Year Zero by Rob Reid was published in 2012 and is a fun, satirical SF book
about the music industry. While I’ve seen a few comparisons to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I
think that really doesn’t stack up, as Year
Zero really aims to tap into musical nostalgia of the late 1970s and 1980s.
Think something more along the lines of a combination of John Scalzi’s Agent to the Stars and Cline’s Ready Player One with music.
The ultimate premise is rather goofy where a galactic society of
advanced alien species discover the music of Earth, becomes crazy addicted to
it, and incurs unimaginable debt to humanity due to piracy and copyright laws
in the music industry. Reid actually pulls it off with an appropriate amount of
humor and just enough reality to keep things grounded.
And of course it is full of nostalgia with music references
everywhere.
But, Year Zero is also a
satire where humor doesn’t always distract from the acrid bitterness of Reid
himself. Reid has a long history in the real world in technology and music,
where he was essentially the founder of the first musical streaming company –
Rhapsody. From this point of view, the bitterness and anger of Reid’s
experience as a tech entrepreneur somewhere between the rampant piracy of the
Napster era and the mega music corporations and their legal teams.
I keep saying bitterness because it literally drips from this book.
I think it’s safe to say that Reid holds true contempt for lawyers and executives
of the music industry and the politicians that they own(ed). I really hope that
writing this book was therapeutic for Reid and that he has managed to move past
all this, because man…the bitterness. Note: judging from the bio of Reid on
his webpage and the description of his latest SFF novel, After On, the therapy of writing is an ongoing project.
Anyway, there is just enough humor and nostalgia keeping the
bitterness from taking over the book. It’s fun and gets in a few really great
shots (such as the Bill Gates cameo), and some really fantastic music
references.
So…looking for satirical science fiction full of musical
nostalgia? This book is absolutely for you. And it’s pretty fun for the rest of
too.
By Rob
Reid:
Year Zero: Amazon
After On: Amazon
Other
books mentioned:
Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi: Amazon
