O Pioneer! - Softcover

Pohl, Frederik

3.54

195 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812545443 ISBN 13: 9780812545449

Publisher: Tor Science Fiction, 1999

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The overcrowded Earth isn't room enough for Evesham Giyt, a solitary and brilliant computer hacker who yearns for the long-gone frontiers of the past. Chasing stories of unspoiled beauty and endless possibility, he takes a leap across the stars to the rugged colony world of Tupelo and soon finds himself a respected member of the community and mayor of the colony's human population.

Humanity isn't the first race to colonize Tupelo: as mayor, Giyt is part of a council of races trying to peacefully coexist despite wildly disparate cultures and traditions. But as Giyt learns to like his alien neighbors, he begins to realize that his fellow humans may have other plans for Tupelo, plans that don't include peace but do include lots of dead aliens. It will be up to Giyt to crack the human conspiracy and carve out a future for all of Tupelo...before it gets him killed!

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About the Author:

Frederik Pohl has won all the major awards in the field of science fiction, including three Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards, both for Best Novel; the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, also for Best Novel; he was accorded the accolade of Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. He's also won three Hugo awards as editor of the best magazine. He edited the groundbreaking Star Science Fiction series of original-story anthologies. He and his wife, educator and political activist Elizabeth Anne Hull, live in Palatine, Illinois.

From Kirkus Reviews:

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.

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