I finally got around to reading Jill Domschot’s The Jaybird’s Nest and other stories (disclaimer: Jill is an Internet acquaintance of mine and has been my editor in the past). The seems ordinary but the stories are not: they are mostly absurdist sci-fi and fantasy, and there’s plenty of humor, mostly subtle or satirical, in the vein of something by Ray Bradbury, or Scott Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide, or a Guy Ritchie film, without all the profanity and bloodshed…or any musical film with a sci-fi element to it. I’d say, in that last example, it’s harder to not have humor in that genre—maybe it has to do with spontaneous singing and choreography that puts human (plus alien, maybe?) interactions in an absurd light by its nature? Just a guess.
But I think it’s harder to write humor, since the to “force” a humorous visual into a readers’ mind is much harder without a glowing screen to assist. Not to insert my own book in a review, but humor of technology or world-view, not necessarily slapstick, was something I tried to do with Pale Blue Scratch. I don’t think I really pulled it off well. I had to concentrate on the story and message more so; the humor of it all came a distant third in the priority list. It’s a noticeable deviation from my intent, but thankfully no one shares my mind so it’s not noticeable to anyone else.
4.5 stars. I would’ve given it 4 stars but the titular story is in second person and that’s hard to pull off well.
2 Comments
Thanks for the review. As I’ve been working on a full length work of humor, I’ve realized how exhausting it is to maintain for an entire novel. I’ve probably said this before, but AatD started out as humor, and I largely nixed it, though some have told me that it’s “whimsical”. I saw the elements of humor in Pale Blue Scratch.
BTW, do you know what your last name means? I was just wondering that. Completely irrelevant, I know.