Books : Agent to the Stars

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Author name: John Scalzi

: Agent to the Stars
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780765317711
ISBN number: 0765317710
Label: Tor Books
Manufacturer: Tor Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: October 28, 2008
Publishing house: Tor Books
Release Date: October 28, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 96445
Studio: Tor Books



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Product Description:


The space-faring Yherajk have come to Earth to meet us and to begin humanity’s very first interstellar friendship. There’s just one problem: They’re hideously ugly and they smell like rotting fish.

So getting humanity’s trust is a challenge. The Yherajk need someone who can help them close the deal.

Enter Thomas Stein, who knows something about closing deals. He’s one of Hollywood’s hottest young agents. But although Stein may have just concluded the biggest deal of his career, it’s quite another thing to negotiate for an entire alien race. To earn his percentage this time, he’s going to need all the smarts, skills, and wits he can muster.





Customer Reviews
User popularity level: out of 5 stars

Rated by buyers 4 out of 5 stars - Light Fun
The basic premise of "Agent to the Stars" is that aliens exist ... and after watching how we show them in Hollywood and elsewhere, decide they have an image problem and get an agent to introduce them to humanity. Told from the perspective of said agent, it's as light and fluffy as you would expect from that premise. The bits of the resolution that need to be handled seriously have enough grounding to work, though, and Scalzi keeps the humour flowing otherwise. It's a fun read that doesn't lag and sometimes that's enough.

[...]


Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - LOVED this book
My husband is a huge sci-fi fan, I am most definitely not. He loved this book and urged me to try it, which I reluctantly did. I didn't expect to last 5 pages. However, I could not put it down. It is a fantastic book on so many levels. I just loved it and highly recommend it to anyone. We had a library copy but this book is worth owning. I can't believe it's not in print!!! I sure hope it is reprinted soon. It is one terrific read.


Rated by buyers 4 out of 5 stars - Scalzi's very first written novel is stronger than most debuts
Tom Stein is your average up and coming Hollywood agent. He has one client, a dim witted actress who is just hitting big, and a back list of other clients who are barely worth the effort to remember their names and he would be just as happy to be rid of them for various reasons specific to each client. Tom gets his wish when his boss invites Tom into his office for a rare opportunity: The boss of the agency would like Tom to dump the bulk of his clients in order to take on a new one. While that sounds wonderful, an agent really is only as good as his client list and dumping the list is a risky move for an agent who just had his big break. But then Carl, the boss, drops the bomb. The new client is not a person. The new client is an entire alien race just making very first contact with humanity. The aliens know that the best way to be accepted by humanity is to be shown in the movies in a sympathetic way and it is an agent that can make this happen.

One more thing. The aliens do not look like lassie or ET or even like the bugs from Starship Troopers. The aliens more closely resemble a pile of jello which smells like a dog's fart. But they are very friendly and wish to, well, come in peace. These aliens learned about humanity through the signals of Hollywood movies and television shows which beamed up into space. While this has caused a problem in separating fact from fiction, it has permitted several from the gelatinous mass of alien goo to learn to speak English and communicate on a level humans can understand and appreciate. Tom Stein simply needs to figure out how to best introduce the aliens, with a spokesalien named Joshua, to the world.

This may have been John Scalzi's very first endeavor at writing a novel, but it was clear even from this fun exercise that Scalzi is a skilled writer and put together a more than competent novel with his very first effort. This explains why he was able to sell his very first effort (though he sold it second. His second written novel, Old Man's War, sold first). Agent to the Stars is a funny romp through Hollywood, the world of agents, and even to an alien spacecraft. Agent to the Stars is filled with humor, sharp dialogue, fart jokes, and even some sadness. Mostly: Joy. Joy for the reader because Agent to the Stars is pure pleasure to read, but probably also Joy for the author. Scalzi had to have a blast writing this book and coming up with an alien race which communicates by rank odors.

Agent to the Stars is the third Scalzi novel I have read, after Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades, and while it is as different from those novels as is possible in science fiction, Agent to the Stars is a delightful novel and I mean that. I felt full of delight while reading it. You should, too.

-Joe Sherry


Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - First Class First Contact Comedy
This is the very first novel written by John Scalzi but it is not his very first published work. It was written as a "training aid" in an effort to become a novelist. He offered it basically for free on the internet. Now, with the publication of subsequent novels, his very first has been offered for sale as a real book you can pick up and read. It was a worthwhile venture.

In short, it is hilarious.

The premise is of very first contact with aliens. They are hideous to look at, by human standards, and smell bad also. The aliens are worried about how they will be received by humanity. Somehow, landing on the White House lawn and saying "Take me to your leader," does not strike them as the wisest course of action. They figure they need some good PR and to make a good entrance. Since most of their knowledge of earth comes from the TV signals we've been beaming into space for decades, they decide to hire a Hollywood agent.

The book take a tongue in cheek, irreverent approach to the matter. It is filled with laughs from front to back and has an occasional poignant moment as well. Hollywood is pilloried but the politicos don't come off to well either (politicians are so minor in the book as to be almost non-existent; one of the best lines is found on the last page.) I'm sorry it sat for so long in my "to be read later" pile.

I want more.



Rated by buyers 4 out of 5 stars - Whacky fun
Tom Stein is a rising young Hollywood agent, with a few-okay, one somewhat promising client, Michelle Beck. But since he's just landed Michelle a deal for $12 million and 15% of the gross for her subsequent movie, at the moment they're both really hot.

And then Tom's boss, Carl Lupo, offers him a somewhat more unusual client. A client with a serious image problem. A truly out-of-this-world client.

Literally, as it turns out.

We're not alone in the universe, and friendly aliens are now in orbit around Earth. Unfortunately, they're shapeless, ugly blobs, and they stink. Anticipating some difficulties if they announce themselves without any preparation or expert advice, they've contact one of the most powerful agents in Hollywood-and he has now dumped the problem on Tom.

But Tom's life isn't complicated enough yet, and his hot deal for Michelle Beck, followed by the off-loading of many of his lesser clients onto a junior agent (to clear his schedule to handle our alien visitors, the Yherajk), has attracted the predatory interest of a reporter for the sleaziest scandal sheet in Hollywood, The Biz. Michelle is determined to land a role that's way beyond her abilities right now (maybe ever). The Yherajk on-planet representative has taken over the body of Tom's neighbor's dog Ralph.

And then things start to spiral completely out of control.

This is whacky, fast-paced fun, an entertaining send-up of both Hollywood and sf.

Recommended.

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