[chrisma0]

> “At least you can say that in Pratchett’s books, the bloody elves never sang!”

Terry Pratchett I think is one of my favourite writers to read. The absurdity of his fantasy settings is just the right level of entertaining for me. Everything flows so smoothly that I sometimes get the subtle jokes only on my second read-through.

[bombcar]

There are many many jokes that are so obscure as to be almost impossible for non-British readers to discover. A trip through the l-space wiki will point out many (and there’s some I’ve noticed that aren’t listed there).

Anytime something is named, it’s probably a joke or reference of some sort.

It’s also quite fun how many of the “inpossible” setups or situations are just literally copies of real-life stories.

[Swizec]

For a modern and non-British take on this genre I would strongly recommend The Tales of Pell by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson, if anyone’s looking. It’s got that same vibe of absurdist humor with real life references in a fantasy setting. The politics are less about class and more about identity.

[chrisma0]

Hey, thanks for the recommendations! These sound great.

[astrange]

Last Continent instead makes a lot of Australia jokes. Though the first one I remember is the brewery built on the opposite of an ancient sacred site which the aboriginal peoples actively wanted desecrated.