(Part 2) Best humor & satire fiction books according to redditors
We found 3,199 Reddit comments discussing the best humor & satire fiction books. We ranked the 685 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Too bad someone already stole your title.
Bizarro Fiction is hilariously awesome. Ass Goblins was an alright story IMO. Other books in this particular genre include:
and so much more. more info
EDIT: Spacing
Alternate download for the non-Apple user. Edit: There's also a .pdf and .epub version on lulu.com. It's a better .pdf than smashwords, if that's your preferred format. Far as I know, both .epubs work fine. Haven't tested Kindle yet. Let me know if it works
Edit 2: And we're up on Amazon
They don't allow you to set the price to zero though, so it's 0.99
Pretty sure this is it
Do not start with The Colour of Magic (Discworld Book 1).
Many recommend starting on Guards! Guards! (the first in the Watch series), and I started there and fell in love. I recommend Going Postal (which introduces Moist von Lipwig and serves as a great intro to Ankh-Morpork and the Discworld in general).
Lspace (the Discworld wiki, you'll learn to love it) has recommended reading orders but the graphics are a bit out of date.
>I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are the good people and the bad people,' said the man. 'You're wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.'
>He waved his thin hand towards the city and walked over to the window.
>'A great rolling sea of evil,' he said, almost proprietorially. 'Shallower in some places, of course, but deeper, oh, so much deeper in others. But people like you put together little rafts of rules and vaguely good intentions and say, this is the opposite, this will triumph in the end. Amazing!' He slapped Vimes good-naturedly on the back.
>'Down there,' he said, 'are people who will follow any dragon, worship any god, ignore any iniquity. All out of a kind of humdrum, everyday badness. Not the really high, creative loathsomeness of the great sinners, but a sort of mass-produced darkness of the soul. Sin, you might say, without a trace of originality. They accept evil not because they say yes, but because they don't say no. I'm sorry if this offends you,' he added, patting the captain's shoulder, 'but you fellows really need us.'
>'Yes, sir?' said Vimes quietly.
>'Oh, yes. We're the only ones who know how to make things work. You see, the only thing the good people are good at is overthrowing the bad people. And you're good at that, I'll grant you. But the trouble is that it's the only thing you're good at. One day it's the ringing of the bells and the casting down of the evil tyrant, and the next it's everyone sitting around complaining that ever since the tyrant was overthrown no-one's been taking out the trash. Because the bad people know how to plan. It's part of the specification, you might say. Every evil tyrant has a plan to rule the world. The good people don't seem to have the knack.'
>'Maybe. But you're wrong about the rest!' said Vimes. 'It's just because people are afraid, and alone—' He paused. It sounded pretty hollow, even to him.
>He shrugged. 'They're just people,' he said. 'They're just doing what people do. Sir.'
>Lord Vetinari gave him a friendly smile.
>'Of course, of course,' he said. 'You have to believe that, I appreciate. Otherwise you'd go quite mad. Otherwise you'd think you're standing on a feather-thin bridge over the vaults of Hell. Otherwise existence would be a dark agony and the only hope would be that there is no life after death. I quite understand.' He looked at his desk, and sighed. 'And now,' he said, 'there is such a lot to do.'
Edit: Since people don't recognize this quote (for shame!), it's from the book Guards! Guards!
Closest thing to Adams and/or Pratchett I've read recently
Partially. He was one of the strongest writers and has a huge amount of the best episodes under his belt.
Also, he has a bunch of self-published books that are absolutely fantastic. I read the first couple pages on Amazon and was immediately hooked.
[Pokemon: The Origin of Species]
[Worm]
[Animorphs: The Reckoning]
[Luminosity]
[The Two Year Emperor]
[Worth the Candle]
[The Erogamer] (NSFW)
[The Gods are Bastards]
The second one: Eeeee Eee Eeee, the novel by Tao Lin
So, are they going to adapt "Going Postal"?
