"Five Sci-Fi Books That Crank Out the Funny"

[Lynn McGuire]

"Five Sci-Fi Books That Crank Out the Funny"
http://www.tor.com/2015/08/25/five-sci-fi-books-that-crank-out-the-funny/

There are six "books".

Lynn

[lal_truckee]

On 8/27/15 9:56 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Five Sci-Fi Books That Crank Out the Funny"
>
> http://www.tor.com/2015/08/25/five-sci-fi-books-that-crank-out-the-funny/

Totally useless list - doesn't include
"The Circus of Doctor Lao" - Charles G. Finney

[pete...@gmail.com]

Agreed. I also have problems with calling 'Slaughterhouse-5' "funny".

pt

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <mrnkdk$u0r$1...@dont-email.me>,

lal_truckee <lal_t...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>On 8/27/15 9:56 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> "Five Sci-Fi Books That Crank Out the Funny"
>>
>> http://www.tor.com/2015/08/25/five-sci-fi-books-that-crank-out-the-funny/

Hm. Tastes definitely differ. None of those five appeal to me
at all.

>
>Totally useless list - doesn't include
>"The Circus of Doctor Lao" - Charles G. Finney

Ditto. I've read this one, and I don't call it funny, I call it
grim.

Now, the *movie*, with Tony Randall playing every character he
can possibly fit into, is darned good. Funny at times, serious
at times, a real tour de force. And I observe I don't have the
DVD! Must remedy that.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the gmail edress.
Kithrup's all spammy and hotmail's been hacked.

[Kevrob]

On Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 3:00:04 PM UTC-4, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> In article <mrnkdk$u0r$1...@dont-email.me>,
> lal_truckee <lal_t...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >On 8/27/15 9:56 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> >> "Five Sci-Fi Books That Crank Out the Funny"
> >>
> >> http://www.tor.com/2015/08/25/five-sci-fi-books-that-crank-out-the-funny/
>
> Hm. Tastes definitely differ. None of those five appeal to me
> at all.
> >
> >Totally useless list - doesn't include
> >"The Circus of Doctor Lao" - Charles G. Finney
>
> Ditto. I've read this one, and I don't call it funny, I call it
> grim.
>
> Now, the *movie*, with Tony Randall playing every character he
> can possibly fit into, is darned good. Funny at times, serious
> at times, a real tour de force. And I observe I don't have the
> DVD! Must remedy that.

"The Compleat Feghoot" by Reginald Bretnor.

In the comments section of that article are many fine choices,
especially THE ILLUMINATUS! TRILOGY by Wilson and Shea.

"Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy" by Matt Ruff
is in the tradition.

Kevin R

[art...@yahoo.com]

On Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 2:22:26 PM UTC-4, lal_truckee wrote:

Also
The Evolution Man by Roy Lewis
Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton

[Robert Bannister]

I've only read three of them, but I wouldn't have called any of them
hilarious.
--
Robert Bannister
Perth, Western Australia

[Greg Goss]

The Flying Sorcerers
--
We are geeks. Resistance is voltage over current.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <d4aemg...@mid.individual.net>,

I didn't find that funny either. Janet Kagan's _Mirable_ and
_Hellspark,_ now, those were funny.

[William December Starr]

In article <d4aemg...@mid.individual.net>,
Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> said:

> The Flying Sorcerers

Maybe, if we're counting funny-onces.

Maybe.

-- wds

[Robert Carnegie]

I'm not sure if "crank out the funny" means "books that are funny",
or "books that work very, very hard". For instance.

I think Isaac Asimov" funny stories were mainly short, sometimes
very short indeed. But "book" may include - well, the collection
of Azazel stories.

[Brian M. Scott]

On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:06:24 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt
<djh...@kithrup.com> wrote in<news:ntsn2...@kithrup.com>
in rec.arts.sf.written:

[...]

> Janet Kagan's _Mirable_ and _Hellspark,_ now, those were
> funny.

_Hellspark_ is one of my all-time favorites, and it
certainly has its share of funny moments, largely thanks to
the adorable Maggie, but I don’t consider it basically a
funny book. Alexei Panshin’s Anthony Villiers books are
fairly funny, as are Walter Jon Williams’s Drake Majistral
books.

Brian
--
It was the neap tide, when the baga venture out of their
holes to root for sandtatties. The waves whispered
rhythmically over the packed sand: haggisss, haggisss,
haggisss.

[Alie...@gmail.com]

No Retief? Feh.


Mark L. Fergerson

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <9wdsypdekmki$.1akfvkxya6gi7$.d...@40tude.net>,

Brian M. Scott <b.s...@csuohio.edu> wrote:
>On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:06:24 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt
><djh...@kithrup.com> wrote in<news:ntsn2...@kithrup.com>
>in rec.arts.sf.written:
>
>[...]
>
>> Janet Kagan's _Mirable_ and _Hellspark,_ now, those were
>> funny.
>
>_Hellspark_ is one of my all-time favorites, and it
>certainly has its share of funny moments, largely thanks to
>the adorable Maggie, but I don’t consider it basically a
>funny book. Alexei Panshin’s Anthony Villiers books are
>fairly funny, as are Walter Jon Williams’s Drake Majistral
>books.

