Recommend me some funny sci-fi...

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...that isn't Rob Grant, Terry Pratchett, Robert Rankin, Tom Holt or Douglas Adams.

Humourous fantasy as well if you like.

Thanks.

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 22:33 (nineteen years ago)

robert sheckley was funny

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/4/4e/200px-LRonHubbard-Dianetics-ISBN1403105464-cover.jpg

― elmo, patron saint of nausea (allocryptic), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan.

― Cathy (Cathy), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

They aren't spoofs by any means, but Iain M. Banks' books can be very funny at times.

Vonnegut seconded.

― chap who would dare to be completely sober on the internet (chap), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 22:42 (nineteen years ago)

For Vonnegut, also Welcome to the Monkey House and Player Piano.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 22:46 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, and Cat's Cradle.

― chap who would dare to be completely sober on the internet (chap), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 22:47 (nineteen years ago)

Some of the early Piers Anthony stuff, his short stories and the Blue Adept series maybe, before he got too smug and self-satisfied with the whole Xanth thing, is pretty funny. Also, Harlan Ellison can have a wicked sense of humor when he's not being unremittingly grim; look for I'm Looking For Zadak, A Boy and His Dog and The Hour That Stretches.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 23:34 (nineteen years ago)

John MOTHERFUCKING Sladek.

Especially "Tik-Tok" and the two "Roderick" books.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 23:36 (nineteen years ago)

http://home.get2net.dk/hiilbig/Oenskeseddel/Images/spaceballs2uk_f.jpg

― andy --, Tuesday, 7 February 2006 23:38 (nineteen years ago)

The Stainless Steel Rat was pretty funny. Then again, I was twelve.

― Rotgutt (Rotgutt), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 00:41 (nineteen years ago)

Mick Farren puts some laughs in his novels. The Feelies, The DNA Cowboy Trilogy and Necrom are all worth reading.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 04:38 (nineteen years ago)

The Forever War is hilarious at times.

Burning Chrome also has its momemnts though die hard jackasses claim it is totally serious.

― Nigger With No Life (Nigger With No Life), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 04:40 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks for these suggestions - I'm a big fan of Vonnegut but read most of the stuff years ago so probably time for a re-read. I actually picked up a Mick Farren book in Borders yesterday and was then distracted by another Neal Stephenson book (one of the early ones). These are quite funny too but I'm just getting a fed up of reading new and exciting ways of killing off people, I need something a little less death laden. The Forever War (f'r'instance) IS hilarious in places but I just want to read about a future that isn't at war with a) another world b) it's own citizens c) everybody else.

Is that too much to ask?

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 09:40 (nineteen years ago)

ooh, ooh, Timequake! even if the original premise was abandoned, it's still good.

― the kit! (g-kit), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 10:37 (nineteen years ago)

Ooh, Stanislaw Lem, also, if you can get past the translation issues and see the funny, although it's all more darkly ironic humor rather than rofl humor, and a lot of it relies on your reactions to and knowledge of stuff outside the text, too.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

The Stainless Steel Rat was pretty funny. Then again, I was twelve.

oh, seconded! and it was still funny when i re-bought a couple of books for pennies in a brighton charity shop, aged 23.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

LEXX! it's really really good offbeat Red Dwarf-y but not at all.

― Vintage Latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams

― JohnFoxxsJuno (JohnFoxxsJuno), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 13:12 (nineteen years ago)

FFS! why didn't I read the question properly?

― JohnFoxxsJuno (JohnFoxxsJuno), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 13:12 (nineteen years ago)

you can't read.

― the kit! (g-kit), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

Some of Philip K Dick's stuff is incredibly funny. I'd recommend Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and Ubik

― peter in montreal (spaces are allowed), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

Roger Zelazny nailed droll psychedelic fantasy/sci-fi adventure. Try The Chronicles of Amber or Lord of Light.

Also, Gene Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun, while not laugh out loud funny, is definitely informed by a dry wit.

― corum, Wednesday, 8 February 2006 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

Another Lem recommendation: Mortal Engines has some funny moments but they might be easy to miss while you are busy contemplating how incredibly small you are.
I've been wanting to read some of Mick Farren's stuff for a while, but the memoir thing (Give the Anarchist a Cigarette?) seemed like a more logical place for me to start than his sci-fi/fantasy/noir/whatever stuff. Anybody want to loan me some?

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

all the harry harrisons are good. also especially bill, the galactic hero.

also, l. sprague decamp, especially but not only the compleat enchanters.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

Lewis Shiner's Slam. Technically not SF, but Shiner was a card-carrying member of the cyberpunk movement. Punk skateboarders, architecture, and bad lawyer jokes.

― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 20:35 (nineteen years ago)

Joe Haldeman's work can be very funny, beyond just Forever War

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

Bradley Denton's Buddy Holly Is Alive And Well On Ganymede. Criminally underlooked, is a everything-and-the-kitchen-sink alien story.

― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 20:41 (nineteen years ago)

Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures series. Pun-infested fantasy that's great to read when you're sick in bed.

― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

Pretty much anything by Avram Davidson.

― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 20:46 (nineteen years ago)

For that matter, any short story collection by R. A. Lafferty.

― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

just got finished reading this:

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=044101285x

There's plenty of humor in the book, including a section where the protagonist has to contend with a pond of ducks, which is made novel by the fact that it's a duck pond in the middle of a starship.

― kingfish da notorious teletabby (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 05:44 (nineteen years ago)

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