More Stories About Spaceships and Cancer

by Casper Kelly

Award-winning TV writer and filmmaker Casper Kelly brings his hilarious, absurdist, and dark vision to the page in this debut collection, perhaps the first with a horror host guiding you between the stories. Enter the mind of one of the seven dwarfs wrestling with his fevered sexual desire for Snow White. In another story, a cash-strapped elderly man in the future is quietly pressured to “retire” by having his brain put in a vat and live out the rest of his day in a virtual reality paradise. “Sex Fantasies at Work” follows an office drone who suspects he’s always at work and his entire home life is merely implanted memories. Read what Charles Yu calls “one of the funniest books I’ve read in years,” what Jack Pendarvis likened to Donald Barthelme by way of E.C. comics, and Joe Randazzo, the editor of The Onion, calls simply “f***ing awesome.”

Genres: Humor, Short Stories, Fiction, Bizarro Fiction, Comedy, Horror

162 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Casper Kelly writes bizarre late-night television primarily for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim on shows such as Squidbillies, Stroker & Hoop, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, and others. His cartoon strip, Fried Society, appeared in alt weekly newspapers across the country and his other creative work has been featured in Wired, Entertainment Weekly, online literary magazines, and various film festivals. He won an Annie. That’s a fairly big animation award. Although it’s no Emmy or Oscar, don’t want to give you that impression. He acted in a feature film that played at Slamdance. He is very tall and when people round a corner suddenly and see him they tend to involuntarily exclaim “Gah!”. He lives in Atlanta.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Join Professor Badbones and his sidekick/nemesis, Stiffany, as they spin some weird ungodly tales of friendly neighborhood banks, large-breasted ninjas, hopeless haberdashers and sex fantasies at work.

Prepare to enter a strange Mixtopia - A mix between a utopia and a dystopia where some things are unbelievably better while simultaneously other things are hellishly worse, e.g. “The warm slappable realness of this sexbot’s thighs almost distracts me from the painful sickness I have from this radioactive corn.

Yeah. It's like that.

Though these stories plop down comfortably into the bizarro/absurdist category - whacked out, disgusting and of course, funny as hell, two of them managed to break my rock-hard heart. In one, an extremely old fart is urged to give up life as he knows it and have his brain placed in permanent virtual reality. Then we have Sneezy, an unfairly underrated dwarf, confessing to a mad love/lust for Snow White. After she is placed in a glass casket suffering from a witch-induced coma, he tries desperately to rouse her before that pesky prince shows up. I was practically in tears as he kissed her again and again to no avail. Sob!

In the not heart breaking but thoroughly entertaining category, we have a man who can't get laid...even though he's the last man on earth. Then there's the guy who finds that being marooned on an island with 37 cheerleaders - Their clothes are ripped in sort of a sexy post-apocalyptic way. - is not all it's cracked up to be. And let's not forget what happened to the poor gentleman who didn't follow directions and drank the WHOLE BOTTLE of love potion, not the recommended amount of one capful.

These twisted tales are not for everyone. The author is fairly obsessed with bodily functions. Almost no one is presented with flowers and chocolates. Gross stuff happens.

But if you're looking for cheap thrills and have always wondered what would happen if you didn't have to poop anymore, baby, this is the book for you!

[T. Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the book, and while I am satisfied with the amount of spaceships, there was not nearly enough cancer. The cover and title promised me cancer and the author did not deliver nearly enough cancer. Hardly any cancer at all. In fact, there was so little cancer, I'm now not completely sure if there was ANY cancer whatsoever. And while I would have also preferred more spaceships, as I said I am satisfied with the amount of spaceships, so I don't want to belabor that point. It's really on the cancer front that the book falls down. So. Just saying, you know, needs more cancer. Or at least a disclaimer: "Warning: Book Does Not Contain Cancer." I know they can't really change the book because it's already printed but they could at least put that warning on a sticker and stick it on all the remaining copies. That's not that hard, is it really? To be honest with your readers and maintain a good, non-deceptive relationship with them? I thought not. Since I already have a copy, they can just send me the sticker, and I'll put it on myself. Thanks!