"Arch-swindler Moist Van Lipwig never believed his confidence crimes were hanging offenses -- until he found himself with a noose tightly around his neck, dropping through a trapdoor, and falling into... a government job
By all rights, Moist should have met his maker. Instead, it's Lord Vetinari, supreme ruler of Ankh-Morpork, who promptly offers him a job as Postmaster. Since his only other option is a nonliving one, Moist accepts the position -- and the hulking golem watchdog who comes along with it, just in case Moist was considering abandoning his responsibilities prematurely.
Getting the moribund Postal Service up and running again, however, may be a near-impossible task, what with literally mountains of decades-old undelivered mail clogging every nook and cranny of the broken-down post office building; and with only a few creaky old postmen and one rather unstable, pin-obsessed youth available to deliver it. Worse still, Moist could swear the mail is talking to him. Worst of all, it means taking on the gargantuan, money-hungry Grand Trunk clacks communication monopoly and its bloodthirsty piratical head, Mr. Reacher Gilt.
But it says on the building neither rain nor snow nor glo m of ni t ... Inspiring words (admittedly, some of the bronze letters have been stolen), and for once in his wretched life Moist is going to fight. And if the bold and impossible are what's called for, he'll do it -- in order to move the mail, continue breathing, get the girl, and specially deliver that invaluable commodity that every human being (not to mention troll, dwarf, and, yes, even golem) requires: hope."
The novel Atlanta Nights was written as an experiment to expose crappy vanity publishers (I know OP's book is different). It was created by a bunch of professional authors trying to write as bad a novel as possible. It is hilariously awful, but was accepted for publication anyhow.
The story of the novel is interesting and it is available for purchase from Amazon. You can click the "Look Inside" link there. The authors have also made the book freely available (eg http://www.cs.du.edu/~aburt/StingManuscript.pdf) - it's well worth checking out, at least a few pages, just to see how badly it's written.
I highly recommend The Time Machine Did It by Swartzwelder. It's a short book and if you watch the Simpsons you can visualize its inanity (is that a word) even better.
George RR Martin: A Game of Thrones
http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-Song-Fire-Book/dp/0553573403
Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman: Good Omens
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Omens-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0441003257
Both fantastic books, but very different.
I'm not sure if they're considered alt-comedy, but John Swartzwelder's books are hilarious. He's an old writer for the Simpsons. Most of the books are about a private detective named Frank Burly. I think this is the first one: https://www.amazon.com/Time-Machine-Did-John-Swartzwelder/dp/0975579908/
The new Norm Macdonald book, Based on a True Story, is also very funny.
I haven't heard very good things about Amy Poehler's book, to be honest, but I haven't read it. I've heard Tina Fey's book is great, but I haven't gotten to that one, either.
Is it supposed to link to this?
How To Avoid Death On A Daily Basis
cover
What if you really were transported to a fantasy world and expected to kill monsters to survive? No special abilities, no OP weapons, no status screen to boost your stats.
Never mind finding the dragon’s treasure or defeating the Demon Lord, you only need to worry about one thing—how to stay alive.
 
This is a four book series (so far) with new books released every 2-3 months on Amazon and Smashwords
 
Or you can read it for free here:
How To Avoid Death On A Daily Basis
An online web serial, updated 5 times a week.
150+ chapters
300K+ words
250K+ views per month
Here some good ol' high fantasy standbys from my shelves. There's a good chance you'll be able to find these at any used book store.
And of course, any of the Discworld books if you feel like giving the genre a light ribbing. You can honestly pick up the series anywhere, but I'm a fan of the books that pertain to the Watch.
His co-authorship w/Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, is phenomenal and hilarious.
US Amazon for those interested. :)
Atlanta Nights was written to see if there existed a potential book so terrible that Publish America would turn it down. The book is truly terrible and PA accepted it. They rescinded the offer when they realized they were being made fun of, but you can buy the book POD through Lulu.
Let's see...
If you like villain protagonists, the Vlad Taltos by Steven Brust series might be up your alley. The protagonist is an assassin who has access to multiple types of sorcery, magical items, and epic level allies who are equally or more overpowered. In specific, one of the main "allies" - Sethra Lavode - is an overpowered character that gets directly involved in some of the books. Morollan, a swordsman/sorcerer that owns a flying castle, probably counts, too. The first book is Jhereg.
