Slag Like Me

Alien Nation #5

by Barry B. Longyear

Detective Matthew Sikes and his Newcomer partner, George Francisco, inquire into the disappearance of journalist Micky Cass, who had gone undercover as a Newcomer to expose a campaign of discrimination against the Tenctonese

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Media Tie In

306 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1994

About the author

Barry Brookes Longyear was an American science fiction author who resided in New Sharon, Maine.

Reviews

[Michael Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much a sociological tract as a novel, still it's by Barry B. Longyear so "Slag Like Me" is bound to be interesting and worth reading.
From the context of today and the Biden administration's policy of an open southern border, the premise of "Slag" has become even more relevant.
How do people treat other people, especially different other people? What should government's response be? (Government involvement always worsens any problem or perceived problem, but that is my position and not necessarily author Longyear's. It's also an obvious fact, made more obvious daily.)
The story is set in a future Los Angeles, where every kind of person, every ethnicity, every orientation, already resides, so its premise is entirely plausible.
Not Barry Longyear's greatest book -- that might still be "Infinity Hold" -- but still of interest and, as I already said, worth reading.
Author Longyear makes clear he owes a debt to the book "Black Like Me," also worth reading.

[Matt Dykes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a human reporter going undercover as a Tenctonese to experience the racism (or should that be speciesism) that Tenctonese face from humans is quite interesting. The mystery around their sudden disappearance gives the story some dramatic tension. Chapters are intertwined with extracts from the reporter’s articles and the articles are written convincingly. The main problem is a lot of the novel is based on preparation of Sikes going undercover to find the reporter. Another issue with this novel, and it seems to be a theme with the other tie in novels I’ve read so far, the writer keeps separating Sikes and Francisco. The beauty of the series was the chemistry of Sikes and Francisco and their interactions. To keep them apart loses the magic of the series.

[Cindy Tomamichel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark and intense read focusing on racism.

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

A human newspaper reporter wants to try to appear as a Newcomer to do a series of articles on how they are really thought about and treated. He's a very caustic and opinionated writer, and his series of articles stirs up tremendous controversy.

He ends up being murdered, and Sikes goes undercover, undergoing the same type of operation the writer did in order to appear to be a true Newcomer. Sikes soon finds out just how rough of a life some of them live, even to the point of being beaten by other police officers. Things only get worse, and before long the entire series is engaged in a series of riots, burnings and killings. The only way to stop it is to find who killed the reporter, and why.

The book has a good story, but that's not where the strength of the book lies. The major part of the book is about its message about racism, and just how horrible and how wide-spread that disease still is in our country. The book doesn't pull any punches, and no one escapes, not even the police, as there is a rough scene where Sikes, in his Newcomer appearance, is severely beaten by a number of police when he had done absolutely nothing to even justify being stopped, much less nearly killed.

The book is probably the strongest message about racism that I have read in any book, fact or fiction. It's a message that will upset many people, and cause some people to question their own beliefs. If it can cause at least some people to realize that racism is everywhere, probably even within themselves, then its purpose will have been served.

[bluetyson]

isbn,original