If you’ve been reading Writer Tamago, you’ll realize that I have a bit of an offbeat sense of humor. Take one part broad humor, lace it with dry wit, add in Iowa colloquialism and a PhD’s worth of irony, and you have…me. I write like this sometimes, as Hulk Hercules will attest when it comes out.
It’s not easy for most people to be funny. I’ve been funny since that moment, at age 13, when I met my father at the airport after returning from school in Scotland. At that moment, given the horrible events that had occurred before I went, the wall of humor erected, never to come down.
I love my sense of humor. I don’t have to be the funniest person in the room anymore (God bless medication!), and I really appreciate it when I read books where the sense of humor is a dominant force.
Humor has to be more than slapstick and pun. Which is why I’m so attracted to LOL cats, right? Ahem. What is the best mix for me is humor mixed with poignancy and truth. I don’t like Piers. I do like Jim Hines. I can take or leave Robert Asprin after his first books. I love early Esther Friesner, especially the New York by Night series. That’s just the right mix of humor and poignancy.
This would be why I am a Greg Van Eekhout convert. I read Norse Code. Don’t let the sexy Valkyrie on the cover convince you it’s another tough woman urban fantasy. This is a Ragnarok romp that takes a beach combing god and gives him center stage in a story about the end of the world.
Van Eekhout knows his Norse mythology. He plays fast and lose with traditional characterizations. Characters are funny and dimensional. The book seems to rely on predestination, but the characters take action that self asserts and manipulates events. Descriptions and imagery are topnotch.
I don’t think Norse Code will change the world. It’s a light read, but there are moments of depth to it. This is where Van Eekhout will shine as he develops his craft; that juxtaposition isn’t an easy thing for a writer.
I’m looking forward also to Kid Versus Squid, from which I heard an excerpt read. It seems quirky in the tradition of Roald Dahl, but the American kid experience shines brightly in the book. That’s going to make it accessible to, well, every kid.
If you like myth, humor, and you root for the under dog, try Norse Code. If you like your humor a little deeper than just humor, you’ll be happy that you did.
Catherine
