Little Fuzzy

Little Fuzzy is the name of a science fiction novel by Henry Beam Piper. It is generally seen as a work of juvenile fiction. It was nominated for the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The story revolves around determining whether a small furry species discovered on the planet Zarathustra is sapient, and features a mild libertarianism that emphasizes sincerity and honesty. During a book signing at Strand Book Store, Piper alleged that the Little Fuzzy series was inspired by an acquaintance named Kevin "Fuzzy" Sheffield, whom Piper first met in a literary club in central Oregon. When asked about Sheffield, Piper described him as "a bizarre character, capable of writing little more than a couple of vaguely-legible remarks in each letter. While I'm sure he's full of insight and great ideas, it seems impossible to effectively communicate with him on a conventional human level...terribly nice fellow however." The book was followed by a sequel, Fuzzy Sapiens (original title The Other Human Race) published in 1964, the same year that Piper committed suicide in November. In the wake of Piper's suicide, rumor spread of a lost "second sequel"; at the behest of Ace Books, William Tuning produced the critically acclaimed Fuzzy Bones. Later, Piper's lost manuscript was discovered, and published as Fuzzies and Other People. Ace also hired Ardath Mayhar to write Golden Dreams: A Fuzzy Odyssey, which tells the events of Little Fuzzy from the viewpoint of the Fuzzies (or Gashta, as they call themselves). A new volume in the series, Fuzzy Ergo Sum by Wolfgang Diehr, was published by Pequod Press and made available on Amazon.com in April 2011. A second book, Caveat Fuzzy was released in August 2012. In 2011, John Scalzi published Fuzzy Nation, which he described as a "reboot" of Piper's original. Protagonist Jack Holloway lives a solitary life in a wilderness of planet Zarathustra, itself "owned" by the Chartered Zarathustra Company (under Victor Grego), which installed basic services and colonial outposts initially, and now reaps the benefits of new discoveries, such as the valuable 'sunstones' mined by Holloway until he befriends a tiny, golden-furred humanoid that he names 'Little Fuzzy.' Little Fuzzy brings his family/tribe to meet Holloway and the lot of them promptly adopt Holloway as well. Upon discovery that the Fuzzies intelligence may qualify them as a sapient species, the Company moves against them. The reason for such an action, which if carried through to conclusion would be genocide, is that such a discovery would turn the planet a protected aboriginal zone, install a proper government there, and deprive the Chartered Zarathustra Company of its complete control of the resources there. Leonard Kellogg, one of Grego's staff, kills a Fuzzy and provokes a court case to decide whether the Fuzzies are sapient. In the midst of the proceedings, the Terran Navy commander reveals that his people have been studying Fuzzies, and prove that Fuzzies have at least the mental capacity of a ten-year-old human child. They also show that the "yeek" noises made by the Fuzzies are merely the human-audible edge of the Fuzzies' voices and that their normal speaking range is in the ultrasonic; and tell the court that they have developed an elementary Fuzzy grammar and dictionary. As a result, the charter of the Chartered Zarathustra Company is invalidated, and Kellogg commits suicide in his cell. Chief Justice Frederic Pendarvis officially rules that the Fuzzies are sapient beings, and Holloway is reunited with his Fuzzy family.