Absurdist Humor

Named as one of the New York Times Year’s Ten Best upon its publication, Gary Shteyngart’s Absurdistan is a biting, poignant satire of American-style democracy and the American Dream. After returning to Russia to attend his father’s funeral, 30-year-old Misha is subsequently denied a visa when he attempts to re-enter the United States.

Mr. Quark is a down-on-his-luck pot smuggler hiding out in the mountains of Columbia with his dog, High Pockets, and a small band of banditos led by the irascible José. Times are lean, and to liven up their exile, José decides to mug a family of American tourists. Among the spoils are physics texts, which launch Mr. Quark on a sidesplitting, boisterous adventure north to California, where he confronts the owner of the books with his own theories.

What would you do if every law disappeared… for 24 hours? Steal a croissant? Slap your nemesis at the bakery? Form a rooftop cult around your dog? Because that’s exactly what happened. One ordinary couple (me and Mia) and one very judgmental dog (Frosty) wake up to discover that every law — from jaywalking to grand theft to using your neighbor’s Wi-Fi — has been suspended. For one day only, society hits pause… and chaos presses play. What follows is a whirlwind of moral confusion, IKEA looting, philosophical cheese, vigilante yoga instructors, and a surprisingly charismatic ...

It Started With A Ridiculous Mix-Up.An ordinary teenager from Earth and an endlessly curious alien accidentally swap lives across the stars, leaving each of them to navigate the other’s world, with bizarre civilizations, advanced technology, a know-it-all AI, an android trying to understand...

The universe has a complaints department. Unfortunately, it’s still processing yours If you enjoy absurd sci-fi, dry wit, and bureaucratic nightmares that somehow feel a little too real… welcome to the worst office in existence. Arthur Denton is just a human clerk trying to survive his shift at the galaxy’s most dreaded institution: The Department of Interspecies Complaints. His job? Process 47,000 grievances from aliens, planets, concepts, and occasionally reality itself—before the universe collapses under the weight of unresolved paperwork. No pressure. Inside this hilariously ...

“A propulsive, madcap story” (The New York Times) about a salaryman who decides to put his life up for sale in the classifieds section of a Tokyo newspaper after a botched suicide attempt. "An outstanding writer not only of Japan, but of the world." —The Atlantic After salaryman Hanio...

Read by the author. INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER One of Town & Country’s Best Books of the Fall "A sunny celebration of a life well lived in the South of France—except for the bloody plumbing." —KIRKUS REVIEWS In 1971, at the beginning of Monty Python mania, Eric Idle bought a...

Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy with a normal life, married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. They're even about to have their first child. Yes, Charlie's doing okay—until people start dropping dead around him, and everywhere he goes a dark presence...

Four skeletons wake up in the living world with one inconvenient problem: they're already dead. Sam can't stop losing his body parts. Nate still mourns his liver. Jon wants to lop off a head or three. Ned would rather crawl back into his grave and stay there. Unfortunately, being dead doesn't stop life from happening. Their first quest? Finding breakfast. Never mind that every bite falls straight through their ribcages. After that comes robbing travelers for their clothes, terrifying the townsfolk, crunching apples they can't taste, and one increasingly ridiculous adventure after another as...

Winner of the Locus Award and CIBA Mark Twain grand prize, The Man Who Saw Seconds is a gripping speculative fiction thriller, blending absurdist satire and adrenaline-charged suspense, about a New York man who can see five seconds into the future—which changes his life forever; perfect for...

The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years—except Biff, the Messiah’s best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in...

"A boldly imaginative SF epic that mixes rousing action with plangent psychological depth." —Kirkus Reviews ⚠ WARNING: This book contains multiple graphic depictions of face-melting guitar solos. As the solos exceed the number of faces you own, reader discretion is advised. Sam Stonewell captains a stripped-down colony ship, still paying off a 250-year mortgage his ancestors signed betting the bank couldn't outlive Earth. They were wrong. But today, he finally clears the debt. Today is also the day he meets Kingsley, who hires him for a truly absurd job: find the thieves who stole his ...

What do you get when a neurotic funeral director, a time-travelling scientist, and an ancient curse collide in Southend-on-Sea? Dennis Dogmore hasn’t had a client in weeks, his love life is six feet under, and the woman of his dreams would rather dance with anyone else. Then Miss Miftley Wade arrives from ninety-four years in the future with a half-broken time machine and a talent for chaos. Throw in a Wiccan aristocratic curse, accidental trips through time, and the constant threat of a preordained death, and Dennis’s quiet life is suddenly anything but. One hypochondriac. One time ...

Bottom feeders beware: the Sunshine State’s favorite psychotic killer and lovable Floridaphile Serge Storms has found a new calling, legal eagle, and he’s going to make a killing as a crusading attorney—and star as a dashing lawyer on the big screen—in this madcap escapade from the...

“O’Brien’s first novel in two decades was well worth the wait. . . . In the age of ‘mythomania,’ O’Brien takes aim at the lies that power this country, and how and why they sustain us. America Fantastica peers straight into the dark heart of the American psyche, and it's unafraid of...

From “weird, scary, ingenious” (The New York Times) stand-up comedian Maria Bamford, an instant New York Times bestselling, brutally honest, and “laugh-out-loud funny” (Jennette McCurdy, #1 New York Times bestselling author) memoir about show business, mental health, and the comfort of...

The ""compulsively irreverent and shockingly funny"" (Boston Globe) Tim Dorsey returns with an insanely entertaining tale in which the inimitable Serge A. Storms sees dead people and investigates a creepy urban myth that may be all too real. Though another devastating hurricane is raking Florida...

2026 Audie Winner – Fantasy | Winner of the AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award Christopher Moore's novel comes to life in this incredible audio edition! Narrator Mary Jane Wells displays an impressive range of character voices, accents, and tonal shifts that perfectly compliment the story's...

Surprise, you’re dead! This hilarious and moving novel follows a couple forced into unthinkable challenges when, after dying in a plane crash, they find themselves in the lowest tier of heaven, filled with laughter and dread, fear and acceptance, and family bonds even death can't break...

“Christopher Moore is a very sick man, in the very best sense of that word.” —Carl Hiassen “[Moore’s novels] deftly blend surreal, occult, and even science-fiction doings with laugh-out-loud satire of contemporary culture.” —Washington Post “If there’s a funnier writer out...