If you like anime-style combat and character progression, I'd recommend Will Wight's Traveler's Gate Trilogy. There are lots of high powered "legendary" figures that get involved directly, especially in the second and third books. The first book is House of Blades.
Several characters in the Stormlight Archives are very quickly getting into overpowered territory, and only two of the ten projected books are out. Like most of Sanderson's work, the Stormlight Archives has epic action scenes and a fantastic magic system. This may not be quite as directly what you're looking for - it has very powerful characters, but you only get a little bit of the perspective of the puppet masters. The first book is The Way of Kings.
1Q84 and Damned are the most enjoyable books I've read that have come out in the past 8 months. However, if you're looking for something literary, that probably counts out Damned. Hope: A Tragedy also falls into your time frame. It's interesting; very dark and humorous. But, ehn...
MoL is a member of the groundhog's day loop subgenre. Check out Re:Zero, ERASED (AKA boku dake ga Inai Mache), and Edge of Tommorrow (also known as "All you need is kill") for non-fanfic examples. Also check out the peggy sue and groundhog peggy sue pages for when the time loop is on a significantly larger scale. For some reason I can't find a whole lot of non-fanfic examples (I've probably just forgotten stuff I read a long time ago) but there are oodles of fanfic with that premise.
Are you willing to read MLP:FiM fanfiction? I have a bunch of excellent completed fics to recommend for groundhog's day loops. If you like naruto, there's Time Braid and Chuunin exam day of the top of my head for loops, though they come with caveats: Time Braid is rather overty sexual, and Chuunin exam day is pure tripe written by an author I hate (so I only mention it because of its popularity.) Naruto also has incredibly amounts of peggy sue fics, but they tend to be either fairly blatant wish fulfilment or incomplete. I know for a fact that harry potter has tons of both peggy sue and time loop fics, but I don't really read that fandom much. Worm has a bunch of peggy sue fics, but they're all (or almost all) incomplete.
___
On the other hand, Hero's War is an "uplift" fic. The only non-fanfic example I can think of off the top of my head is Light on Shattered Water which I'm about halfway through. Aside from that, check spacebattles for ASOIAF SIs: they almost all tend to be of this variety. Again, I also have a bunch of MLP:FiM fics with similar premises.
For sort-of-similar works, check out Erfworld and Two Year Emperor for modern-person-gets-put-in-charge-of-fantasy-land fiction.
Spacebattles really likes both of these kinds of fics, so you may have more luck posting a thread there.
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
It's the first of a series of books :-)
The Two Year Emperor ($9, but the free version can be found here) also fits. A human is summoned and forced to lead a nation that runs on D&D-ish rules.
Spoiler alert: D&D-ish rulesets are completely, utterly broken when there's no GM to step in.
Oh, and there's Erfworld which also fits if you can stand webcomics - a WH40K(ish) player gets summoned and is forced to act as general for his summoner. This is much closer to "human as familiar", the others in this post are closer to "human summoned by magic is the prophesied hero"
Also the Wizardry series by Rick Cook - a hacker is summoned into a world where magic is deterministic.
> I am an industrial medic
Nice one, you're one of the good guys then. I thought for a horrible minute there that you were in advertising.
> 2009 in short. Major debt owed to the Province, was engaged but am now single.
Both kinds of bad :(
> Terry Pratchett
I enjoyed Going Postal so you could start there.
> Polar bear, hands down if it is in the Polar bear's natural habitat. No shark can lve for long after being pulled up onto an ice shelf to be carved alive.
That's why I said on neutral territory - bit like virtual reality.
You bring up an excellent point (and make a great case for land ownership!), and that is that actual physical space can't really be created, and will remain scarce, insofar as Earth has a fixed surface area. If the scenario I described above came to pass, though, would any landlords come looking for rent? Would any governments levy taxes? If no one needs cash and everyone has pretty much everything provided for them, all but the most stubborn landlords won't have any reason to give a hoot. I suspect government would take longer to die out, since it may still be needed to enforce laws, judge disputes, provide safety, etc. It's not hard to imagine a world even further down the line, however, when technology has advanced to the point where humans can't realistically do much damage to one another.
