OTOH, it is Scalzi.

OTGH, in a similar thread some years ago I said the same sort of optimistic thing about Brin and Benford and their forthcoming Foundation books. . .

I would respectfully, but strenuously, disagree with this. What Scalzi does is turn Piper’s theme inside out. The new book’s theme is, more or less, “Everybody’s a bastard. Even good people can be trusted to betray their principles if manipulated well enough, and sometimes that’s just what the nominal ‘good guys’ need.”

It’s a fun read while it lasts, but when you hit the end and realize that there are no more reversals waiting in the wings, it becomes more problematic. At least for me.

(The Wikipedia entry for Little Fuzzy says that there’s yet another sequel coming out this spring, in addition to the Scalzi reboot.)

Disclaimer: I finished reading Fuzzy Nation yesterday (just before John’s signing at Borderlands in SF) — for the second time. Am perhaps a bit biased on the subject.

        - CJH / esper

I read Fuzzy Nation as fast as I could download the Kindle edition, having been waiting anxiously (in both senses of the word) to see it. There was no doubt in my mind it would be masterfully written, and it is.

Less than a fourth of the way into the book, however, I became a little worried. it was beginning to read like someone skillful had deliberately rewritten Little Fuzzy to be a more palatable sale for a movie. The protagonist had changed from a crotchety-but-lovable old coot to a young bad-boy type who was improbably multi-talented as a sunstone prospector and a lawyer. This, of course, made it possible for him to be involved in the inevitable love triangle with the lady scientist and the slick-Willie company lawyer. Little Fuzzy himself became Papa Fuzzy with his own brood including mischievous boy and cute baby, who still don’t quite grab me the way the original Fuzzy family does. Instead of Victor Grego (one of the best “villains” in SF, IMHO) we get the currently-trendy villainy of a truly dimwitted and unredeemably rotten scion of a massive corporate family — somebody straight out of a current movie about Wall Street. I was scared to go on.

Go on I did, and glad I did, too. Scalzi pulls it out, and in unexpected ways. The ending begs for a sequel, of course — but that’s no surprise. It still comes off a little more Hollywood than it could have, but it is a fine read and worthy of the memory of the man who originated the tale. It can never replace Little Fuzzy in my heart, but it earned its place on my virtual bookshelf.

Speaking as someone who’d never read Piper before…Scalzi’s announcement got me to buy and read Piper’s original book. And I’ll likely buy and read the follow-ons. Piper’s name is not a well-known one these days. Fuzzy Nation has brought him some much-deserved attention. If for no other reason, this project is good on that merit alone.

http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B004YXLK7G

Surely there is a better word than one that implies criminality?

And great fun it is, too. Scalzi has his snark on, and this Jack Holloway is not much like the original, but that’s okay. It is enjoyable to see the difference between 60s sensibility, and ours.

–Jerry

I also couldn’t quite figure out where this book was in the series, and was pleasantly surprised that it was a retelling of the Little Fuzzy book. It also reads like a lot of soft thrillers and mysteries, and Travis McGee is a great comparison though Halloway is not a tough or morally compromised.

I went to Amazon and ordered three other books by Scalzi, who I had not read before this. That’s a pretty good recommendation from me.