fast funny and furious sci-fi

[Hullygully]

Pleeese

All suggestions welcome.

Ds, 15, loves Harry Harrison and has nearly read them all, what else might he like?

Try him on the Dresden Files, more fantasy than Sci-Fi but very fast and funny. Dresden is a wizard/PI who also occasionally works for the police.

DH loves Harry Harrison especially the Rat books and really like Dresden too.

oh good, thanks!

I was going to say Harry Harrison based on the thread subject...

Yes, Dresden Files are good as well. What about Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide) or Robert Rankin (random, funny fantasy type stuff)?

Will have a think on some more...

hes read all th ehitchhikers, will look at the other - ta!

When I was his age, I was reading Asimov and Arthur C Clarke.

me too, and Bradbury and Vonnegut and all sorts, but he wants fast and funny...Vonnegut's funny, of course, but much more wry than he currently wants.

ordered dresden files

what Rankin is a good one to start with?

Dresden files are brilliant.

yes dear, i have ordered those thank you so much.

I need OTHER ideas

Bollocks. i hadn't meant to send that!!!! I never finished the post.

Has he read Good Omens by Pratchett and Gamain?

heh heh

He's read a couple of Gaimans, I'll check.

Keep em coming

actually, ooking at what he appeas to like would he be willing to edge over to a new genre?

What about Harlen Cobens Myron Bolitar seies? Mega cool private detective with best friend who's a psychopath?

Obviously adult content, but nothing a 15 year old avid reader couldn't handle. They are very funny and fast paced.

He's done a spin ff book for teens too feature Micky Bolitar, Myrons nephew.

I thought the Book of Ultimate Truths (by Rankin) was great when I was his age, but now I look at the book list I haven't read many of his others, though they do look humourous.

I haven't read Orcs by Stan Nicholls, but they're supposed to be fast, funny fantasy where the Orcs (rather than humans) are the main characters.

Good Omens is good.

What about the Red Dwarf books? Not sure of what I'd think of them now, but I thought were funny when I was a teenager, and they're proper books, not novelisations.

One more, the Hal Spacejock series by Simon Haynes is supposed to be Harry Harrison-esque. Again, haven't read them myself but have read a lot about the other (he makes writing software, which is what I'm interested in), but I've heard good things.

Simon R Green - the Nightside and the spin offs are good. Look for the omnibus editions though as the books are quite short and they're much better value for money.
Simon Hawke's Wizard of 4th Street series is good too.

Hully - I think your DS could really enjoy Ender's Game. It's all about young boys and war games. Easy to read, fast, and intelligent.

Orcs is good - not sure I'd call it particularly fast...

There's a set of books about a guy who unexpectedly becomes a wizard that reminded me of the Harry Harrison stuff.. I'm trying to find the name but coming up empty..

Rankin is a good one, Enders Game etc are a bit serious (great, but not comedy), there's always Pratchett, or, if you can stand Hubbard, his Mission Earth series is humorous (pulp, slightly rubbish, but I enjoyed them when younger)

L Ron??

Noooooooooooooooooooo

Yeah, funny is a must at the mo. He has the 15 yr old glooms and needs the humour...

I know... I cringe at the thought of some of the stuff I read - on the bright side, I got them all from the second hand market stall..

Still no luck on that wizard one - I just keep finding all this really kiddy stuff by someone called Diane Duane.

Oh I just thought of another one that I personally don't like, but people rave over - Piers Anthony - I just couldn't handle the sheer number of puns he was throwing at me and had to stop reading. There's Robert Aspirin too that I don't particularly go for but will read if there's nothing else.

Rankin is your man though - I like the Brentford trilogy best, the Armageddon the musical ones get pretty ridiculous.

Last one - Tom Holt - Rankineske generally contempory settings, with some twist - modern fantasy (rather than swords and barbarians).

More fantasy than sci-fi, but might he like the Rivers of London books by Ben Aaronovitch?

And maybe the Amber books by Zelazney - not funny but definitely fast moving & furious.

I found the first two in this series very funny, the third less so www.amazon.co.uk/Hounded-Druid-Chronicles-Kevin-Hearne/dp/0345522478/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_5

I also came on to say "Harry Harrison!" and am now crushed, but would second Ben Aaronovitch, Tom Holt, and add Jasper Fforde.

Alfred Bester (Demolished Man and Tiger Tiger) are rollicking roller coaster rides, although not comedies per se.

Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time quartet is a barrel of laughs, and Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series is very witty if not exactly funny.

Roger Zelazny and Alfred Bester. 'Fast, funny and furious sci-fi' is probably the best summary of their posthumously published colloboration 'Psychoshop'. Alfred Bester's other books, 'Tiger, Tiger' (also published with a different title 'The stars my destination') and 'The Demolished Man' are also pretty fast and furious, and occasionally funny.

Not sci-fi, and as a dedicated fantasy hater I came to Terry Pratchett's discworld series late in life, and loved it: maybe he'd like Soul Music, since that's a 'stand-alone' and doesn't need you to read the others in the series? Also, its seriously funny.

Your DS sounds like me when I was 15, and indeed my husband: we discovered that we'd owned the same books when we were that age, which is particularly impressive considering that we grew up in different continents and in very different cultures (and also very romantic :)

The one book that he loved growing up that I'd never heard of was 'Cosmic Banditos', by AC Weisbecker. The first amazon review is a good description: sub-atomic physics with drugs and high-calibre firearms. Re-reading that description, I'm not sure that is a good recommendation for anybodys DCs, but apparently DH read it as 15 and survived to grow up into an upstanding citizen.