Edit: If you're really into this, I'd suggest reading some singularity-esque literature such as Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (novella), Rainbows End (novel), and The Singularity is Near (speculative nonfiction to be taken with a grain of salt).
Unfortunately, that story is no longer available for free. You can buy it for $9.00 if you want to read it anyway. Also, here's the TV Tropes page.
Responses in the order in which I thought of them within each category (don't take it as an order of preference or anything). Lots of fanfic in this list because it's what people tend to write. Assume they're rational unless stated otherwise.
Note that "rationalist" means "rational + demonstrates analytical techniques", so I note where that's applicable (if I remember; a lot of this is fuzzy due to sheer quantity).
Finished:
Updating often:
Updating rarely, possibly abandoned:
I can go into more detail about what separates the Naruto/Harry Potter fanfictions on request. They all have their charms but differ quite a lot in theme and characterisation.
I've also probably forgotten a whole bunch of things. Apologies also if I got authors wrong or missed somebody who's active on this subreddit (I don't remember usernames for everyone who is, sadly).
There's also a lot of great one-shots on the subreddit, some in the challenge threads that get posted every two weeks.
Might I recomend Sir Apropos of Nothing. The whole book is hilarious. The main plot motivation falls well within this category.
Try Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David. The main character is literally the opposite of the stereotypical fantasy protagonist.
Then you might be interested in this series.
https://www.amazon.com/Off-Leash-Freelance-Familiars-Book-ebook/dp/B011J9L5JA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436843535&sr=8-1&keywords=dan+potter+off+leash
read this, it's wonderful and my favorite book of all:
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Omens-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0441003257
You should maybe consider adding Zen speaks shouts of nothingness (link to Amazon books).
Each cartoon is derived from a well know Buddhist scripture or Zen koans (link to youtube video).
Don't let the cartoons fool you as you really have to think deeply about what each cartoon is trying to say.
And don't simply accept the artist own interpretation at the end of each cartoon strip. Think for yourself.
And have fun and enjoy.
Terry Pratchett Start with Guards! Guards! or Mort
his name is Roman Drake
When I searched for a particularly popular model of laptop on Amazon, I came across a book with a very unusual title.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett. It's funny, well written, and a book that you will re-read multiple times in the future.
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins is one of my favorites, and Perdido Street Station by China Mieville is a book I consider a must read.
If you like fantasy novels, I cannot recommend the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett or the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss enough.
I guess they also wrote The Faggiest Vampire:
Deep in The Land of Broodsarrow, just outside the village of Gneirwil, and high on a cliff overlooking the Everbleed Sea, there stands the faggiest gothic castle that any mortal being has ever seen. Living in this ancient faggy castle is none other than the well-renowned vampire, Dargoth Van Gloomfang. The citizenry of Broodsarrow sure has its share of faggy vampires, but old Dargoth has always been by far the faggiest of them all. That is, until a new vampire came to town. A younger, hippper vampire. One that emits such a grand amount of fagginess that one cannot help but be completely overwhelmed by his presence. Now Dargoth Van Gloomfang must figure out a way to out-shine this young newcomer if he wishes to ever reclaim his throne as . . . the faggiest vampire.
If you took the same program that they used to generate that one chapter of "Atlanta Nights," and fed it on low-rated DailyKos diaries for a week, it might come up with something like this article. So, computers don't always write better than this...
The Android's Dream by John Scalzi.
(Legit one of my favorite books.)
They ask, because there are photographers are willing to do this. When you're trying to make a job out of something that many people enjoy and do as a hobby, this will tend to happen.
I have absolutely no doubt that XXXXX magazine managed to find another photo to run where they invited yours to.
So, you know that you aren't going to get paid to run an image in a certain place. What's the downside to having the photo they don't pay for be yours? (barring cases where you're trying to keep a stock image from being overused, that's a bit of a different case). What integrity am I losing?
FWIW, I do live what I preach. Everything I share I put up as Creative Commons- Attribution, Share Alike.
As long as whoever is using the image is willing to distribute their work under the same conditions they want to use mine, and provide credit, they are welcome to.
