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Humor in Novels?

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Jamber, for mentioning Kushner, Kage Baker, and Mervyn Peake all in the same post, you deserve a bunch of cookies. I don't know how many fantasy fans I've talked to who have read none of them. They're all sitting on my shelf as we speak. I agree, all of those are excellent books, and each of them has very funny moments.
 

Jamber

Sage
Hi Steerpike, thanks for the cookies. :)

I just love the way Anvil opens, with despondent ex-assassin 'Smith' hiding out in grain-dusty Troon drinking ale through a straw. Up comes his caravan-master cousin, who's going to employ Smith to take Lord Ermenwyr to Salesh. Of course Ermenwyr expects to die en route, and coughs up blood to prove it. Things degenerate from there.

It's hard to convey the humour but anyone curious can see the introductory pages on google books.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Hi Steerpike, thanks for the cookies. :)

I just love the way Anvil opens, with despondent ex-assassin 'Smith' hiding out in grain-dusty Troon drinking ale through a straw. Up comes his caravan-master cousin, who's going to employ Smith to take Lord Ermenwyr to Salesh. Of course Ermenwyr expects to die en route, and coughs up blood to prove it. Things degenerate from there.

It's hard to convey the humour but anyone curious can see the introductory pages on google books.

It's also the source of the name "Burnbright," which I appropriated for an NPC in my RPG sessions a few years back.
 

Lucas

Troubadour
A song of Ice and Fire contains a lot of gallows humour.

There is some humour in that the Seven Kingdoms fall to pieces because a sadistic moron cuts off Eddard's head, Tyrion's kidnapping by Catelyn, Theon's betrayal and sack of Winterfell and Tywin's untimely death on the loo. Also the failures of Renly and Khal Drogo can be interpreted humourously. The entire Red Wedding is a pathetic end of Robb's career from which really grim and dark humour can be read.

Another really dark book is Patrick Süskind's perfume. But it is written in a really happy, matter-of-fact tone which rhymes badly with the plot (and which makes it an amazing piece of literature).
 
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Jamber

Sage
I must admit, I haven't pursued Perfume -- and I've often wondered whether it would have been as popular if the victims had been boys? Hmm, should I give it another go?

For humorous serial killers, I think John Lanchester's The Debt to Pleasure is wonderful. The glimmers of monstrosity as he epicures his way across Europe... The wit... The mushrooms... He takes Lolita a step further and without pubescent girls.

And for pure whimsy with laugh-out-loud touches, has anyone read Frederick Tuten's Tintin in the New World?

A little dated, but both apply humour in unusual ways. :)
 
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