Yes, they are.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <3cd2ca0f-b637-4a8a...@googlegroups.com>,

Depends on date.

As I understand it, Laumer had a serious stroke in middle life.
(I'm told that a neurologist, reading his pre- and post-stroke
work, can tell you exactly what part of his brain was damaged.)
Anyway, early Retief, funny; late Retief, not so much.

[Raymond Daley]

"Greg Goss" <go...@gossg.org> wrote in message
news:d4aemg...@mid.individual.net...

Isn't Flying Sorcerers an anthology?

[ba...@dontspam.silent.com]

This one is the one mentioned
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218458.The_Flying_Sorcerers

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <lk4Ex.343412$Dx3.2...@fx39.am4>,

No, it's a sort of roman-a-clef in which all the characters
(particularly of the gods, whereof the native culture has more
than Rome had) are Tuckerized names of SF writers. It, as
somebody said upthread, a funny-once.

[David Johnston]

On 8/28/2015 3:50 PM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> In article <lk4Ex.343412$Dx3.2...@fx39.am4>,
> Raymond Daley <raymon...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>
>> "Greg Goss" <go...@gossg.org> wrote in message
>> news:d4aemg...@mid.individual.net...
>>> "art...@yahoo.com" <art...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 2:22:26 PM UTC-4, lal_truckee wrote:
>>>>> On 8/27/15 9:56 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>>>>> "Five Sci-Fi Books That Crank Out the Funny"
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.tor.com/2015/08/25/five-sci-fi-books-that-crank-out-the-funny/
>>>>>
>>>>> Totally useless list - doesn't include
>>>>> "The Circus of Doctor Lao" - Charles G. Finney
>>>>
>>>> Also
>>>> The Evolution Man by Roy Lewis
>>>> Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton
>>>
>>> The Flying Sorcerers
>>
>> Isn't Flying Sorcerers an anthology?
>
> No, it's a sort of roman-a-clef in which all the characters
> (particularly of the gods, whereof the native culture has more
> than Rome had) are Tuckerized names of SF writers. It, as
> somebody said upthread, a funny-once.
>

Rome had way more gods. Rome had thousands of gods. Most of them are
just forgotten. I mean who remembers Cloacina, goddess of sewers?

[Lawrence Watt-Evans]

On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:07:26 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
wrote:

Hundreds, yeah, but I'm not sure they had thousands. And we don't
remember some of the most important (Terminus, Bona Dea) because they
didn't match up to the Greek pantheon, and were therefore not
considered suitable for serious literature.

Now, the Hindus have thousands. Hundreds of thousands.




--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

[Titus G]

On 29/08/2015 10:07 a.m., David Johnston wrote:
snip

> Rome had way more gods. Rome had thousands of gods. Most of them are
> just forgotten. I mean who remembers Cloacina, goddess of sewers?

David Johnston, for starters.

[lal_truckee]

On 8/28/15 5:07 PM, Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:07:26 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
> wrote:

...

>>
>> Rome had way more gods. Rome had thousands of gods. Most of them are
>> just forgotten. I mean who remembers Cloacina, goddess of sewers?
>
> Hundreds, yeah, but I'm not sure they had thousands. And we don't
> remember some of the most important (Terminus, Bona Dea) because they
> didn't match up to the Greek pantheon, and were therefore not
> considered suitable for serious literature.
>
> Now, the Hindus have thousands. Hundreds of thousands.

And Mormons have millions, each with his own planet.
(I would have liked a ST TOS visit to a Mormon planet episode.)

[Greg Goss]

It's a short work (I've never been clear on novella, novellette, etc)
extended to full length. I don't think that the later chapters were
ever separately published.

[Greg Goss]

djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
>Raymond Daley <raymon...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>
>>"Greg Goss" <go...@gossg.org> wrote in message
>>news:d4aemg...@mid.individual.net...
>>> "art...@yahoo.com" <art...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 2:22:26 PM UTC-4, lal_truckee wrote:
>>>>> On 8/27/15 9:56 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>>>> > "Five Sci-Fi Books That Crank Out the Funny"
>>>>> >
>>>>> > http://www.tor.com/2015/08/25/five-sci-fi-books-that-crank-out-the-funny/
>>>>>
>>>>> Totally useless list - doesn't include
>>>>> "The Circus of Doctor Lao" - Charles G. Finney
>>>>
>>>>Also
>>>>The Evolution Man by Roy Lewis
>>>>Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton
>>>
>>> The Flying Sorcerers
>>
>>Isn't Flying Sorcerers an anthology?
>
>No, it's a sort of roman-a-clef in which all the characters
>(particularly of the gods, whereof the native culture has more
>than Rome had) are Tuckerized names of SF writers. It, as
>somebody said upthread, a funny-once.

