Cover image of "Redshirts,"an example of hilarious science fiction

Redshirts is uproariously funny all the way up until . . . well, it’s not funny anymore, just brilliant. No wonder this book won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the genre’s top prize. In fact, if there were an award for hilarious science fiction, this novel would win that one, too. In his acknowledgments, author John Scalzi goes out of his way to insist that Redshirts is not based on Stargate: Universe, the short-lived TV sci-fi series for which he served as creative consultant. Funny: I didn’t detect any resemblance to any TV sci-fi series except the original Star Trek. That resemblance is unmistakable. Even if it was unintentional on the author’s part (which I seriously doubt). John Scalzi is a very funny man. No doubt this was just another joke.

Science fiction satire at its best

Redshirts begins as a conventional science fiction adventure. The action takes place in the mid-25th century (even though most of the cultural and scientific references appear to reflect the 21st). The setting is the “Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, Flagship of the Universal Union” (read: the Starship Enterprise). The protagonist is Ensign Andrew Dahl, fresh out of the Academy when he joins the crew.

Dahl and his gang of young newcomers don’t call to mind any obvious characters in Gene Roddenberry’s classic sci-fi series Star Trek, but the same can’t be said of the ship’s senior officers: Captain Lucius Abernathy (read: Captain James Tiberius Kirk), Science Officer Q’eeng (Mr. Spock), and Chief Engineer Paul West (Scotty), in particular. You’ll also find a similar array of deadly off-world creatures, beginning with the Borgovian Land Worms in the opening chapter (which go off-script to channel the sandworms of Frank Herbert’s celebrated novel, Dune).

Redshirts: A Novel With Three Codas by John Scalzi (2012) 306 pages ★★★★★

Photo of the original cast of "Star Trek," the butt of John Scalzi's humor in this hilarious science fiction novel
Captain Kirk (seated), Mr. Spock to his left, and the others of the original cast of Star Trek on the bridge of the USS Enterprise. Image: Woman’s World

Had enough of the original Star Trek? Scalzi’s got your number.

Scalzi is particularly skillful at dialogue, which few writers truly master. (The late Elmore Leonard comes most readily to mind.) Most of the chatter that dominates Redshirts is spoken among Dahl and his four close companions, whose irreverence and wit clearly come naturally to Scalzi. Much of the novel’s humor emerges in dialogue.

Now, just in case you’re skeptical that Scalzi intends his novel to satirize Star Trek, listen to this from one of his characters: “‘You and I know that in this universe, God is a hack,” he said. “He’s a writer on an awful science fiction television show, and He can’t plot His way out of a box. How do you have faith when you know that?’”

And here, for a reference that’s even more obvious: On “‘the original Star Trek, they always had Kirk and Bones and Spock and then some poor dude in a red shirt who got vaporized before the first commercial. The moral of the story was not to wear a red shirt. Or go on away missions when you’re the only one whose name isn’t on the opening credits.’”

About the author

Photo of John Scalzi, author of this hilarious science fiction novel
John Scalzi. Image: Dayton Daily News

John Scalzi is the author of dozens of science fiction novels and short stories as well as numerous works of nonfiction. He has won a slew of awards for his work. Scalzi was born in 1969 and raised in California. He studied philosophy at the University of Chicago but left without graduating. However, years later, after he had turned to writing professionally, he completed his BA degree there. He now lives with his wife and daughter in rural Ohio.

Scalzi’s best-known works are the nine novels in the Old Man’s War series (which I disliked). He’s only 55 at this writing, so we can expect a lot more from his keyboard.

I’ve reviewed a number of other John Scalzi novels. They’re a mixed bag. And they’re certainly not all hilarious science fiction. For example, I despised The Kaiju Preservation Society (John Scalzi goes wild. Very wild.). I strongly disliked the inaugural volume in his popular Old Man’s War series: Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War #1) (A sci-fi novel that harkens back to the bad old days of the pulp magazines). But I was more encouraged by The Collapsing Empire – Interdependency #1 (A promising start to a new John Scalzi series).

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