First Contract (Hardcover)

by Greg Costikyan (Author) "THE ROOM WAS BRUTALLY AIR-CONDITIONED; EVEN IN dark, conservative suits, the men and women were almost cold..." (more)
Key Phrases: drink valet, stellar arm, drink bulb, Mukerjii Interstellar, New York, Johnson Mukerjii (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Buy Greg Costikyan's book. This book, another book, any book that finds its way into print from the depths of this man's marvelously weird little noggin. Gamers should already know Costikyan well: ignoring his fingerprints on a score of other games, this top-shelf designer created the Star Wars RPG, 1984's classic Toon (with props to Warren Spector), the unbelievably wonderful Paranoia (regrettably, long out of print), and the guy still keeps up his chops with the likes of Violence: The Roleplaying Game of Egregious and Repulsive Bloodshed.

In First Contract, Costikyan has resurrected an idea from some long-forgotten shoebox, a novella originally titled "Sales Reps from the Stars." A savvy CEO, a power-suit-wearing, proper Indian businessman by the name of Johnson Mukerjii, gets screwed by an alien invasion. The ETs want to do business, except we're the Aztecs and they're the Spaniards, and we can kiss our gold good-bye. But Mukerjii, after losing everything--his millions, his San Jose manse, his leggy wife--figures out how to beat the aliens at their own game in a characteristically Costikyan way: by producing exports in the form of cheesy, shoddily constructed spaceship beverage accoutrements:

"Made in Japan," "Made in Taiwan," and now--I gestured grandly--"Made on Earth."

Fans of imaginative fiction would do well to keep tabs on Costikyan. --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly
While some varieties of SF aliens have peaceful motives when they arrive on Earth, many are intent on hostile takeovers. The plan of Costikyan's aliens is particularly sinister: to drive all success, love and financial solvency from Johnson Mukerjii's life by flooding the Earth market with their superior technological junk. At least, that is how Mukerjii, the hero who narrates with an endearing braggadocio and swagger familiar to SF fans, sees it. It all starts when the first contract between an alien race and the United Nations sees the advanced civilization's entire knowledge base traded for an apparently useless piece of real estateAJupiter. This turns out to be as terrible a mistake as selling Manhattan island off for a few beads. (Using Jupiter's resources, the aliens build gadgets such as hover cars that fly at Mach 6, objects far beyond the grasp of Earth entrepreneurs.) Earth's economy bottoms out, dragging our hero into the sewers with it (almost literally). Ever the optimist and networker, however, Mukerjii swindles his way to funds so he can develop a product and secure a new contract that will take him back to the top. Costikyan's tale is bouyant and fun, despite having little new to offer. Mukerjii remains appealing throughout, never loses his somewhat dubious dignityAi.e., using surplus food, some of which is labeled unfit for humans, to prepare odd variations of the gourmet meals he was used toAas he fights valiantly against a world out to get him. Readers will take him to heart. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (July 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312873964
• ISBN-13: 978-0312873967
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,516,876 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars i love it!, August 8, 2000

By	Catpecked "catpecked" (NEW HAVEN, CT USA) - See all my reviews

i am not a great fan of the sci-fi/fanatsy genre but i agreed to give this book a fair try when a friend gave me a copy. and withing moments of finishing it i was online looking for more books by the author. apart from being a great story, it is also a hilarious sendup of all sci-fi cliches about utopian alien civilizations who have transcended all selfish ambitions. these aliens do not say live long and prosper. rather, earth is just another market for them to download their goods and all they want in exchange is Jupiter. so most tech-industries on earth are facing bankruptcy since nothing they produce can possibly match the alien gizmos but the genius of johnson mukherji comes with an earth-saving solution. why not turn earth into the taiwan of the galalxy? make tacky stuff incredibly cheap and peddle it at the inflated galactic rate to the visitors? of course there is that little matter of the zdegs who not only control the walmart of the galaxy but also have a unique way of seizing the assets of defaulters. no it does not pretend to be great lit, but i could not wipe te goofy grin off my face for a long time after i finished the last page.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funniest Sci Fi I've read in ages!, August 28, 2000

By	David Schilling (Redmond, WA USA) - See all my reviews

I definitely recommend it. Basically the idea isn't that the aliens come here to bring peace, knowledge and prosperity, (in spite of their marketing spiel) rather they put earth in its proper place in the galaxy - an incredibly backward planet, ready to be exploited. Compared to the galaxy, we are a third world ... um, world. How do you make a place for yourself in the galaxy in a situation like this? The analogy the author uses is that Earth must become a "Taiwan", using our incredibly cheap labour as our only viable asset. Well that, plus a bit of ingenuity.

Needless to say this isn't 'hard' science fiction. There are plenty of gaping holes in logic, not to mention physics. And there was a time or two when our hero's characterization was a bit off, though those could be explained as the difference between him being the narrator, and what he's really like. Finally, the second last sentence of the book is a bit sobering if you understand what he's getting at, but it leaves the book open to a good sequel. I hope he writes it!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very funny book, July 4, 2000

By	Captain Zones - See all my reviews

For everyone who dreams of alien contact and how great it would be, there is "First Contract." Aliens arrive and the economy crashes almost overnight. A brilliant premise, executed well. He knows what he's talking about, too. You aren't just told that things went to pot. You see why, and you don't get bored in the process. A thoroughly enjoyable book. It made for great for reading at the beach.