The Humour Club discussion

I have many favorite authors, but once again, I've yanked out the humorists:

Lisa Lutz, Christopher Moore, Tim Dorsey, Christopher Buckley, Laurie Notaro and A.J. Jacobs.

a few from the list:

China Mieville, Terry Pratchett, George RR Martin, Tom Holt, Lovecraft, Jack London.

Paul Magrs, Stephen King, John Saul to name just three but there are more I like to read too.

Mary Shelley (of course)
Raymond Chandler
James Ellroy
Philip K Dick
Kurt Vonnegut


and China Miéville is climbing up the list really fast

Mine are:

Bram Stoker
Edgar Allen Poe
Kelley Armstrong
Stephen King
Greg Hamerton
Alexander Cordell
Neil Gaiman
Stephen Fry
Lemony Snicket (yes I know its not his real name)
Tim Burton

Oh I think I should stop now...

Hazel wrote: "a few from the list: ... Tom Holt, ... ."

I'm glad someone else around here likes Tom Holt. Several fantasy gurus I talked to reacted a little ambiguously when I mentioned him. Admittedly some of his books are better than others, but I really enjoyed reading him.

Kyle wrote: "Edgar Allen Poe is a favorite of mine!"

Too bad he died so young. He had a lot of poe-tential.

Kyle wrote: "lol. He certainly did, Richard. A very Poe-tent writer."

This is a relatively old article but in case some of our members don't know about the tradition surrounding the mysterious visitor to Poe's grave, it may be of interest. And for those in the know, you can enjoy the Poe-pourri of puns, history and literary references:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/books/sto...

Ladies and Gentlemen - the comedy stylings of Richard and Kyle! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAEA1K...
Keep it up, guys!

I had heard the mysterious visits had stopped. Wish someone else would take up the mantle.

I'd love to join in, but I can't think of anymore "po" words.

Better than being a "ho".

Please, no ho's. I don't want to have to call the poe-lice!

Schtupping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frostburg

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, yo;
He will not see us stopping here
To grope each other high and low.

My shiksa date might think me queer
If I don’t get my shvanz in gear
That’s why Viagra I did take
The hardest evening of the year.

She gives her bleached-blond head a shake
And then she does a double-take.
When at long last she takes a peek
At Robert Frostberg’s trouser snake.

Her hands so cold, I almost weep.
But I have promises to keep,
And a shiksa to shtup before I sleep,
And a shiksa to shtup before I sleep

I'm a huge fan of comedy writers like Dave Barry, Carl Hiaasen, and Tim Dorsey. And while I wouldn't say he's my 'favorite' author, I've been really enjoying Devin Kerins' books, especially his action/comedy novels.

I've never heard of Devin Kerins, but his books look great. Thanks, Marty.

I picked up Devin's first book on EMS years ago when I was in medic school. Very funny, but definitely not politically correct. If you appreciate Tim Dorsey you'd love his novels. They're in the same off-the-wall anything goes fashion.

This just about sums up why I love this chaps work:
http://mourninggoats.blogspot.com/201...

Has anybody else ever read Robert Aspirin?
He is an author of pun-based-fantasy-humour (if that could be a genre) books...Myth series, Phule series?
I really like his books...so much I even buy them.

Wow, thanks for the plugs!

My favorite authors (aside from myself of course haha) are Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Tim Dorsey, Steve Berry, James Rollins, Brad Thor, Clive Cussler, and the list goes on...

I would love to give a plug to two friends who do great work. If you want a fun adventure read set in the tropics, check out J.D. Gordon. If you want some side splittingly funny short stories, check out Stephen Schwegler - I still crack up thinking about his scenario of Jesus as a jealous ex-girlfriend.

I haven't read anything by Robert Aspirin, though he used to sell quite well when I worked at B.Dalton in the eighties. And yes, I'm still staggering over the thought of you PURCHASING a book, BW.

Thanks for the suggestions, Devin. I have added Schwegler to my list. (I even like saying his name out loud.)

I grew up with him, so it got old haha. But his books, especially "Perhaps" are a lot of fun and very imaginative!

