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Pelham G. Totleigh may not be the sharpest Haplor living in the terraforming colony on the moon of Sonus. Nor the most hardworking. But he is a Haplor of his word.
So when he meets an unusual little alien who is lost and alone, Pelham promises to help it find its family and its way home. Meanwhile, his Aunt Agutha is insisting Pelham obtain a certain Earth item for his uncle's birthday. And while Pelham is trying to do all that, a young female drafts him into a doubtful scheme to get her father to approve of her engagement.
Juggling all these competing goals inevitably lands Pelham in an uproarious and madcap mess. Fortunately, his faithful valet Blandings is always at hand with a helpful idea and a perfect cup of tea. Which is a good thing because it's The Code of the Totleighs for Pelham to always keep his promises.
Author Q&A
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Keezo?
A: In Viva Lost Vogus, Pelham was probably the most clueless person in the book. In The Importance of Being Pelham, I paired Pelham with his friend Binky, the pair of them equally clueless. So I wanted to see how Pelham would react to someone who knew even less about what was going on.
A: Was Keezo fun to write?
Q: Oh my, yes. But it was a challenge. The first challenge was finding Keezo's voice. It needed to be something humorous that communicated Keezo's simplified way of viewing the galaxy. I wrote most of the first draft using a kind of pidgin English. But reading it over, I realized I was falling into the rhythms of the offensive ways old movies always portrayed native people talking. I ended up bookmarking a Lolcat translator and then applying what it came up with to a set of Keezo-speak rules -- pairing the word is with other verbs, relying on present tense like a first semester foreign language student, placing negatives before verbs (e.g. not is cold vs. is not cold).
Then I decided that to really portray the little alien, I had to make Keezo a point-of-view character. I had to figure out how someone from a hunter-gatherer culture would describe buildings and sidewalks, how they would wrap their heads around spaceships or elevators or even things like doors. In the Galactic Detective Agency books, I often have to think through what Earth things Gabriel Lake will compare to alien tech. This went several steps beyond that because Keezo could compare things only to natural surroundings and primitive tools.
Q: So what do you really think about podcasters?
A: I love podcasters. They are my constant companions when I drive or take walks or do yard work. But nobody like Oswald Sallow.
Q: This is your third Pelham and Blandings book, following Viva Lost Vogus and The Importance of Being Pelham. Will there be any more?
A: As of now, nothing more from this heroic pair is planned. My next book will be a return to the Galactic Detective Agency. But who knows? P&B are a lot fun, and the characters practically write themselves.
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