This book developed out of frustrations felt by McNally, author of the well-received short story collection Troublemakers, when he prepared to teach a course on humor in American literature. He found that minority writers were almost completely ignored. Here, he takes a small step toward remedying the situation. The editor observes that not all these pieces are by writers who identify as humorists, and that the role of humor varies broadly among them. Nor is race the central theme of the book, since a good portion of the humor hinges on more universal themes of sex, ambition and ladder climbing. Among the 10 short pieces of fiction here, Daniel Chacón's "Godoy Lives" is excellent but more darkly ironic than funny: an illegal immigrant finds himself welcomed by the cousin of the dead man whose ID he is using. The poetry (including pieces by Lucille Clifton and Paisley Rekdal) is decent, but not necessarily chuckle-inducing. Author Charles Johnson has submitted a few funny cartoons, but he doesn't deserve 27 pages worth. Among three pieces of nonfiction, Sherman Alexie's "White Men Can't Drum" and Sandra Tsing Loh's "Daddy Dearest" both amuse. Finally, the one piece of drama included, Jim Northrup's "Shinnob Jep," a parody of Jeopardy, offers darkly caustic comments on Native American life, but overextends the premise. The editor states that he received fewer than a dozen submissions for this anthology, and the mix of poetry, cartoon, fiction and nonfiction he ended up with is finally diffuse. (Apr.)
Forecast:Given McNally's multigenre approach, the lack of bigger names here—cartoonist Aaron McGruder (The Boondocks) comes immediately to mind—make this book feel like an academic exercise, despite McNally's best intentions. Look for steady if somewhat slow sales, mostly for campus writing courses.