[Bmj2k · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you like stories about spaceships and cancer but wish there were more stories about spaceships and cancer? For too long the cancer and spaceship demographic has been underserved, but fortunately Casper Kelly has stepped in and filled a long neglected need.

But seriously, More Stories About Spaceships and Cancer is not for everyone. And that's a good thing. The world needs people who read the fine print on white bread packages or breathlessly await the next sparkly teen-angsty vampire novel, despite their being over 35 years old and well-past the point where they should be breathlessly awaiting such things or-

You get the idea.

More Stories About Spaceships and Cancer is a collection of more-or-less related short stories. At first glance, sure, the conflicted duck who is in charge of a firing squad and his friend who bears more than a passing resemblance to a gorilla may seem off-putting, but stick with it. This book is not only funny, it is insightful. While it may not give you the answers you are looking for, it is a strangely accurate (and at times poignant) look at human nature as filtered through the fantasies of a man who dreams he is the last man on Earth, a great-great-great-grandfather who has lived long past his prime, and a family under assault by killer axe-waving ATM machines, among others.

There are B-movie horror hosts to guide you (a skeleton, a werewolf, and a sort-of killer undead chick) but each of them has their own problems too. Poor Professor Badbones, for example, who loses his hosting gig less than halfway through the book. You'll read about large breasted ninjas, brains living in virtual reality worlds (ok, that's the same story) a man who desperately wants to make a hat for a king, and even some characters with whom you will relate.

The stories are all interesting and at times laugh-out-loud funny. (That's LOL for the teens out there.) I said that this book is not for everyone and I mean that. But Casper Kelly has a nice body of work, take a second, look it up, I'll wait, it's in his Goodreads bio, and if anything there has made you laugh- Harvey Birdman, or especially my favorite, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, then this is the book for you. Or perhaps I should say that you are it for the book, because this is a book (and author, it didn't write itself) that demands a following. I'm ready for the sequel, Even More Stories About Spaceships and Cancer.

[Steven Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Stories About Spaceships and Cancer is a collection of short stories written by Casper Kelly. Kelly writes for Adult Swim shows on Cartoon Network. He has written for Squidbillies and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, as well as others. I tell you this because that is very much what you get in this collection. It’s not often I laugh out loud while reading, but I found myself doing just that many times. Just like Adult Swim, this book is sometimes crude, rude and a bit raunchy but more often than not, very funny. I’m not sure if Kelly is a fan of Douglas Adams but I see many similarities in their humor. It is not all about the humor though. There is some really good story telling here also. Some of my favorite stories are “Frequently Asked Questions” and “An Aspiring Haberdasher.”
So, overall I thought this was a fantastic collection and will bring back the lost art of the short story, when they were “vital and talked about and studied and a part of culture and could be said to be important, and cool.”(quote from the book) This book was great and I cannot wait to read more from Kelly.



My rating:
4.5


Originally posted on To Read Or Not To Read, May 24, 2012

[John McNee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag of uniquely absurd stories. I was prepared for the hilarity and non-sequiturs, but there are some surprisingly original concepts and high degrees of poignancy to be found within these pages.

Choosing a few specific examples, 'Frequently Asked Questions', about a murderous ATM, is about as perfect a short story as you'll ever find. 'Sneezy', which examines the Snow White tale from the perspective of the titular dwarf, is almost too sad to read. The final story, incorporating several tales into one, is the longest and very nearly the best of all the stories in the collection, but I didn't care for the ending.