This is a little outside the scope of this discussion thread, but I just posted a list of my chldhood influences on my Goodreads blog (most of them, I find, are humorists - authors, poets, actors, television writers, artists...). I'd love to hear in this thread or in a dedicated discussion who most influenced the early years of folks in this discussion group...

Lisa wrote: "This is a little outside the scope of this discussion thread, but I just posted a list of my chldhood influences on my Goodreads blog (most of them, I find, are humorists - authors, poets, actors, ..."

Wow, Lisa, we have a lot in common in our childhood influences. One of my favorite books was also about a raccoon; Rascal, by Sterling North. And here we both have retro-books about the 70’s …

I was highly influenced by Saturday morning monster movies (something that is very apparent in one of my unfinished manuscripts). Sci-fi as well. I remember the summer before Lost in Space made it’s fall season appearance. I was so impatient for it to start that I thought I would die. It was an awful program, but I loved it.
And of course there was The Monkees. RIP Davey Jones …

Lisa wrote: "This is a little outside the scope of this discussion thread, but I just posted a list of my chldhood influences on my Goodreads blog (most of them, I find, are humorists - authors, poets, actors, ..."

Btw – I haven’t read your book yet, but here’s another coincidence. I lived in Hardrock, Colorado back in 1979. Yep. My Hardrock was called Ouray, located in the south of the state, lost in the San Juan Mountains. And from the blurb I’ve read about yours, they are spookily similar!

Thanks for the topic idea, Lisa. It has been posted, if you'd like to list any other influences not cited in your blog.
Anytime anyone has a good discussion idea, please feel free to start a topic.

Brian wrote: "Lisa wrote: "This is a little outside the scope of this discussion thread, but I just posted a list of my chldhood influences on my Goodreads blog (most of them, I find, are humorists - authors, po..."

Lost in Space was cool. I was a fan of Land That Time Forgot. Just as dorky, but great. I'm still a Star Trek fan - the first and then Next Gen.

Melki wrote: "Thanks for the topic idea, Lisa. It has been posted, if you'd like to list any other influences not cited in your blog.
Anytime anyone has a good discussion idea, please feel free to start a t..."

Thanks, Melki - how do I start a topic?

Has anyone ever read any of Timothy Zahns books? He is a Sci-Fi writer and his books can be very entertaining.

Lisa - on the home page, across from Discussion Board, you will find topics: all/new/unread. Click on new, then fill in the blanks, putting the topic in the appropriate folder.

It would be great if we could get some discussions going on something besides the books everyone has written. (Not that that's not an important topic...)

Christa - I've not read any Timothy Zahn titles. Is there one in particular that you would recommend?

Yes I would highly recomend his Night Train to Rigel. It is funny, fast paced and the plot has a great twist at the end.

Sounds great. It's now on my TBR list. That doesn't mean I'll get to it anytime soon, but it's on the list.

HAha Yeah I know how that is :D

I've got a new favorite - Tim Hallinan. He's not new to the biz, he's just new to me. He's got several mystery series on Kindle and besides being very well-written and several cuts above the run-of-the-mill mystery, they're very funny.

Another mystery writer I like a lot is Joe Gores. He's funny, too. He wrote a series about repo men in LA.

L. T.

Lately I've been rediscovering the classics, since I have an e-reader and love combing through Project Gutenberg. Right now it's Mark Twain, perhaps the (?) pre-eminent American humorist. I certainly appreciate him more now as an adult than I did the first times I tried to get through his work.

HP Lovecraft (when I'm in the mood for massive walls of purple prose)
Poe
Thomas Hardy (Jude the Obscure being my favorite)
Ellery Queen

Robert Jordan
A. Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes stories/novels)

Chris wrote: "I agree, Martin. Conan Doyle is definitely in my top 10. The Holmes stories are endlessly rereadable.

Also:
W.B.Yeats (am I allowed poetry?)
Geoffrey Willans (am I allowed poetry? If you haven't r..."

Several of my favourites on your list. You're good people, Chris! :)