Manchego moon

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This article was published 10/05/2025 (448 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This is a very silly book.

John Scalzi is an award-winning writer who has produced many entertaining novels and stories, endearing him to many readers. His work is always off-beat, often sardonic and witty, and his tales are some of the most inventive in modern science fiction. His latest novel, When the Moon Hits Your Eye, is perhaps the most far-out he has ventured, and his fan base will definitely love it.

Did we mention it was silly?

Scalzi “workshopped” the novel’s premise at a convention, and attendees had such a tremendous reaction that he was encouraged to go all-out with his idea. It’s one of those “What If” questions that you might find you and your friends asking whilst completely wasted at a party.

In essence: “What if, one day, the Moon suddenly turned to cheese?”

That’s it. That’s the entire premise for the book.

Silly, right?

When the Moon Hits Your Eye is basically a collection of vignettes exploring the consequences of the Moon’s unexpected transformation. Scalzi imagines how people in a wide variety of jobs, lifestyles and positions are impacted or affected by the new lunar reality.

Sure, there’s the scientific impact: the Moon would be much larger because it would have the same mass as lunar regolith, and cheese of that size isn’t particularly stable. Physics dictates that it would undergo some changes, with drastic consequences for Earth’s residents.

Also, NASA wouldn’t be happy. At the time Scalzi wrote the book, the space organization was fully prepared to send astronauts back to the Moon as a stepping stone to the stars. (That may not happen now, as NASA funding is being reallocated.) Scalzi’s astronauts won’t get the chance, especially since narcissist trillionaire Jody Bannon, who has his own vanity space program (yes, he mentions a real one), is going anyway. (Was Scalzi psychic?)

Beyond the scientific and technical impact, Scalzi imagines how the Moon’s alteration would affect many others. How would organized religion deal with imminent catastrophe? Was this a miracle or a sign from a benevolent or a malevolent god? Would we look to spiritual leaders for reassurance or blissful acceptance of our fate?

On the opposite side of morality, what about Hollywood? How would sensational institutions capitalize on disaster? And in terms of capital, would financial markets be able to cope with runs on banks? What would be the most secure form of monetary exchange? Would the military establishment have any role in world affairs anymore?

Politics would be in an apoplectic state in trying to maintain status quo following an event of this magnitude. The White House would hold press conferences to spin its complete control of the situation, despite its total inability to do so.

The White House chief of staff to his colleagues: “So let me summarize. Sometime yesterday afternoon the moon was replaced by a globe of cheese…” And then reassuring the public by lying completely: “There is no danger at this time, nor do we anticipate any danger from it in the near future.”

Scalzi includes scenes of conflict even in cheese shops, where rioters threaten the lives of retailers simply trying to make a living. And because cheese is itself now the enemy, nothing is sacred. Not even Moon rocks brought back to Earth by Apollo astronauts are safe — they too have been turned to cheese, and are now sought by the wealthy elite who will stop at nothing to make a lunar grilled cheese sandwich.

Scalzi’s keen sense of social media and pop culture allow him to show the impact of the Moon’s demise through the lens of Reddit, Slack, the publishing industry itself and even Saturday Night Live (where skits bomb as much as they seem to in real life anyway).

This ain’t your grandpa’s science fiction, to be sure.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye is a prime example of absurdist literature, reminiscent of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, which explored how an impossible event might be viewed by society. It even smacks of sci-fi author Larry Niven’s classic question “What can you say about chocolate covered manhole covers?” that he posed decades ago in the story of the same name, challenging readers’ already-stretched imaginations. Fans of Douglas Adams will find Scalzi’s work delightful.

Scalzi concludes When the Moon Hits Your Eye with chapters illustrating the fragility of belief and the way in which factual events are regarded across time, challenging our notions of history and truth. His characters seem to be living in a world very much like we find ourselves in today.

And just as silly.

Chris Rutkowski is a Winnipeg science writer and sci-fi fan.