Comedy Why not more Sci Fi Comedy books?

[zswan]

We're seeing shows and movies bring comedy and science fiction together with more and more success. Rick and Morty is probably the best current example. It's a smart, witty and outrageous show that has a huge, mainstream following. When I look for book examples, it's difficult to find many examples.

Are science fiction authors inclined for serious plots?

Is it just because of the difficulty of writing humor?

Do science fiction fans or writers simply not have a strong interest in humor in science fiction settings?

 

[Salty Vampire]

Great questions. First, I think it's very difficult to write comedy. Second, my guess is writers feel humor detracts from their overall vision.
I have never watched Rick & Morty, does this series borrow from current topics for humor?
I'd think it difficult not to? Correct me if I'm wrong.
How do you know what is funny in a futuristic setting...id love to see someone try.

 

[zswan]

Your first and second points do a great job highlighting possible reason why we don't see these two genres come together. I think with book writing, you lose so much of the visual queues that come with humor so the write has to likely rely even more on dialogue. A story with a lot of dialogue can be a good read, but how much action is paused during those pages? That might be where the overall vision is lost if not balanced well in the story.

Rick and Morty works well using modern humor, but I think the talent of Dan Harmon's writing. Futurama is interesting because it was placed 1000 years in the future, but all of the references were 21st century. The show was funny, but the references just don't work with the setting. That always stuck out to me.

I wonder if the comic book medium is best since you get to right your story while having the visual aspect?

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy looks like a great example

 

[Tom]

Most of the comedy elements I read in science fiction seem to be unintended.
My brain creates the image as its written but fills in the detail gaps.
The resulting impression can sometimes be comical.
One of my favorite authors was Douglas Adams.

As for film, there is a lot of scifi-comedy out there to watch. Think Red Dwarf, Galaxy Quest, Space Balls, stuff like that. There's many that can give me a chuckle intentionally.

Nearly every syfy original movie is comedy, sometimes intended, sometimes not intended.
The Asylum makes money by creating low-budget knock-offs of block busters that are referred to as "mockbusters".

Truly brilliant science fiction has a story that illicits many emotional elements and takes you for a roller coaster ride. The story is written so well it takes you on an emotional adventure and leaves you wanting more.

When I look for book examples, it's difficult to find many examples.

Douglas Adams
Kurt Vonnegut Jr
Harry Harrison
Spider Robinson
Neal Stephenson
John Scalzi
Lois McMaster Bujold
Robert Asprin
Stanislaw Lem
Terry Pratchett
Piers Anthony
Phillip J Farmer
Poul Anderson
Robert Rankin
Just to name a few...

Some books? well here is a few...

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
by Douglas Adams
To
Mostly Harmless (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #5)
by Douglas Adams A five book series that is downright hilarious.

Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (Red Dwarf #1)
by Grant Naylor

Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

The Stainless Steel Rat (Stainless Steel Rat, #4)
by Harry Harrison

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (Callahan's #1)
by Spider Robinson

War of the Coffee Bean (Alienbutt Saga, #1)
by Glenn Scrimshaw

The Cyberiad
by Stanisław Lem

Phule's Company (Phule's Company, #1)
by Robert Lynn Asprin

The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy
by Stanisław Lem

Bill, the Galactic Hero (Bill, #1)
by Harry Harrison

John Dies at the End (John Dies at the End, #1)
by David Wong

Venus on the Half-Shell
by Philip José Farmer

Hoka! Hoka! Hoka!
by Poul Anderson

Emperor Mollusk versus The Sinister Brain
by A. Lee Martinez

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
by Robert Rankin

Job: A Comedy of Justice
by Robert A. Heinlein

Strata
by Terry Pratchett

Codgerspace
by Alan Dean Foster

There is but a few examples I listed out of thousands.

 

[zswan]

Thanks for the list of authors for me to look at! The great science fiction stories really do bring out so much more emotion. Science fiction comes with a lot of freedom for characters and plot for a story teller The great stories certainly show that.

 

[Tom]

I wonder if the comic book medium is best

Comic books is where I really got my first science fiction reading passion.
They lead me to young reader books then on to full novels and novel series.

There is a wealth of really great science fiction in Graphic Novels, which are like comic books on steroids.

Black Science, Volume 1: How To Fall Forever
Book by Rick Remender

Space Riders, Volume 1: Vengeful Universe
Book by Fabian Rangel

Maggie the Mechanic: A Love and Rockets Book
Book by Jaime Hernandez

UFOlogy
Book by James Tynion IV

As for well-known authors, nearly every science fiction author has at least one book in scifi comedy. Usually published as a distraction work or a brain refresher work during or right after a large series.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the list of authors for me to look at! The great science fiction stories really do bring out so much more emotion. Science fiction comes with a lot of freedom for characters and plot for a story teller The great stories certainly show that.

Oh, I agree.
The truly great authors have the versatility to incorporate nearly any genre element into their stories.
To me, a book is really good if it makes you laugh, cry, get mad and feel justified.
I've read books that make me feel like I have been in an emotional test chamber and felt tuckered out emotionally when done.

What really gets my goat is the syfy channel.
There is a whole generation or two of people that 'think' syfy represents science fiction.
When it was The Science Fiction Channel it had great and cutting edge shows that actually represented science fiction. Then it became SciFi and things started going downhill from there. Now, it's nearly unwatchable from a science fiction perspective.
People that should be reading science fiction are now turning away because the syfy channel is stupid.
They make the correlation that syfy is science fiction and lose interest before actually looking at the real science fiction.
They have no idea what is actually out there because they never 'think' to look into it.

 

[sci-fi-dude]

Great questions. First, I think it's very difficult to write comedy. Second, my guess is writers feel humor detracts from their overall vision.
I have never watched Rick & Morty, does this series borrow from current topics for humor?
I'd think it difficult not to? Correct me if I'm wrong.
How do you know what is funny in a futuristic setting...id love to see someone try.

Ummmm, Sci-fi and comedy? Ghost busters comes to my mind. Star Trek has a sense of humor, look at my main man Bill Shatner, it doesn't get any more silly than that.

That is why Shatner is the king of Sci-Fi, hands down!!!!!!!

 

[screenersam]

never considered Stainless Steel Rat particularly comedic, though it was a bit light.

my fave comic Sci-Fi is 'Space for Hire' by William Nolan (better known for Logan's Run)
as much a parody of detective noirs as a sci-fi book. 'Sam Space' is of course a thinly disguised Sam Spade, and its easy to imagine the villain to be played by Sydney Greenstreet.

enjoyed Hitchhiker's Guide and Red Dwarf. the Brits have a gift for that sort of thing.

 

[sci-fi-dude]

I still think this clip should be "Clip of the Year!" I have to give a double thumbs up to its creator!

Haaa, haa, ha, haaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Sick her rover!

 

[sci-fi-dude]

difficulty in writing humor.

Not really, ex; A dude walks into a barber shop, barber says sit on down. Guy says ok, grabs a seat. The barber asks how are you doing, guy says ok, barber says are you married or are you happy? barber shaves then removes an eyebrow accidently, barber ask dude did you come in with 2 eyebrows, the guys nervously replys yes, the barber says then you will be needing this, barber hands him his missing eyebrow. LOL!

 

[sci-fi-dude]

I still think this clip should be "Clip of the Year!" I have to give a double thumbs up to its creator!

Haaa, haa, ha, haaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Sick her rover!