In the Company of Ogres by A. Lee Martinez
I am usually not one for humorous fantasy, but I trust Martinez. Last year, his The Automatic Detective became an instant favorite when I read it.
Never Dead Ned can't get a break, and he can't stay dead. Oh, he dies, but he keeps getting resurrected. A guy like that could be handy as the leader of Ogre Company - it's too bad he's really just a military accountant with a lack of ambition. Too bad his top three officers--a blonde Amazon, an ogre and an orc who insists he's an orc though he looks suspiciously like a goblin--would rather he stay dead. Ned wouldn't mind that at all, really.
Along the way Ned tangles with - and tries to avoid - sorcerers, witches, demons, goblins, orcs, ogres, seductive sirens, bad-tempered rocs, hungry vultures and other fantasy races & creatures that are slightly off-kilter in Martinez's vision.
I enjoyed this one, a lot. Funny fantasy stuff without being snide satire or parody. Really fun - something like Douglas Adams writing Catch-22 meets (Glen Cook's) The Black Company.
Martinez deserves a wider audience. I'm not sure why he hasn't caught on. To date, he hasn't written a series or even a sequel novel. Each one is standalone. Maybe this works against him. He has enough requests from fans that he Kickstarted a short story collection - one tale per novel world. It's the first Kickstarter I contributed to, and it's nearly ready. Maybe the sampler will help, though it's really aimed at fans he already has.
Martinez has moved up my reading list for next year. You should check him out.
funny fantasy is a hard sell for me too, even though i've written a few such tales in short form. I'll have to give it a look see.
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