# Earthdoom!

By David Langford & John Grant

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/earthdoom-6989d6ff/

Earth has more than one apocalypse on its hands. A new ice age, rabid lemmings, nuclear trouble and alien invasion compete with demonic possession and Hitler clones. An overqualified cast of experts has to face disasters arriving in an increasingly unreasonable queue.

## What makes it funny?

Catastrophe-fiction formulas are multiplied until their excesses become the story. The experts are absurdly accomplished, the heroines absurdly desirable, and the next calamity is already waiting while everyone deals with the last one.

### The comedy at work

Langford and Grant also let the characters resent their own dialogue. In a passage reproduced by Langford, private complaints about the quality of their lines interrupt the disaster performance. Wordplay adds another stream of jokes to the accumulating crises.

### Try this if…

Familiarity with older disaster novels helps with this broad British spoof. Readers who enjoy recognizing a formula and watching the author exaggerate it have the clearest way into the comedy.

### Good to know

Mass death, sexualized stereotypes and Hitler are among the comic materials. Some British references are dated, and the barrage of jokes offers no guarantee that characters will survive.

## What to expect

- Genre: Horror · Science fiction
- Kind of humor: Absurdism · Dark comedy · Parody · Wordplay
- The atmosphere: Irreverent
- Format: Novel
- Length: 303 pages
- Published: 1987

## A few distinguishing details

- Several rival apocalypses unfold at once
- Characters privately complain about their own dialogue

## Sources & further reading

- Author commentary: [Earthdoom by David Langford and John Grant](https://www.ansible.uk/books/edoom.html)
- Review: [Christian Sauvé review](https://www.christian-sauve.com/2009/04/earthdoom-david-langford-john-grant)
- Author commentary: [Author edition history and commentary](https://ansible.uk/books/edoom.html)
- Publisher: [Publisher ebook page](https://www.baen.com/earthdoom.html)