Nowadays I don’t read much fiction, but when I do its usually sci-fi. If I want to read some modern comedy sci-fi, what comes closest (in quality, not necessarily style) to Douglas Adams?
I’ve read some Jasper Fforde and Terry Pratchett (certainly not modern)
Who should I read?
Just based on the OP title, I came in here to say Jasper Fforde. Maybe check out Christopher Moore?
I’ll second Christopher Moore as a great fantasy comedy writer (I just read his latest, Shakespeare for Squirrels, recently). I don’t know who in modern SF fills the gap Mr. Adams left, but I’d recommend reading Robert Sheckley – he, too, wrote about absurd SF situations and alien bureaucracies. Adams has admitted that Sheckley was an influence on him, and there are quite a few of us that feel that Hitchiker’s Guide to Galaxy owes quite a bit to Sheckley’s Dimension of Miracles.
You might also try these by Sheckley, since no everything of his is in that absurdist style
The Journey of Joenes (AKA Journey Beyond Tomorrow)
Mindswap
You might also try Eoin Colfer’s And Another Thing…, which is intended to be an authorized sequel to the Hitchhiker series. Adams fans I’ve talked to don’t like it very much, though.
And Another Thing - Wikipedia…_(novel)
Neil Gaiman is a long-time Douglas Adams fan. (For instance, he wrote Don’t Panic, a fan’s guide to the HHGTTG.) His earlier stuff is somewhat like Douglas’s work, most notably in his pairing with Terry Pratchett to write Good Omens.
And Douglas asked Terry Jones to write Starship Titanic for him, since Douglas was working on the videogame version of it. It’s very like Adams’s stuff by design.
Damnit. Fforde was who I was going to recommend.
Nowhere near the whimsy, though there is some, but you might like Iain Banks’s Culture novels. Sci-fi in a post-Scarcity universe, and much of the text is devoted to describing the creativity the natives get up to.
Can get really dark in parts though
Christopher Moore falls a little flat for me, not really in the same league as Adams.
Colfer doesn’t quite get what made the Adams books so good- it’s kind of an uncanny valley kind of thing. It’s a whole lot like Adams, but clearly not him. That said, the book wasn’t terrible, and was definitely better than no more books about Arthur, Ford, Xaphod and gang, IMO.
Banks was actually my go-to sci fi author. I carried on reading his stuff whenever it came out, long after I’d stopped reading much fiction (I used to read a lot of sci fi). He passed away a few years back however 
Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St Mary’s books might fit the bill. They’re pretty funny and hey, time travel!
This is a great thread! I’ve never heard of anyone mentioned except Adams (read everything, I think), Gaiman (read almost everything, I think) and Pratchett (read tons). Posting to subscribe.
If you’re interested in modern quality comedy sci-fi, I’ve got an odd recommendation: The City We Became. It’s a very odd book in which the eldritch forces of extradimensional horrors manifest in our world in the avatar of gentrification in New York City, and each borough is embodies in an avatar to fight off (or help, or both) the horrors. It’s mad punk genius by one of the most decorated modern SF/F authors, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Not a laugh-a-page like Adams is (or tries to be), but still pretty hilarious if that sort of thing is your bag.
If you’re willing to give YA lit a chance, try the phenomenal Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, in which a 7th grader at a utopian arts academy in Miami is also a stage magician, and also the son of a calamity physicist, and also can reach into other universes to bring things into ours. And it’s definitely chockablock with humor; I’ve laughed more while reading it and its sequel (which I’m reading now) than any other book in a long time.
There are several British sf writers with comic novels who seem to be almost totally unknown in the States, possibly because their sf novels were only a small part of their overall production.
Mick Farren (The DNA Cowboys trilogy was the best psychedelic sf, but I have no idea whether it still holds up.)
Peter Dickinson mostly wrote absolutely brilliant mysteries but some of them were sf crossovers like his alternate world royal families, King and Joker and Skeleton-in-Waiting.
I have read his stuff (as with many brits of a certain ages Young Ones and Blackadder defined my comedy upbringing). It was ok, though not super impressed with it, and wouldn’t really call it sci-fi Somewhat interesting despite Elton being the epitome of left wing “right on” alternative comedy his later stuff has a bit of reactionary conservative ting to it IMO, unless (there was a “modest proposal” thing going on that I didn’t get).
Complete sidetrack, but his recent(ish) Shakespeare sitcom Upstart Crow, is actually pretty good (if you are a drama nerd, a lot of inside Shakespeare jokes).
Coming close in quality? That’s a tough one.
Different style but David Wong makes me laugh hard and still manages to throw in a, “Whoa, I need to take a second to think that through” twist once in a while. Try “John Dies At The End.”
I’d add A. Lee Martinez and Tom Holt.
yeah, tom holt. (early stuff v. good, historic novels v.good, latest stuff getting a bit formulaic…)
Thanks. Which book from their back catalog would you recommend starting with?
The Irish author Eoin Colfer has been mentioned. Since the (anti-)hero of his Artemis Fowl books is 12 as the first series begins and the (anti-)heroes of his second series are 11 as the second series begins, you might think that the (eight-book) original series and the new (one-book with a second book coming soon) new series is just another silly children’s book series. There’s other things going on though. They are something like a techno-thriller where the technology is this strange magical system. They are funny in a strange way. You might try the first book and see if you like it.
I’ve enjoyed all the Red Dwarf books I’ve read (some by Rob Grant, some by Doug Naylor, some by both (under the name Grant Naylor).
For something slightly different, try “Putting Mankind First” by Irwin Monk. It’s a bit derivative, but mostly in a good way. Sort of a cross between HHG and Yes, Minister.
I have recommended this a few times here: Tuf Voyaging by GRR Martin. Yes, THAT George R. R. Martin. It is Sci-Fi and on the lighter side. I enjoyed it.