The Yherajk have a problem. They really want to make friends with humanity, but humanity just isn't ready to make friends with something that looks like a puddle of slime and smells worse. So, they do what anyone with an image problem would do: they hire an agent to represent them.
Tom Stein is an up-and-coming Hollywood agent. He doesn't represent any A-list stars, but he's working on it. However, all that changes when his boss assigns him to some new clients: the Yherajk. Under pressure from his boss and being tailed by a gossip rag reporter, Tom must find a way to make the Yherajk as popular with humanity as his movie-star, blond-bombshell client Michelle Beck. Luckily, Tom has two things going for him: an excellent assistant (Miranda) and a Yherajk who's a little bit human himself (Joshua).
Agent to the Stars was originally published as a free novel on author John Scalzi's website in 2004. It's still there in HTML format, and you can download it in other formats from ManyBooks, which is where I got it. Originally written in 1997, some of the references to human technology are a bit dated, particularly given the current status of AOL as an internet service provider. However, these are only minor stumbling blocks in an otherwise engaging read.
I've been an admirer of Scalzi's writing ever since the bloggerati directed me to his website some years ago. At some point along the way, I read the first chapter of his book The Android's Dream, which also involves alien races that communicate using smells. I was hooked, but with a backlog of books to read, I knew it would take me a while to get to it. Finally, a few years later I have now read a Scalzi book. My only regret is that it took me this long.
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