And here’s Daisy, initiating the annual “cut-grass-and-pollen dance,” signaling the joyous time of year when I ingest allergy medicine or suffer sinus pressure roughly equivalent to the pressures found at imminently exploding supervolcanoes. It’s a special time of year, it is.

w00t! Kirkus Reviews is the one handing out the star this time, and says this about the novel:

An acclaimed modern sci-fi writer adds depth and unexpected poignancy to a “reboot” of H. Beam Piper’s classic 1962 novel Little Fuzzy… In a genre flooded with bloated epics, it’s a real pleasure to read a story like this, as compactly and directly told as a punch to the stomach.

Well, then. The entire review is here. Check out the particularly amusing last line.

Also in: The review from Library Journal. The whole review is here (scroll down), but here’s the verdict:

Scalzi readers as well as Piper fans should enjoy this modern throwback to sf’s early years.

I’ll take that.

There’s also a fine review of the book at Stomping on Yeti, which reads thusly:

In Fuzzy Nation, Scalzi executes flawlessly, proving that Piper’s core concept is just as relevant today as it was fifty years ago with a pitch perfect summer sci-fi novel that both embraces and enhances the source material.

Excellent. It’s nice to have reviews starting to come in on this one.

Hey! Are you or is someone you love, close to the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area? Then you’ll have a chance to see me there this May, because I will be there for two — count them, two! — events.

1. I will be a guest at the Phoenix Comicon, where I will be doing panels and signing books and (probably) dancing like an idiot at Geek Prom;

2. I will be doing an event at the Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, on Saturday, May 28 at 5pm, along with fellow author Sam Sykes, who as some of you may recall I do not wish dead.

To see me at the Phoenix Comicon you will need to buy a membership; the event at the Poisoned Pen will be open to everyone.

Hope to see you at one or the other (or, heck, both!).

It’s today. If you thought you might want to wish her a happy birthday, I would encourage you in that thought.