Knight, Damon. CV. 1985. CV No. 1. Tor, 2014.
When he was 11 years old, Damon Knight (1922-2002) published a fanzine titled Snide. It was a harbinger. As a member of the Futurians (a group of young writers and editors that included such later luminaries as Isaac Asimov and Frederick Pohl), he wrote a devastating review of A. E. Van Vogt in which said he was a small writer with an oversized typewriter. In 1950 he wrote the short story “To Serve Man” that became a Twilight Zone episode and won him a Retro-Hugo. It is a defining example of snide humor. CV, a novel he wrote in his early 60s, is a subtle piece of satire masquerading as a high-tech thriller and first-contact story. The Sea View (familiarly called CV) is a huge ocean-going habitat capable of running submerged or on the surface. It has two thousand permanent residents and a larger number of tourists. Its owners see it as in competition with a project to build a space habitat at the L5 Lagrange point. When a geologist opens a strange geode, he unwittingly releases an intelligent, mind-invading parasite on board. The story alternates points of view between the alien and the passengers and crew, giving Knight plenty of opportunity for ship-of-fools humor and ingenious hard scifi. Knight is a better short story writer than novelist and some of the plot elements get lost in the shuffle here, but the whole performance is superb. 4 stars. ( )