[Note: this review first appeared in my “Guest Reference Library” column in the January/February 2009 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact.]
Laugh Lines by Ben Bova
Baen, $23.00, 528pp, hc, 9781416555609. Science fiction collection.
Since it’s a collection of reprint stories, I’ll just briefly mention that Ben Bova’s Laugh Lines is now available. The book is a collection of humorous SF stories that also attempt to make social commentary. This volume includes two complete novels and six shorter works originally published between 1974 and 1996, along with new introductions for each of the shorts.
“Crisis of the Month” talks about broadcast news, and specifically the need for bad news to keep eyeballs glued to the sets. “The Great Moon Hoax” is Bova’s attempt to turn his own writing career on its head, explaining UFOs, NASA’s dullness, and more. “Vince’s Dragon” is his answer to The Godfather and The Sopranos, for, as he says in the introduction, most of the guys in the Mafia were not the best and the brightest… but they were unconsciously funny a lot of the time.” In “The Angel’s Gift”, the deal is not with the devil, but with an angel.
The other pieces in the book are “The Supersonic Zeppelin”, “A Slight Miscalculation”, and the two novels, The Starcrossed and Cyberbooks. If you haven’t read these, you’ll want to pick up this book, and the Bob Eggleton cover is an added bonus.