Fuzzy nation by John Scalzi

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi is a reworking of a 1962 novel by H. Bean Piper called Little Fuzzy. Scalzi says it is not a sequel, but to think of it more like a reboot, like the Star Trek reboot movies. I confess that I have not read the original Piper novel. Does that mean I shouldn’t be reviewing it without having read the original? After all, it was probably intended for fans of the original, just like the Star Trek reboot was intended for fans of the original series. Right? Meh. I would imagine that people who had never seen the original Star Trek did watch the reboot. They either liked it or they didn’t based on their own perceptions and how good the movie was. The same is true with this book.

Not having read the original, I can only assume that it must follow a similar outline to this one, but Scalzi has put his own stylistic stamp on it. The hero (Holloway) is a typical Scalzi hero, witty, irreverent, sarcastic, and one who suffers no fools. One whose attitude frequently lands him in trouble. The judge is also a creature of Scalzi, someone who is smarter than the corporation gives her credit for. And I love a good courtroom scene where all the players are smart.

This is the story of one man against the big bad corporation. The corporation controls nearly all aspects of life on this planet. But because he is not greedy, it cannot control Holloway. This is also the story of first contact, with all the moral and legal intricacies revolving around the determination about whether the “Fuzzies” are sapient. Spoiler alert (though I don’t think this will come as a big surprise) they are. The fuzzies have their own kind of wisdom. Seeing the human race through their eyes, the humans don’t come off very well. Even the good humans in this story have their flaws. The same cannot be said (as far as we know) about the fuzzies.

If I had a criticism of the book, it would be that the main villains are a bit obvious and two dimensional. They are not nearly as well rounded as Holloway, who sometimes struggles with his choices. In the end, it is a story about making moral choices. The choices you make define if you are good or not. Holloway makes a choice that is right for him. John Scalzi as a writer is not to everyone’s taste. I can see how he might rub some people the wrong way, but not me. I love his irreverent humor and his colorful characters. To me, Scalzi is just plain fun.

Star Liner

Comments

Retired

I retired this week. So, big lifestyle changes for me? Not so much. I retired on Thursday. My office had an amazing party for me on Wednesday, lots of food, lots of cards, lots of personal connections. Gifts too, I wish I had told them, no gifts. I really don’t need anything. But all this does make one feel appreciated. It also makes me feel appreciated that they want me to come back on a contractual basis every now and then to impart my institutional knowledge. It is always the case when someone retires, knowledge is lost to the organization. Things have to be relearned by the next generation. This is somewhat offset by the fact that the world is changing through advancing technology etc. So, the knowledge that the retiring person has might eventually become obsolete anyway. Better to go out while you are still on top. We have all seen professional athletes who stayed on well beyond their prime. It would have been better to go out while still on top. But it is a hard thing to ...

All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu

My first experience with cyberpunk as a genre of science fiction was Neuromancer by William Gibson. Neuromancer was one of the early works that defined the cyberpunk genre. It was insanely influential. It won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award. But for me, it just did not resonate. I had a hard time visualizing the concepts. It left a bad taste in my mouth for cyberpunk. I mostly avoided the genre. Then a couple of years ago I read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson which is cyberpunk (although some people say it is a parody of cyberpunk). Whatever, I liked it. I recently picked up All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu and it immediately became apparent to me that this was cyberpunk. Julia Z is the main character, and I think this is going to be the start of a series following her. She is a hacker (hence cyberpunk). She has got herself in trouble and so she lives on the margins, barely making it. Then a lawyer asks her for her help. His wife has been kidnapped. The ...

Darkness

There was a moment when I discovered that l liked dark music. I do like dark music. I like minor keys and a haunting theme. I like other kinds of music too, but that darkness speaks to me in a special way. What does that say about me? Am I messed up? I don’t think so. Maybe I am just built that way that haunting tunes or lyrics imparts some inner truth to me. It resonates. I know precisely when I discovered this about myself. It was Summer of 1971. I was 12 years old. I was on a plane with my family heading to Illinois. Airplanes back then did not have much in the way of entertainment, but what they did have were headphones and music channels you could listen to. I was listening to a channel of popular current hits, and a song came on called “That’s the Way I Always Heard it Should Be” by Carly Simon. I had never heard of Carly Simon. This was before “Anticipation” and “You’re so Vain.” She was not yet famous. But this song came on and, I don’t know, it did something to me. It...

A speculative mind

Search This Blog