Fuzzy Nation
by
John Scalzi
Order:
USA
Can
Tor, 2011 (2011)
Hardcover, e-Book
Read an Excerpt
Reviewed by Hilary Williamson
H
. Beam Piper's
Little Fuzzy
and its sequel,
Fuzzy Sapiens
(combined in
The Complete Fuzzy
) are two of my favorites in classic SF, not because I consider the writing to be top notch but because the story is so appealing to anyone who loves small furred creatures. I've always suspected that
Star Wars
' charming Ewoks are the terminally cute little fuzzies in disguise.
N
ow John Scalzi, a modern Heinlein and author of the wonderful
Old Man's War
series , has written his version of the fuzzy story,
Fuzzy Nation
, stripping the original of some of its excess of sentimentality but retaining its heart. He tells us that his version '
appropriates the general story arc of
Little Fuzzy
, as well as character names and plot elements, and weds them to entirely new elements, characters, and events.
' He also encourages readers who have not read
Little Fuzzy
to do so (and I second that notion).
T
he hero is still Jack Holloway, a prospector on Zarathustra, mining sunstones and content with his own company. But Scalzi's Jack is not as old as Piper's (or as altruistic) and he's even wilier. He's a disbarred lawyer with a dog named Carl, whom Jack's trained (to the consternation of his ZaraCorp contractor rep) '
to set off high explosives.
' When Carl does so as the story begins, the resultant unexpected cliff collapse exposes '
a billion-credit sunstone seam
', making Jack a very rich man.
J
ack first encounters a fuzzy when his cabin is invaded by a '
cat thing
' on two legs. He takes a video of its intrusion, which he gives to biologist Isabel Wangai. Jack and Isabel have a history, which he admits he screwed up. Jack also meets Wheaton Aubrey the Seventh, a scion of the family that owns ZaraCorp, on a tour of its divisions and properties. After trying to get out of the agreement already made with Jack, Aubrey declares the seam excavation to be the planetary organization's top priority. Of course the discovery of sapients on the planet would stop that excavation cold.
T
he
David versus Goliath
story runs its course. An entire Fuzzy Family moves in with Jack, and Isabel shows up to assess these new
animals
. She soon begins to see them as much more, but proving it will be a challenge. Aubrey tries to get out of the deal made with Jack by sabotaging his skimmer - Jack is almost eaten by zararaptors and then arrested by company goons. He's aided by Isabel's new boyfriend, company lawyer Mark Sullivan, who continues to help as the trio races against time (and ZaraCorp's extinction attempts) to prove fuzzy sentience.
T
hough I'll always have a soft spot for the original, I loved Scalzi's reimagining of it in
Fuzzy Nation
. His characters (human
and
fuzzy) have more depth than Piper's, and Jack's legal shenanigans are a delight to follow as he proves himself the
right man
to act as '
Defender general of the fuzzy nation
'. I highly recommend
Fuzzy Nation
as a
must read
for any SF fan.
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