What do you think?
Rate this book
Scum of the Earth
Ezra Barker is a traitor. When the Merg invaded Earth, he didn’t fight or even hide. He cooperated, helping them as they seized control of the planet and began their pillaging of its resources. While others toil away in mines and quarries, Ezra works an office job, helping his boss, The Senator, rule over the swath of territory given to her by the Merg.Sergeant Hayes is a brutal enforcer of the Merg’s rules. As an officer in the Health and Safety Department, he follows Merg orders, arresting, interrogating, and executing at their command.With collaborators like Barker, The Senator, and Hayes, the Merg are strip mining Earth, slaughtering its people, and destroying anyone who opposes them. The skies are gray, the air is poison, and the Merg seem invincible.But there are others still fighting back.
328 pages, Paperback
Published January 20, 2024
8 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 31, 2024
I've seen a lot of discussion on whether it's inappropriate to rate your own book on Goodreads and my response is:
PEW PEW!
5 STARS!
PEW PEW!
WHEEEEEEEE!
PEW PEW!
5 STARS!
PEW PEW!
WHEEEEEEEE!
January 24, 2024
This was a lot of fun. I bought it because the author talked about it on John Scalzi's blog, Whatever, and it piqued my interest.
The premise is that aliens conquered the earth two years ago. In such stories, we usually read about the scrappy heroes fighting back, forming the resistance, dying as bravely as they live. Ezra Barker didn't do that. He works for one of the humans who is working with the aliens. He's a collaborator, the scum of the earth.
He works for the Senator, one of the few surviving members of what used to be the US government. He's an aide, which means he basically does all the work and tells her what she needs to say in meetings. He forges her signature, a signature that condemns people to death.
Barker is not a bad person. Neither is the Senator, in her own mind. She is convinced both that people love her and that they hate her. She doesn't have a problem with that. Barker is your basic bean counter/policy wonk. He is obviously "on the spectrum," which shows itself in ways such as associating a particular color with a particular day of the week and having to wear the appropriate color in order to be functional.
Barker falls into the hands of the resistance and, with his knowledge, manages to keep himself alive, feeding the scrappy human heroes information as he used to do for the Senator.
It's refreshing to read a book about a basic schmuck. Barker is very easy to identify with. He does what he has to do in order to survive and doesn't think very hard about the consequences to others. As the Muses sing in Hadestown, "what'cha gonna do when the chips are down, now that the chips are down?"
I would never had picked up this book if it hadn't been spotlighted on the blog. I tend to read primarily female and non-white authors. After I finished the book, I discovered that this was not the first book by Kane I had read. I also had listed to an Audible audiobook of his, Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection, another fun book with bean counters.
The premise is that aliens conquered the earth two years ago. In such stories, we usually read about the scrappy heroes fighting back, forming the resistance, dying as bravely as they live. Ezra Barker didn't do that. He works for one of the humans who is working with the aliens. He's a collaborator, the scum of the earth.
He works for the Senator, one of the few surviving members of what used to be the US government. He's an aide, which means he basically does all the work and tells her what she needs to say in meetings. He forges her signature, a signature that condemns people to death.
Barker is not a bad person. Neither is the Senator, in her own mind. She is convinced both that people love her and that they hate her. She doesn't have a problem with that. Barker is your basic bean counter/policy wonk. He is obviously "on the spectrum," which shows itself in ways such as associating a particular color with a particular day of the week and having to wear the appropriate color in order to be functional.
Barker falls into the hands of the resistance and, with his knowledge, manages to keep himself alive, feeding the scrappy human heroes information as he used to do for the Senator.
It's refreshing to read a book about a basic schmuck. Barker is very easy to identify with. He does what he has to do in order to survive and doesn't think very hard about the consequences to others. As the Muses sing in Hadestown, "what'cha gonna do when the chips are down, now that the chips are down?"
I would never had picked up this book if it hadn't been spotlighted on the blog. I tend to read primarily female and non-white authors. After I finished the book, I discovered that this was not the first book by Kane I had read. I also had listed to an Audible audiobook of his, Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection, another fun book with bean counters.
March 3, 2024
3.5 stars for a fun dark satire about a post-alien-invasion America, and the people who collaborate with the evil oppressors.
