The one where Marco gets a haircut.

And we discover yet another random alien species that’s been living among us all along.

It’s an interesting book, digging (if less than it could) into ideas like radical pacifism, free will, and the domestication of modern dogs. All with the trademark Marco snark as the point of view.

“English paper?” Jake asked as he sat down across from me.

“Yeah.”

He laughed. “You’re good for me, Marco. Compared to you, I’m so responsible. You have a topic?”

I looked up at him and thumped my finger down on the paper. “I’ve already written three pages. What do you mean, do I have a topic?”

But Jake knows me. “So,” he said. “Do you have a topic?”

“A topic will . . . emerge. I’m going to just write until I discover a topic. The topic will rise from these pages. It will reveal itself to me. I just have to keep writing.”

He nodded and made a face at the Goo of the Day on his tray. “This food is blue. Food should not be blue. Hey, here’s a topic for you - the use of total bull in the writing of English papers.”

I grinned. “I am the master of bull. Three pages so far and I haven’t actually said a single thing.”

I don’t particular remember if/when we see the Chee (spoilers!) again, but if we do, I’m looking forward to it. There’s a lot left on the floor here.

One of my favorites so far.

Random thoughts (spoilers):

“She said, ‘They won’t take you if you stay away from the military.’ It didn’t make any sense. But the way she said it. . . like it was the hardest thing she’d ever said . . . like it was the most important thing she’d ever said.”

Also don’t be an Assistant Principal. Or basketball star.

Yeah. That’s still weird. At least Marco’s dad would make sense as a target.

“No, no, of course not. We have never interfered in human affairs. I was a slave. I helped to quarry the stone. It was a challenge, because I was new at pretending to be human. I had to hide my real strength, of course. The Pemalite home world had a gravity four times stronger than Earth’s. Naturally, we were designed for that gravity, which means we are quite powerful by human standards.”

It’s such a common point of view in stories that it’s become if anything a touch boring. I guess it’s better than saying ‘yeah and then we caused the rise of Hitler and World War II’ that tends to plague hidden world stories.

Dated references:

Minor at best.

“Nine Inch Nails. Alanis. Offspring,” I said.

I remember NIN being ‘Nice Is Neat’ at some point, but we’re not there. Formed in 1988 and big in the early 90s, but apparently… they’re still occasionally performing (in 2022 for the first time in 4 years) and releasing albums (Ghosts V and VI in 2020).

Likewise, Alanis I’m assuming is Alanis Morissette, who got big in the early 90s and released Jagged Little Pill a bit before this book came out… and released her most recent album in 2022.

The Offspring too are still around apparently (formed in 1984, gone through a number of members), although they lost their most recent drummer in 2021 after his doctor recommended against the COVID-19 vaccine.

So I guess I’m the one that’s dated here.