What’s so funny? While science fiction is a vast genre of unlimited imagination, humorous science fiction makes up such a small percentage of the books released. It’s possible that it’s because humor is so subjective, so writing a funny novel that appeals to a majority of readers is tough. Or it could just be that it’s hard to be funny when *waves at the whole world* is happening.
The late, great Douglas Adams was a master of funny science fiction. Most people know The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but I think his Dirk Gently series was just as funny. Connie Willis is also great, especially To Say Nothing of the Dog (the title of which comes from one of the funniest books I’ve read, Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.) And Kurt Vonnegut has a few laughs in each of his novels, when they aren’t punching you in the guts.
The funniest recent series I’ve read are Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (because talking cat) and the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, beginning with All Systems Red. I love that snarky self-aware security bot so much!
Here are three more great science fiction novels by consistently funny authors that are sure to tickle your funny bone! Also, how do you get a baby alien to go to sleep? You rocket. (Ba-dum-tiss!)
Redshirts by John Scalzi
Everything John Scalzi writes is funny, but this is one of the best. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “redshirts,” it refers to the characters on Star Trek who wore the red uniforms and always ended up dead. They were the expendable characters. (It’s also referenced in Galaxy Quest, in one of Sam Rockwell’s most under-appreciated roles.) In Scalzi’s award-winning novel, the red-shirted officers of the United Union start to catch on to the fact that they’re expendable, and decide to change their fate.
Swords and Spaceships
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Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
Like Connie Willis’s Oxford Time Travel series, this hilarious, long-running series combines academics and time travel. In the future, history is studied by researchers at St Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, who actually go back in time to witness it. But how many times can people visit the past without accidentally messing it up somehow? Spoiler: Not many. Somebody always wants to push the limits, and human history will need correcting, repeatedly. (The spinoff to this, The Time Police series, is also really funny.)
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
This is a comedic work of metafiction that is also about people messing with the past. In this great debut novel, a time travel technician named Charles Yu must put out fires all over the place, rescuing people who decide it’s a good idea to change the past. When he’s not working his busy schedule, Charles manages to visit his mother, who is stuck in a time loop, and searches for the inventor of time travel, who happens to be his father. You’d think with the ability to time travel, he’d have more time!
Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the Book Riot podcast All the Books! and on Instagram.
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