Cosmic Laughter: Science Fiction for the Fun of It Anthology (1973) by Joe Haldeman (ed)
Requirements: ePUB reader, 0.6Mb
Overview: Retail quality conversion of a 1973 anthology of classic humorous SF. Proofread. World premiere ebook.
Some of the stories have gone on to become quite well known in the SF field. Others, unfortunately, have been forgotten. But that’s a pity, because Haldeman demonstrated a rare sense of humor as a compiler.
Genre: Fiction > Sci-Fi/Fantasy
"A Slight Miscalculation" by Ben Bova. This is, in essence, a great joke worked into the form of a short SF story. A scientist discovers that a slight error can have surprising – and even earth-shaking – consequences.
"It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane!" by Norman Spinrad. The title gives the subject away, of course: a Man of Steel. Or rather, many of them; a Superman craze has taken over the world, and it’s up to the hero-psychiatrist to save the day.
"The Robots Are Here", by Terry Carr. A "dark" story of sorts, quite well-written. The dialog is particularly clever, and will stay with you.
"I of Newton" by Joe Haldeman. Another story which is, at its heart, a really funny joke – in this case a "pact with the Devil" joke, and a very clever one to boot. You may find yourself trying to tell it to your friends.
"The Men Who Murdered Mohammed" by Alfred Bester. A brilliant and funny time-travel story, with a unique take on the concept. Bester isn’t noted for his humor, but here he displays a mastery of it.
"To Serve Man" by Damon Knight. This is the story which was made famous by The Twilight Zone, of course, and was later parodied on The Simpsons.
"The Bomb in the Bathtub", by Thomas N. Scortia. A light screwball comedy about an intelligent bomb that wants to blow up the universe (shades of Dark Star, anyone? But this story came first). The issue is complicated by the bomb’s rather difficult and amusing personality.
"The Black Sorcerer of the Black Castle", by andrew j offut (or black-offut, as he puts it here). How many short stories have their own full-page glossary at the end? offut created the ultimate parody of the Conan stories.
"Gallegher Plus" by Henry Kuttner. At last, a story that was part of a series – although unfortunately, a very hard one to find ( Robots Have No Tails and Proud Robot). Kuttner’s Galloway Gallagher series of shorts are about a genius inventor who is only a genius when he’s drunk. When he sobers up, he forgets when, why, what, and how he came up with his inventions – and inevitably, trouble is the result.
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