TITLE: Year Zero
AUTHOR: Rob Reid
YEAR: 2012
IS THIS SF?
YES—Essentially an alien contact story, with interfering aliens and their technology, methods of instantly moving from one part of the galaxy to another, life-like holographic projections, aliens of strange design and proportions, etc.
PJE SYNOPSIS
The re-hashed idea that Aliens are overwhelmed by the Music of Earth, but the twist for this plot is that they owe us Royalties for billions of unliscensed plays throughout the perpetuity of the known universe.
REALLY A MUSICIAN?
No, there are no musician-protagonists, though bands and tunes of varying degrees of popularity are referenced. The protagonist is name Nick Carter. The two alien interlopers are named Carly and Frampton, if that helps
WHY A MUSICIAN?
Musicians are the generators of the commodity in question, and as such are not to be given a place in the story.
RECOMMENDED?
NO, though parts are funny, it reads largely as a thought-experiment for intellectual-property lawyers, full of the requisite inside jokes and navel-gazings, and as such can be skipped. Michael Gruber’s The Book of Air and Shadows is much more successful, and entertaining, in this regard. Though promoted as such, the humor and absurdity of this book come nowhere near the levels and zaniness of Douglas Adams.