Bill, The Galactic Hero: The Final Incoherent Adventure!

Author: Harry Harrison

With so much extravagant invention as its stock in trade, an awful lot of space opera is unintentionally funny. But it's surprising that there is so little intentionally comic space opera. But for that there's always Harry Harrison, and particularly his wonderful Bill the Galactic Hero, which pokes fun at just about every space opera clichÃ© going. In particular, you can't help noticing bits of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein cropping up in the constant rush of Bill's misadventures. Bill is press-ganged into the Space Troopers and accidentally becomes a hero in the war against the alien Chingers, but when he goes to the capital to receive a medal he finds himself listed as a deserter. In turn he works in garbage disposal, becomes a spy, then gets arrested and sent to prison where he finds himself back in the war against the Chingers. There isn't enough comic science fiction, so this gloriously silly space opera is more than welcome.