I enjoy photography, I have a lot of fun taking and sharing photos, and I get a real kick out of getting my work seen. If you're interested in reading another photographers perspective on this, I'd suggest zach arias' blog, he has a couple of posts about the issue. For a rather interesting extreme perspective on it, Down and Out In The Magic Kingdom makes an interesting thoughtful read. It's available for free to download, or to buy.
It's an interesting discussion, but saying that photographers "lose our integrity" by allowing our work to be shared more widely puts my hackles up a bit.
Grab yourself a copy of Greegs & Ladders. Its currently free on amazon kindle (Free, free, you don't need the subscription).
http://www.amazon.com/Greegs-Ladders-Science-Fiction-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00DPQFATM/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1406093780
The book is in the vein of the Hitch Hiker's guide to the Galaxy. Science fiction, with a heavy focus on describing broken cultures.
Its free, and you can be reading it inside 10 minutes, so give it a shot.
Oh my goodness. I have the perfect book for you.
Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin
It's basically about a lonely, awkward guy stuck in a crap job delivering pizzas who isn't really close to anyone and doesn't have anything going on in his life. It's kind of weird and trippy since a lot of it is this guy imagining things during his long stretches of boredom and loneliness. It's a very unique book and a short, easy read.
Edit: Found this in this excellent the amazon review to give you a better idea.
>Andrew just graduated college. He has no job, no friends, and no funds. He moves from New York City back to his parents' house in Florida and gets a job as a delivery guy for Domino's Pizza. After a socially awkward experience of bringing some pizzas and his coworker Joanna to her house, Andrew is approached by a bear who leads him down a secret passageway under a patch of grass to an underground world in which bears coexist with moose, dolphins, hamsters, and aliens.
A recent book I really loved, though I suspect it's not for everyone, is Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin. He's written mostly poetry, and this book flows like no novel I've read, without any solid plot or purpose, but it was absolutely stimulating and engrossing.
These are my suggestions:
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey.
Legend by David Gemmell.
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan.
Death's Head by David Gunn.
These are all proper manly men's books, with lots of violence, casual sex, hot dames, and actually very well written stories with well-rounded and interesting characters.
EDIT I've had another couple ideas.
Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell.
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett.
amazon link ^_^
I think my favourite is The Faggiest Vampire by Carlton Mellick III
http://www.amazon.com/1Q84-Haruki-Murakami/dp/0307593312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320710574&sr=8-1
I haven't. But speaking of mind-fuck, have you read anything by Haruki Murakami? I have not read his stuff but there's a book that looks really intriguing, it's called 1Q84. Just thought I'd mention it on the off chance you've read his stuff because I'm curious as to how it is.
I started Guards! Guards my Terry Pratchett today.
I've read his biography. It's okay.
Source:
https://www.amazon.com/Off-Leash-Freelance-Familiars-Book-ebook/dp/B011J9L5JA
Sir Apropos of Nothing is just what you're looking for I think.
If you're a Neil Gaiman fan, I'd recommend Good Omens or Night watch. Good omens is a stand-alone book by both Gaiman and Pratchett, and is silly and fun- Night Watch is perhaps the darkest of the discworld novels and matches Gaiman's usual tone more (it's also my personal favorite :) ).
But any of the Discworld novels are worth a read, really. If you want to go chronologically, though, you should start with The Colour of Magic, however the order really isn't important- you won't miss much, if at all.
Maybe the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman?
The first book, The Golden Compass, was made into a film.
Also, the Lord of the Rings books?
My favorite fantasy author is Steven Brust, though. Highly recommend reading Jhereg to see if you like the world. It's a relatively quick read, compared to the tomes that more and more fantasy novels seem to be nowadays.
Also, Neal Stephenson.
Going Postal
Sure! /u/Woodrail posted the link to it 7 days ago here
The book is called Zen Speaks: Shouts of Nothingness and you can read and download it here for free
Here is a few that I know of that should be fairly SFW. I have well over 100 books in my kindle library, a lot of them are somewhat furry.
Exile's Return - Scifi Space bunny pushed into being an Ambassador to an alien race after they called for him by name.
Sunset of Furmankind - Murderer is sentenced to take part in the colonization project.
Mindtouch - This book is fairly intresting and one of the few books that I have ever read that features a almost romantic platonic relationship.
