If you love John Scalzi’s “voiciness”, this is a book for you. If you find Scalzi’s voice a little too glib, smarmy, and laced with pop-culture winks and nods—maybe not so much for you with this book.
When The Moon Hits Your Eye (A title borrowed from Dean Martin’s hit That’s Amore) is the 2025 science fiction-ish book of short stories that considers the real-world implications of an absurd, nursery rhyme proposition—what if the world was made of cheese? In this case, how would humanity react if, without notice and beyond explanation, the moon turned to “an organic matrix” resembling cheese.
The cover
If I worked at a publishing house and you came to me with just this cover alone, I’d green light it, Like Kaiju Preservation Society and Starter Villain, you know just looking at it what kind of ride you’re in for as a reader.
I mentioned above that this is a book of short stories; there is no plot to discover the cause of this celestial event, nor any attempt to reverse it. Instead, Scalzi studies humanity’s reaction one day at a time with a series of mostly unrelated stories focusing on mostly unrelated characters. A few characters pop up a few times, but none rise to “main character” status. This is a story with no through plot other than, huh! The Moon is now a cheese ball, how does that affect THIS person?
How does that work?
For the most part, I think it’s very successful. Not entirely, but mostly. Some of these short stories are deeply funny. Others are heartfelt and affecting. There is one chapter aimed at every struggling writer caught in the maze of writers’ groups and critique factories that is so earnest and touching and true it breaks my heart. There are others that tug on one’s heartstrings with greater and lesser success.
But, there are also chapters that feel like they are meant to be received by members of some nerd elite at a JoCo Cruise event (Scalzi even shouts out JoCo Cruise attendees in the acknowledgements) with plenty of winking and nudging. It is Scalzi writing to his choir of fans. These stories don’t land so solidly. Scalzi clearly finds some of these chapters hysterical. Maybe you do too? If so, you’ll love this book.
Moon wraps up a conceptual trilogy for Scalzi (similar to Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy) that began with The Kaiju Preservation Society and continued with Starter Villain. There is no through plot between the three stories, just a general sameness—Scalzi thinking “What IF?” in big, crazy, daring brushstrokes. As a writer, I LOVE that he and his team jumped into these stories with both feet. I’ve loved them all.
I just love When The Moon Hits Your Eye a little less than the other two. When I sat back and examined that, I guess my reaction stems from the feeling that Scalzi’s voice is a double-edged sword. If you love it, there’s a lot of it in this book for you. If you don’t love it, there’s a lot of it in this book for you.
I’m giving this book four out of five stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
When The Moon Hits Your Eye
John Scalzi
Publication Date: 25 March 2025
Publisher: Tor Books