Not just the gods. The bicycle builders turned airship builders were
based on the obvious, and the central character was a
tuckerized-more-than-usual version of Asimov.

I've enjoyed it a bunch of times. Humor varies.

[Raymond Daley]

"Dorothy J Heydt" <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote in message
news:nttBB...@kithrup.com...

> In article <lk4Ex.343412$Dx3.2...@fx39.am4>,
> Raymond Daley <raymon...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>
>>"Greg Goss" <go...@gossg.org> wrote in message
>>news:d4aemg...@mid.individual.net...
>>> "art...@yahoo.com" <art...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 2:22:26 PM UTC-4, lal_truckee wrote:
>>>>> On 8/27/15 9:56 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>>>> > "Five Sci-Fi Books That Crank Out the Funny"
>>>>> >
>>>>> > http://www.tor.com/2015/08/25/five-sci-fi-books-that-crank-out-the-funny/
>>>>>
>>>>> Totally useless list - doesn't include
>>>>> "The Circus of Doctor Lao" - Charles G. Finney
>>>>
>>>>Also
>>>>The Evolution Man by Roy Lewis
>>>>Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton
>>>
>>> The Flying Sorcerers
>>
>>Isn't Flying Sorcerers an anthology?
>
> No, it's a sort of roman-a-clef in which all the characters
> (particularly of the gods, whereof the native culture has more
> than Rome had) are Tuckerized names of SF writers. It, as
> somebody said upthread, a funny-once.

Terry Pratchett mentions it as being funny, I think he was talking about
another book (also possibly by Gerrold) called The Leaky Establishment
written during his time with the Nuclear power generating industry. I assume
Terry liked it because he was once Press Officer for a nuclear power station
too and it rang a familiar cord.

[William Vetter]

There is an anthology series _Unidentified Funny Objects_, but I've
never had one of them. Do you know if it actually cranks out funny?

[John Dallman]

In article <B5KEx.606426$sY7.3...@fx30.am4>, raymon...@ntlworld.com

(Raymond Daley) wrote:

> Terry Pratchett mentions it as being funny, I think he was talking
> about another book (also possibly by Gerrold) called The Leaky
> Establishment written during his time with the Nuclear power
> generating industry. I assume Terry liked it because he was once
> Press Officer for a nuclear power station too and it rang a
> familiar cord.

The Leaky Establishment is by David Langford, rather than David Gerrold.
It is hardly based at all on Langford's time working as a physicist at
Aldermaston, honestly.

John

[Raymond Daley]

"John Dallman" <j...@cix.co.uk> wrote in message
news:memo.2015083...@jgd.cix.co.uk...

That wouldn't be AWE Aldermaston, would it? I know that place from my time
in the RAF.
No, I can't say why. ;-P

[Kevrob]

The Romans had all those lares and penates (dii familiares.)
(Nulla domus impleta carere.)

Kevin R

[Lawrence Watt-Evans]

On Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:58:03 -0700 (PDT), Kevrob <kev...@my-deja.com>
wrote:

Ah, good point. Even though they're called "household gods," though,
I tend to think of them as a different class of spirits.

But yes, if you count them, then the Romans did indeed have many

[J. Clarke]

In article <jmaaua9r3lfp343h3...@reader80.eternal-
september.org>, l...@sff.net says...

>
> On Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:58:03 -0700 (PDT), Kevrob <kev...@my-deja.com>
> wrote:
>
> >On Friday, August 28, 2015 at 9:50:44 PM UTC-4, lal_truckee wrote:
> >> On 8/28/15 5:07 PM, Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:
> >> > On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:07:26 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
> >> > wrote:
> >> ...
> >> >>
> >> >> Rome had way more gods. Rome had thousands of gods. Most of them are
> >> >> just forgotten. I mean who remembers Cloacina, goddess of sewers?
> >> >
> >> > Hundreds, yeah, but I'm not sure they had thousands. And we don't
> >> > remember some of the most important (Terminus, Bona Dea) because they
> >> > didn't match up to the Greek pantheon, and were therefore not
> >> > considered suitable for serious literature.
> >> >
> >> > Now, the Hindus have thousands. Hundreds of thousands.
> >>
> >> And Mormons have millions, each with his own planet.
> >> (I would have liked a ST TOS visit to a Mormon planet episode.)
> >
> >The Romans had all those lares and penates (dii familiares.)
> >(Nulla domus impleta carere.)
>
> Ah, good point. Even though they're called "household gods," though,
> I tend to think of them as a different class of spirits.
>
> But yes, if you count them, then the Romans did indeed have many
> thousands.

And then there are the Japanese with their Kami . . .