Bait and Switch - While I don't think this book is everyones cup of tea, it tackles identity issues in a interesting way.
Off Lease One of the few quad books iv ever seen and the writing good too. Thomas becomes a big kitty familiar and is sucked in the world of magic.
Portals of Infinity (Series) - While I wouldn't call the series great books. Its fun furry action. Human stumbles in to a portal ends up becoming a champion of a fuzzy god, gets the girl and saves the day.
For 100% Free:
I would recommend Fel (James Galloway). If you can stand some errors he writes rather well and refuses to publish.
From him Id recommend:
[Spirit Walker](http://www.weavespinner.net/worlds_of_fel.htm#Spirit Walker) - Rather dark post apocalyptic world with slaves and abuses. Kyven finds out he has a rare ability to see and interact with creatures on a different plane. He joins the ranks to free slaves and ends up one him self. This book is not SFW as it has rape, murder, brothels and sex used as a tool.
Kit Romance. Ex-Rich exiled fox falls in love with a cat and faces off off with his past and his racist family.
[Earth Bound](http://www.weavespinner.net/worlds_of_fel.htm#Earth Bond) Magic and Dragons. Dragons hid out on a cloaked island until plains started flying overhead causing chaos in the ranks and eventually a civil war
Self control, self determination, ability to perceive and act upon choices, identify and follow one overarching purpose.
Grog with the herd, prestream vm, first groon encounter, this groon encounter, Groon. Draw a line through those 5 points and thats the, at least spiritual/emotional path groon is setting for Grog. I think.
EDIT to add: see ref this: https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Speaks-Tsai-Chih-Chung/dp/0385472579
It’s “How I Forced My Dad To Fuck Me”
You should read Cory Doctorow's book. He postulates that this sort of thing will happen in the future, but the caretakers of the rides have a fight between those that would like to keep the traditional interactivity in place vs. replacing it with new tech.
Nah, that's just a luxury cabin on one of the ships owned by a prominent Goo of Gooville.
Sad no one else made any Fluke jokes, so I had to throw one out there.
Going Postal - Terry Pratchett.
Hey! I can adamantly recommend The Lives of the Tao by Wesley Chu. Dark, absurd, sci-fi hilarity.
Ook
Perhaps some delicious BisonBoar?
Ref: The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
The reviews check out
I would suggest The lives of Tao (https://www.amazon.com/Lives-Tao-Book-One/dp/0857663291/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518446281&sr=1-1&keywords=The+lives+of+Tao&dpID=51JdwNnDXVL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch)
Your milage may vary in terms of what you find "weird," but off the top of my head here's a few that fall all over the weird spectrum
1)The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. Deals with drugs, conspiracy theories, and the occult blended with a strong sense of wit and cynicism. Imagine Dan Brown but with a much stronger sense of humor.
2) VALIS by Philip K. Dick. Really anything by Dick could deserve a place on here but VALIS is my personal favorite. A group of misfit adults all struggle to piece together a series of odd occurrences that just may be a message from the god of the Gnostics.
3) Spacetime Donuts by Rudy Rucker. If the above are a bit too heady for you, then this might be more up your ally. Weird theoretical math is explored through the travels of an elderly, weed and acid loving guy who lives in a world controlled by a mostly benevolent supercomputer.
Edit: Forgot a couple!
4) John Dies at the End by David Wong. A great story about two slacker guys who stumble upon a "drug" known as Soy Sauce that opens up other words both literally and figuratively. A wonderful combination of dick & fart humor and deep meditations on the horrors of our universe.
5) The Time Machine Did It by John Swartzwelder. I have never laughed so hard, so consistently at a book. John is a writer from the golden age of the Simpsons and his unique sense of humor is on display here. He's got a bunch of books out and I admittedly have only read this one so far, but based on it the rest of his works are definitely on my must-read list.
The Lives of Tao
The Lives of Tao: Tao Series Book One https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857663291/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_CWF5xbYQJT1GP
I haven't read any Sanderson, but based on your summary, perhaps the Jhereg series? Assassins, convoluted plots, lots going on behind the scenes, and as the series goes on it gets deeper and we find out why.
