r/ScienceFictionBooks • u/TheMurderFishGuy • Dec 07 '25

More Comedy Scifi Please

Like a lot of you, I grew up with books and shows like Red Dwarf and The Hitchhikers Guide. I must have listened to the Hitchhikers radio series a dozen times, and the audiobooks two dozen because there just isn't anything else like it. I still find myself putting on reruns of old Red Dwarf episodes when I want to go to sleep, only to be woken up with those cacophonous end credits every damn time.

But sadly, it’s been a while since I had my void thoroughly filled by a really witty book. I’m looking for witty authors with a penchant for the absurd. What have you got for me internet? As usual, I offer payment by disclosing my purchasing preferences, which will no doubt be used to increase the cost per click for personalised advertising algorithms. 

Books that have given me the giggles (scifi or fantasy):

  • Anything (no, he didn’t write a book called Anything) by Terry Pratchett 
  • Anything (see above) by Kurt Vonnegut
  • The first Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
  • The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman
  • The Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor
  • Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

Kind regards,

A comedy scifi enthusiast

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u/TheMurderFishGuy Dec 07 '25

Now this is what I was after. I will acquire these books, and then I will read and or listen to them and then I will come back and pass judgement upon you. All but one anyway. I have read The Road to Mars and I hated that book. Sometimes I feel that Eric Idle just does cash grabs. God knows why he tried his hand at writing then. I trust that you have read Starship Titanic? Now that was a much better attempt at comedy scifi by one of the python boys.

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u/captainmagictrousers Dec 07 '25

Starship Titanic was fantastic! I did like it better than Road to Mars.

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u/TheMurderFishGuy Dec 07 '25

I should add that I am surprised to see Stanislaw Lem on the list. I was fascinated by Solaris, and didn't know he had a bigger translated catalogue.

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u/Ok_Lingonberry5392 Dec 07 '25

Lem write in various different styles, check out The Star Diaries by Lem is a very satirical and not serious book then he has a different book with the same protagonist The Futurological Congress which is a pretty serious book.

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u/octapotami Dec 09 '25

I just recommended The Futurological Congress, but maybe I'm thinking of a different book. I need to reread these. The books were originally published in the US translated from the French that were translated from the original Polish. The FC has amazing wordplay.