Browsing all articles tagged with humor.
Psycho Killers in Love by C. T. Phipps
I like books that make me think, including those with layered storytelling and deep metaphors you can peel back like an onion to find more and more thought-provoking material. But sometimes, especially times like these, escaping into a page-turner of a light romp is exactly the break one needs. This is absolutely the case with […]
Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike – SPFBO #4 Finals Review
*Disclaimer* Writing and reading is a subjective art. What some folks will absolutely love, others will dislike. It is a bit like Marmite in the UK—normal people dislike it intensely, but some weird folks actually enjoy the taste of warm road surface and fresh roadkill upon their tongue. To each their own, I suppose. Orconomics […]
Taking Comedy Seriously
From Geoffrey Chaucer to Raymond Chandler—and a lot of people in between—all kinds of writers have used comedy to entertain and inform in their writing. Comedy can form a useful distraction from a darker story, or can take the form of a sly comment on the main action—or it can be the backbone of a […]
Lela Gwenn Interview – Bad Luck Chuck
An intriguing new comic mini-series is heading our way in March from Dark Horse Comics. Billed as ‘slapstick noir’ from the writer, Lela Gwenn, it’s about the cursed Charlene “Chuck” Manchester who decides to monetise her own bad luck. With art by Matthew Dow Smith, colours by Kelly Fitzpatrick, and letters by Frank Cvetkovic, it […]
Orconomics: A Satire by J. Zachary Pike
Dungeons & Dragons meets The Big Short. As I have confessed in previous reviews, I am shallow in my book buying habits. All it takes for me to snap up an ebook is a shiny cover and discount price (and all it takes for me not to give up on a book is having spent […]
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
When I started reading Kings of the Wyld it was already quite hyped and I am someone who is rather uncomfortable dealing with stuff which accumulated hype overnight. Thus, I approached the book being extremely skeptical and had a nagging feeling in my gut that it was going to be overrated. Boy was I dead […]
Chaos Trims My Beard by Brett Herman – SPFBO Finalist Review
The SPFBO team here at Fantasy-Faction (G. R. Matthews, James Latimer, Kitvaria Sarene, Michael Everest and myself) have been through something of a turbulent decision-making process during these past few weeks. While choosing this year’s finalist we found ourselves torn between three equally very good books. Marina Finlayson’s Stolen Magic (our second-place finalist) had us […]
Urskuul’s Reading Circle: It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
Hello all, and welcome to the latest newsletter from Urskuul’s Reading Circle. It has been a while since the last one was issued, and I’d like to extend my apologies for that. While we had a meeting last month, it was sadly cut short and we didn’t have a chance to do much discussing. See, […]
Monthly Short Story Winner: Through the Beast’s Eye
Writing often means putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes and writing from their perspective. The barmaid, the warrior, the shady detective, the witch, or the orphan boy. You do this all the time, becoming somebody else for the time you write that person. If you’re good at it, all the characters will read, sound, and […]
Urskuul’s Reading Circle: The Management Style of the Supreme Beings by Tom Holt
Dear Members of Urskuul’s Reading Circle, This isn’t something I enjoy doing, but I have to remind you all that we do have rules that members are expected to follow. While you may think the rules appear arbitrary or unnecessary, there are good reasons behind all of them. Xerxes Law, our suspiciously, conveniently named resident […]
Monthly Short Story Winner: Breaking The Fourth Wall
Most of you are familiar with the term “breaking the fourth wall”. It’s mostly done in children’s books (like Grover in Sesame Street’s The Monster at the End of this Book), comics (see above) or movies (comedy movies mainly) and means usually a character becoming aware of their fictional nature, directly addressing the reader and/or […]
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
‘On the second day of Hogswatch I . . . sent my true love back, A nasty little letter, hah, yes indeed, and a partridge in a pear tree—’ Of the quarter or so of the Discworld I’ve explored, Hogfather is my favourite. Vadim Jean’s TV adaptation is superb: I watch it religiously every Christmas, […]