You might also like the Shannara series. Elfstones, the second book, in particular seems like it'd be a good fit.
Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David. There's a whole series, actually. I've read three. Woad to Wuin and Tong Lashing are the next two and apparently there's at least one more called Pyramid Schemes.
Thank you, I'll bookmark that for later consideration.
Cory Doctorow's Down and out in the magic kingdom also touched on this some without the teleportation aspect and it was a fun read. Not too deep or anything, but fun.
The Time Machine did It by John Swartzwelder (writer of 59 episodes of The Simpsons)
The Stench of Honolulu: A Tropical Adventure by Jack Handey (of SNL 'Deep Thoughts' fame)
I'm not one to make personal guarantees but you will at least crack a smile by reading either one, wish you all the best.
Neil Gaiman is great in that he writes good one offs. Two authors that I've discovered simply because his blurb was on the cover are Martin Millar, and Cory Doctorow. Millar's work is steeped in the 80's punk scene. The Good Faeries of New York is a nice introduction to him. Cory Doctorow is a godfather of the internet. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom predicted Google Glass, and will satisfy your need for something light.
The Time Machine Did It by John Swartzwelder. Swartzwelder is the most prolific writer in Simpsons history and he really does do an amazing job of writing a funny story. You will be cracking up throughout the book.
Although it's a different genre, 1Q84 is an amazing book.
XD came here to say this
http://www.amazon.com/Faggiest-Vampire-Carlton-Mellick-III/dp/1933929804
the first review
Your wife has read everything! Damn. Ok, some more suggestions:
An article on Thought Catalog, by the author of this book.
Here is the desktop version of OP's link
If you like Scalzi, check out The Android's Dream when you're finished.
Christopher Moore wrote a book about it.
Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels, also To Reign in Hell a marvelous novel about the revolt in heaven.
Tottally weird. o.o Kinda like Tag, but not with actual zombies and only perception.
Not what you're looking for, but might I also suggest Good Omens
Snow Crash is a combination of cyberpunk, hacking, humour and geekiness which is pretty rare other than, perhaps, several other Stephenson books. The book I've read that is overall closest to Snow Crash that's not by Stephenson is The Android's Dream.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Slave-Roman-Drake/dp/0989259307
The first three pages are a total tease
Um.... I honestly don't know? I have to confess I read them out of my dad's books and he has physical copies. I'm actually several books behind at this point too ^^;
Clicking the link from Goodreads to Amazon got me the German Language paperback, which had a link on it to this: https://www.amazon.com/Jhereg-Steven-Brust/dp/0441385540
If you're looking for Ebooks sorry I have no idea. If you're fine with physical books and just don't want to store them you could check your local library.
I'll just leave you with these...
That's using the US site with the link you gave. Thanks for the Smashwords link, though.
Oh, yeah. Forgot to mention. These guys also didn't make a page quota, so they copied and pasted random pages throughout the book. Just... you know, whole pages, to bring the page count up.
Oh, and it's on Amazon.
And if you want to know why the caged whale sings
So apparently there are many other good reads.
I love all his books but if you can get a copy of Zen Speaks. https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Speaks-Tsai-Chih-Chung/dp/0385472579/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482013778&sr=8-1&keywords=zen+speaks
Honestly, I'd purchase that movie (if it existed) just for the novelty, similar to Atlanta Nights.
Have you ever read Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Corey Doctorow? It's a wonderful short novel set in the future and takes place in the Magic Kingdom. I think I shall read it again right now it fact...
YES! He's so freakin' amazing!! He's written a total of 59 episodes and somehow his constant disregard for social interactions and refusal to make audio commentary's makes him so much better.
You should check out his series of novels too, The Time Machine Did It
Lives of Tao. I think I'm going to buy the next one soon,
I see that some of those are the same stories of the book Zen Speaks: Shouts of Nothingness.
It's a little dated now but I think you'd probably like the Greg Mandel series as well.
Have you tried John Scalzi
No problem! Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a bit sci-fi, a bit dystopian, and a short, but great read :)
I really enjoyed Zero World by Jason M. Hough. I listened to the audiobook if that makes a difference.
