O Pioneer!

by Frederik Pohl

The overcrowded Earth isn't room enough for Evesham Giyt, a solitary and brilliant computer hacker who yearns for the long-gone frontiers of the past. Chasing stories of unspoiled beauty and endless possibility, he takes a leap across the stars to the rugged colony world of Tupelo and soon finds himself a respected member of the community and mayor of the colony's human population.

Humanity isn't the first race to colonize Tupelo: as mayor, Giyt is part of a council of races trying to peacefully coexist despite wildly disparate cultures and traditions. But as Giyt learns to like his alien neighbors, he begins to realize that his fellow humans may have other plans for Tupelo, plans that don't include peace but do include lots of dead aliens. It will be up to Giyt to crack the human conspiracy and carve out a future for all of Tupelo...before it gets him killed!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Novels, Science Fiction Fantasy, Planetary Romance, Audiobook

254 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.

Reviews

[William]

Entertaining fantasy listening 🎶🔰

Another will written fantasy world 🌎 space opera adventure thriller novel by Fredrick Pohl . About a man 🚹 and wife travelling to a far off planet too a start a new life. He is elected to 👍 be mayor of the American town. He keeps checking out what is going on?. He discovers that the company is working too take over the planet and expand into the worlds of the six other people on the planet, all ends will. I would recommend this novel and author to 👍 readers of fantasy space operas. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening to books. 2022 😮👒😀

[Kathy]

This is a thoroughly delightful adventure, a bit like a thriller but set on a foreign planet with a cast of earthlings and non-humans. It's lightweight fun, not at all serious, and that is not meant to be demeaning because O Pioneer gave me a very entertaining couple of hours.

[Elar]

Story is allegory to USA government and for me there is little bit too much of ranting, but fortunately background story about intrigues on new planet made it tolerable.

[Raja99]

Perhaps I'm being too sentimental, but I'm giving this book an extra star because it's remarkably gentle—for Pohl—and has a beautiful ending that I remember vividly.

[Amanda]

There's a new planet fit for human colonists and Evesham Giyt, a man who can build any identity and hack any system sees a new way to start over. Moving to Tupelo, a planet very similar to Hawaii on Earth with his girlfriend (now wife) Rina gives him a whole set of challenges he never expected while he ran simulations on invading Canada.

Tupelo is a unique planet -- also called the Peace Planet, 5 other races all colonized it before humans did. They formed a council to smooth over relations, and Giyt is suddenly elected Mayor of Tupelo and has to serve on the council. Meanwhile, his right-hand man Hagbarth is too helpful...

I'd never read anything by Pohl before. This was interesting! a bit more like how the Federation of Star Trek probably works --- races that barely understand each other with their translators, that don't look humanoid, that have completely unique cultures work together for a common good. Giyt is a hacker with a heart of gold, while his nemesis Hagbarth (who could mistake him for anything but a villain with that name) works behind the scenes trying to control everything. Politics, aliens, and the lesbian family next door with 5 kids (#6 on the way!). I liked pretty much everything about this, even if it was a mite predictable! Not bad for a book I snagged in Goodwill for 50c.

[Syacelion]

I wish I'd read this one when it came out, so I could have enjoyed it a bit more when some of its ideas where fresher. As it stands and as the world and its science fiction evolve, this is still pretty decent and enjoyable, tough rather standard fare. Highpoints still are the ingénu protagonist's journey, the alien characters and their cultures, and the quirks of the best automated translation programs humanity has been able to come up with to cope with interspecies communication, leading to a proliferation of such moments as a predatory-seeming creature's hissing what is translated as an ominous "survive well until nightfall!" rather than the "have a nice day" it was probably intended to be. There is still quite a bit of charm and fun left to be found here, in a science fiction novel that has perhaps aged more quickly than its ever-prolific author, the great Frederik Pohl (-look at his bibliography, ye writies, and despair!)

[Lynn DiFerdinando]

3.5- 4, I guess! Enjoyable, if not exactly high literature. The relationship between the main character and his wife is so good, for all that he says at the beginning that he married her in order to get a pass to the planet. They just feel like they love each other, without the author having to tell you so. It's nice to see. The plot is nothing to write home about, but the characters are funny, even the bad guys, and the alien species are cool and original.

[Mark Edlund]

Science Fiction
I think Pohl just sort of tossed this book off in a weekend of writing. Interesting ideas, but shallow characters and terminally predictable plot. Giyt Evesham, a computer hacker on Earth, emigrates to Tupelo, a planet claimed by five other species. He becomes mayor, a father, and a world saviour; all in just over 200 pages.
Ineresting Canadian reference - at the start of the book Evesham, for obscure reasons, wonders about the best way to invade Canada.

[Edoardo Nicoletti]

Piacevolmente lento e senza scossoni "Pionieri" si fa comunque leggere fino all'epilogo, forse un pochino frettoloso e prevedibile. Diciamo che il pregio maggiore, il vero motivo d'interesse della storia, è la descrizione delle specie aliene che popolano Tupelo, "Il Pianeta della Pace", delle loro singolari forme e consuetudini sociali e soprattutto degli equilibri di convivenza turbati evidentemente solo dalla stupidità di alcuni umani.

[John]

Not brilliant or life- changing, but nonetheless a solidly-constructed, typically satirical dystopian Frederick Pohl short novel. The principal characters are amusingly drawn: the male protagonist is sort of a cyber Stainless Steel Rat and his wife a retired whore.

(For more on Frederick Pohl, readers are directed to New Maps of Hell, a little-known lecture series by Kingsley Amis.)

[Nicholas]

Good pulp sci fi. Simplistic plot about a guy who moves with his girlfrined to a planet just being colonized. Finds out about an evil plot by the humans against the other aliens. Simplistic plot and 2D characters, but still fun.

[AJ Paris]

Not one of Pohl's best.

[Richard Gombert]

This turned out to be a good read.

[Fredrick Danysh]

Colonists from six different intellegent species live together on the planet Tupelo. Earthman Giyt is elected mayor of the humans and has to make many adjustments after a criminal life on Earth.

[Kevin English]

Funny.

[Nacho]

Wonderful book, I'm going to have to pickup some more...

[Stephen]

Good, solid Pohl. Feels kind of dated, like watching an episode of ST: TOS but still enjoyable.

[D.L. Morrese]

This is an enjoyable positive sci-fi story of alien contact.

[Conor]

Pretty pulpy, but that's not a bad thing.

[Steven Leatherwood]

I really enjoyed this book. the plot was good and ask the different aliens were week thought out.

[Fred Snyder]

It's a light-hearted, fun look at humans adapting to alien cultures. Cute.
But it gets 4 stars for predicting the "Make America Great Again" movement 20 years before it became reality.

[Donia]

Turned out not to be my type of literature genre.

[Megan]

DNS 7/15/2021

[Luca Gonella]

Bel romanzo di fantascienza, personalmente ho adorato l'ambientazione. Consigliato per una lettura non troppo impegnativa con un classico scenario extraterrestre.

[Shabnam]

Faith in humanity: Restored! I loved this book from start to finish. Thrills, comedy, and love - like a nice little Bollywood Sci-fi movie!