As I believe I've written before, the best thing about Lee Goldberg's Monk novels is that he has the skill to write so that I can hear the characters talking in the actors' voices. Mr. Monk in Outer Space is no exception.

In this story, now out in paperback, Monk investigates the murder of Conrad Stipe, the creator of Beyond Earth, a short-lived 70s cult sci-fi television series currently being revived in much revised format, to the dismay of a vocal sector of fandom. The murder occurs outside a fan con, and takes place in full view of four security cameras, but the killer doesn't care, because he's dressed as the show's inhuman second lead, Mr. Snork.

There's also the case of the man who was shot after he died, a case so mysterious, and yet so far beneath the attention of Captain Stottlemeyer's homicide squad, that Lt. Disher is assigned to head up a Special Desecration Unit to unravel it.

Since desecration is naturally of keen interest to the obsessive compulsive detective, Monk is drawn to the case. But in order to also solve Stipe's murder, Monk is forced to come to grips with the most disturbing discovery of all: His brother Ambrose is a Big Name Fan in "Earther" circles and author of multiple books and guides about the series.

From there on out, it's classic Monk style all the way. The Monk series is perfect popcorn mystery, fun and easy to read. Goldberg's use of Natalie as narrator means that we spend the most time in the presence and thoughts of simply the most pleasant character on the show, making the read even easier.

Outer Space has more to offer the long-term Goldberg fan, because he is essentially revisiting his earlier novel, Beyond the Beyond, a comic mystery dealing with the same subject, albeit with much more focus on the quirks and outright dysfunctions of fandom. The Monk version, naturally, focuses on Monk and the rest of his cast, and the structure of the Monk novels, with several related and unrelated crimes for Monk to unravel per novel, draws attention away from the sci-fi cult.

The subject of media fandom is near but hardly dear to Goldberg, a one-time showrunner of Seaquest DSV who has a notorious and vehement disdain for fanfic in particular and little sympathy for fandom in general. As noted, Beyond the Beyond is a purer examination of this, but Outer Space is not above taking notice. In particular, Goldberg holds Ambrose Monk's expertise up as admirable, leading Monk to recognize his brother's contribution to solving the case.

Hypothesis: As much as we'd like them to be neutral, guy is fully masculine, and guys is masculine dominant. You should avoid using them indefinitely or for mixed groups.

The first is easy to dispose of, because it is trivial to find or construct examples in which guy contrasts with an exclusively feminine term like girl. E.g.:

"Singer-songwriter" is a name for a genre which you can summarize as "guy with a guitar" or "girl with a guitar".

Anyway, it's true that you may see a white guy and an asian girl going out more then you would see an asian guy and a white girl going out.

Hot Girl Threatens Guy with Huge Strap On

The latter is less emphatic, because there are cases where guys is used to encompass both genders. I will usually greet a couple that I meet with some variation of "Hey, guys, what's up?" for example.

Hey guys. As most of you already know, we have cancelled the rest of our UK/Europe RIOT Tour.

If You Guys Are Right, Facebook Is Screwed

However, the best evidence that the core meaning is still masculine comes from the sentence She's just one of the guys, in all its wide variation. The conventional implicature of that sentence is that she would not normally be considered one of the guys.

There are certainly contexts in which the implicature of X is just one of the Y is that X partakes of the characteristics of Y, e.g. A dog is just one of the animals, which would encompass X within the scope of Y. However, I'm going to maintain that the majority of actual uses when X is female and Y is guys is that X is eschewing feminine characteristics in order to partake in the masculine culture of Y.

You'll note that this usage abounds in sports.

On the Field, She's Just One of the Guys

I just wanted to play ball - they treated me like I was one of the guys.

There are also abundant examples of guys being used as the ordinary plural of guy, e.g.:

Double winner Matt Damon delighted to be one of the guys: He's always been a big hit with the ladies, now actor Matt Damon can rest assured he's top with the boys, too. The Bourne Ultimatum's star netted two of the top honours at the second annual Guys Choice awards.

Guys and Dolls [the musical]

Why Guys Dump Girls They Dig.

Hopefully, at this point I've convinced you that guys has a very common, if not dominant, use that is primarily masculine and exclusive of feminine. Under the same logic that deprecates words like chairman and indefinite he, I argue that guys is not adequately gender-inclusive of women and that we should avoid using it as a gender-neutral term on that basis.

My new furniture came in today. Also, I'm trying to give away some old furniture. Several 250K pics behind the cut.

This is my new entertainment center, all HD ready. My 32" CRT looks puny and lonely in that big hole, doesn't it?

The color works better in my living room than I feared. It's got some red in it, but it's not so much lighter than the sofa that it fails.

On the other hand, the extensible bridge shelf looks far worse than I expected. Hey, Ma, do you think you can do me up a proper one, and match the color?

Now to get the Lego Star Destroyer moved back to its place of pride on top...and there might be enough room to get the Lego Milennium Falcon, too.

On to the stuff I want to get rid of. There's the old entertainment center. I love it, but it's too small for a good-sized HDTV, so it must go. Strong shelving above, beside, and below the TV slot, which as you can see is just exactly large enough for a 32" 4:3 aspect ratio TV. There are some dings and marks (it's ten years old), and I've cut out the back and a cable hole fairly roughly, but it's still got a lot of use left in it. Free to anyone who'll pick it up.

I'm also going to get a new TV, as you might have guessed, so the old one can find a new home, too. Sony, 32" CRT, non-HD, about four years old, works great. Anybody interested in that?

Finally, there's my old ugly and comfortable couch. Possibly "very ugly and very comfortable" couch.

Also free to anyone who'll pick it up.