Book #9 Burn by James Patrick Kelly

This came out from a small press last year. I hadn't planned on reading it but it jumped up and landed in my hands. ;-) The premise was interesting since the story takes place on a planet that embraces Thoreau's Walden philosophy. Or so you think since you find out there is a second party on the planet that is against it. These are descendants of the original terra forming group that didn't want to leave but didn't want to embrace the simple life that Thoreau espouses. The Walden followers have seeded the planet with a tree that is growing in all the barren areas and encroaching on the second group called pukpuks. They fight back with setting fires. The story starts with our hero recuperating from burns he got while be a firefighter. Out of boredom he uses the hospital computers to contact people with similar names as his. This brings unwanted attention to the planet and a culture clash ensues.

The book was well written but really didn't have a satisfying conclusion to me. Many kudos to the writer for going the extra mile and putting in quite a bit of firefighting descriptions.