This Is My Funniest: Leading Science Fiction Writers Present Their Funniest Stories Ever [Paperback]

Mike Resnick (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 2006

This collection of 29 short stories from masters of science fiction—each tale chosen by the authors as the funniest they have ever written—presents wildly hilarious stories accompanied by prefaces written by the authors providing valuable insight into their selection and themselves. Featured contributors include David Brin, Esther Friesner, Harry Turtledove, Connie Willis, and many more, with stories such as “Amanda and the Alien,” “Franz Kafka, Superhero!,” “Space Rats of the CCC,” “The Soul Selects Her Own Society,” and ”Too Hot to Hoot”.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School—Each story in this collection by 29 contributors is introduced in a note that gives readers some background such as why/when it was written and/or why Resnick chose it for this anthology. Some are send-ups of specific types of writing, such as space opera (Harry Harrison), fantasy/romance crossover (Esther Friesner), academic literary criticism (Connie Willis), and Greek myth (Harry Turtledove). Others are the imagined results of certain situations: LSD in New York City's water supply (written in the mid-'60s by William Tenn), contemporary California girl meets dangerous alien (Robert Silverberg), simultaneous periods and PMS in a village of warrior women (Jody Lynn Nye), an alien on a talk radio show tells certain truths to the human race (Nick DiChario). All are truly funny. Fans will recognize many of the authors listed above and others such as Joe Haldeman, Robert Scheckley, Jane Yolen, Jack McDevitt, and David Gerrold. Despite the humor, this collection will appeal primarily to science fiction readers.—Sandy Freund, Patrick Henry Library, Fairfax County, VA
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Review

"Grins and smiles. . . . The perfect book for a trip, or a guest room, or a gift, or just for fun."  —Analog SF online

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Product Details

• Paperback: 427 pages
• Publisher: BenBella Books (September 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932100954
• ISBN-13: 978-1932100952
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,147,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Resnick is the author of numerous science fiction novels and short stories, including Dragon America, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Amulet of Power, Mutiny, Return to Santiago, and Santiago. He is the editor of This Is My Funniest and has won five Hugo Awards and the Nebula Award. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Irresistible science fiction comedy from great authors, October 31, 2007

By 

Sheri Fresonke Harper "sfharper59" (Renton, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Is My Funniest: Leading Science Fiction Writers Present Their Funniest Stories Ever (Paperback)

I couldn't resist reading "This is My Funniest", an anthology of stories collected by Mike Resnick from some of the top science fiction writers. Authors were asked to send what they thought was their funniest story. Every story is a real winner, some I thought really funny. The hardest part about reviewing this collection is that types of humor are varied and people find different things amusing. So this is my take at what I thought were standouts because I laughed out loud when I read them. Other stories were great science fiction. In all, twenty-nine stories are included. An added bonus is each story has a letter from the author explaining their choice which are almost as fun to read as the stories themselves.

The top story in my list is a time travel romance between a husband and wife on their tenth anniversary, titled "Present", by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. It's humorous and horrific both and trust me, this is one premise you won't want to try at home.

Next is "Too Hot to Hoot" by Spider Robinson. It starts with hot sex and a wife nine and a half months pregnant and uses realistic details of their life to find humor, especially with the added twist of an alien.
I think I laughed hardest at "The Soul Selects Her Own Society" by Connie Willis, but then, I fancy myself a poet. An academic paper, this story explains how Emily Dickinson dealt with aliens. Don't forget to read the footnotes.

"A Delightful Comedic Premise" by Barry Malzburg tells the story of a writer seeking work in a series of letters. Several others used similar setups to produce a funny work, including "Usurper Memos" by Josepha Sherman, and "Patent Infringement" by Nancy Kress.
Nick DiCaprio's "Alien Radio" is a delightful spoof of talk radio psychologists, this one by an alien with children. Never forget the children.

In terms of stories I found delightful, "The Lemon Spaghetti-Loud Dynamite-Dribble Day" by William Tenn sent me back to the sixties, "Night of the Cooters" by Howard Waldrop, took me into western land, "The Capo of Darkness" by Laura Resnick, had me amongst mobsters, editor Mike Resnick had me giggling at his basement fairies in "Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies" and too many more to highlight.

I rate this anthology five stars because it's a collection worth every penny and it might even make you laugh.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing, April 2, 2008

By 

Diane D. Chen "PurpleDiane" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Is My Funniest: Leading Science Fiction Writers Present Their Funniest Stories Ever (Paperback)

Up until now I have enjoyed everything I've read from Mike Resnick (either author or editor), and thought his touch as editor of this book would be golden. I love science fiction and love humor, how could I go wrong? Aaack!

A few of the stories were genuinely funny, but most of them were marginal, and some left me wondering whether parts of the stories had accidently been deleted and no one had noticed. Or perhaps they had fallen into the pile of stories for this book from a pile of stories collected for The Most Pointless Short Stories Ever Published.

Perhaps the humor is in the fact that I bought it... a big practical joke on the science fiction community.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So-so Collection of Stories, August 1, 2008

By 

Steven Woodcock "Ferretman" (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Is My Funniest: Leading Science Fiction Writers Present Their Funniest Stories Ever (Paperback)

This collection was a bit of a disappointment to me...when I think "funniest" it's generally NOT these stories. Some were fantastic, some were "meh", and others were just plain boring to me.

Not something I'd go out of my way to get again.