 | |
| Author | John Scalzi |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Comic science fiction |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
Publication date | June 5, 2012 |
| Publication place | United States of America |
| Pages | 317 |
| Awards | Hugo Award for Best Novel (2013) Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (2013) |
| ISBN | 978-0-7653-1699-8 |
Redshirts (originally titledRedshirts: A Novel with Three Codas)[1] is apostmodernistscience fiction novel byJohn Scalzi that satirizes the tropes and narrative elements ofStar Trek from the perspectives of several characters in a fictional TV show about the adventures of astarship and its crew who gradually become aware of their true nature.
The book was published byTor Books in June 2012.[2] Anaudiobook version was also produced with narration fromStar Trek actorWil Wheaton.[3]Redshirts won the 2013Hugo Award for Best Novel[4] andLocus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.[5]
In the prologue, several senior officers of theIntrepid, flagship of the Universal Union ("Dub-U"), lament the unusually high number of casualties oflow-ranking crew members during recent away missions and conclude that they will need more crewmen to replace them.
TheIntrepid takes on five newensigns including Andrew Dahl, a formerseminarian and expert inlinguistics andxenobiology. Dahl quickly discerns that the crew is extremely phobic of being near the senior officers and of going on away missions due to their high fatality rate. Over the course of several missions, various crew members offer different theories as to such high losses, ranging fromincompetence to asuperstitious belief that"sacrifices" of some crew members are necessary so that others will survive.
After severalclose calls, Dahl makes contact with a mentally unstable crew member, Adam Jenkins, who offers a different theory: their reality and timeline are under periodic influence of a badly written television show,Chronicles of the Intrepid, from the past. As the writers create the plot, characters'free will temporarily ceases in order to progress"the Narrative". This is why otherwise good officers are occasionally incompetent, crewmen make poor decisions, and the ship has mysterious technology on board to produce last-minute inventions and medicines which would otherwise beimpossible to produce: the Narrative is subject to the skill of the writers, who are neither military nor scientific experts and need toartificially maintain a high sense of drama with on-screen deaths. Jenkins explains that Dahl and the other ensigns'routine duties and colorful histories will inevitably make them targets of the Narrative when the writers need"glorified extras" to kill for emotional impact.
The ensigns kidnap a senior officer and proceed to travel to the past with the mission of convincing the show's creators to end the Narrative. Once there, they meet their actor doubles and realize that they are exactdoppelgängers; even their imaginedbackstories became integral events of the ensigns' lives. Dahl strikes a deal with the show's producer and head writer, who is Jenkins' double, to save the life of the producer'scomatose son by switching him with his crew member double. Because the producer's son appeared on the show as anextra, one of the crew members is effectively his identical twin and will revert to the young man's personality by staying in the past. Conversely, Dahl reasons that bringing the comatose son into the future will allow them to use the Narrative to their advantage, letting the advanced technology and reality-altering properties of the writing save his life.
Dahl and the ensigns return to the future and live out the new revised plot created by the head writer, which includes saving the "injured crewman" they had on board. Dahl is then fatally injured by a piece of shrapnel and resigns himself to death. Awakening later, Dahl learns that he has been promoted to Lieutenant and receives a message from the writers and producers explaining that they chose to save him, and that the remaining episodes of the show will feature the ensigns in meaningful scenarios rather than cheap deaths. Dahl then compares the close calls he has had with those of the TV show's protagonists, and deduces that there is another narrative protecting him, which makes him wonderif he is actually a protagonist in another story.
The novel features three epilogues. In the first one, the head writer deals withwriter's block as a consequence of his bad writing choices. In the second one the producer's son, having reverted to his personality from the crewman who switched with him, determines to do something useful with the second chance at life he's been given. In the third one, a former actress, who once played an extra on the show, receives a message showing intimate details of the woman whose life—and death—she helped create. She memorializes her lost "sister" on a beach and meets the head writer of the show (who played her character's husband), and they decide to go on a date.
New recruits on theIntrepid:
Senior officers ofIntrepid and protagonists of the TV show:
Other crew on theIntrepid:
TV show cast and crew:
The novel satirizes common tropes such asredshirts, the "black box", andplot armor that often feature in television science fiction writing. In the course of the novel, Scalzi examines free will and what it takes to make one the hero of one's own story.
John Schwartz of theNew York Times noted that the plight of the Ensigns as they realize their situation as characters in a television drama was similar toRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, where the story tells what happens when its characters find out they are not in the "real" storyline.[6]Forbes magazine praised the novel saying "You don't have to be a hardcore sci-fi fan to enjoyRedshirts, though there are plenty of Easter Eggs for those who are. And the beauty of the book is that it works on multiple levels. If you're looking for a breezy, fun read for the beach, this is your book. If you want to go down a level and read it as a surreal meditation on character and genre likeRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, this is your book."[7]
FX started developing a limited television series of the novel in 2014. However, nothing materialized and the production window closed in 2017 when the rights reverted to Scalzi.[8][9]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Hugo Award | Novel | Won | [4] |
| Locus Award | Science Fiction Novel | Won | [5] | |
| 2015 | Seiun Award | Translated Novel | Finalist | [10] |
| 2016 | Geffen Award | Translated Science Fiction Novel | Won | [11] |
