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Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces, (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations, and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Today I finished John Scalzi’s “Redshirts.” You can probably guess from the title what this novel is about but just in case you’re not a Trekkie, “redshirt” is slang for those characters in the original “Star Trek” TV series that always died on away missions. If Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were going down to an alien planet there would be one or two extras with them and they usually wore red Starfleet uniforms. You knew the stars of the show weren’t going to be killed so if anyone was going to die on the mission it was one (or more) of the redshirts.

Now take “Star Trek” (including TNG) mixed with “Galaxy Quest“, a little “Futurama“, the “Wormhole X-Treme!” episode of “Stargate SG-1” and a dash of time travel and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what you’re in for as you read “Redshirts.” (The Stargate reference works in more ways than one since Scalzi was a creative consultant on “Stargate Universe“).

Welcome to the starship Intrepid, where “crew deaths are a feature, not a bug.” Shortly after his assignment to the Intrepid, ensign Andrew Dahl figures out something is not quite right: everyone avoids the commanding officers like the plague and inevitably some member of the crew dies a horrible death while on an away mission with them. As crazy as it sounds, Andrew and his friends come to the conclusion that they are characters on a television show, and the worst part is “it’s apparently not a very good show.” If their lives are out of their hands, controlled by the Narrative, do they have any hope of survival?

The last chapter of the book (24) made me laugh out loud, and the three Codas after that (told in the first-, second-, and third-person respectively) wrap up the story nicely. “Redshirts” is a quick, easy, and enjoyable must-read for any TV science fiction fan.

I probably shouldn’t mention this, since it’ll probably get stuck in your head like it did mine, but as I was reading I heard Captain Abernathy’s voice as Zap Brannigan from “Futurama” (which would make Lieutenant Kerensky Kif  ).