Science Fiction book, the only human on a space station dedicated to commerce. /s

[Zoey]

I read this book at my aunt's house about a decade ago, but it was much older than that (I believe).

The main gist of the story is this: the main character is the only human on a galactic space station peopled by thousands of different species. As the only human, he's treated with quite a bit of scorn. Everything is flipped on it's ear when a generational spaceship, peopled by humans, show up, and he falls in love with one of the crew.

The novel's style is "old school" science fiction with blaster pistols and such. In fact, if my recollection is right, the novel is less about the technology and more simply about being a person in a place where you're completely unique.

The big plot point that I remember is that the station, and the entire universe, is dedicated to COMMERCE. The central line of the plot is that the entire galaxy has shrugged off war through the ties of commerce, that nobody wants to start a war and be cut off from the market, and nobody can fight anyone else without destroying their own markets.

The station itself is incredibly ancient, and some of the plot is based on the fact that nobody in the upper classes really knows the deeper bits of the station (our human friend, as the street urchin type, knows all the vent ducts and whatnot).

I don't remember the rest for sure, which is why I want to read it. I think there's a war, and the station is unprepared for it because war was unthinkable; the only people who can save the day are the everready warlike humans and the main character leads the charge... although frankly that plot point is so trite I could have got it mixed up with something else.

Unfortunately, I recognized the book by it's cover, full of strange critters with a central human being, and never bothered to remember the title or the author.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Retread Shop Can I say--it took me a minute or two to remember this title. Fortunately, I had it in my library, so found it quickly. Not too many people are familiar with this little gem, but hope you enjoy re-reading it.

[Zoey]

HECK YES! Thank you very much!