What sci-fi book is this?
February 10, 2008 10:37 PM 
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I remember reading this sci-fi book a long while ago, but I can't remember anything easily googleable. Can anyone help identify it?
I don't remember any of the character names, but I do remember some shadows of the plot. The main character, a big blue ox-like alien (with backstory parallels to the Paul Bunyan tales, yes) comes to this city, gathers friends which each represent the sleeping 'services' of the city, and reawakens the ancient services.
I remember that the blue ox's friend and the ancient inhabitants of the city were amorphous aliens called "toolies," perhaps. They used anything as 'bones' to provide structure to their bodies to move around. A female toolie who put on an elaborate human outfit to interact with humans at her job (as people were racist against toolies) was also a character. She had a part-time job as an archaeologist.
Other characters in the motley group were a long, worm-like taxi driver, a bouncing dog? that could shape-change, and a drug addict who somehow was transformed into a waste-disposer.
I also remember a chapter that was written especially to include as many sci-fi cliches as possible, including a story that looped around, a crazy hotel and its nonchalant manager, and a woman who wants to personally repopulate the world.
Anyway, I thought it was an interesting story and it's stuck with me. I'd love to read it again, if I could only
find it.
posted by hjo3 at 11:02 PM on February 10