Also the The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu is a fun read.
Edit: The synopsis of Zero World does make it sound a little more cheesy than it really is:/
> How to Avoid Death on a Daily Basis
The first one is free on amazon. I put it on my list.
Couple new ones not mentioned:
M.C. Planck - "Sword of the Bright Lady"
Olan Thorensen - "Cast Under An Alien Sun"
Michael Oneill - "The Casere"
It's also a popular theme among the LitRPG crowd. Like the following:
Blaise Corvin - "Delvers LLC"
V. Moody - "How to Avoid Death on a Daily Basis"
Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!
Here are your smile-ified links:
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00J1HDEH4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect
https://smile.amazon.com/Cast-Under-Alien-Destinys-Crucible-ebook/dp/B01I8DTAKQ/ref=sr_1_1
https://smile.amazon.com/Aebeling-Casere-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00JS8VRV6/ref=sr_1_1
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0U4B3S/ref=series_dp_rw_ca_1
https://smile.amazon.com/How-Avoid-Death-Daily-Basis-ebook/dp/B01H5G6ZR8
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^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot
Be sure that you pack essentials separately, like several changes of clothes, toothbrushes, towels, soaps, etc. Everything you need for a few days so you're not exhausted and digging through boxes just to try to shower. We only moved within town, but I did that and it made everything so much easier and less rushed.
I have this book on my list that would complete my Christopher Moore collection.
Good luck and thanks for the contest!
Edit: Go West, my friend!
Sir Apropos of Nothing... probably. It's been maybe 10 years since I read it, but I still recall the awfulness... Dislikable protagonist/characters/plot and I kept reading because it seemed always to be on the verge of "turning around" iirc... and in the end when it all seems to be FINALLY working out the author pulls a crappy twist out of his butt, and the main character deals with it in the worst possible way...
That was a pretty good short story: http://www.amazon.com/The-Androids-Dream-John-Scalzi/dp/0765348284
Well, as a rule, I've absolutely fallen in love with John Scalzi's Old Man's War series, as well as his one-shots like The Android's Dream.
A favorite for the last few years is John Ringo, author of too many series to mention here, but I'm almost done with his forthcoming Under a Graveyard Sky(available as an eARC from the baen website, and it's AMAZING zombie fun.
Also, The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron has some of the best characters I've read in years in a fantasy book.
IQ84 - Haruki Murakami
Straight from Amazon:
"The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.
A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.
As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.
A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s—1Q84 is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers"
Ah... I found Amazon's layout quite disconcerting and over-busy, but thanks for that, I found the samples eventually.
For those of you undecided, here's some more:
book 1 in series is free: How to avoid death on a daily basis
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H5G6ZR8/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
might not strictly be litRPG as there are no status screens or level ups, but reads very similarly.
​
http://topwebfiction.com/
there are a few litRPG in the list (the wandering inn, everybody loves large chests,..), all can be read for free.
I'm reading Stench of Honolulu, and it's great!
If you like it, I'd suggest you check out John Swartzwelder's books. Both Handey and Swartzwelder have a very dry-yet-silly wit. They both contributed to George Meyer's Army Man magazine from its inception. And his books are a lot like Honolulu: first person, stupid protagonist, and sentences packed with insane jokes.
This one's the first and the best although they're all hilarious.
Reaper Man because it was my first but I recently read Going Postal again and really enjoyed the hell out of it.
You reminded me of a great book. Fluke by Christopher Moore
I won't tell you why, just read it.
Try 1Q84 by Murakami. It does fall 54 pages short of your 1000 page target though.
Give a lesser known writer a try and see if you like him: Steven Brust. He has a fantasy series that's truly brilliant, for a number of reasons. His characters have a lot of depth and endearing tendencies, he's got a wicked sense of humor and colors his writing with dark moments of self reflection, and his creativity in a field overrun with mediocrity is to be appreciated.
Try Jhereg and see what you think. Another thing that makes this series so good is that he intentionally wrote it out of order to encourage people to read whatever volume they happen to find, but this one as the first really outlines the world richly.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Androids-Dream-John-Scalzi/dp/0765348284
American Slave