sigel%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa (07/05/84)
From: Andrew D. Sigel <sigel%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
The final Fuzzy book written by H. Beam Piper, FUZZIES AND OTHER PEOPLE,
has just been published by Ace Books. I hope it will be the last novel
ever published about these beings; I feel certain Piper intended it to
be, just from having read it. Piper was writing a future history at the
time of his death, and the first Fuzzy novel, LITTLE FUZZY, was intended
to be a one-shot, but the little critters proved so popular that he wrote
a sequel, and, we now see, another sequel.
The novel feels right. FUZZY BONES by William Tuning, written when it
seemed that the "lost" novel would stay lost, tried very hard to capture
Piper's style and nearly succeeded, but it shifted scene too often, and
was a little too cute at times. FUZZIES AND OTHER PEOPLE also
continues the story from the end of FUZZY SAPIENS, and does so in a way
that works better, given the characters as presented. Piper does take a
few easy ways out, and the plot really isn't much to hang a book on, but
I have always wanted to see how Piper would handle scenes that just had
Fuzzies against the wilderness (as in the Ardath Mayhar book GOLDEN DREAM),
so I guess I'm satisfied.
I suppose the thing I'm least happy with is Piper's final conclusion of
the sapience level of Fuzzies. When all is said and done, I prefer
Tuning's explanation, especially as it fits so nicely with the titanium
requirement in the Fuzzy diet. It does have to come from somewhere, and
Piper shouldn't have failed to explain it.
If you've read any of the other Fuzzy books, you should get this one.
If you haven't, I'd start with LITTLE FUZZY first. It's too bad that
Piper isn't around to enjoy his success; Ace Books is making a mint off
it, and if he'd known what would happen, maybe he would have kept writing
instead of committing suicide.
Andrew D. Sigel
(with regards to Andrew B. Siegel)kcarroll@utzoo.UUCP (Kieran A. Carroll) (07/11/84)
* From what I've read from various sources, I gather that the reason that Piper suicided (or at least the proximate one) was that he was broke, and had a philosophical objection against going on welfare for a living. The reason that he was broke, was that his literary agent had died, and not left any records to show whether Piper was owed any money. Piper thought that his stories were no longer selling, that he was a failure. In fact, Piper's agent had sold several of his novels to Analog (I think) before dying; he just didn't let Piper know about it. So, if Piper had known about how successful he in fact was, he might never have felt despondent enough to take his option. Personally, I think that this is one of the greatest tragedies in the SF circle. Piper was a great writer, and but for an unlikely turn of fate, he might still have been with us. -Kieran A. Carroll ...decvax!utzoo!kcarroll