Short story collections for a Terry Pratchett fan?

November 29, 2017 9:00 AM

What short story collections would you recommend to someone who enjoys Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde, Douglas Adams, and Susanna Clarke? Nothing dark or disturbing, and they've already read Gaiman (but he's not a favourite). Thanks!
posted by haunted_pomegranate to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (18 answers total)

Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher. Brilliant sense of humor, sort of an Appalachian Discworld-witches vibe. I love everything she does.
posted by restless_nomad at 9:04 AM on November 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

Daniel Polansky's A City Dreaming might work. It's a short story cycle that adds up gradually to a novel. It's not really in the same ballpark as Pratchett or Adams, but it's about as funny as Fforde with themes comparable to Gaiman or Clarke.
posted by Wobbuffet at 9:11 AM on November 29, 2017

He might enjoy Fredric Brown who is known for his short stories.
posted by Sophont at 9:30 AM on November 29, 2017

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link.
Maybe Carmen Maria Machado?
posted by tapir-whorf at 9:35 AM on November 29, 2017

Lem’s Cyberiad is different but also quite amusing.
posted by nat at 9:36 AM on November 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon!
posted by Mouse Army at 9:44 AM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Seconding Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher. Here's Vernon in webcomic form. Short stories here.

Also, maybe Zen Cho? In particular, the linked book reads to me very much like somebody read Strange & Norrell, loved it, but was ultimately unsatisfied with its handling of race and gender and misogyny, and then halfway through turned it into a romantic romp.
posted by joyceanmachine at 10:01 AM on November 29, 2017

Iain M Banks' short story collection "The State of the Art", also Dorothy Parker and Damon Runyon
Er in fact Banks may be a LITTLE dark, Parker perhaps has a trigger warning for self-harm, and Damon Runyon is about gangsters. But the humour in all three really fits!!
posted by runincircles at 10:09 AM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Okay, PG Wodehouse DEFINITELY, and maybe too obviously.
posted by runincircles at 10:09 AM on November 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

Pratchett contributed to a short story collection called Temps that was very good. Christopher Moore is very funny - The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, and You Suck, for instance.
posted by Enid Lareg at 4:00 PM on November 29, 2017

Machine of Death?
posted by one for the books at 5:19 PM on November 29, 2017

Given that it is the holiday season, Connie Willis's Christmas stories might work.
posted by gudrun at 6:00 PM on November 29, 2017

Theodora Goss's In The Forest of Forgetting may be up their alley.
posted by azalea_chant at 8:34 PM on November 29, 2017

Tansy Rayner Roberts can be quite Pratchett-like at times, her essays on Pratchett's women are also a good read. A couple of collections out.
posted by Coaticass at 12:47 AM on November 30, 2017

Saki!
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 2:35 AM on November 30, 2017

If anthologies are ok, I enjoy those edited by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow.
posted by azalea_chant at 9:18 AM on November 30, 2017

As someone who enjoys Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde, Douglas Adams, and Susanna Clarke--I can vouch for A City Dreaming as well (as long as you tell them before hand it's a collection of short stories--I didn't realize it going in and was really wondering where the plot was for a while). I would also recommend Catherynne Valente's The Bread We Eat in Dreams.
posted by brook horse at 6:09 PM on November 30, 2017

Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages.
posted by azalea_chant at 8:02 PM on December 4, 2017