Funny Science Fiction

On a desperate journey to recover her sister's lost soul, Valkyrie Cain goes up against the High Sanctuary itself, and there's nothing Skulduggery Pleasant can do to stop her.

The Unidentified Funny Objects series delivers an annual dose of funny, zany, and unusual science fiction and fantasy stories. All-new fiction from the genre's top voices!

A broken-down fugitive with nothing to lose, an arms dealer hiding a deadly secret and an elderly robot set to inherit a vast fortune... it's a typical cargo job for freighter pilot Hal Spacejock and his offsider, Clunk. Baker's Dough features intense rivalry, sublime double-crosses and more greed than a free buffet.

Mum and Dad have left—gone to Mars, and they’re never coming back. Freedom at last! But this isn’t one of Dad’s weird jokes; it’s REAL. It’s up to 10-year-old Eliza and her genius little brother, Johnnie, to find out what’s going on, and launch a rescue. Can they handle vampire squids, a suspicious villain, a secret island full of traps and a trip into space? And—more importantly—will they ever get their parents back?

Born into a world with only seven days to live, Sim faces the same choice everyone does: How will he spend them? Is there something greater to hope for? A short story from Guys Read: Other Worlds, edited by Jon Scieszka.

Fairy is a unicorn. Now, that’s not so strange. But her powerful farts, please avoid at close range. Her farts are a burst of pink rainbow dust. But run away fast, if she lets one bust. Share this farting tale with loved ones. Adults are permitted to laugh, too.

On Al Chaudhury’s 12th birthday his beloved Grandpa Byron gives him a letter from Al’s late father. In it Al receives a mission: travel back to 1984 in a secret time machine and save his father’s life.

When something's amiss in Spookie House, there's usually only one person to blame: Araminta. But this time she had nothing to do with the disappearance of Barry Wizzard's frogs, and she is determined to find them. Of course, it's not going to be that easy, especially when dealing with a crazy character named Old Morris, a dangerous shark, and a demanding aquarium show audience. Can Araminta find the frogs and steal the show?

Banged by a Pterodactyl Billionaire Erotic humor with a political twist; who says politics and erotica can’t go together. A handsome billionaire pterodactyl billionaire is running for Supreme Being in his world. He comes to use to wreak havoc and destruction to prove his worth as a pterodactyl leader. More books than one The first story is completely new and is erotic humor. There is one erotic horror (I warn ahead of time when it’s coming) in case you’re not into both horror and erotic. The other books are reworks of material published at one time or another. I might as well call ...

The fate of the world lies with one man: Bip Plunkerton. Talentless scientist and frequent drinker at the Empty Goat, young Bip Plunkerton will follow in his father’s footsteps as a volunteer...footsteps that have yet to return from the wilds of the wide world outside.

Orphaned Leonora lives on a remote island, spending her days making crazy cool inventions. When a strange boy called Jack washes up on an inflatable lobster and reveals that evil Uncle Luther has been stealing her inventions and selling them on the mainland, it begins a laugh-out-loud adventure - complete with a furry otter, a singing sea captain and a very secret society....

Evelyn Witch has everything a witch needs. Messy hair, bubbling potions, and perfectly carved pumpkins. But there’s something missing… A pet! Perhaps she’ll get a bat or a griffin, or—Oh. She can only afford the mystery pet: a plain white egg. She watches and waits for it to hatch. Sniveling snails, something has to be done! Evelyn rolls up her sleeves and heads to the library, where they keep all the best spells. It’s time to get serious.

Alex is a normal, everyday kid, living in a normal, everyday city. Axel is a monster-slaying hero, living in a world of magic. Unfortunately, when the two boys mysteriously swap places, each of them ends up being mistaken for the other. With zero experience of heroism, Alex is thrust into an epic quest to defeat the evil Felonius Gloam, who has stolen the Book of Lifetales and is using it to unravel the very fabric of the world of Aërth. Meanwhile, Axel is faced with double maths, a gran who's six months behind on the rent, and a crucial chess tournament he's got to win.

Agents Max and Miranda fall tonsil-deep into betrayal. On their first mission together, Max and Miranda hunt a predatory alien on Earth. Max has survived missions through sheer indestructibility and persistence, but this has cost the lives and limbs of less durable teammates. This time, he is determined to keep his new partner alive. When Max becomes dinner for an alien ruler, Miranda begins doubting her decision to become an agent. A threat grows with every bite. Together, Agents Max and Miranda must overcome deceit, conflicting evidence, and evisceration to stop a growing menace on Earth ...

★ A Launch Pad 2024 Prose Competition Top 50 Finalist! But That Doesn't Really Mean Anything! ★ Brilliant. Ambitious. A great detective. Matilda Garrigan is none of these in The Matildas, a quirky, hilarious mystery with duplicates, duplicity, and an amateur sleuth in way over her head. Tiny book publisher Mitotic Press takes novels from one Earth and publishes them on a parallel Earth, thanks to a portal in a basement conference room. They're a team of book thieves with a pretty sweet (and very secret) business--until someone anonymously threatens to reveal Mitotic's portal to both ...

Milton Maroo, a portly space trader who enjoys a gourmet meal as much as a good deal, has priceless cargo, an outlawed artificial intelligence that the crime underworld will kill for. The billionaire head of the Nythe Armaments Corporation empire is dead. Murdered by the most powerful crime syndicate in the system who are after one thing, an illegal artificial intelligence that will change the balance of power in the region in favour of whomever possesses it. Milton and his spy friend Cappa are broke. While they do odd jobs at the billionaire’s estate they discover the Lerjoo Brothers ...

Ornery octogenarian Richard, his associate Stanley, and his granddaughter Burke are world-class hunters of all things supernatural. They’ve faced monsters of every ilk, even overcome The Devil Herself, but now they face the most frightening challenge of all—spending the holidays with family.

Every kid wants to laugh, but Max is the boy who can make it happen. He's also the kid who wants to spend the most boring school holidays ever coming up with the greatest prank of all time. Max is the funny kid, and it's time to prank the world! Conspiracy theories, crop circles, alien invasions, a mayor who has lost his marbles and the most un-fun fair in the universe are just some of the things in store for Max and his friends in this Funny Kid adventure.

When his friends aren’t successful at spooking the children who visit the haunted house, Gus must present his unique superpowers to give them a scare!

Fake superheroes. Real comedy. Doctor Mind has it made. Having spent the last three years using a combination of alien technology and clever stage magic to fool the people of Freedom City into thinking he's a legitimate superhero (including hiring his failed actor brother to play his supervillains), Doctor Mind thinks he's set for life. Until a real supervillain, the dangerous but quirky Death Skull the Murderer, shows up and threatens to destroy the entire city in a month unless Doctor Mind defeats him in a fight. Ostracized from the mainstream superhero community for his scammy business, ...