Fantasy Focus: Comedic Fantasy

This year, I want to talk about some of the many types of fantasy you can find (I have a post about fantasy subgenres which can be found here). I think when people hear “fantasy”, their mind immediately goes to serious epics with swords, magic, and dragons. While I happen to love all of those things, there are many ways to tell a story. For the first of my Fantasy Focus series, I want to take a look at comedic fantasy.

 Irreverent and witty, fantasy comedy often takes a humorous look at the fantasy genre, either creating new and entertaining fantasy worlds that focus on humor, parodying common fantasy tropes, or even poking lighthearted fun at specific works of fantasy.

Here is a list of some of side-splitting authors and some of the books they’ve written, in case you’re looking for suggestions on where to start! This is by no means anywhere close to a complete list of fantastic comedic fantasy authors that can be found, so please chip in with suggestions!

In case you missed them, I’ve posted links to this week’s interviews and guest articles as well. Enjoy!

Guest Authors:

Fantasy Focus: Comedic Fantasy- Featuring Andi Ewington

Fantasy Focus: Comedic Fantasy- Featuring Sean Gibson

Fantasy Focus: Comedic Fantasy- Featuring Kyle Lockhaven

Fantasy Focus: Comedic Fantasy- Featuring Bjørn Larssen 

Fantasy Focus: Comedic Fantasy- Featuring D.H. Willison

Fantasy Focus: Comedic Fantasy- Featuring Claire Buss

Book Suggestions:

Douglas Adams– Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

D.B. Bray & Wahida Clark- Loners: A Humorous Dwarven Adventure Fantasy

Adam Jacob Burgess- The Actum Tempus Saga

Claire Buss– The Roshaven series

Andi Ewington– Campaigns and Companions: the Complete Role-Playing Guide for Pets (with Rhianna Pratchett); The Hero Interviews

Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett– Good Omens

Sean Gibson– The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True; Dragons of a Different Tale (one of a collection of short stories)

William Goldman– The Princess Bride

Kevin Hearne & Delilah S. Dawson– The Tales of Pell series

Diane Wynne Jones– Chrestomanci series

Bjørn Larssen– Why Odin Drinks; Creation

K.R.R. Lockhaven- The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex: The Self-Proclaimed Greatest Dragon in the Multiverse; Zoth-Avarex’s Escape Plan: A Pick-Your-Own-Path Experience

Christopher Moore– Fool; Shakespeare for Squirrels

M.J. Northwood– Game of Gnomes: The Necrognomicon

Terry Pratchett– the Discworld series

Robert Rankin– The Brentford series

Echo Shea– A Tinfoil Hat of My Own: A Tale of Friendship, Bikers, and Werewolves

Keith Tokash– Iliad: the Reboot; Odyssey: the Reboot: A Hooligan’s Tale

D.H. Willison– Tales of Aravia series; Hazelhearth Hires Heroes