The Land of Laughs is a 1980 novel by Jonathan Carroll and first published by Viking Press.
Schoolteacher Thomas Abbey, unsure son of a film star, doesn't know who he is or what he wants-in life, in love, or in his relationship with the strange and intense Saxony Gardner. What he knows is that in his whole life nothing has touched him so deeply as the novels of Marshall France, a reclusive author of fabulous children's tales who died at forty-four.
Now Thomas and Saxony have come to France's hometown, the dreamy Midwestern town of Galen, Missouri, to write France's biography. Warned in advance that France's family may oppose them, they're surprised to find France's daughter warmly welcome instead. But slowly they begin to see that something fantastic and horrible is happening. The magic of Marshall France has extended far beyond the printed page... leaving them with a terrifying task to undertake.
The Land of Laughs contains examples of:
- Collector of the Strange: Thomas collects masks and Saxony collects puppets.
- Forced Transformation: France would punish people by turning them into bull terriers.
- Town with a Dark Secret: It's revealed that every person in Galen was created brought to life by Marshall France and his writing. Their written-out lives have been going off-track ever since he died, so his daughter sought out a biographer good enough to obtain her father's power and bring him back to life
