Scalzi's very first novel, which he wrote to figure out if he could actually be a writer. Many years later the answer is yes, and this was formally published in novel form with a few edits. It's a silly, funny, aliens-arrive-on-earth story, basically. If you enjoyed books like "Year Zero" by Reid or "The Android's Dream" also by Scalzi then you'll probably like this. Our hero Thomas Stein, up and coming Hollywood talent agent, is hired by the newly arrived and very un-attractive aliens to figure out a way to introduce them to earth in a way that won't horrify the world; and that's basically what he spends the rest of the book trying to figure out how to do.