Posts Tagged ‘funny’
Start with the Empress of Mars!
Posted on: April 23, 2020
Good news everybody!
Good news everybody!
If you’ve been seeing my posts and thinking to yourself “jeez, when is she gonna shut up about this Company series, I don’t even know where to freakin’ start with these damn books”, you can start with The Empress of Mars!
ok, so I KNOW all the suggested reading orders put Empress of Mars near the end of the series, but you should read it near the beginning!!!
– It functions perfectly as a stand alone. Never read a Kage Baker before? start with Empress of Mars!
– omg it is HILARIOUS, like Anvil of the World hilarious. the bad translator scene? I was laughing so hard I drooled on myself.
– If you recognize some characters from elsewhere in the series, that’s ok, and if you don’t, that’s ok too. the book isn’t about those people anyway.
Also? It’s kinda better if you read The Empress of Mars before you know about some end of series stuff that happens. I wish I’d read it before I knew all that other stuff.
The Empress of Mars is a gift that gives twice – it was originally a novella, AND then it got expanded into a novel! I’ve not read the novella, so I don’t know what parts of the book it was.
What the heck is this book about?
Mary Griffith went to Mars for adventure! She went For Science!
And when the British Arean Company decided they didn’t her discoveries anymore, they fired her. With no income, she had no way to purchase tickets home for her family. So Mary opened a bar. The very first bar on Mars, as a matter of fact. A friendly stop for ice haulers, a save haven for a Heretic, a place where everyone ends up. Mary’s bar, The Empress of Mars, is where you go for news and gossip, local brew and decent food. And when it’s literally the only bar in town . . .
(I really did want Brick and the Heretic to have a happy ever after, didn’t you?)
The Empress of Mars has electronic bees, crazy truckers, idiot bureaucrats, kind fiancees, gamblers and con-artists, two gentlemen who you just might recognize, tips for starting a business on Mars, and one very large, very perfect diamond. It’s and old fashioned western frontier town adventure story, on Mars.
It’s a fun feel good book and a fast read.
I wish I’d read it earlier in the series.
The only crime the Empress of Mars ever committed was being read immediately after I read The Sons of Heaven, and really any book would have been a let down after reading that.
Also? now I’m reading the next book (the last novel? I think?) in the series, Not Less Than Gods. It’s all about Edward, who I still think is a total asshole for all the shit he pulled in the Sons of Heaven. I am not excited about reading a book that is entirely about him.
What can I say about Not Less than Gods, since I’m about 100 pages in? The writing is glorious, the side-characters are a hoot, I love the cover art. Edward is an asshole.
Miniatures by John Scalzi
Posted on: December 23, 2016
Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi
published Dec 31, 2016
where I got it: received review copy from the publisher (Thanks Subterranean!)
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Wanna know the balm for doorstopper books and series that don’t have an end in sight? Super short stories that are super satisfying. Stories that get in, make a point and maybe make you laugh, and get out. It’s like those delicious bite-sized Milky Way mini candy bars that (the best) people give out at Halloween.
Miniatures is John Scalzi’s new collection of very short stories. Inspired by everything from travel boredom, the bureaucracy of superhero management, overly intelligent yogurt, a very bitter Pluto, the design limitations of twitter, people being idiots, how to be polite to aliens, having some fun at Wil Wheaton’s expense and more, these mostly humorous and mostly ultra short stories are the bite sized milky way minis of spec fiction. Covering 25 years of Scalzi’s long career in journalism, review writing, and fiction, this collection is a must-have for Scalzi fans. Oh, you’re not familiar with John Scalzi, but you like to laugh? You’ll like this too!
A handful of the stories deal with interactions with aliens, but these aren’t “first contact” stories, not by a long shot. These are millionth contact stories, when interactions with aliens have become as commonplace as seeing a stick-figure family sticker on the back of a mini-van. Two of my favorite stories in the collection are of this variety – “New Directives for Employee-Manxtse Interactions” and “Important Holidays on Gronghu”. Both are presented as company wide memos, and both of these companies are about to be holding massive open interviews. I’ve read “Important Holidays on Gronghu” probably four times and it gets funnier every time.
Willful Child, by Steven Erickson
published in 2014
where I got it: purchased new
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Are you a fan of the movie Galaxy Quest? Do you enjoy quoting Zapp Brannigan and quoting things he might say? Are you a Star Trek fan who makes fun of the show in good fun and out of love? If you answered Yes to any of those questions, Steven Erickson’s Willful Child is for you.
Like many original Star Trek episode scripts, Willfull Child is not as a whole what I would describe as a good book. The pacing is off, the characters are pretty flat, the dialog is stilted. And all of that is part of the joke. Erikson is playing around with Star Trek tropes, science fiction tropes, humor tropes, and human exploration tropes and having buckets of fun with along the way. Captain Hardrian Sawback is the bastard child of Zapp Brannigan and Eric Cartman, the Terran Space Fleet’s mission is to subjugate or maybe obliterate as many life forms as possible, and the further you get into this book, the more you’ll be laughing. The country music programming joke is still my favorite.
