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Overview
A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most…unusual…way. To avoid war, Earth’s government must find an equally unusual object: A type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony.
To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinaire, who with the help of Brian Javna, a childhood friend turned artificial intelligence, scours the earth looking for the rare creature. And they find it, in the unknowing form of Robin Baker, pet store owner, whose genes contain traces of the sheep DNA.
But there are others with plans for the sheep as well: Mercenaries employed by the military. Adherents of a secret religion based on the writings of a 21st century science fiction author. And alien races, eager to start a revolution on their home world and a war on Earth.
To keep our planet from being enslaved, Harry will have to pull off the greatest diplomatic coup in history, a grand gambit that will take him from the halls of power to the lava-strewn battlefields of alien worlds. There's only one chance to get it right, to save the life of Robin Baker — and to protect the future of humanity.
Synopsis
The new SF novel from the author of Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades
Publishers Weekly
Scalzi's swashbuckling satire of interstellar diplomacy (after 2005's Old Man's War) stars Harry Creek, a low-level State Department deliverer of bad news to alien ambassadors to Earth who's also a war hero and a computer genius. When Earth faces destruction over a diplomatic faux pas with the Nidu alien race, Harry must find and deliver the Android's Dream, an electric-blue breed of sheep, to the Nidu for their coronation ceremony. Dodging Defense Department assassins and Nidu space marines, Harry and Robin Baker, a pet shop owner with sheep DNA in her genes, flee Earth and find their own way to attend the Nidu crowning. Also on the quest for the sheep are disciples of the Church of the Evolved Lamb-founded by an early 21st-century SF writer of "modest talents." With plenty of alien gore to satisfy fans of military SF and inventive jabs at pretend patriotism and self-serving civil service, Scalzi delivers an effervescent but intelligent romp. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewWhat do alien-killing flatulence, humans bio-engineered with the DNA of farm animals, the apostle Ted Nugent, and a bogus religion founded by a struggling science fiction writer have in common? They're all fundamental elements of John Scalzi's newest novel, an uproarious comedy about an imminent interplanetary war between mankind and a race of manipulative reptilian humanoids. The Android's Dream proves once and for all that while Scalzi may have a multitude of bats in his belfry, he is an incomparable storytelling genius. A dramatic departure from Scalzi's earlier, more conventional works (Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades), The Android's Dream is a satirical tour de force that mixes military sci fi with space opera parody. The Nidu are a sentient, lizard-like race of traders who have been taking advantage of humankind's benevolence for generations. After a Nidu trade representative mysteriously dies during negotiations (killed by an inaudible discharge of human intestinal gas), a diplomatic crisis ensues that brings the two civilizations to the verge of all-out war. The only man who can divert the pointless death of millions of innocents is Horatio "Harry" Creek, an enigmatic war hero whose mission is as bizarre as it is impossible: to track down a rare breed of sheep used in the Nidu's coronation ceremony. The novel's very first sentences give readers a good indication of the sidesplitting antics to come: "Dirk Moeller didn't know if he could fart his way into a major diplomatic incident. But he was ready to find out." Fans of authors with twisted senses of humor -- like Terry Pratchett, Paul Di Filippo, Cory Doctorow, et al. -- will absolutely be delighted by The Android's Dream. Isaac Asimov meets Monty Python's Flying Circus. (Scratch-and-sniff editions are, thankfully, not available.) Paul Goat Allen
From the Publisher
"Gripping and surpassingly original. It's Starship Troopers without the lectures. It's The Forever War with better sex. It's funny, it's sad, and it's true." —Cory Doctorow on Old Man's War"Astonishingly proficient…This virtuoso debut pays tribute to SF's past while showing that well-worn tropes still can have real zip when they're approached with ingenuity." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Old Man's War
"Solid…[Scalzi] sidesteps most of the cliches of military science fiction, delivers fast-paced scenes of combat and pays attention to the science underpinning his premise." —San Francisco Chronicle on Old Man's War
"Smartly conceived and thoroughly entertaining, Old Man's War is a splendid novel." —Cleveland Plain Dealer