Full review on the podcast, SFBRP episode #535:
Luke talks to Juliane about Scum of the Earth, the new Audible Original by Alexander C Kane about alien invasion collaborators.
https://www.sfbrp.com/archives/2184
Full review on the podcast, SFBRP episode #535:
Luke talks to Juliane about Scum of the Earth, the new Audible Original by Alexander C Kane about alien invasion collaborators.
https://www.sfbrp.com/archives/2184
March 6, 2025
Strong 4, almost a 5
June 16, 2024
SCUM OF THE EARTH by Alexander C. Kane is a fascinating humor novel because it deals with some incredibly dark subject matter in a way that is never not fun or entertaining. Basically, it deals with Earth having been occupied by alien invaders and has its protagonist be the most repulsive sort of individual in fiction: the collaborator. Very rarely do we have these kinds of characters as anything other than scum and I recall Gaius Baltar as one of the rare individuals who is. Well, Captain Renault from Casablanca also qualifies but you need Claude Rains inhuman levels of charm to pull that off.
Ezra Barker was a senator’s aide when the Merg, a race of alien insectoids, conquered the planet within a few days. He was forcibly recruited into their bureaucracy by the Merg after his boss, The Senator (which becomes her title and name throughout the book), saves his life by saying he’s with her. Ezra becomes her primary handler of paperwork ranging from managing the slave mines, signing off on executions, and generally trying to keep his head down by doing whatever the Merg want.
Needless to say, Ezra is not a good person and he’s well aware of it. About his only redeeming feature is that he doesn’t exalt in the fact he has a nice apartment or the other meager perks of his jobs like not being sent into a labor camp. Indeed, he is an intensely lonely individual that spends most of his evenings looking across the street at the girl who brushes her hair in his window. Which isn’t creepy at all, no sir.
Contrasting Ezra are two other collaborators in The Senator and Sergeant Hayes. The Senator is an opportunist narcissist who deludes herself into believing every single promise the Merg make even as she also knows they’re all lies simultaneously. Very 1984. What really matters is whatever benefits her in the moment. Sergeant Hayes, by contrast, is a true believer. Having betrayed his closest friends, he clings to the delusion that the Merg will bring an age of utopian prosperity once they’ve accomplished their goals.
We get to meet the resistance too, which isn’t necessarily that much better than the opposite. Reconquest wants to restore humanity to rulership of the Earth but they can’t actually do anything meaningful and just cause endless retaliations against civilians. Worse, plenty of them take a glee in killing “collaborators” even when said individuals are just truck drivers or otherwise people who just want to save themselves or their families from being killed.
The fact this book is a comedy and not just a comedy but a gut-bustingly hilarious one is a testament to the comedic skills of Alexander C. Kane. It deals with some genuine moral issues with no clear answer nor does it portend to give any. It draws from things like Battlestar Galactica, They Live, and real life history to make a fascinating story. In any case, I for one welcome our new insect overlords.
Ezra Barker was a senator’s aide when the Merg, a race of alien insectoids, conquered the planet within a few days. He was forcibly recruited into their bureaucracy by the Merg after his boss, The Senator (which becomes her title and name throughout the book), saves his life by saying he’s with her. Ezra becomes her primary handler of paperwork ranging from managing the slave mines, signing off on executions, and generally trying to keep his head down by doing whatever the Merg want.
Needless to say, Ezra is not a good person and he’s well aware of it. About his only redeeming feature is that he doesn’t exalt in the fact he has a nice apartment or the other meager perks of his jobs like not being sent into a labor camp. Indeed, he is an intensely lonely individual that spends most of his evenings looking across the street at the girl who brushes her hair in his window. Which isn’t creepy at all, no sir.
Contrasting Ezra are two other collaborators in The Senator and Sergeant Hayes. The Senator is an opportunist narcissist who deludes herself into believing every single promise the Merg make even as she also knows they’re all lies simultaneously. Very 1984. What really matters is whatever benefits her in the moment. Sergeant Hayes, by contrast, is a true believer. Having betrayed his closest friends, he clings to the delusion that the Merg will bring an age of utopian prosperity once they’ve accomplished their goals.
We get to meet the resistance too, which isn’t necessarily that much better than the opposite. Reconquest wants to restore humanity to rulership of the Earth but they can’t actually do anything meaningful and just cause endless retaliations against civilians. Worse, plenty of them take a glee in killing “collaborators” even when said individuals are just truck drivers or otherwise people who just want to save themselves or their families from being killed.
The fact this book is a comedy and not just a comedy but a gut-bustingly hilarious one is a testament to the comedic skills of Alexander C. Kane. It deals with some genuine moral issues with no clear answer nor does it portend to give any. It draws from things like Battlestar Galactica, They Live, and real life history to make a fascinating story. In any case, I for one welcome our new insect overlords.