And Yes, this is the same Steven Erickson who is famous for his Malazan Book of the Fallen series. After writing that many heavy fantasy novels, I’d say he more than deserves a humorous palette cleanser of a novel.
Cat and Dog Stuff.
Posted on: October 10, 2014
I don’t always share dog videos, but when I do, I prefer the share the hilarious ones.
Dear Kitten and Sad Cat Diaries is pretty funny too.
You can read Equoid over at Tor.com! and I should have mentioned in my earlier review of Wakulla Springs that that novella is available to read over at Tor.com as well.
If you’ve enjoyed any of Stross’s Laundry novels, you’re sure to get a kick out of this novella. Oh, you haven’t read any of his Laundry novels? In that case you might feel a little lost (until of course, Bob gives you some background. Then you’ll be fine). Also, you are missing out on some hella fun novels. Here’s the gist of the world: The right mathematical equations call up Cthonic horrors from the deep, and a British secret agency exists to make sure that doesn’t happen. Bob Howard is an involuntary agent for the Laundry (because really, does anyone have a childhood dream of growing up to face unspeakable soul destroying horrors?), and even after years on the job he still gets the shit work.
One thing I love about the Laundry novels is the narrative voice. It’s what I’ve come to call “The Stross Sentence”, where many passages start out completely normal, but conclude in a sotto voce that’s purposely scathingly sarcastic. I’m that reader who just can’t get enough of that.
So anyway, the novella. It’s about unicorns. And H.P. Lovecraft’s previously unpublished rambling letters that prove (again) just how dangerous a little bit of knowledge can be. Bob’s newest assignment takes him out to a muck filled country horse breeding farm, where he’s to investigate some kind of animal health issue? Something involving a, erm, infestation?
When I say “I eat books like that for breakfast”, what I mean is that I eat them for dessert. literally*. Around the world, on or around April Fool’s Day is The Edible Books Festival. Our local Edible Books evening was the first Friday of April. Hosted by the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, over twenty smart, funny, and punny edible books awaited judgement (and eating!). Being a play on words, or a pun of some kind certainly wasn’t a requirement, but all of my favorites were word plays of some kind. observe the deliciousness! Warning – photo dump and awful photography ahead.
“Dive-rgent”
The Door Into Summer, by Robert Heinlein
published in 1956
where I got it: paperback swap
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I’ve been in a reading slump lately. Books seem to feel the same, not much has grabbed me lately, I seem to have burned myself out on epic fantasy for a while, and damnit, there is still two feet of snow on the ground. I need some nice weather, and I need a book that reads like a sunny day, something that’s fun as hell and won’t demand anything of me in return. I need a door into summer.
Does that cover art look familiar? if you’ve got this printing, do NOT read the blurb on the back. It spoils the surprise.
Dan’s cat Pete hates the snow. In the winter, the cat still wants to do his business outside, and will insist that Dan open every door in the house. Because Pete’s pretty sure that one of these cold winter days, one of those doors will be a door into summer.
The year is 1970, and Dan Davis is a brilliant engineer, but a horrible judge of character. Knowing he hasn’t got a head for business, Dan and his friend Miles go into business, with Miles doing all the accounting and paperwork, and Dan making all the inventions. It was going swimmingly until the gorgeous Belle showed up. It was hysterical to me how Dan describes Belle in engineering-talk. Belle plays both men for fools, gets Miles to do her dirty work, and in a sneaky round about way convinces Dan to go for Long Sleep. Dan is happy to leave this sorry, heartbroken world behind, so long as his beloved cat, Pete, can go in the coffin with him. He even comes up with a foolproof plan to make sure the one human being he still cares about, a little girl named Ricki, will be taken care of financially.
The Long Sleep isn’t death, it’s a hypethermia of sorts. You pay an insurance company to put you in hypothermic hibernation, and you wake up 5 years later, ten years later, or whatever period of time you choose. Maybe the world won’t suck as bad, maybe a cure will have been found for whatever is killing you. Doesn’t matter the reasons, companies have found they can make a fortune offering the service, and consumers are drawn in by the idea that they can invest some money, take the long sleep, and be millionaires when they wake up. What could possibly go wrong?
Genius Unlimited by John T. Phillifent
published in 1972
where I got it: purchased used.
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Hitting up the used bookstores is much more fun with a friend in tow. Otherwise how would my friend have had the opportunity to recommend John T. Phillifent’s Genius Unlimited to me? A what a fun and entertaining book!
Interstellar Agents Rex Sixx and Roger Lowry always get the crap jobs, the gigs that no one else wants. This new bodyguarding assignment seems like a cakewalk, so why did it fall in their laps? This should be as easy as the furlough they just came off of. The secretive colony of Iskola has asked for assistance and consulting, and all Sixx and Lowry need to do is get special agent investigator Louise Latham to Iskola on the planet Martas, make sure no harm comes to her while she is consulting with the Iskolans, and bring her home. What could possibly go wrong?
