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UFO #9
Unidentified Funny Objects 9
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! In this volume you'll
* Overworked fairies distributing swords.
* Alien yeti slackers
* Elf bakers
* Absconded books
* Superhero dance battles
* Matchmakers ... in spaaace!
This anthology contains the following “The Hero of Small Things” by Amanda Saville
“Chai Noon” by Esther Friesner
“If Pages Could Blush” by Kyle A. Massa
“The Time Loop Device is Counting Down” by Beth Goder
“Crouching Swan Hidden Polka” by Jim C Hines
“Sgt. Yeti” by Gini Koch
“The Great Beyond Commands” by John Wiswell
“The Second Wish” by James Beamon
“These Three Aliens Walk into a Bar” by Simon R. Green
“Our Most Sincere Apologies to the People of Brazil” by Jane Espenson
“Liability Insurance Policy for Immortals, Cryptids, and Other Magical Annual Newsletter” by Tina Connolly
“The Shadchen of Venus” by Lavie Tidhar
“Cory Sucks” by Auston Habershaw
“Sunnyside Daycare Employees’ Chat Log, Post Alien Takeover” by Amanda Helms
“Cooking Up Trouble” by C. Flynt
“Right to Remain Silent” by Jody Lynn Nye
“Auntie Elsie’s Compleat Guide to Heartbreak” by Tim Pratt
“The Troll Bridge” by Adam Gaylord
“Do Gumshoes Dream of Electric Sleep” by Dave Vierling
“Hell’s Bureaucracy” by David Hankins
“A Crisis of Fate” by Zach Shephard
* Overworked fairies distributing swords.
* Alien yeti slackers
* Elf bakers
* Absconded books
* Superhero dance battles
* Matchmakers ... in spaaace!
This anthology contains the following “The Hero of Small Things” by Amanda Saville
“Chai Noon” by Esther Friesner
“If Pages Could Blush” by Kyle A. Massa
“The Time Loop Device is Counting Down” by Beth Goder
“Crouching Swan Hidden Polka” by Jim C Hines
“Sgt. Yeti” by Gini Koch
“The Great Beyond Commands” by John Wiswell
“The Second Wish” by James Beamon
“These Three Aliens Walk into a Bar” by Simon R. Green
“Our Most Sincere Apologies to the People of Brazil” by Jane Espenson
“Liability Insurance Policy for Immortals, Cryptids, and Other Magical Annual Newsletter” by Tina Connolly
“The Shadchen of Venus” by Lavie Tidhar
“Cory Sucks” by Auston Habershaw
“Sunnyside Daycare Employees’ Chat Log, Post Alien Takeover” by Amanda Helms
“Cooking Up Trouble” by C. Flynt
“Right to Remain Silent” by Jody Lynn Nye
“Auntie Elsie’s Compleat Guide to Heartbreak” by Tim Pratt
“The Troll Bridge” by Adam Gaylord
“Do Gumshoes Dream of Electric Sleep” by Dave Vierling
“Hell’s Bureaucracy” by David Hankins
“A Crisis of Fate” by Zach Shephard
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 23, 2022
6 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Alex Shvartsman
158 books143 followersAlex Shvartsman is a writer, editor, and translator from Brooklyn, NY. He's the author of The Middling Affliction (2022) and Eridani's Crown (2019) fantasy novels. Kakistocracy, a sequel to The Middling Affliction, is forthcoming in 2023.
Over 120 of his stories have been published in Analog, Nature, Strange Horizons, and many other venues. He won the 2014 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and was a two-time finalist (2015 and 2017) for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Fiction.
His collection, Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories and his steampunk humor novella H. G. Wells, Secret Agent were published in 2015. His second collection, The Golem of Deneb Seven and Other Stories followed in 2018.
Alex is the editor of over a dozen anthologies, including the Unidentified Funny Objects annual anthology series of humorous SF/F.
Over 120 of his stories have been published in Analog, Nature, Strange Horizons, and many other venues. He won the 2014 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and was a two-time finalist (2015 and 2017) for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Fiction.
His collection, Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories and his steampunk humor novella H. G. Wells, Secret Agent were published in 2015. His second collection, The Golem of Deneb Seven and Other Stories followed in 2018.
Alex is the editor of over a dozen anthologies, including the Unidentified Funny Objects annual anthology series of humorous SF/F.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 19, 2022
Nice collection of odd-ball short stories.
I especially liked "Cory Sucks" by Auston Habershaw about a teenaged vampire and "Our Most Sincere Apologies to the People of Brazil" by Jane Espenson about Santa and Christmas elves.