May 29, 2025
Ezra Barker is an assistant to The Senator, the woman in charge of a section in the middle of what used to be the United States. The Merg, a hostile alien race, came and conquered. They are now extracting any and all valuable resources from the planet (which they call "Merg 12") with the promise that they will leave behind a human utopia when they are done. Barker is a collaborator who signed on early to save his own skin. He's really good at his job, handling paperwork and scheduling and managing minor situations for The Senator. His life is disrupted by two things. The Merg have a "visitor" coming and he is assigned to review safety procedures for the route from the landing site to the heart of Zero City (formerly known as Chicago). His other disruption is a woman who brushes her hair in a window across the street from his apartment. She lives in a workers' tenement, so she probably has unenviable mine work. He is smitten with her though she is completely unaware.
After he does the route inspection, he has more knowledge than is good for him, so the Merg plan to eliminate him. But the woman drops her brush out her window, giving him the chance to meet her. Once they are together on the street, a car drives up and kidnaps him. She was part of the resistance movement that needs him for their next big plan involving, you guessed it, the visitor.
The story has a tricky balancing act giving a rather undesirable hero sympathy. He's intelligent and a survivor, skills that have put him on the anti-humanity side, though all the rhetoric from the Merg is about how great things are and will be once they have left. After being kidnapped, he's pretty quick to help out the resistance though the woman has no interest in him at all.
Enough side characters are thrown in to keep things interesting and to present different ways of collaborating and resisting. The Senator is a typical politician, telling people what they want to hear and generally being able to read a situation and charm/persuade people and Merg to do her bidding. Some lower-level cops are fully invested in the Merg propaganda, making them natural antagonists to Barker and the resistance. The resistance characters are a loose collection of people with varying degrees of competence and commitment.
The characters have a lot of Orwellian "double think" going on. The Senator is described as able to believe two contradictory ideas are true at the same time. Others believe in the Merg's promises or in their own ability to make a bad situation better, even when they have almost no control over what happens to them. Even though the book is very comedic, it sneaks in some more serious ideas about how people deal with the worst situations, often in very different ways. I found it surprisingly satisfying as a comedy and a drama about an alien invasion.
Recommended.
This book will be reviewed on A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast in mid-June 2025. Check it out!
After he does the route inspection, he has more knowledge than is good for him, so the Merg plan to eliminate him. But the woman drops her brush out her window, giving him the chance to meet her. Once they are together on the street, a car drives up and kidnaps him. She was part of the resistance movement that needs him for their next big plan involving, you guessed it, the visitor.
The story has a tricky balancing act giving a rather undesirable hero sympathy. He's intelligent and a survivor, skills that have put him on the anti-humanity side, though all the rhetoric from the Merg is about how great things are and will be once they have left. After being kidnapped, he's pretty quick to help out the resistance though the woman has no interest in him at all.
Enough side characters are thrown in to keep things interesting and to present different ways of collaborating and resisting. The Senator is a typical politician, telling people what they want to hear and generally being able to read a situation and charm/persuade people and Merg to do her bidding. Some lower-level cops are fully invested in the Merg propaganda, making them natural antagonists to Barker and the resistance. The resistance characters are a loose collection of people with varying degrees of competence and commitment.
The characters have a lot of Orwellian "double think" going on. The Senator is described as able to believe two contradictory ideas are true at the same time. Others believe in the Merg's promises or in their own ability to make a bad situation better, even when they have almost no control over what happens to them. Even though the book is very comedic, it sneaks in some more serious ideas about how people deal with the worst situations, often in very different ways. I found it surprisingly satisfying as a comedy and a drama about an alien invasion.
Recommended.
This book will be reviewed on A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast in mid-June 2025. Check it out!
January 30, 2024
Humanity stands no chance when insectoid aliens invade Earth, kill untold numbers, and quickly organize survivors into labor camps to strip the planet of its resources. It is Independence Day without a happy ending. But any boots-on-the-ground invasion requires the help of a Quisling to organize the conquered population and resist any insurgency.
The usual approach would be to center the story on members of the heroic resistance. In Scum of the Earth, Alexander Kane instead adopts one of the collaborators as his protagonist. Ezra Barker is a young college graduate with a double major in political science and linguistics. He has no military skills and knows he wouldn’t last long in the mines. But even alien conquerors need office workers, and Ezra finds a cushy slot working for the human administrator of a large hunk of North America. He is just the sort of yes-man who can always make himself useful.
When insurgents kidnap him, he discovers that they are run by the same unscrupulous bureaucrats as the collaborators, and perhaps he can still make himself useful.
