The Mammoth Book of Seriously Comic Fantasy

by Mike Ashley (Editor)

A new collection of magic and mayhem from fantasy's funniest, wackiest writers, including Harlan Ellison, Esther Friesner, Neil Gailman, Craig Shaw Gardner, Harry Harrison, Tom Hold and Julia Mandala.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Science Fiction, Humor, Comic Fantasy, Comedy

575 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1999

About the author

Michael Raymond Donald Ashley is the author and editor of over sixty books that in total have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Chatham, Kent.

Reviews

[Wreade1872 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sorely tempted to give this 2-stars, i can't quite to be fair but it is tempting. There's really only about half-a-dozen really good stories in this anthology almost all the rest are ok, no stinkers but mostly just ok.
I read this entire thing before and rereading, only 2 tales seemed familiar.

Also its not funny... i mean i would classify most of it as mildly satirical at best. A lot of stories are pretty dated too.

Overall... blech.. i'd only recommend it as a historical document. You might well find some unknown authors here that you want to look up afterward, if you liked their style but i don't think this is anyone's best work.

[useFOSS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read some of the stories
Neander-Tale by James P. Hogan 5/5
Uncle Henry Passes by Esther Friesner 3/5
The Case of Jack the Clipper by David Langford 3/5
How I got Three Zip Codes by Gene Wolfe 2/5
The Failure of Hope & Wandel by Ambrose Bierce 3/5
Captain Honario Harpplayer, R.N. by Harry Harrison 5/5
The Aliens who Knew, I Mean, Everything by George Alec Effinger 4/5
History Book by John Grant 3/5
The Top 50 Things I'd Do if I Ever Became an Evil Overlord by Peter Anspach 4/5
How to be Fantastic by Elizabeth Counihan 4/5
Escape from the Planet of the Bears by Tom Holt 4/5

[Jeannette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Also available on the WondrousBooks blog.

After Dandelion Wine, this was my other enemy in the summer of 2019. Two colleagues of mine from work had big praise about this book, so much so that one of them brought it to Poland from Bulgaria just to lend it to me, because she thought it was so great.

It wasn't bad, per se, just not up to my tastes. 

I would say that for the fans of sci-fi fantasy, this book is godsent. It contains a large myriad of different fantastical stories about witches, trolls, goblins, dragons, supernatural detectives, and so much more. In theory, it should be the perfect book for me, too. In practice, however, I believe it's the humor that just doesn't do it for me. Especially translated to Bulgarian. I do love my fantasy, but not this type of humorous sci-fi fantasy.

There were, of course, several stories that I quite enjoyed, especially the ones set in a kingdom far far away, and I did laugh, so I can't say it was all bad. But, I especially did not like the stories that were more reminiscent of our world, but with a supernatural twist.

In general, I don't have much bad to say, or much good. It was a big collection of short stories, and I'm positive that most people would find at least one or two that would be up to their liking. As I mentioned, it just wasn't my thing.

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An anthology that is sometimes hilarious, often very funny, mildy comic and very rarely too abstract to my taste.
A variety of authors, some top names of today, with short funny fantasy novellas.
Many themes and styles stand for an exceptionally excellent work of global top quality.
The short introduction of each author and his work allows the reader to pursue his favorites and try to find more of the author who sometimes has completely disappeared in obscurity.
Recommended.

[Artur · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few chuckles here and there, but most of the novels were either drawn out dad-jokes or simply so un-funny that I didn't even understand what the writers were even trying to achieve.

After reading half of it I was ready to just abandon it entirely... But the thing about novels from different authors is that the ones I read previously does not say how the future ones will be, and sure enough. Some of the later novels were actually pretty OK, but not enough to make it all worth reading.

[MikeBy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of amusing and some funny stories, mostly short enough to read a complete story in one burst. I liked the introduction to each author and their works, and plan to follow up on some of them later.

[Ryan Barretto · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing collection of stories. Right from the first Neandertale to the last, all of them had this quality of making the reader want the story to continue into a separate book. Added to this were the twists and turns that put many a current thriller writer to shame.

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Rafal Jasinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vol.1

Sympatyczna, acz bardzo średnia pod wieloma względami antologia. Większość z zamieszczonych tu krótkich, czy wręcz króciutkich opowieści cechują niedostatki elementów, które w tego typu literaturze są wielce istotne i powinny być najmocniejszym ich punktem. Wielu z opowiadań brakuje zabawnej puenty, inne znowu zdają się być sklecone byle jak, stając się fasadą dla finału średniej, bądź słabej jakości literackiego dowcipu. Nie stwierdziłem również jakiejś szczególnie finezyjnej zabawy formą, czy umiejętnej próby pastiszowania gatunku - wszystko skupia się na wykpiwaniu znanych w fantastyce stereotypów, choć trzeba uczciwe dodać, że - na szczęście - poziomu kloacznej parodii żadne z zamieszczonych tu opowiadań nie sięgnęło.

Na wyróżnienie z tomu pierwszego zasługują - przez to, że są mniej przeciętne, niż pozostałe - opowiadanie "Obcy, którzy wiedzieli wszystko. Absolutnie wszystko" Georga Aleca Effingera (nietypowe, a przy tym całkiem zabawne ujęcie motywu "inwazji obcych"), oraz urocze opowiadania, perełki z końca XIX wieku, autorstwa Ambrose Bierce'a i Williama Schwencka Gilberta.

Choć obiecywanych przez wydawcę salw śmiechu zbiorek niniejszy nie wywołuje, to czyta się go szybciutko, lekko i bywa, że kąciki ust powędrują na kilka chwil w górę. I mimo, że jest to lektura, która prędko uleci z pamięci, to fanom humorystycznego fantasy na pewno w mniejszym, lub większym stopniu się spodoba.

Vol. 2

Drugi tom "Wielkiej księgi..." lepszy, co raczej nie dziwi, bowiem nazwiska pisarzy, którzy zamieścili swoje opowiadania w tymże dużo bardziej popularne. Ścisłymi "liderami" tego woluminu są: Tom Holt, ze znakomitym opowiadaniem, pastiszującym filmowy cykl "Planeta małp", z wplecionymi doń elementami zaczerpniętymi z "Kubusia Puchatka"; Neil Gaiman, i jego opowieść w stylu noir, w której głównymi bohaterami są postaci z "Alicji w krainie czarów" i dziecięcych wyliczanek, oraz L. Sprague de Camp, z "oldskulową", lekko tylko zabarwioną humorem, historią, utrzymaną w duchu opowieści o Conanie Barbarzyńcy, czy - bardziej nawet - o Farfydzie i Szarym Kocurze.

Pozostałe z opowiadań tomu drugiego jest dużo ciekawsza, jakby zabawniejsza i nieco bardziej oryginalna, niż większość z tych, które możemy przeczytać w pierwszym woluminie. Oczywiście ogólny poziom trudno uznać za wysoki, jednak nie sposób nie polecić całości "Wielkiej księgi fantastycznego humoru" wszystkim miłośnikom lekkiej, napisanej bez zadęcia, z przymrużeniem oka i dystansem, fantastyki.

[Zaxs Yacs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new collection of magic and mayhem from fantasy's funniest, wackiest writers, including Harlan Ellison, Esther Friesner, Neil Gailman, Craig Shaw Gardner, Harry Harrison, Tom Hold and Julia Mandala.

**

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read a couple of stories but lost interest. Bit silly really

[Sarah]

An excellent collection of stories