Kay’s Books Are Sad. Read Mine Instead.
“Hi. I’m Steve Thomas. You might recognize me from tormenting Kay in social media or, if I’m lucky, from my comic fantasy books. When Kay invited me to write a guest post for her blog, my first thought was, “What do I have to say that her readers will be interested in? She writes about heartbreak and loss. I write jokes about a talking axe with a split personality.”
But then I was reminded of an old joke popularized in Alan Moore’s Watchmen.
Man goes to doctor. Says he’s depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up. Man bursts into tears. Says, “But Doctor…I am Pagliacci.”
Now, I won’t claim to be clinically depressed, but the joke does come from a place of truth. Most of the time, humor is somewhere on the spectrum of escapism and addressing issues obliquely. I, for one, have never been a talk-about-my-feelings kind of guy. I have them, sure. Probably. Ok, I assume they’re in there somewhere, but I don’t share Kay’s predilection for bleeding all over the page. I don’t stare emotions in the eye. I circle around them warily, studying them from a safe distance and giving them a suspicious side-eye, letting them know they’ll never take me alive.
And that’s why I write comic fantasy. Sometimes I’m telling jokes to examine those dreaded feelings (for some reason, my protagonists tend to be self-hating misfits…), sometimes the goal is to cheer myself up (and hope it works on the readers as well), and sometimes I just want to make a point indirectly enough that I can’t get in trouble for it (another frequent theme of my writing is religion gone wrong).
After reading a fantasy novel where the feelings are right in your face, kicking you in the heart while you try not to sob all over your kindle so hard that the water damage voids the warranty, it’s time to treat yourself. Comic fantasy is the perfect palette cleanser. It will help you find the absurdity, look at things from a new perspective, and exercise different mental muscles. If things go well, you’ll be laughing while you read.
If you’re feeling down after reading one of Kay’s books, remember that Paglicci’s in town. He’ll make you feel better.
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Steve Thomas is the author of the comic fantasy Klondaeg series as well as “The Sangrook Saga,” which isn’t funny at all. He has been addicted to all things fantasy since he was a child, and his friends and family failed to dissuade him from writing his own. When he isn’t writing, he can be found reading, playing video games, pretending to do something productive, or on Twitter at @SteveThomas11.
