Kirkus Reviews QR Code
WILL THE LAST PERSON TO LEAVE THE PLANET PLEASE SHUT OFF THE SUN? by Mike Resnick

WILL THE LAST PERSON TO LEAVE THE PLANET PLEASE SHUT OFF THE SUN?

by Mike Resnick

Pub Date: Aug. 1st, 1992
ISBN: 0-312-85276-2
Publisher: Tor

Twenty-eight variations, 1977-92, mostly shorter rather than longer, from the author of the splendid Paradise (1989). The best of the bunch: a couple of Resnick's intriguing ``Kirinyaga'' yarns about a Kenya-like planet set up to re-create traditional African lifestyles; and a poignant if rather thin Merlin variant. Elsewhere: the title piece, a rather routine irony on prejudice; a so-so yarn about memory erasure; a couple of fairly nondescript what-ifs centered on Teddy Roosevelt; interplanetary dickering; dogs, peeping Toms, immortality, souls, robots, and horses. Also, in a comic vein: Robin Hood's Jewish mother, fairies, computer simulations, pink elephants, hunting, football, interactive absurdism, and God. Lightweight entertainment, rather disappointing after Resnick's superior novels.