January ScaredyKIT - Comedy horror

Comedy horror

Comedy horror can be classed as dark comedy, parodies or spoofs. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has been cited by some as the first great comedy horror story. Comedy horror often uses classic horror cliches and twists them in a different direction to make them macabrely funny. For some reason, zombies seem to be quite prevalent in the comedy horror genre - I guess they just seem funny anyway! Or it can take well-known stories such as Frankenstein or Pride and Prejudice and alter the direction of the story.

Some examples include:

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
John Dies At The End by David Wong
The Goosebumps series
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Do remember to update the wiki - https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_ScaredyKIT#January:_Comedy_Horror

A few possibilities for me:
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies / Seth Grahame-Smith
- Horrorstor / Grady Hendrix
- Reaper Man / Terry Pratchett

Hmmm, I might do a re-read of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow...it's been awhile!

I will be reading Fright Squad, but I forgot I have pre-ordered Grady Hendrix's new one How To Sell A Haunted House which sounds hilarious and creepy crazy.

I'll read Paul Is Undead, which is the story of the Beatles as zombies.

This turned up in my recommendations and it looks like it will fit the theme: Motherthing.

>5 mstrust: That sounds awesome!

I hope it is!

>5 mstrust: Zombeatles? :)

The blurb says that John kills Paul, turning him into a zombie. I don't know yet how Ringo and George become zombies, but I guess that's a plot twist I have to wait for.

Not sure if I will be joining in by I can give a thumbs up for Horrorstor. If you like dry, caustic humour (I do), I can recommend Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard. (first book in the series but they are all good) and, of course, anything by Christopher Moore.

>5 mstrust: Taking a book bullet for Paul is Undead.

Fans of Scoobie-Doo might enjoy Meddling Kids for this month.

I'm super-picky about comic reads, but I've had Christopher Moore's You Suck sitting on my shelves for ages, so this seems like a good time.

My first book for 2023 was Fright Squad, a silly but fun read.

I did a re-read of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. Not my fav work of this author by any means!

I listened to The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. It had less humor than some of his other books that I've read (Horrorstor and We Sold Our Souls).
Just a heads up - there is suggested sexual assault on minors and a section that involves thousands of rats.

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies / Seth Grahame-Smith, Jane Austen
3.25 stars

I don’t think a summary is really needed for this one, but not only are the Bennett sisters looking for husbands with the help of their mother, but the girls in this book are also all trained (they’ve been to the Orient and have a dojo for further training) to fight zombies – those with the “plague”.

This was ok. It does surprise me that I rated the original so high, as on parodies such as this, the story itself seems so slow and not something I would usually like. I suppose I was in the right frame of mind when I first read it? Anyway, with the addition of the zombies, a couple of big fight scenes livened things up a bit! I was also amused with Charlotte’s illness. The zombies did seem quite out of place in the book. The notes at the end of the book were interesting and one did touch on how it might not have been so out of place to add zombies into the book with the popularity of gothic fiction at the time it was written. The other fun extra at the end was a list of “discussion” questions – now those were amusing!

I read Paul Is Undead, and is does deliver on a wild story, with John, Paul and George being zombies, while Ringo is the only living member, and a ninja. Mick Jagger is a zombie hunter, and Roy Orbison is an unknown but very powerful creature who shows himself when Paul steals his sunglasses.
I enjoyed the craziness of the story, but felt it was dragged down by the style of writing, which constantly jumped between multiple characters to tell things from different viewpoints.

>15 Tess_W: >16 VioletBramble: Awww, two favorites of mine!

The thread for February is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/347837

I have started A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. So far it is hilarious.

>20 VivienneR: That was one of my favourites by him. Maybe my favourite of the ones I've read.

>20 VivienneR: That looks like fun!

Horrorstor / Grady Hendrix
3.75 stars

Amy works at a big box furniture store called Orsk. Odd things have been happening in the store overnight – vandalism and such. Amy is asked, along with another employee, Ruth-Ann, to stay overnight to keep watch with their supervisor, Basil, to see if they can find out what’s happening. Things take a bad turn…

Extra ¼ star for the audio – loved the Orsk “ads”, and they got better as the book went along (to kind of fit what was happening in the book). I particularly liked the last ad, and it was Bronson Pinchot doing those. The story was less horror in the first half, more mystery? And humour. I really liked how it ended.

I read The Year of Eating Dangerously by K Bennett which is tagged as horror and humor. The book is funny but not true horror, more of a mystery featuring a lawyer who happens to be a zombie.

I did attempt to read Motherthing. The cover and the premise--a couple is haunted by the ghost of a truly horrible mother-in-law--made it seem humorous. I want to stress that this book is not at all badly written, but I did not enjoy reading it and eventually I put it down. The main characters are just so damaged that it made this book very bleak. My reading time is already limited by work and I want to prioritize books that I enjoy or feel like I'm getting something positive from.

I always struggle with comic horror, but I did have You Suck by Christopher Moore on my shelf, so I finally dove into that one. His vampire books are, so far, my least favorite of his books, but it was amusing.

(I do love Christopher Moore, though. If you're looking to give him a try, my recommendations would be A Dirty Job, Lamb, or Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove!)