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A review by wicked_turtle
Unidentified Funny Objects by Phil Selby, Mike Jacobsen, Dixon Leavitt, Siobhan Gallagher, Lavie Tidhar, Chuck Rothman, Leah Cypess, Jeff Stehman, Jamie Lackey, Alex Shvartsman, Charity Tahmaseb, James Beamon, Marko Kloos, Deborah Walker, Zach Shephard, Mike Resnick, David Sklar, Stephen D. Rogers, K.G. Jewel, Sergei Lukyanenko, Jake Kerr, Don Sakers, Stephanie Burgis, Ken Liu, Anatoly Belilovsky, Jennifer Pelland, Ferrett Steinmetz, Matt Mikalatos, Michael Kurland, Nathaniel Lee, Scott Almes, Bruce Golden, Jody Lynn Nye
3.0
This is a solid collection of stories, but I'll admit some of them just didn't work for me. Humor is subjective, however, so my personal tastes probably didn't gel with those particular pieces. I tend to like stories that have an absurd premise or eccentric characters. I'm particularly fond of writers like Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Christopher Moore, and Jasper Fforde. That's the kind of vibe I look for in humor stories. With that in mind, my favorites in this anthology are:
"Timber" by Scott Almes - A criminal about to be executed gets summoned by a wizard who requires his help in convincing activists to allow the logging of a living forest. This is first story in the collection and remained my favorite after reading the whole book. It has absurdity in droves, from the witty dialogue to the increasingly bad situations the narrator stumbles into.
"The Last Dragon Slayer" by Chuck Rothman - An unlikely hero is forced into taking up arms to slay a dragon. I especially enjoyed this story because of how Rothman plays with various fairy tale tropes. He flips them in ways you don't expect for some hilarious results.
"The Alchemist's Children" by Nathaniel Lee - The daughter of a powerful alchemist undergoes a perilous journey to save her brother, using only reason and science to defend herself against the likes of werewolves and dragons. This is science fiction mashed up with fantasy in a way I haven't seen before, where science is used to help disprove common things that occur in fantasy stories. Most of the humor stems from the protagonist, Jen, and her nonchalant approach to dangerous situations.
"Cake from Mars" by Marko Kloos - The son of a 149-year-old-man is guilt-tripped into fulfilling his father's birthday wish to receive illegal goods from Mars but banned on Earth: namely, a giant birthday cake with a "whore" who pops out of it. I get a Douglas Adams vibe from this story, but with humor that isn't safe for the whole family.
"One-Hand Tantra" by Ferrett Steinmetz - Speaking of adult humor, this story follows a powerful wizard who practices the rare magic of "masturbancy" to help clients influence the actions of others. Yep, it's exactly what you'd expect. Lots of dirty, awkward humor.
"Worm's Eye View" by Jody Lynn Nye - A detective must host a parasite... err, "guest" alien in her body as part of the witness protection program because the alien witnessed the murder of his previous host. This was a unique mash-up of science fiction, mystery, and absurdity. Much of the humor in this piece is situational, as the protagonist, Sgt. Dena Malone, learns how to live with a talkative alien who can see and feel everything she does and but can't seem to understand the meaning of "tact."
I do own the other books in this series. I enjoyed this enough to read through the rest of the anthologies eventually.
"Timber" by Scott Almes - A criminal about to be executed gets summoned by a wizard who requires his help in convincing activists to allow the logging of a living forest. This is first story in the collection and remained my favorite after reading the whole book. It has absurdity in droves, from the witty dialogue to the increasingly bad situations the narrator stumbles into.
"The Last Dragon Slayer" by Chuck Rothman - An unlikely hero is forced into taking up arms to slay a dragon. I especially enjoyed this story because of how Rothman plays with various fairy tale tropes. He flips them in ways you don't expect for some hilarious results.
"The Alchemist's Children" by Nathaniel Lee - The daughter of a powerful alchemist undergoes a perilous journey to save her brother, using only reason and science to defend herself against the likes of werewolves and dragons. This is science fiction mashed up with fantasy in a way I haven't seen before, where science is used to help disprove common things that occur in fantasy stories. Most of the humor stems from the protagonist, Jen, and her nonchalant approach to dangerous situations.
"Cake from Mars" by Marko Kloos - The son of a 149-year-old-man is guilt-tripped into fulfilling his father's birthday wish to receive illegal goods from Mars but banned on Earth: namely, a giant birthday cake with a "whore" who pops out of it. I get a Douglas Adams vibe from this story, but with humor that isn't safe for the whole family.
"One-Hand Tantra" by Ferrett Steinmetz - Speaking of adult humor, this story follows a powerful wizard who practices the rare magic of "masturbancy" to help clients influence the actions of others. Yep, it's exactly what you'd expect. Lots of dirty, awkward humor.
"Worm's Eye View" by Jody Lynn Nye - A detective must host a parasite... err, "guest" alien in her body as part of the witness protection program because the alien witnessed the murder of his previous host. This was a unique mash-up of science fiction, mystery, and absurdity. Much of the humor in this piece is situational, as the protagonist, Sgt. Dena Malone, learns how to live with a talkative alien who can see and feel everything she does and but can't seem to understand the meaning of "tact."
I do own the other books in this series. I enjoyed this enough to read through the rest of the anthologies eventually.