The usual approach would be to center the story on members of the heroic resistance. In Scum of the Earth, Alexander Kane instead adopts one of the collaborators as his protagonist. Ezra Barker is a young college graduate with a double major in political science and linguistics. He has no military skills and knows he wouldn’t last long in the mines. But even alien conquerors need office workers, and Ezra finds a cushy slot working for the human administrator of a large hunk of North America. He is just the sort of yes-man who can always make himself useful.
When insurgents kidnap him, he discovers that they are run by the same unscrupulous bureaucrats as the collaborators, and perhaps he can still make himself useful.
November 7, 2024
Starts off really strong its dark humor in the beginning but really dives back into generic junkfood at the end. I genuinly did not get a good feel for the world or characters either other then the MC. No one else was as easily identifiable or given attention needed to care. The world building was also odd, I feel like the writing didnt really focus on the aliens as soon as it should have been, I got kinda lost on what exactly I was supposed to be picturing as the detail was lacking and when some minor details were given, it just wasnt reinforced enough to get things to stick.
The plot felt very action movie junk food easy, it was definetly relying on making a Deus Ex Machina the whole plot, which kinda made this drag a bit. Overall dont really recommend this.
The plot felt very action movie junk food easy, it was definetly relying on making a Deus Ex Machina the whole plot, which kinda made this drag a bit. Overall dont really recommend this.
January 29, 2024
Alexander C. Kane remains an automatic buy for me! Scum of the Earth took a slightly different turn from his previous works and only reinforced my appreciation for his storytelling skills. Even with the darker undertones, Kane's trademark humor still shown through with moments of levity that had me laughing out loud unexpectedly. His streak of selecting outstanding narrators also remains unbroken. Scott Aiello was an excellent choice! He made it feel almost like a whole ensemble of actors was performing.
February 25, 2025
3.5 ⭐️
Maybe it was the narrator? I’ve loved all of Kane’s books to date, but this one didn’t hit the same way. And it didn’t really feel like we got close to Barker. Even the final chapter felt a little bit too much from Arkansas’ perspective. This was certainly a darker, “everything is futile” entry into the bibliography — I’m left wondering if this is a pandemic book.
Honestly, Sergeant Hayes was the funniest character — now him as the main character, I could get behind.
Maybe it was the narrator? I’ve loved all of Kane’s books to date, but this one didn’t hit the same way. And it didn’t really feel like we got close to Barker. Even the final chapter felt a little bit too much from Arkansas’ perspective. This was certainly a darker, “everything is futile” entry into the bibliography — I’m left wondering if this is a pandemic book.
Honestly, Sergeant Hayes was the funniest character — now him as the main character, I could get behind.
March 10, 2024
At this point, Kane is an auto-buy for me. Barker was an interesting character that reminded me of Gaius Baltar from the 2000s Battlestar Galactica.
I like how he writes female characters, and Arkansas, Sums, and even the Senator were quite good. Different from each other with their own motivations.
I like how he writes female characters, and Arkansas, Sums, and even the Senator were quite good. Different from each other with their own motivations.
February 3, 2024
The worst thing about a Kane book is that, even though you try so very, very hard not to, you devour it in just a few sittings and then you have to wait for the next one. And wait. And wait.
Write faster, Mr. Kane. Please write faster!
Write faster, Mr. Kane. Please write faster!
July 8, 2024
I've read (and enjoyed) four other books by this author and this is by favorite. The pace kept me hooked all the way though and the dialogue had just the right amount of silliness mixed in to to trip me up with a laugh.
June 15, 2025
Kind of a low 3-stars. I’ve read all his books, but this one is my least favorite not so much because it’s written in a more serious style, but because the new style doesn’t stand up to others trying to write similarly.
March 2, 2024
As always from this author we get a really good story and interesting characters. Highly recommend this and all of his books.
Read
June 11, 2024Not a BAD book but not quite what I was expecting.
July 25, 2024
It's a fun ride
December 14, 2024
Not as charming as most Alexander C. Kane books. Shouldn't have been surprised, given the title/premise...
January 3, 2025
A genuine pleasure to read.
February 19, 2025
Loved the point of view, fun read, dark comedy. Characters are entertaining.
June 10, 2025
Rereading for an upcoming podcast episode.
======
I have enjoyed Alexander C. Kane's writing from the moment that Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection came out on Audible. That series dealt with superheroes from a business management point of view. The Orlando People series featured X-men style mutants and the prejudice they faced for having small talents. Dragon Heist was just glorious fun looking at looting a lair, pulling together a band of thieves in a small Southern town, and Alabama football. (Also the funniest dragon you will ever meet.)
