A couple of
years ago I remember seeing the book Mickey 7 (by Edward Ashton) on
bookshelves in the library, in bookstores, and other places. It seemed to be
popular. I remember seeing it, but it didn’t generate any interest in me. Maybe
I associated it with baseball. Mickey Mantle was the most prominent baseball
player when I was growing up. I never really liked baseball. Or, maybe I
associated it with the Toni Basil song “Mickey.” I never really liked that
song. Maybe it was the cover? Whatever the reason, I never picked it up or even
sought to see what it was about.
Then I heard
someone talking about it, and thought I would give it a try. Okay, I liked it.
The Mickey of the title is in a group of colonists trying to scratch out a
living on a cold barren planet. Mickey has an unusual job. He has the job the
no one should want. He is an “expendable.” His body and brain patterns have
been fully recorded, and should he die (he definitely will die, and that is not
a spoiler) a new body will be printed and his memories implanted and a new
Mickey will emerge. Thus, expendables (there is only one on this colony) are
given all the most dangerous jobs, the suicide missions. As you may have now
guessed from the title, the Mickey we meet is the seventh iteration, or
incarnation, or, edition and by now he has realized that this being an
expendable business is no fun. Not only is there the dying over and over in
gruesome ways, but the other members of the crew tend to give him a wide berth.
Most of them consider him “other,” maybe not quite human. Does he even have a
soul? There are religious factions that consider him an abomination, a useful
abomination, but still an abomination.
He does have
two friends that make it bearable, his friend Berto and his girlfriend Nasha.
Berto is a bit of a scoundrel, but Nasha loves Mickey unconditionally, even if
he is the seventh version of himself. When the crisis comes (and you know it
will) Berto may not be much help, but we are confident that Nasha will stand by
him.
When the idea
of becoming an expendable is first pitched to him the image of immortality is
presented to him. But is it immortality if you die and your memories are put
into a new body? If your consciousness
comes to an end, what is that thing in the next body? Food for thought.
It is a decent
story, but what I love most is the dark humor. It reminded me a bit of The
Martian by Andy Weir and maybe even some hints of John Scalzi’s Redshirts.
However much he is disrespected, Mickey seems an indominable spirit. He bends
but doesn’t break. I see that Edward Ashton has written a sequel to Mickey 7.
Bring it on.
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