Fuzzy Nation

by John Scalzi

Jack Holloway

Borrowed from CLP on 4/16/23, after enjoying The Kaiju Preservation Society (2022) in 2022. Renewed on An acclaimed modern sci-fi writer adds depth and unexpected poignancy to a “reboot” of H. Beam Piper’s classic 1962 novel Little Fuzzy. Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-scalzi/fuzzy-nation/ https://www.wired.com/2011/05/fuzzy-nation-by-john-scalzi-review/ Amusing from the start. Scalzi’s imagination scintillates throughout. Personalities, legal argument, faux science and history, real politics, alien planet’s flora and fauna, etc.; and, like The Kaiju Preservation Society (2022), it becomes a thriller mystery for the last third, but with courtroom drama / farce instead of mayhem. reviewed here by me: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4742759312 Holloway may be a selfish jerk, but he’s an endearing jerk with underlying flashes of ethical imperative (ambiguous - always a selfish motive exists alongside the altruistic) and a great sense of humor. And he loves dogs. One lack: the environmentalism is about despoliation and abuse due to seeking “the petroleum that humans had long ago exhausted on their own world” - does not account for the climate devastation wrought by burning fossil fuels. SKILL [this paragraph contains SPOILERS related to the incidents described]: using small factual points more than once, weaving them into the story at different times to great effect. For instance, the expensive sound system in Jack’s skimmer becomes crucial to saving Jack’s life from predators; teaching Carl the dog to push the detonator on the explosive charges is a recurrent joke, sometimes offered as evidence of Jack’s scofflaw attitude, and ultimately as a symbol of Fuzzy Nation independence; the non-sex of the Fuzzies is characteristic of mammals on Zara Twenty-three, but not noticed immediately by Isabel; the ability of Zara Twenty-three fauna (and dogs) to hear at higher frequencies than humans surfaces to explain why they have not communicated with the humans, and; the accidental presence on the planet of a supernumerary PhD in xenolinguistics, he is therefore available as an expert at the sentience hearing; readjusting the cabin’s security camera to watch outdoors is used later to film the murder of two Fuzzies and an arson 220; another surveyor, illiterate, uses a children’s reading primer, that is found later and used by the Fuzzies to learn English; the bad guy shouts at a Fuzzy loudly, so that later, the Fuzzy can identify the man by his voice; training video of the zararaptors in action later used to convince tour company tours are not a good idea. ISSUES: Will anyone care about the ecological despoilage of worlds they would never actually set foot on? 16 Greenwashing Even when the laws are good (here, strong and enlightened regulation of colonial activity), humans will find a way to be cruel, selfish, and wicked. WISDOM: “Well, life is like that sometimes,” Isabel said. “We learn things too late, and then we don’t get to use them.” 53, Jack’s principal flaw: “Well, I think that’s the thing,” Holloway said. “I think it’s clear that sometimes I just don’t think.” “I think you do,” Sullivan said. “It’s just you think about you first.” 138. Better to be a monkey and not be able to understand what’s been taken from you, than to be a man and be able to understand all too well—and be helpless to stop it. 165 ETHICS: Is it ok to lie under oath for someone (that doesn’t hurt other people, but is a lie nonetheless) who is a close friend? Which is the ethical decision? To protect the ffied. to tell the truth? p. 99-100 Part what she said to save his livelihood? Not so sure. Punching a security officer for trying to kill him? Sure. Punching a client in court who was laughing at the parents of his victims? Not so sure, as it caused a mistrial, and hence was a disbarment offense. Should have waited and punched him privately after the trial. A victim’s grandfather shooting the defendant on the courthouse steps? Well, he was old and had stage 4 cancer; the other victim gsm8lies our up bail, and the D.A. dragged his feet in the murder trial until the old man died at home. As Jack said, p. 137, “sometimes it feels good to do the wrong thing.” Crux: “You have the power to get the right ruling here for everyone.” “Sure,” Holloway said. “And all I have to do is make Isabel look like a fool.” “Not to put too fine a point on it, Holloway, but you’ve done that before, haven’t you?” Landon said, nodding at Bourne. “Mr. Bourne here tells us that you sold her out before during an inquiry. She said you taught your dog to blow things up. You called her a liar. You didn’t have a problem with it then, when the only thing at stake was your surveyor contract.” p. 160 Why can’t a person have mixed motives? What does that do to the ethical analysis? “Whether for your own selfish reasons or not, you did the right thing.” p. 207 The problem with mixed motives is the law of unintended consequences. 224 Sometimes perjury is justified. CATCH PHRASES: “Disbarred,” Meyer said. “Not for not knowing the law,” Holloway said. “You’re late.” “Don’t like you” “Apologies, Your Honor,”

Carl.

Haha

acoustical blasting putty.

Haha

Haha

Zarathustra Corporation

Haha

zararaptor bone,

Haha - from the Kaiju Preservation Society?

Haha

Haha - of course. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

ZaraCorp had been working hard over the last few years to reverse the long-standing public image the company had as a rampant despoiler of nature—earned, to be sure, by actually despoiling nature on a number of planets it had operations on.

ZaraCorp’s Exploration & Exploitation charter with the Colonial Administration

decades before anyone cared about the ecological despoilage of worlds they would never actually set foot on.

Chad Bourne,

the skimmer’s one true indulgence: a spectacular sound system.

Haha

Haha - instruments and data vs. local human observation with motivation and bias.

Haha

Haha

Haha - I suspect she’ll surface as an important character in the novel.

Joe DeLise.

Haha

This was the original jellyfish burial ground, my friend.”

the “Goldilocks zone” that made liquid water possible and life therefore an inevitability.

ZaraCorp’s E & E charter

Exploration & Exploitation

the petroleum that humans had long ago exhausted on their own world.

sunstones:

thermoluminescent.

the corporation had taken the lessons of the old diamond cartels to heart, positioning sunstones as the rarest of all possible gems:

I was a lawyer in my past life, you know.”

Haha

“Yeah, and you were disbarred,” he said. “Not because I didn’t know the law,”

Haha

Greene versus Winston.”

Holloway couldn’t see it, but he knew Bourne had stiffened in his chair. Greene v. Winston were fighting words at ZaraCorp because, among other things, the decision had sent Wheaton Aubrey V, ZaraCorp’s previous Chairman and CEO, to San Quentin for seven years.

Haha

Point 25 per cent. Thus the point 4 percent negotiated is way valuable.

Haha

Haha

“Well,” Holloway said. “We’ve done all the damage we’re going to do around here for today. Let’s go home.”

small sunstone patch

anthracite coal,

rockwood tree

The fences usually held. It was rare these days to lose an intern to a zararaptor. But fear was a fine motivator.

Haha

Haha

Or maybe a skimmer come and gone?

Haha

Haha

Haha - like I feel when I drop my iPad. Doesn’t he have shock-absorbent covers for his infopanels? Question

little fuzzy

Haha - the name of Piper’s 1962 novel.

for some reason, the creature interested him.