When science fiction is funny, it’s as funny as anything funny is ever funny. For reference, see the best funny work of Douglas Adams, of Robert Sheckley, of Kurt Vonnegut, of Harry Harrison, of Harlan Ellison when he’s in silly mode, and of Woody Allen when he did Sleeper.
When science fiction is so determined to strike comedy gold that it circles funny in frantic elliptical orbits, it may intersect funny multiple times in rapid succession at the same time that it runs the risk of exhausting the reader.
Case in point: The Sheriff of Yrnameer by Michael Rubens (Pantheon Books, $22.69), the saga of ne’er-do-well space rogue Cole, who runs into zombies, space anomalies, monsters and Bad Men (the capitalization deliberate) while on the run from a bounty hunter named Kenneth who wants to lay eggs in his brain. He gains the municipal office of the title just in time to find himself in the crosshairs of a villain named Runk.
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I am not the biggest fan of Sci-Fi, however I LOVE The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy books. If you add some humor to the sci-fi and some cool sounding monsters, then I am definitely into it. I think I might give this book a try.
Have you read this book? What did you think?