To start with, Miss Latham isn’t your average investigator and Iskola isn’t your average colony. But at least Sixx and Lowry already know a little about Iskola. A private island colony, the only way to gain residency is to pass a battery of tests and prove you are a genius. Privacy is a very big deal there, and no one seems to be sure exactly what happens on the island other than genius residents solving problems and minding their own business. Iskola brings in an income by consulting on large problems, such as the recent one of erosion and soil degradation on the mainland continent. That one in particular was a disaster, because the agricultural experts on the mainland weren’t interested in being told that their slash and burn methods of deforestation had destroyed the thin layer of topsoil. Even a genius can’t be telling an expert how to do their own job, now can they?
The Lives of Tao, by Wesley Chu
Posted on: December 7, 2013
The Lives of Tao, by Wesley Chu
published in April 2013
where I got it: purchased new
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What would you do if you started hearing voices in your head? How about if those voices saved your life, and then helped you improve your life? You’d listen to them. . . right?
The Lives of Tao follows a sort of Hero’s Journey (which I have a major weakness for), and so often in tales like this the protagonist is already hero material – they’re in good physical condition from page one, perhaps already have weapons and or military training, it’s almost as if that person has been planning their entire life about one day being called up for a Hero’s Journey. Not so with Roen Tan. He’s lazy, unambitious, in terribly physical condition, and has self esteem issues. He firmly lives in the same real world you and I inhabit – crappy job, annoying boss, messy apartment, and he lives on frozen meals. He’s the last guy in the world to buy into the fact that aliens have been among us for centuries, the last guy on Earth you’d want to invite on a Hero’s Journey. Can I tell you how refreshing that was? It was really freaking refreshing.
Roen isn’t going crazy, but he is hearing voices. The alien Quasing have been among humanity for eons, riding along in our minds and bodies, helping to nudge humanity forward. They only want to get back home, and to do that, we’ve got to become a space faring race. Over the centuries though, factions have arisen, and the Quasing have split into the peaceful Prophus, and the more aggressive and warlike Genjix. They’ve inhabited many of our famous leaders and innovators, such as Ghengis Khan, Shakespeare, Cardinal Richelieu, how many people who influenced our culture and shaped history did so because they had a Quasing guiding them?
In the Company of Thieves, by Kage Baker
Published November 2013
where I got it: received review copy from the publisher
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I’ve been a devotee of Baker since reading her The Anvil of the World, a hilarious fantasy adventure novel. Then I read the first company novel, In The Garden of Iden, and I fell in love with her dry humor, her snarky immortals, and the innocence of a new hire who never asked for any of this. Kage Baker is one of those authors who should be on the shelf of any speculative fiction fan. Once you read her, you’ll understand what all the fuss is about.
In the Company of Thieves is a collection of six Company stories, many which were previously published, including The Women of Nell Gwynne, Rude Mechanicals, and Mother Aegypt. Kage Baker was very close with her sister Kathleen, and each story has a very short introduction by Kathleen, giving some background about when or why it was written, sometimes why Kage was drawn to that location or plotline. The Baker sisters grew up in California, so many of the stories take place in some of Kage’s favorite places in California. The final story in the volume, Hollywood Ikons, was finished by Kathleen after Kage’s death.
Not sure what Baker’s “The Company” is? The best summary I can find for The Company is on the blurb for the book, so I shall borrow it:
“The Company, a powerful corporate entity in the twenty-fourth century, has discovered a nearly foolproof recipe for success: immortal employees and time travel. They specialize in retrieving extraordinary treasures out of the past, gathered by cybernetically enhanced workers who pass as ordinary people. or at least try to pass. . .
There is one rule at Dr. Zeus Incorporated that must not be broken: Recorded history cannot be changed. But avoiding the attention of mortals while stealing from them? It’s definitely not on the company manual”.
Immortal cyborgs stealing stuff? Historical fiction? Madcap adventures and tricking dumb mortals? Where do I sign up?
Rude Mechanicals – Anytime recurring Company characters Joseph and Lewis show up, you know trouble and hijinks are on the horizon. A Shakespearian comedy of errors, the story takes place in 1930’s Hollywood. Lewis is working as an assistant and translator for the famous German director Max Reinhardt, who is directing and producing an outdoor version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Joseph has been tasked with acquiring Reinhardt’s notes for The Company, so it’s a good thing Lewis is an expert forger. To complicate matters (and by complicate, I mean create hilarious situations for the reader to enjoy!), Reinhardt keeps digging up trees to make his set look better, and his earthworks are getting way to close to a particular buried treasure that needs to stay buried for a little while longer, as per Company request. Comedy of Errors ensues, with a secret diamond getting passed off as costume jewelry, getting actually stolen, and actually gotten back. Lewis makes the perfect “straight man”, a guy who just wants to do his job, not get fired, and get some damn sleep. Joseph on the other hand, thinks this is the most fun he’s had in centuries!
the Little Red Reviewer 
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