Customer Reviews

Laugh Lines

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Laugh Lines (2008) is an SF and fantasy collection containing two short novels, six short stories and an introduction by the author. All these stories are supposed to be humorous, but the wit is very dry throughout the book. These works are mostly satirical and often outright farcical. Both novels are based on personal and painful experience.

The Starcrossed (1975) is a novel about the creation and production of a Hollywood 3-D Sci-Fi series. The technology is an improvement on prior efforts by the same inventor, but with royalties. Nonetheless, the shows are terrible according to both the critics and SF fandom. Naturally, Murphy's Law and human perversity dominate the whole process despite efforts by the creator, the producer, the director, and the technical advisor to make it a true masterpiece.

Cyberbooks (1989) is a novel about the invention of the first electronic book and the efforts to produce and destroy the product. Again, Murphy's Law and human perversity are very evident.

"Crisis of the Month" (1988) is about the Crisis Command Center, a secret organization that provides media around the world with a single point of focus in their sensational reporting. The CCC has run out of crises to feed the ever hungry media and is desperately trying to find another.

"The Great Moon Hoax" (1996) explains the reasons for the American effort to reach the Moon in the 1960s. The Martians had something to do with it.

"The Supersonic Zeppelin" (1974) relates the rise of a supersonic lighter-than-air project and the political consequences. The idea itself dates back to the 1920s, but it had one major flaw. In this story, that flaw is corrected, but human nature raises many political issues.

"Vince's Dragon" (1981) is a fantasy story about a female dragon and a minor mobster. Vince meets Sizzle when he sets out to burn down a warehouse. He often talks to the dragon, but seldom listens.

"The Angel's Gift" (1983) tells of a deal with an angel made by a crooked politician to keep himself out of Hell. After all, deals with the Devil are rather commonplace, so why not a deal with God? The results are highly sensational.

"A Slight Miscalculation" (1981) concerns the prediction of earthquakes. This tale has haunted me for decades. I could describe the plot -- and often used it as a morality tale -- but could not remember the name of the author. Now I once again know that Ben Bova wrote it and now you know that it is more than a read and forget story.

As stated above, these tales display a very dry wit. The two novels definitely derive from incidents that lead one to either laugh or cry. The author chose to laugh, inflating these events into ridiculous situations and adding a touch of future technology. A moral of these stories is that technology probably will change, but human nature almost certainly will not.

Recommended for Bova fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of dry humor, human folly, and a touch of romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Of course it's a fun book to read. Why wouldn't it be? I have enjoyed every Ben Bova book I've read since Mars. I think that was the first I learned of Mr. Bova. I was amazed to see how long he had been writing. I missed many years of Bova books. Maybe one day I'll catch up. By the way....Jupiter is my very favorite.D.