By turns hilarious, troubling, baffling but never not entertaining, this is a pretty damn fine book.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book, I will not take the bathroom for granted again. There were some truly hilarious moments in this book, some thoughtful ones, and some downright strange ones. My favorites were "Sneezy", the "Altair 7" story, and the above mentioned "#2" story. "Sneezy" was just plain beautiful writing. The "Altair 7" story was a pretty deep set of ideas wrapped in an entertaining Philip K. Dick type package. The "#2" story was weird in the best way and very funny. I probably could have done without the "Haberdasher" story, possibly a joke drawn out too long. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I look forward to more from Casper Kelly.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to review a book of short stories. The only way to effectively review it is to base it not just on one or two stories but the entire collection. Sadly there's only one story about spaceships and none about cancer but these are entertaining stories and it's a quick read. Some will make you laugh out loud while a couple are just ok. As a debut it works and is worth checking out.

[Zach Melzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An imaginative, illusive, spiraling, and translucent read that chills the bones, all the while being outrageously funny. Terrific compositions by a very gifted writer. Highly recommended.

[Loveliest Evaris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really know what to expect. I thought I would get maybe personal accounts by the author on his life, or maybe some ramblings about life and the current state of humanity with weird examples taken from obscure places.

But this was a montage of short stories of varying lengths which dealt from everything from a world where technology exists that turns all of your waste into waves so you no longer have to use the bathroom to a unrequited love story of Sneezy pining for Snow White.

Needless to say, it was weird.

Good weird, but still weird.

The reason I rated it 3/5 was because I only read a few of the stories because the others didn't interest me or they droned on a bit. Between each story was an "intermission" where your "host" --that is, a talking skull with flesh hanging off of him--taking you the reader through the paces and making very self-aware comments about himself and everything around him, which entails breaking the fourth wall so badly that I thought this was a transcript to something said and done in actual real life. I imagine the host to look like FaceBones from Metalocalypse:




The constant 4th-wall-breaking for the Intermissions made me uneasy. Simply because I'm not used to so much "official" tongue-in-cheek lampshade hanging (look that up on TV Tropes if you don't know what it is) , and to me it was like someone had written the novel equivalent of a movie. To me it can't be done, and it was less believable (what is there to believe anyways?) and I enjoyed it less because of that.

But that's just me. I don't like it when it's constantly pointing out things like that, but I'm sure many others do. It's not you, Mr. Casper, it's me. I didn't expect it to be written like that, and I didn't enjoy it because it's just not what I'm into literature-wise. This is a very good book if you like snarky 4th-wall-breaking and weird stories full of humor and "oh yeah! that's so true!" .. I just didn't enjoy it as much as people who like that stuff would...

[🐴 🍖]

i mean if a book's got jack pendarvis on the cover comparing it to donald barthelme i'm not just gonna not read it. and you know what? it's not bad! tru, at times there's a surfeit of "lol so random" material (hence all the bizarro recs in the "readers also liked" section of this pg i guess), & "sneezy" is a misfire altogether (textbook nice-guy stuff about one of the 7 dwarfs getting friendzoned), but as the book goes on the stories seem to take on deeper resonance. heck, if you beefed up the vocabulary some in "sexual fantasies at work" it could aaaaaaalmost pass for sth out of brief interviews with hideous men. came close to making me miss a train stop, which generally is a good barometer of quality

[Casey Babb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been on my to-read list for a couple of years, found either by accident or recommendation, I don't really remember. It wasn't until Too Many Cooks that I was reminded to pick this up, which is unfortunate because I should have read it when I first discovered it, but fortunate because I got to read it now, and not in some foggy past. Reading is usually a huge chore for me, and I typically avoid it, but More Stories About Spaceships and Cancer is a really accessible, fairly relatable book. In fact, it kept me wanting reading it, and I finished it pretty quickly.

The stories are varied, and handle weirdness well- it doesn't feel forced or too in-your-face, but plays out naturally and organically according to the logic of the stories. This sort of Authentic Weird is important to me, versus the "isn't this random and weeeeird, lol" that has been cropping up quite a bit lately. Between the stories are intermissions that often had me laughing. I couldn't read this book at work because it would have been too obvious that I was reading a funny book and not actually working.

