August 11, 2009

CALLING ALL SCI-FI COMEDY LOVERS!

Meet Cole: hapless space rogue, part-time smuggler, on a path to being full-time dead. His sidekick just stole his girlfriend. The galaxy’s most hideous and feared bounty hunter wants to lay eggs in his brain. And the luxury space yacht Cole just hijacked turns out of be filled with interstellar do-gooders, one especially loathsome stowaway, and a cargo of freeze-dried orphans.
Enter Michael Rubens’ hilarious world of YRNAMEER (short for Your - Name - Here). In the spirit of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, The Sheriff of Yrnameer is sci-fi comedy at its best—mordant, raucously funny, and a thrilling page-turner. Even Stephen Colbert is already a fan: “Finally, a science-fiction book your grandmother will love­, if she’s a lustful, violent lady.”

And here’s the best part:
Email the word YRNAMEER, along with your mailing address to pantheon@randomhouse.com and you will automatically enter yourself into a drawing to win a free copy of the book! There will be 3 lucky winners selected at random. Please note: U.S. mailing addresses only.

Be sure to stop by the SHERIFF OF YRNAMEER launch party at BookCourt, TUESDAY, AUGUST 11 at 7pm (at 163 Court Street in Brooklyn). For more info, click here.

Visit Michael Rubens’ website here.

And buy a copy of the book here.

Praise for THE SHERIFF OF YRNAMEER:
“A rocket-fast, knee-slapping narrative… . Lighthearted [and] adventure-filled… . Cole’s ludicrous exploits keep the laughs coming.” —Publishers Weekly

“Rubens hits the jackpot with a zanily humorous parody of sf adventure, with tributes to space-opera and Western classics along the way… . Recalling the volatile and irreverent humor of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, this madcap journey through space will appeal to Pratchett’s readers and fans of such sf film parodies as Galaxy Quest and Space Balls.” —Library Journal

“Broadly amusing.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A tremendously fun and surprisingly touching read.” -Alison Laubach, BookPeople

“Really, really funny.” -BJ Bloebaum, Powells

“An enjoyable sci-fi/comedy/pastiche/parody/adventure…a fun, fast-paced flight through regions of space where men have gone before, most notably Douglas Adams; however, unlike others who owe Adams their lifeblood, Rubens is genuinely funny—I especially enjoyed the universe’s stupidest computer (he likes pebbles!). There are even moments of actual character development amongst the wackiness, and—points again—Rubens gives his female characters more to do than Adams ever did. This book won’t change your life, but it might brighten it for a few hours.” -Allison Kaufman, Diesel, a bookstore

“There is a great big bucket somewhere (probably in Houston) from which all great sci-fi/comedy novelists drink. And though Sheriff will no doubt be compared (favorably) with both Hitchhiker’s and Discworld, Rubens really has his own thing going here. There’s the standard stuff, the stuff you’d expect in a top-tier genre novel—the richly textured universe; the hapless, oft-misbehaving protagonists; the perpetually amusing adversaries—but Rubens’s sense of humor (which tends toward the absurd) seems more biting and incisive than that of others currently milling about near the bucket. In fact, as you flip the final page you might find you’ve learned more about our own world than Yrnameer. Plus, there are zombies in it—so it’s automatically awesome.” -Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies