would you recommend starting with?
I've actually been thinking about this lately, and it's hard to recommend a Discworld starter book. Many of the Discworld books are in vaguely defined "sub-series": there's the "Watch" books, the "Witches" books, the "Death" books, and the "Rincewind" books. I love all those except the Rincewind books (but I think I might be in the minority there). Unfortunately in each of those series my favorites are not the first chronologically. That doesn't necessarily matter to most folks, but it does to me. So I guess I'd recommend one of his more recent books to start: The Truth, which is journalism satire. It stands alone very well, with cameo appearances from major characters from the other sub-serieses. If you like that I'd read Guards! Guards! next (first in the "Watch" sub-series). And then maybe Equal Rites which I think is the first "Witches" book. The Witches sub-series gets considerably stronger the more you read, IMO.
P.S. Sure, go and change the title of this list after I've gone and posted, so now I've expressed my adoration of "silly" books rather than "fun" books. :-)
Hey, you have to admit . . . I might change it back, "silly" doesn't seem quite what I'm going for either. Maybe just "humorous," to match the Mysteries list.
Okay, I suppose under duress I would admit that "silly" is appropriate. :-)