While likely not for everyone, if you already knew Kelly's work from Adult Swim, or you just discovered him through Too Many Cooks, and you're literate, you may as well read this book.

[Hilola · Rating 5 out of 5]

So.. I just finished the book and ehm.. really don't know where to start. Well let's start with this. I got the book through goodreads giveaway and thank you to the author.
I have no idea why I entered this giveaway as I am not a short story person. As author or rather Professor Badbones puts it, to me they are 'out of fashion'. Having said that, I'm glad that I did as I totally loved every page/paragraph/word in the book. It is a bit like a Ray Bradberry style but crazier! It's creepy and fascinating. Every story is in its own way, nothing repetitive. I got thrown from a horror story to an unrequited love story, from science fiction to shrink's sofa and back to science fiction again. I could not imagine what the author was going to come up with next and was taken by surprise every time.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, this book is not for the timid. There is language and subject matter in this book that many people would find very offensive.
That said, this has to be one of the most creative books I've ever read. Casper has a very readable writing style, a great sense of humor, an amazing understanding of human psychology, and writes stories so far out of the box that I've forgotten where the box is. This book was thoroughly enjoyable, made me laugh and really made me think. I will be keeping an eye out for future works by Casper Kelly!

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to this after seeing Kelly's wonderful viral video 'Too Many Cooks' and enjoyed it enormously. It's a collection of short stories, which I guess you would call science fiction, but that label isn't particularly helpful. The stories are all extremely funny and inventive, surreal but engaging. Think Philip K Dick (but funnier) or Kurt Vonnegut or David Wong. I loved it.

[Brad Nagel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good short story collection that manages to be clever, funny, and poignant in places you wouldn't expect to find poignancy. I borrowed this from my Kindle lending library, but now I think I'll have to pick up a copy to keep.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only did I love this book, I'm pretty sure I blurbed it, too!

[Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Llevaba años queriendo leer este libro de relatos. ¿La razón? Su autor es el genio responsable de Too Many Cooks, aquella joya de los infocomerciales de Adult Swim en la que un asesino en serie amenaza a... bueno, hay que verlo sin saber nada. Casper Kelly fue el que primero captó la atención sobre esos bloques que firmaban autores de ingenio desmedido como Alan Resnick (This House Has People In It) o los posteriormente archifamosos Daniels (Broomshakalaka), los de Todo A La Vez En Todas Partes.

Y es sublime.

Una mezcla entre la paranoia de Philip K Dick y la sci fi dura de Greg Egan pero con el humor de George Saunders. Chris Kelly aprovecha incluso el índice para hacer bromas, en línea con los Monty Python que hasta con los subtítulos jugaban, solo que de una forma más cercana a Pirandello, más construyendo una especie de autoconsciencia de personajes que se rebelan ante la que es su naturaleza. Esto se aprecia perfectamente en los nexos entre historias, una especie de narración a lo Tío Creepy en los cómics de la EC que también se ve subvertida de forma loquísima (anticipando Too Many Cooks).

Tiene una cuasi novella final llamada Sex Fantasies At Work que, partiendo de una base no muy lejana a La Persona Deprimida de Foster Wallace, deviene en un prodigio de inventiva al servicio de un currela algo cenizo con la misma capacidad para elaborar complejísimas puestas en escena y multiversos al servicio de la excitación sexual... sin ser capaz siquiera de follar nunca en sus propias fantasías por ese espíritu cenizo suyo y una férrea coherencia en la lógica interna de sus elaboradas fantasías para con sus aptitudes reales. Es descacharrante, algo increíble de loco y divertido.

PD: Final Deployment 4 y Yule Log también son obras maestras.

