Why am I passionate about this?

In my teenage years, it was sci-fi (and later fantasy) comedies that made me fall in love with reading. There was just something about exploring worlds where anything could happen mixed with the joy of laughter that kept drawing me back in. Naturally, in the many...many...years that followed, I've read countless novels from a wide variety of genres, but sci-fi comedy will always hold a special place in my heart.


I wrote

The Taste of Cashews

By Will Hartzell-Baird,

Book cover of The Taste of Cashews

What is my book about?

Wesley Harden was an ordinary history teacher, until he was accused of leading a rebellion that doesn’t exist and stealing…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Will Hartzell-Baird Why did I love this book?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so naturally, I won’t. If you’re checking out a list like this, you don’t need me to tell you about it. Instead, let’s talk about Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. If you saw any of the 2016 BBC series based on the book–it’s nothing like that. It’s probably not much like the 2010 BBC series, either, but I never saw it, so who knows? In any event, if you enjoyed the classic humor of H2G2, Adams’s bizarre detective novel will help satisfy the craving for more that’s lurked within you since you finished the Guide and its four sequels.

By Douglas Adams,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Douglas Adams, the legendary author of one of the most beloved science fiction novels of all time, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, comes a wildly inventive novel of ghosts, time travel, and one detective’s mission to save humanity from extinction.

DIRK GENTLY’S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY
We solve the whole crime
We find the whole person
Phone today for the whole solution to your problem
(Missing cats and messy divorces a specialty)

Douglas Adams, the “master of wacky words and even wackier tales” (Entertainment Weekly) once again boggles the mind with a completely unbelievable story of ghosts, time travel,…


Book cover of Run Program

Will Hartzell-Baird Why did I love this book?

Is it even a list of sci-fi books if you don’t include a story with a rogue artificial intelligence? Sure, it’s not necessarily the funniest premise, but when you throw in the fact that the A.I. in question has the mind of a six-year-old, the heroes trying to catch him are essentially his daycare providers, and the author is Scott Meyer, creator of the webcomic Basic Instructions and the Magic 2.0 series, and you’re sure to have a good time.

By Scott Meyer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Run Program as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the author of the popular Magic 2.0 series comes the witty tale of a mischievous A.I. gone rogue.

Al, a well-meaning but impish artificial intelligence, has the mind of a six-year-old and a penchant for tantrums. And the first one to discover just how much trouble Al could cause is Hope Takeda, the lab assistant in charge of educating and socializing him. Day care is a lot more difficult when your kid is an evolving and easily frightened A.I.

When Al manages to access the Internet and escape the lab days before his official unveiling, Hope and her team…


Book cover of Anomaly Flats

Will Hartzell-Baird Why did I love this book?

Tired of spaceships and A.I.? Then how about a humorous take on sci-fi horror? If Twin Peaks were a comedy…and also a book…it would’ve been Anomaly Flats. Weird, disturbing events abound in this quaint Midwestern town where an ancient evil lurks behind the canned goods at the local Walmart, and–since they weren’t trying to kill me personally–many of them were hilarious. Or at least the way the characters reacted to them were hilarious. And in the end, isn’t that close enough?

By Clayton Smith,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Anomaly Flats as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sci-fi gets wickedly fun in Anomaly Flats, the deliciously dark comedy from the author of Apocalypticon!

What readers are saying:

"Clayton Smith's work is imaginative, unique, and ridiculously entertaining. I didn't think anything could top Apocalypticon, but I was SO wrong."

"Its ongoing charm is hypnotic."

"Shove over, Christopher Moore…Weird Fun has a new author king!"

Somewhere just off the interstate, in the heart of the American Midwest, there’s a quaint, quirky town where the stars in the sky circle a hypnotic void….where magnetic fields play havoc with time and perception…where metallic rain and plasma rivers and tentacles in the…


Book cover of Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits

Will Hartzell-Baird Why did I love this book?

If all my picks so far have been a bit highbrow for you, let’s go in a new direction. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is the work of Jason Pargin (a.k.a. David Wong), former executive editor of Cracked.com, and that should tell you most of what you need to know about his writing. Sometimes clever and insightful, sometimes crass, dumb, and offensive, this book will please anyone who enjoyed Cracked during its heyday, but prefers science fiction to listicles.

By Jason Pargin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin takes readers to a whole new level with his darkly comic sci-fi thriller, Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits.

An Alex Award Winner

Nightmarish villains with superhuman enhancements.

An all-seeing social network that tracks your every move.

Mysterious, smooth-talking power players who lurk behind the scenes.

A young woman from the trailer park.

And her very smelly cat.

Together, they will decide the future of mankind.

Get ready for a world in which anyone can have the powers of a god or the fame of a pop star, in which human achievement soars to…


Book cover of Scharlette Doesn't Matter and Goes Time Travelling

Will Hartzell-Baird Why did I love this book?

This is a fun, relatively light novel that involves the fate of all humankind, etc., etc. The overarching plot here is enjoyable enough, but the real appeal is taking a somewhat meandering trip through a fun universe and getting to know the characters within. Don’t get me wrong; the plot is more than just a joke, which happens occasionally in comedies. It has a satisfying payoff, and Scharlette has a character arc, but–at least for me–the way the story is told is the real draw, not so much what the story itself is.

By Sam Bowring,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Scharlette Doesn't Matter and Goes Time Travelling as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ever since Scharlette’s parents gave her a name no one can pronounce, she’s been stuck in a bit of a rut. She hates her job in airport security, making people take their belts off before they fly to exotic locations she can only dream about. She owns a small apartment with large repayments, drinks bargain bin red on a couch that swallows gym memberships, and misses her little sister – lost to an exploding sandwich press, ten years ago.

Scharlette fears she might live her whole life without doing anything or mattering to anyone. Still, it comes as quite a…


Explore my book 😀

The Taste of Cashews

By Will Hartzell-Baird,

Book cover of The Taste of Cashews

What is my book about?

Wesley Harden was an ordinary history teacher, until he was accused of leading a rebellion that doesn’t exist and stealing a weapon that no one understands. Now, if he wants to survive, he’ll have to outrun a devious bounty hunter, a tyrannical Empire, and a local dictator who, on the whole, would rather have been an accountant.

But along the way, Wes just might learn that some things are more important than surviving. And, while he’s at it, he might even prevent a cashew-flavored apocalypse.

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The Mazatlan Showdown

By Patrick Weill,

Book cover of The Mazatlan Showdown

Patrick Weill Author Of The Mazatlan Showdown

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Artist Editor Father Husband Fighter

Patrick's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Jeff Walker is a champion surfer haunted by the mystery of his father’s murder and his mother’s broken heart. After finding a job as a lifeguard, a rescue mission at sea plunges him into a far-reaching criminal conspiracy.

Walker and his closest friends aid the police in their investigation, through which it is revealed that the leader of the crooks is his father’s killer! The tension builds from that point on until he finally faces his nemesis in a confrontation that will leave only one man standing. 

This first episode of The Park and Walker Action Thriller Series will whisk…

The Mazatlan Showdown

By Patrick Weill,

What is this book about?

Meet Jeff Walker, a champion surfer haunted by the unsolved mystery of his father’s murder and his mother’s broken heart. When he relocates to sunny San Diego and secures a job as a beach lifeguard, a rescue mission at sea plunges him into the dark underworld of international crime.

Along with his closest friends, Walker supports the police in their investigation, and in doing so discovers that the leader of the smugglers is his father’s killer, the man he’s been looking for since he was a teenager! From that moment on, the tension builds, until Walker finally faces his nemesis…


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