All of these books were light and hilarious. Sure, they had underdogs and might be touching on deeper issues but it was always in service of the adventure and humor.
This book is something else. Kane actually writes a real science fiction novel. This book looks at alien invasion from the point of the collaborators, the turncoats who wholeheartedly cooperate with the subjugation of the human race to a life of fear and misery.
So it's dark. And it's about a topic that I do not want to read about. That's why it came out in January and it took me until September to try it. In fact, I did something I never do — I picked up the Kindle copy (only $4.99 - his books are always reasonably priced) — and read the last chapter first. Hey, I read 1984 last year and I didn't need that kind of thing hitting me again. So I'll tell you it isn't 1984.
Reassured I began reading. Then, as is the case with Kane's books, I began reading faster and faster, unable to put it down. Although the book is definitely dark, it has ironic moments that help lighten the mood. There also are small humorous comments that I didn't notice until I was listening to the audio book. Kane's books have always really shone in audio.
I was surprised to see that, although it isn't 1984, there are definite echoes of concepts and themes that I found when reading it. Doublethink, to name just one example, is everywhere.
There are chances for redemption which are examined through the lens of all sorts of characters from True Believers (ah, but what do they hitch their belief to?), opportunists, and those seeking fulfillment in doing what they do best. All of this is expressed through the way people are living under the invasion.
And all this is still, as is Kane's talent, expressed through a riveting adventure story that you can't put down. Highly recommended.
======
I have enjoyed Alexander C. Kane's writing from the moment that Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection came out on Audible. That series dealt with superheroes from a business management point of view. The Orlando People series featured X-men style mutants and the prejudice they faced for having small talents. Dragon Heist was just glorious fun looking at looting a lair, pulling together a band of thieves in a small Southern town, and Alabama football. (Also the funniest dragon you will ever meet.)
All of these books were light and hilarious. Sure, they had underdogs and might be touching on deeper issues but it was always in service of the adventure and humor.
This book is something else. Kane actually writes a real science fiction novel. This book looks at alien invasion from the point of the collaborators, the turncoats who wholeheartedly cooperate with the subjugation of the human race to a life of fear and misery.
So it's dark. And it's about a topic that I do not want to read about. That's why it came out in January and it took me until September to try it. In fact, I did something I never do — I picked up the Kindle copy (only $4.99 - his books are always reasonably priced) — and read the last chapter first. Hey, I read 1984 last year and I didn't need that kind of thing hitting me again. So I'll tell you it isn't 1984.
Reassured I began reading. Then, as is the case with Kane's books, I began reading faster and faster, unable to put it down. Although the book is definitely dark, it has ironic moments that help lighten the mood. There also are small humorous comments that I didn't notice until I was listening to the audio book. Kane's books have always really shone in audio.
I was surprised to see that, although it isn't 1984, there are definite echoes of concepts and themes that I found when reading it. Doublethink, to name just one example, is everywhere.
There are chances for redemption which are examined through the lens of all sorts of characters from True Believers (ah, but what do they hitch their belief to?), opportunists, and those seeking fulfillment in doing what they do best. All of this is expressed through the way people are living under the invasion.
And all this is still, as is Kane's talent, expressed through a riveting adventure story that you can't put down. Highly recommended.
February 22, 2025
I was hesitant to get Alexander C. Kane's, Scum of the Earth, it sounded like it would mostly take place in a MAGA senator's office.
This is not the case. This is one long car chase of a page-turner that I finished listening to in one day.
This is a different Kane book. Gone are the cartoon characters of the Andrea Vernon series. Replaced with fleshed out characters, even for the bad guys. It is written for an adult audience and doesn't rely on snark for its humor like the Orlando People series.
I enjoyed Kanes series, they are fun, funny, snarky and silly.
Scum of the Earth is different; it's subtle self-deprecating satire.
This is not the case. This is one long car chase of a page-turner that I finished listening to in one day.
This is a different Kane book. Gone are the cartoon characters of the Andrea Vernon series. Replaced with fleshed out characters, even for the bad guys. It is written for an adult audience and doesn't rely on snark for its humor like the Orlando People series.
I enjoyed Kanes series, they are fun, funny, snarky and silly.
Scum of the Earth is different; it's subtle self-deprecating satire.
April 12, 2025
The parallels between Ezra and our republican congress people is scary. Ezra is more likable as a traitor than those people. Worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews