Chess With a Dragon

Fermi was wrong. The stars are crowded with sapient aliens, and we are the new kids on the block, or more precisely, the new chumps in the game.

Most of the aliens are insectoid and reptilian. A few are microscopic hive minds. Don’t mess with them. Our monkey ancestors got a chance when the dinos got wiped out, but that did not happen in most star systems. In most of the galaxy, critters like us are stupid prey animals.

A new space-faring species like ours inevitably incurs big debts by downloading stuff from the galactic library. But smiling aliens will assume the debt for a price. Our babies are tasty morsels, after all.

Gerrold is the guy who gave us The Trouble with Tribbles, so be ready for the twists.

Interesting. Dated. Definitely part of the in media res school of sci-fi writing, so it took more than a minute to figure out what was going on.

"K!rikkl polished its mandibles slowly while it considered the layout of the game board. There was much too much at stake and there were far too many unanswered questions. Perhaps it had been a mistake to accept this invitation."

Part of the story takes place among a team of Earthers who have realized their library bill has come due. Part of the story involves some complicated politics among one of the races that has offered to pay the Earth bill, as long as Earth is willing to sign a contract and send them a few hundred people every so often (for food or egg-hosts; dealer's choice). This is, of show more course, intolerable, so the Earth people meet and brainstorm, do some more research, then meet again. It reminds me of sci-fi movies that go back and forth between scenes so that it doesn't seem like everyone is just talking and arguing all the time.

Despite the creative aliens, there isn't much change for the humans. It is a strange thing to be catapulted a couple centuries into the future without any sort of cultural shift, although it seems Earth is just one big U.N. now (ha! That's how we know it is centuries in the future). Although it is worth noting this line:
"Secretaries of all four sexes moved quietly around the edges of the room, gathering up the debris of previous confrontations and handing out weaponry for the next"

This is among Earthers, mind you. Kudos for Gerrold.

The plot twists are interesting, and the resolution was clever. Incidentally, a dragon appears in the story: "The Dragons were the oldest and most successful member species in InterChange history. The Dragons had personally retired over three hundred and twelve other species."

Gerrold will go in the files as one of the few writers than can do a decent alien species.

Overall, fun, a little tiring because the world-building felt a bit more lavish on the aliens than on the humans, and it took awhile to see how the two connected. And the aliens were, frankly, not lovable, while good ol' humanity was just out to learn and meet other races. All very Star Trek of them. Except, of course, that mammalian species were the distinct minority among the Universe's beings.

Recommended for fans of classic sci-fi, or those who want a quick story, where "the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri." show less

I’ve not read anything by this author before, but his name came up in a Worldcon discussion panel and his work sounded interesting. If I had to categorise this short book, I’d call it something like “SF political tactics”, which I guess follows on from the title. The plot is about humans trying to get themselves out of a hole they’ve dug themselves into, after naively trusting the alien species they’ve met.

This book was first published in 1987. It feels a bit dated, but still quite readable. We’re not reading for the characters, but to unravel a puzzle. Each section provides clues (to the reader, at least). The hapless humans don’t have the advantage of knowing who’s lying, obfuscating or telling the truth… and the show more fate of humanity depends on navigating through this mess.

Overall, a fun read, and I’ll go and look at the author’s other works. show less

Future Earthlings are having a dilemma. They've entered a galactic society, but incurred quite a large debt in access fees to the Library. It may or may not be the case that they were tricked into incurring that debt by the alien species who had been their guides to navigation in this society. Either way, the only option for getting out of debt is basically selling the population of Earth into slavery. Several species of alien are making offers, mostly wanting the ape-descended humans as food or incubators for their eggs. There's also a sub-plot following an other alien species who is indentured to a race of sentient trees and are also trying to get out of their contracts.
I would consider this as more of a thought experiment than a show more novel with a captivating plot. The intrigue comes from the structure of this galactic society and the political machinations of its denizens. As such, there are quite a few plot holes and some pretty incomprehensible leaps. However, I did find it entertaining and not a slog. show less