I especially liked "Cory Sucks" by Auston Habershaw about a teenaged vampire and "Our Most Sincere Apologies to the People of Brazil" by Jane Espenson about Santa and Christmas elves.
February 11, 2023
Full disclosure: I wrote one of the stories that appears in this book. Still, the experience of reading the rest was a joy. I think you’ll like them all, too.
December 30, 2022
A lot of fun reads in here, full of unexpected themes and topics whom these stories held. A humor anthology series who really ia funny compare to others who try and don't deliver. Now onwards to the rest of them.
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November 30, 2022I recently backed this Kickstarter at a level that got me all the previous versions of this comedy speculative fiction anthology, and the latest came in first, so that's what we're doing here, and also the good news. The less good news is that I read this in chunks while waiting for my child to sleep, which isn't the most, ah, conducive atmosphere to comedy. Like: his resistance to sleep is a stressor and also, I can't laugh out loud. Also I'm very tired.
That said, I can at least highlight a few of my favorite stories: Beth Goder's "The Time Loop Device is Counting Down" involves enough time for people to become friends, when a ship gets stuck forever in a 15-minute time loop; Lavie Tidhar's "The Shadchen of Venus" is a fake pulp-age story about a private eye-like shadchen (matchmaker) trying to find a suitable groom for an impossible bride (and also one of two space shadchen stories in this anthology); and Tim Pratt's "Auntie Elsie's Compleat Guide to Heartbreak", about a dumped girl finding a magical and not-too-friendly mentor. For me, those stories hit the highlights of being funny while still telling an emotionally engaging story about people needing people (as friend in the Goder story), trying to understand people (as a shadchen in the Tidhar story), or just as a support on the way to being your best self (in the Pratt story).
Other stories had their own charms -- I just now skimmed Esther Friesner's "Chai Noon" to remind myself about that story, and even though it is almost entirely just a conversation at a space poker table without much plot, the flow of it almost sucked me in to reading the whole thing again -- but those three stories I noted are the ones that spoke to me the most now. (Again: when I am tired.)
That said, I can at least highlight a few of my favorite stories: Beth Goder's "The Time Loop Device is Counting Down" involves enough time for people to become friends, when a ship gets stuck forever in a 15-minute time loop; Lavie Tidhar's "The Shadchen of Venus" is a fake pulp-age story about a private eye-like shadchen (matchmaker) trying to find a suitable groom for an impossible bride (and also one of two space shadchen stories in this anthology); and Tim Pratt's "Auntie Elsie's Compleat Guide to Heartbreak", about a dumped girl finding a magical and not-too-friendly mentor. For me, those stories hit the highlights of being funny while still telling an emotionally engaging story about people needing people (as friend in the Goder story), trying to understand people (as a shadchen in the Tidhar story), or just as a support on the way to being your best self (in the Pratt story).
Other stories had their own charms -- I just now skimmed Esther Friesner's "Chai Noon" to remind myself about that story, and even though it is almost entirely just a conversation at a space poker table without much plot, the flow of it almost sucked me in to reading the whole thing again -- but those three stories I noted are the ones that spoke to me the most now. (Again: when I am tired.)
December 24, 2023
I sponsored this on Kickstarter last year and also bought back issues of the previous Unidentified Funny Objects series.
I absolutely loved it and the stories brought joy to my life at a time when I needed it.
And some of the stories were laugh at lound funny.
Here are my favorites:
The hero of small things
If pages could blush
The time loop device is counting down
Crouching Swan, Hidden Polka
My sincere apologies to the people of Brazil
A crisis of fate
I absolutely loved it and the stories brought joy to my life at a time when I needed it.
And some of the stories were laugh at lound funny.
Here are my favorites:
The hero of small things
If pages could blush
The time loop device is counting down
Crouching Swan, Hidden Polka
My sincere apologies to the people of Brazil
A crisis of fate
March 17, 2023
Unidentified Funny Objects 9 is absolutely one of funniest anthologies I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. There’s something in here for everyone, and I challenge you to not find at least one story that leaves you rolling on the floor.
Disclaimer - I am personally acquainted with at least one of these authors, but I stand by my objective opinion nonetheless!
Disclaimer - I am personally acquainted with at least one of these authors, but I stand by my objective opinion nonetheless!
December 6, 2022
This was a highly entertaining collection of funny stories.
March 14, 2023
Could have benefitted from a few more really short ones, but on the other hand it worked out much like one-a-day and that was/is good too.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews