Synopsis
A computer hacker who is able to instantly transport himself to the planet Tupelo finds himself elected mayor of the human population and mediator among a range of disparate species
Reviews
Evesham Giyt makes a living by poaching funds from the corporations he freelances for. One day, an ad for starting a new life on the colony world of Tupelo tempts him and his girlfriend, Rina, a former hooker, to leave Earth behind. Life on the planet, settled by five different alien species, with Giyt's colony located on an archipelago set amidst gigantic oceans, seems too good to be true, and Giyt can't believe it when he's elected mayor of the humans. But the tropical bliss is just a facade, and some judicious hacking reveals that the colony's books have been cooked. Giyt risks his life to uncover the truthAthe colony is the front for an American expansionist movementAand he and Rina live happily ever after. Pohl makes some sharp satirical points here, but overall this is uninspired, if cleanly told, fare from an author who for more than 40 years has generally been producing betterAsometimes much betterAwork.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
In Wichita, Kansas, 34-year-old career computer thief and con man Evesham Giyt decides to emigrate to the colony world Tupelo with his girlfriend Rina. Tupelo is mostly water with only a few islands, andto Giyt's amazementalso harbors no fewer than five other colonies of different alien races! Giyt soon fixes Tupelo's computers and finds himself elected mayor but thereby makes an enemy of the obstructive and evasive Ex-Earth resident agent Hoak Hagbarth. At first naive and immature, Giyt learns to get along with the various ``eeties,'' who all refer to Tupelo as the Peace Planet. Hagbarth tries to pressure Giyt into grabbing control of the planet's interstellar transporter and, later, to help smuggle in forbidden weapons; when Giyt resists, Hagbarth resorts to dirty tricks. Soon, the head honchos of all the races hold a grand meeting on Tupelo. Hagbarth, Giyt suspects, is plotting something, so Giyt must use his computer skills and his good relations with the eeties to find out what it is and stop him. Pohl's yarn (The Siege of Eternity, 1997, etc.) sparkles on two levels: as an accomplished, distinctive science fiction coming-of-ager; and as a sometimes hysterically funny satire on politics in the corporate boardroom, featuring such characters as the Principal Slug, the Petty-Prime Responsible One, and the Centaurian Divinely Elected Savior (recognize anyone?). Pure pleasure: Pohl in top form. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
The invention of the Sommermen Transportation drive gives computer expert Evesham Giyt and his new wife a chance to escape Wichita and begin a new life on Tupelo, the Planet of Peace. Almost overnight, Evesham becomes mayor of Tupelo, presiding over the disputes of five species (besides humans): the Centaurs, the Kalkaboos, the Petty Primes, the Slugs, and the Delts. Here the bemused Pohl shines, giving a wonderfully alien individuality to each species; the Centaurs, who actually invented the Sommermen drive, are smarter-than-human and anteater-like; the Petty Primes, with their endless gossip, are chimpanzee-like; the Slugs are tiny beings who excel with excavation; etc. It seems Evesham has been made mayor merely to take a fall, but he is smarter than his enemies think and, with his hacking skills and great courage, defeats a renegade human plan to introduce weapons on the Planet of Peace. Evesham is a pleasant, gentle fellow, but grand master Pohl's aliens steal the show. John Mort
Ace computer hacker Evesham Giyt immigrates to the planet Tupelo with his ex-hooker wife, Rina, and stumbles into the position of mayor of a colony that includes members of four other alien races in addition to humankind. His troubles begin when he discovers a conspiracy masterminded by a coterie of xenophobic humans intent on securing control of the planet. SF grand master Pohl (The Other End of Time, LJ 9/15/96) brings the high-action, no-frills appeal of pulp sf to his latest tongue-in-cheek satire of human foibles. A good selection for large sf collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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