PD2: por favor, que alguien edite esta maravilla en España y le añada el texto aquel de Click Hole sobre los exterminadores y las civilizaciones de insectos más avanzadas que tuvieron que extinguir, que es una de las cosas más brillantes escritas en este siglo xxi y me juego medio pie a que es cosa de Casper Kelly por temática y estilo

https://clickhole.com/we-asked-22-ext...

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This bizarre collection of short fiction by Caser Kelly was mind-blowingly entertaining to say the least! Casper Kelly had me laughing and scratching my head going "huh?" from the first couple of pages until the end. I read this completely in a few sittings as it was so absurd that I had trouble putting it down. Kelly's style reminds me of a favorite author of mine, Grady Hendrix. Though Kelly doesn't specialize in horror like Hendrix, the writing styles are quite similar if you like this sort of thing. I would LOVE to find other authors that write in this style. Unfortunately, I'm sure this is a niche that is too far from the mainstream to attract the typical "pajama people," as musician Frank Zappa would have called them. I am not typically one to read for humor. I prefer gritty story telling and a good deal of horror and suspense. But this read was quite a treat!

Fair warning: The language and subject matter in some of these stories will highly offend many people due to a bit of graphic, sexual humor. If this type of thing offends you, don't bother picking this one up.

This book is a train wreck that you can't look away from... in a good way!

[Caitlyn Kasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was bought for me as a gift by someone who had never read the book. It's a book of short stories, and after reading the first, I was very weirded out. But I continued to read and grew to be amused by the strange, futuristic stories. These stories reminded me a lot of the Black Mirror series.

[Dan Sorben · Rating 3 out of 5]

What kept me reading was the bizarreness and variety of the stories. I felt some dragged on for more than necessary and others left me wanting way more. Bit of a mixed bag with some unexplored themes for me, I enjoyed it.

Thanks, Casper!

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like a bunch of Tales from the Crypt episodes, with profanity... lots. If a book could be on drugs, this would probably be what it was like.

[PHILIP Matarese · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfect

[Elizabeth Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a great book to end the year with. bizzaro fiction at its best.

[Eric T. Voigt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't end up disappointing me like I mistakenly assumed it would. Having set it down back last December I thought maybe there was something wrong with it, but after truly digging the last two stories I went back and skimmed some of the earlier works and fond memories and familiar scenes came bubbling up. It definitely gets better. Wasn't into the host thing most of the way through, though. Did seem like a tree killer kind of move, would've preferred a few more later-story caliber tales. Funny stuff, though, mostly, though.

[Brendan Bourke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each story in Kelly's collection here made me laugh out loud on public transport. The regulars on my daily commute now glare and scorn because (or at least I assume) I'm now 'that guy' that breaks the silence on an otherwise vacuum, as we wait to disembark and follow the red line of our daily routine. Who cares. The stories are hilarious.

Casper Kelly is very clever with his humor, and he needs to continue this damn good thing he does.

[Vanwhelan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was one messed up book and, at times, laugh out loud funny. I thought the funniest story was the one about the guy who was the last man on earth but still couldn't figure out a way to make himself attractive to women.

[Jon Roig · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know... every once in awhile, I stumble on a book that's really... for me? This was such a fantastic read -- funny, insightful, surreal, silly. No surprise from the guy who wrote some of my favorite TV shows, like Harvey Birdman. Loved it and I can't wait for more from Casper Kelly.

[Dan Treichel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the funniest collections of genre-warping post-post-modernist stories spanning sci-fi, transhumanism, joke structure analysis, ATM machines, the nature of reality and the complex employment market for hosts of Tales From the Crypt style horror shows. Highly recommended.

[Khalil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boy… not my style. So hard for me to get through. Had it not been picked for a bookclub, there’s no way I would’ve finished it. There was one story that I thought was intriguing but other than that it was a bummer. I guess it’s just not my kind of humor.

[Jonathan Lee B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

More Stories About Spaceships and Cancer is the best book which's table of contents is a joke instead of an actual table of contents.