Little Fuzzy is a 1962 science fiction novel by H. Beam Piper, now in public domain. It was nominated for the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The story revolves around determining whether a small furry species discovered on the planet Zarathustra is sapient. It features a mild libertarianism that emphasizes sincerity and honesty. The book was followed by a sequel, Fuzzy Sapiens (original title The Other Human Race) published in 1964, the same year that Piper died by suicide. In the wake of Piper's suicide, rumor spread of a lost "second sequel"; in 1981, at the behest of Ace Books, William Tuning produced the critically acclaimed Fuzzy Bones. Ace also hired Ardath Mayhar in 1982 to write Golden Dreams: A Fuzzy Odyssey, which tells the events of Little Fuzzy from the viewpoint of the Fuzzies (or Gashta, as they call themselves). Later, Piper's lost manuscript was discovered. It was published in 1984 as Fuzzies and Other People. Wolfgang Diehr wrote or co-wrote three sequels, published by Pequod Press: Fuzzy Ergo Sum (2011), Caveat Fuzzy (2012), and Fuzzy Conundrum (2016, with well-known Piper historian John F. Carr). In 2011, John Scalzi published Fuzzy Nation, which he described as a "reboot" of Piper's original. Plot summary Protagonist Jack Holloway lives a solitary life mining valuable "sunstones" in the wilderness of the planet Zarathustra, managed by Victor Grego's Chartered Zarathustra Company, which built colonial outposts there and now reaps the benefits of the planet's resources. One day, Holloway meets a small golden-furred humanoid whom he names "Little Fuzzy", who soon introduces Holloway to his family. Holloway cares for the Fuzzies and spreads word of their apparently intelligent behavior. When the Company discovers that the Fuzzies' intelligence may qualify them as a sapient species, the Company moves against them, as the discovery of sapient native Zarathustrans would turn the planet into a protected aboriginal zone, install a proper government there, and deprive the Company of its complete control of the planet's resources. Leonard Kellogg, one of Grego's staff, manages a team of scientists working to legally disprove the Fuzzies' sapience at all costs. Holloway suspects Kellogg's intentions and resists him. When Kellogg kills a Fuzzy in anger, Holloway has him charged with murder, leaving the Fuzzies' sapience to be determined in court. In the midst of the proceedings, it is proven that Fuzzies have at least the mental capacity of a ten-year-old human