Author: Bud Sparhawk

ISBN: 0970971176

The following review was contributed by: Paul Lappen & CLICK TO VIEW Paul Lappen's Reviews

In the late 22nd Century, Earth's first interstellar
spaceship is involved in a collision with a much
larger vessel outside the approved travel lanes. In
its desperation to avoid the Galactic Hegemony, the
captain gives Earth a more modern ship out of its
inventory. This allows Earth to build more ships, and
explore local space. Intelligent life is pretty
common, and the only reason Earth hasn't heard about
it is their use of inefficient and outdated
electromagnetic energy for communication, instead of
the much more efficient galactic phloomb. About the
only talent humans have, according to the rest of the
galaxy, is that of negotiation and arbitration.

Sam Boone works at Earth's major spaceport, near
Trenton, New Jersey. It's there because one of the
favorite tourist destinations is the nearby city of
Hoboken (along with Disneyworld, of course). In one
story, Sam must deal with a pair of alien races who
decide to settle their differences in a professional
wrestling ring, thinking that humans also do it this
way. Another popular export for Earth is magazines of
any type. Whether it is a home and garden magazine or
a mechanical hobby magazine, the other alien races
find them absolutely hilarious. In another story, Sam
must escort a pair of aliens around Disneyworld. This
wouldn't seem so difficult, except these are group
mind aliens, where one individual inhabits 20 or 30
separate bodies. Do they get a group discount on
tickets? In each of these stories, Sam must deal with
very different cultural values, while keeping his
alien boss happy and keeping himself out of some
potentially disastrous situations.

There is a sad lack of humor in science fiction. This
book helps to fill the gap. For lighter, humorous
reading that is still well written, this is very much
worth checking out.