Tag Archives: humorous fiction

His only inflatable friend is his swelling ego…

 

What is a young man’s most vulnerable part?

You’d think Rollo would be discouraged, but he continually fails upward.

I suspect that only an avid new female readership will make it possible to resurrect popular interest in male-centered romantic comedies. As evidence it’s women to the rescue, I offer the expert opinion of none other than Jane Austen, who wrote in 1813:

One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.

Literature of the late twentieth century was dominated by male authors. In fact, there was an unrelenting series of Johns, including O’Hara, Steinbeck, Cheever, Updike, and Irving. Humor in the category of literary fiction was dominated by the hirsute likes of Wodehouse, Thurber, Mencken, De Vries, Lefcourt, and Barry. Exceptions included Dorothy Parker, who made a career of lampooning men, and Erma Bombeck, who picked unmercifully on housewives.

Since that time, book industry statistics show that women now buy more books than men do — and today they hold many of the managerial posts at publishing houses. In the area of comedy, Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, appearing in 1996, set off a firestorm of book buying in the now sensationally popular genre of chick-lit.

So, one might ask, “Is male-centered comic fiction still a thing?” It is, I suggest, if women embrace it, starting with poor Rollo.

In February, Rollo #1 (the inflatable one) is 99c on Amazon Kindle and FREE from EPUB stores. The other two books in the series are reduced to $2.99 in either format.

The audiobook of My Inflatable Friend is available from Audible and other audio booksellers.

Misadventures of Rollo Hemphill - 3 book series

 

 

 

 

Thinking About Thinking: A Love Triangle Won’t Roll

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Just posted on BookLife Reviews:

From the prolific Jones (author of the Evan Wycliff Mysteries series, among other titles) comes a witty and timely romance between a criminal defense lawyer who has kept her opera-trained singing a secret in her professional life, an eager and well-meaning talent agent, and a stiff, highly proper financial manager. Readers follow Moira, Mick, Brad, and a host of other engaging characters through their Los Angeles lives as Moira makes the life-altering decision to seize a wild opportunity. She’ll fill in for—and possibly impersonate, if necessary—an international music star who no longer can fulfill her upcoming obligations, a process that entertainment lawyer Mick assures her can make her a star, too … or that she can walk away from once her contract’s up. With little holding her back, save for her potential romance with the seemingly disinterested Brad, Moira leaps at the opportunity to pursue her dreams.

Jones’s prose is fleet and conversational, and the setting and scenes come across vividly. Characters are engaging and witty, especially in their responses to each other; Jones is adept at the parry-and-riposte nature of romantic-comedy dialogue, and his showbiz chatter likewise shines. At times, the character of Brad is opaque, his choices driving the story forward but not always clearly rooted in what readers know of him. Of course, that’s also how it feels to Moira, a cunning and smart woman, whose existence has been upended by surprising new obligations. Jones never lets the comedy—or the element of wish-fulfillment fantasy—inherent in Moira’s situation obscure the real emotion at the story’s heart.

The stakes are high—millions of dollars are on the line—but the novel is breezy, at times even low-key, with Moira already accomplished and established before her fateful choice. That means the narrative at times lacks urgency, but the wit, quips, and situations continually engage. Romantic comedy readers with a love for dry humor may find this right up their alley.

Takeaway: Romantic comedy readers will enjoy this story of a lawyer-turned-music star and her love triangle.

Great for fans of: Virginia DeBerry, Terry McMillan.

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Thinking About Thinking #17 – Right Ho, Jeeves! – Oh, for a butler who has all the answers!

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Set in the Roaring ‘Twenties, Right Ho, Jeeves by the British humorist P.G. Wodehouse is a collection of stories about a young wealthy gentleman, Bertie Wooster, and his manservant Jeeves. Bertie is well-meaning, but lazy and not particularly bright. He freely admits Jeeves is the brainy one. Bertie always makes a mess of getting a chum out of romantic or money trouble, and Jeeves always comes up with some cockeyed scheme that saves the day.

Just after World War I, the male population of Europe had been decimated by the war. Bertie’s comic fear of his dowager aunt reflected the reality that much of England’s  private wealth was then in the hands of older women. Young men like him who had been infants during the war were so appalled by the state of the world that they coped by acting like bratty little boys who refused to grow up.

So – avoid responsibility, romantic entanglements, and financial conundrums. Fear marriage and anyone in uniform. Pursue amusement, particularly if a practical joke will end in what Bertie’s chums call a “good wheeze.” Fraternize with like-minded adult males who, despite their elevated social standing, aspire to remain boys. Encourage food fights, but only with dinner rolls so as not to create a mess for which responsibility would have to be assumed. Coordinate rugby scrums in the clubroom, but only if fragile crockery has first been cleared. Solving real-world problems (such as romantic entanglements) by way of practical jokes and stratagems might not work but it’s always worth a good try.

Our world – like his – is anything but silly these days. But sometimes what Bertie called a “good wheeze” is just the thing to put a chap right.

In Clifford’s Spiral a stroke survivor tries to piece together the fragments of his memories. Was he the victim or the perpetrator? 2020 IPA Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction.