An Election

Third District

by John Scalzi

When his city council representative is hit by a bus, David Sawyer decides to run for the newly-vacated seat. One problem: He's a human in an alien-majority district that hasn't voted in a human in half a century. Can Sawyer pull it off in a race that includes a politically smooth, physically gelatinous front runner, a carnivore whose entire platform is on the right to consume pets, and two literally bile-spewing sisters? A tale of aliens, politics and humor from the author of "Old Man's War" and "The Android's Dream".

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Humor, Ebooks, Comedy, Aliens

23 pages, ebook

First published November 1, 2010

About the author

John Scalzi, having declared his absolute boredom with biographies, disappeared in a puff of glitter and lilac scent.

(If you want to contact John, using the mail function here is a really bad way to do it. Go to his site and use the contact information you find there.)

Reviews

[Berengaria]

4 stars

short review for busy readers:
A humorous short story about a human running for district representative in a largely space alien part of a city. Some funny slapstick scenes. Entertaining, slightly political commentary about democratic elections.

in detail:
I'm biased.

You see, I'm a HUGE fan of fictional political advisors, grey eminences and wily campaign mangers. In "An Election," we've got an ambitious, but kinda awkward, candidate and an excellent politician-wrangler of a campaign manager.

Silly candidate, arch-weasel advisor. Yeah, cat nip. Right here. I'll take 5 dozen, thank you.

Clearly, Scalzi is talking about when minorities run for public office and how difficult it is to go out and "press the flesh" to make the best impression, as is necessary.

What else about this one that jumped out at me was the hyper-modern dialogue. It's witty, but it's written in a way that nobody in history has spoken until very very very recently. That makes the aliens and the slapstick comedy scenes even more futuristic, because the language fits so well.

An entertaining, fun read.

[seak]

I always know that when I read Scalzi I'll be entertained. Whether it's his science fiction, his blog (whatever), and now his short fiction.

An Election is a humorous story of a guy, David, who decides to run for city counsel. It just so happens no human has been a representative for the third district in 44 years, not to mention no human has even run for the position in 36.

David's husband, James, attempts to talk him out of it, but to no avail.

Most of the fun is found in the different aliens Scalzi's created, from a gelatinous blob who speaks in bubbles, to, well, let's just say there's suckers. David goes door-to-door meeting them and runs against them.

The running-mates, of course, are all aliens (if you can call them that at this point in the future), one of whom's only platform is that people should be able to eat each other's pets. Yep, the only stance.

I had fun, but I think I was expecting it to be funnier really. Still good, but not my favorite from Scalzi. It was still worth the $0.99 I paid, even though it was only about 15 or so pages (I think, my kindle skipped about 3-5% each page turn).

3 out of 5 Stars

[Jim]

A fun & funny election in the future. Short, free & well worth the read. It's available on his web site here:
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/11/01...

[Howard]

A very short story from John Scalzi, part of the Third District universe, available from Subterranean Press and posted to Scalzi's Whatever blog. the third district is a section of the city where humans are the minority. This was published in 2010, as a midterm election was pending. This is one of the many satirical pieces that Scalzi has written throughout his career. Much of the humor comes from the interactions between the human candidate and the many different aliens. A lot of cynicism concerning politics.

[Ben A]

Absolutely entertaining throughout its short page count, An Election is the humorous tale of the local city council race in a district filled with alien constitutes and the struggle of one average human candidate.

[Eric Mesa]

A fun little short story about an election in a very diverse district. I kind of want to see more of this world which I think is the mark of a good short story.

[Jonathan F]

More Third District stories please.

[Chris Haught]

Funny little sci-fi story that I could knock out because I was too lazy to get up from the computer but wanted to read something. It took a few productive minutes away my internet surfing time, but one can only look at so many pictures of Candice Swanepoel, right?



See what I mean? Stop drooling surfing and start reading the story!

Read it for free online: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/11/01...

[Laurel]

There is something wonderful about sitting down in a comfy chair, cup of coffee in hand, and reading a great story during a single sitting. The moment becomes even greater if the story makes you snort coffee in the process, due to moments of laugh out loud funny! My two beloved pups also adored the pet protection undertones of the piece. Thanks for making my Sunday a little brighter, Mr. Scalzi!

[Jim]

Another enjoyable short read by an author who has fast become a favorite. I've yet to read anything by him that I didn't enjoy. This humorous take on grassroots politics (headlined by a gay couple no less) was a funny read with some silly moments but still managed to have a few mature moments.

[Jaka Tomc]

This was my first Scalzi's book and I started with a short story just to get the feeling of his flow. He can write. I wasn't blown away by the story but it was a fun read. I'm looking forward to reading some of his other books.

