Used Aliens by M. Sid Kelly

[Paul269]

M. Sid Kelly is a fish biologist from Humboldt County, California. He served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali, West Africa from 1992 to 1994; and formerly worked in the federal endangered species program on Pacific salmon. For the past nine years he has specialized in helping agencies and contractors build bridges over rivers while avoiding impacts to fish etcetera. M. – as he is known to no one – enjoys tidepooling, making nature videos, collecting things that are in/on the ground (fossils mostly), travelling, and observing how awesome his wife and daughter are. And he has the best dog ever (don’t argue).
“Used Aliens” is a science fiction fantasy that goes deeper and further than most and is apparently Kelly’s debut work. I recommend it broadly for all science fiction / alien lovers.

From the e-dust cover: this book containts 103,000 words (only 8 of which are the F-word). Dluhosh leads an elite team of six alien species on a mission to determine whether Earth qualifies for inclusion in the Galactic Pool. They soon realize that the planet should have been ruled out when it was first discovered. The team is being used, and they know it. But motivated by personal ambitions, they begin manipulating Earthlings anyway. It’s always fun until someone crashes.

Used Aliens is a satirical comedy about bad behavior on a planetary scale, political conspiracy on a galactic scale, and careless science on a universal scale.

This was a bit of an odd ball to start with because the first part of the book did not fit with the description and I was questioning whether something odd was going on. I am, though, very happy that I continued through the book because it became hilarious. There is a little bit of everything in this book and it is well thought through on many levels but the punchiest part for me were some of the slapstick comedy sections which got me some strange looks on the train as I laughed my way between stations! This book is well worth making the initial trek which actually sets the scene quite well.
Kelly clearly has some smarts that he has communicated through the medium of a science fiction book. These include evolutionary theories, panspermian hypothesis, a general ufological knowledge and a sarcastic chip on his shoulder that would unbalance the very best tailored suits. There are so many different thoughts in this excellent book that a full review would almost be as lengthy as the book itself. This is a work of splendid quality and is recommended for anyone who loves galactic scale conspiracy and stupidity and a side splitting comedy that is also relatively scientifically sound. Well done to M. Sid Kelly on a splendid effort.