[Dragana]

Another great short story from John Scalzi, master of wacky humor and weird aliens. Loved it.

[Claudia]

Humorous Sci fi short story. I need to read more from John Scalzi!

[Chip]

Eh. Mildly humorous short story.

[Ruby Tombstone Lives!]

It's a cute short story. It's a sci-fi political satire. You should probably go read it now.

[Ron]

Not one of Scalzi's best efforts.

[Beverly]

Two days ago I listened to an audio, Constituent Service, by John Scalzi. I loved it and immediately looked to see if there were any additional books about the Third District and found this which I read today and loved just as much. I've only recently...within the last year...discovered Mr. Scalzi but so far have enjoyed everything I've read and/or listened to by him. I also love that 2 of his "on repeat" audio readers are Wil Wheaton and Zachary Quintos...I love both of their voices. This is the first short written about the Third District where humans are in the minority. Constituent Service is available as an audiobook only through Audible. I am keeping my fingers crossed that more of these highly entertaining stories appear in the near future. Or even a full length novel...I would be OK with that.

[begemot]

The story was funny. The whole rant by the family of aliens complaining about “smelly and noisy” “aliens” from Canada was just hilarious. Touie Touie was efficiently villainous. Latasha’s extremely competent handling of David’s campaign warmed my heart.

A side note: After reading about the candidate, whose sole platform promise was to legalize eating pets, I was sure it had to be a reference to the whole “Haitians are eating your cats and dogs” thing from 2024, but this story was first published in 2010. Now, I’m pretty sure Scalzi can’t see the future, so this is just another instance of life imitating art, and not in a good way. These days, real articles about US politics are reading like The Onion pieces.

[Thia Reads A Lot]

4*

Is it in the same universe as Constituent Service? It might be!

Summary: A human named David runs for city council after the death of the newly-elected city council. He is fourth in the polls, but the two running sisters attack each other during the debate and are jailed and then the leading candidate is forced to step down because of a scandal. He is running against an alien who wants to eat other people's pets freely. He wins, but the alien wants a recount.

[Rhode PVD]

Wow, this is bad. A white-coded man runs for office in the only heavily diverse part of the city and a black-coded woman volunteers her time and expertise to help him win. All the other candidates, who represent a number of non -human species, are portrayed as either corrupt or idiots. Personally as a person who puts in efforts to ensure our own city council is as diverse as possible and not just white guys, this is offensive.

[Nicole]

This was so fun! This is what I want from my sci-fi reads. I want them to have something to say and to say it in a way that makes me FEEL something...sometimes that means making me cry and breaking my heart but in THIS book...it means making me laugh. It's a quick, short read. That last line though...amazing...just perfection. Highly recommend.

[Scott Mari]

A great short story on local elections with multiple alien life forms

Great read-short, sharp, and real. A prescient look into our current turbulent political times. I loved it. The grasp of internecine power grabs was wonderful. As well as the subtlety of the Machiavellian underpinnings of our modern system. Fun!

[John M]

A perfect short story for a Sunday morning.

As a fan of John Scalzi's works, and who isn't, I find I'm always entertained by his stories and novels. This work is brief but filled with humor and silly ideas and appropriate for the current election season. Enjoy.

[James Donald]

A short, fun and interesting read. So much is done in such as small space. This feels like the beginning of an exploration of a new world or an exercise in developing characters. Good fun but really little more than a snack, but even a snack from Scalzi is worth having.

[Onionboy]

Quick little read that was fun. You can tell it is a good story when you wish it kept going. He developed interesting characters in just a few pages. If you like any Scalzi (and how could you not?) then go read this for free on his blog.

[Shawna Kissell]

This is what elections are

I love Scalzi's sense of humor. This short story is delightful. It turns the idea of minority voting on its head. I shall enjoy using "pet snacker" as an epithet against political rivals in future.

[Tim]

A short and funny story about David, who decides, after the untimely death of his local council representative, to run for the seat. He faces some challenges, mostly in the form of everyone else's belief he won't win, but also in his challengers themselves. Amusing.

[Thomas]

A short story published as a standalone. Set in the same Third District universe as Constituent Services. You should never go for a walk before your carapace hardens. I don’t think this story was quite fully cooked either. I turned the last page, thinking, Where’s the rest?

[Candace S.]

Funny and entertaining—exactly what I expect from John Scalzi. This was written 15 years ago, so a few parts of it become less funny in present day because they now reference real things that have been said and done since this was written. (This is no fault of the author though! )

[Teddi]

a very short story that read like an idea for something longer.
Part of a "series" that only consists of 2 stories. Wish there had been more as I could have enjoyed reading about this world that's a mix of humans and aliens.