io9: John Scalzi

Buy some John Scalzi books, support breast cancer screenings!

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:57:20 PST

John Scalzi is the master of making us offers we can't refuse. And this time, he's letting you take money from his pocket and put it into the hands of Planned Parenthood. Recently, the Susan G. Komen Foundation bowed to pro-life bullying and withdrew support for Planned Parenthood's breast-cancer screenings. So for the next week, Scalzi is donating his share of the sales from his Subterranean Press e-books to Planned Parenthood, earmarking the funds for breast cancer screening. And Subterranean is following suit. So this is a great chance to buy some terrific books for Kindle or Nook, and make a difference. [Whatever] More »

All The Science Fiction and Fantasy Books We're Dying to Read in 2012

Kelly Faircloth — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:05:11 PST

Science fiction and fantasy books are bigger than ever. A Dance With Dragons and Stephen King's time-travel saga rule the bestseller lists. Literary authors all flock to write about zombies, apocalypses and time travel. And by all indications, 2012 is going to be an even greater year for genre books. More »

When is a cover for a novel called Redshirts too self-mocking?

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:30:00 PDT

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The title of John Scalzi's secret project has finally been revealed — it's the intriguing Redshirts, a novel whose one-line synopsis says it all: "What happens when all the expendable ensigns on the exploring starship start comparing notes?" Knowing Scalzi, this book will be poignant as laugh-out-loud funny... but how do you create a cover that lives up to that title? More »

Finally Revealed: The 100 Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, According to NPR's Readers

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:02:17 PDT

When NPR revealed its list of finalists for its "Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books" survey, we were struck by how diverse and wide-ranging that list was. Now the actual list of the 100 greatest books has been revealed... and it's quite a bit more conservative. More »

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi: Humans, Aliens, and Lawyers

Grey_Area — Thu, 19 May 2011 14:00:00 PDT

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Even big time SF authors can't resist doing fanfic. And why not? Our favorite writers are fans just like us. John Scalzi, author of Old Man's War and internet darling, probably read Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper as a kid. This tale of humans debating the intelligence of a cute, fuzzy alien species has charmed readers since 1962, was a Hugo Best Novel nominee, and was in many of our student bookbags along with the Heinlein juveniles and John Christopher's Tripod books. More »

May Books include far-future detective novels, zombie-fighting bloggers, and alien linguistics

Kelly Faircloth — Mon, 09 May 2011 17:00:00 PDT

May is a blockbuster month for books, with new releases from China Miéville, John Scalzi and Charlaine Harris, plus Gilded-Age witchcraft and zombie-fighting bloggers. More »

Read an exclusive excerpt from John Scalzi's new novel Fuzzy Nation!

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 04 May 2011 07:00:00 PDT

A new John Scalzi novel is always a cause for celebration, but Fuzzy Nation is also a "reboot" of a beloved 1962 Hugo-nominated novel, Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper. More »

Hollywood Take Note: 50 Amazing Science Fiction Books that Haven't Been Filmed Yet

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:00:00 PDT

The Register asked its readers to name the best science fiction books that haven't been turned into movies, and hundreds of nominations came in. Now the Register has whittled the list down to the 50 that got the most votes. More »

Is Hollywood going overboard with science fiction movies?

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:00:46 PDT

Hollywood has gone into a science fiction feeding frenzy in the past week, with several new scifi movies getting greenlit. The success of Battle: Los Angeles, on top of Avatar, Star Trek and others, put dollar signs in everyone's eyes. More »

The Books We Can't Wait For This Spring

Kelly Faircloth — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:00:00 PST

From the new China Mieville to the latest Cherie Priest, from quantum burglars to reworked fairy tales, here's what you'll be reading this spring. We've picked out the most exciting new books from the next few months' science fiction/fantasy releases. More »

John Scalzi's Old Man's War is headed to the big screen

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:30:00 PST

Paramount has purchased the rights to John Scalzi's Old Man's War, a novel about an elderly man who trades in his old body for a new model. An Ender's Game movie and now this? More »

Sci Fi Short Story Magazine - not a scam, just your standard ripoff

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:30:00 PST

A new science fiction magazine called Sci Fi Short Story caught our eye recently. It looks good online, and it's even hiring editors. Sounds great - a professional market in the making, right? Sure, until you read the fine print. More »

What happens when you try to Gerrymander aliens? John Scalzi explains

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 12:00:44 PDT

Democracy will be no less dysfunctional once we have a myriad of alien species living among us, according to John Scalzi's new story "An Election." Scalzi's tale doesn't just celebrate voting, it also invents a new publishing model. More »

Discover the shocking stories behind the year's most baffling image!

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:27:41 PDT

We all marveled at the fan art that showed Wil Wheaton riding a unicorn-dragon-kitten into battle with an Orc John Scalzi. And now you can read the true, and unquestionable stories behind the image. For charity! More »

Read the first chapter of Mary Robinette Kowal's Jane Austen-inspired novel online for free!

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:30:00 PDT

Campbell Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal's debut novel, the Regency-set Shades Of Milk And Honey, doesn't come out for another month. But you can read the first chapter right now, on her website. [Mary Robinette Kowal via Scalzi] More »

Why is Wil Wheaton charging down on orc John Scalzi while riding a unicorn-dragon-kitten?

Marc Bernardin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:30:00 PDT

There are some questions that simply don't have answers...yet. Wheaton and Scalzi are holding a fan-fiction contest to benefit the Lupus Alliance of America. Explain the picture, win the contest, get paid, and help people. More »

Reboots Aren't Just For Batman Any More

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:30:00 PDT

The modern fashion for rebooting heroes has reached the book world. John Scalzi, the writer who knows no fear, has taken H. Beam Piper's Hugo-nominated 1962 novel Little Fuzzy and reinventing it. And Tor Books will publish the result. More »

The Greatest Nerdy Gift Books In The Galaxy

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:31:50 PST

If you're looking for an awesome gift for the uber-geeks in your life, then nothing is better than a book. We've collected a gift guide, covering everything from SF classics to Star Wars to astronaut lore, for your favorite nerds. More »

Fame And Fortune (Well, Fame Anyway) Can Be Yours By Submitting To These Online Magazines

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:30:00 PDT

Writer and marketing guru Jason Sanford has a nifty roundup of webzines that publish short science fiction, including handy facts like their payrates and which ones will help you qualify as a professional writer under the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America rules. (And if six cents a word seems kind of a puny "professional" pay rate to you, then John Scalzi agrees. [Jason Sanford] More »

How To Get John Scalzi And David Gerrold To Take Out A Restraining Order On You

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:30:00 PDT

John Scalzi and David Gerrold are two of science fiction's most prominent writers. And it turns out they have one other thing in common too: They don't want to read your unproduced screenplay. More »

Take John Scalzi's Money, And Help Keep The Science In Short Fiction

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:01:18 PDT

John Scalzi is matching any donations to StrangeHorizons until midnight tonight — up to $500 total. He writes: More »

Hugos 2009: The Fashion, The Fervor And The Suspense!

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:00:00 PDT

Last night, the 2009 Hugo Awards Ceremony brought together many of the genre's leading lights, and we were there. A few victories surprised us, and a couple of speeches moved us. Here's our gallery of the parties and the glamor. More »

Future Cities, The Steampunk Past, And Everything In Between

StephenGoldmeier — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:30:00 PDT

This month, spend some time in Victorian steampunk England, hunt down lost artifacts on Mars, or get to know Batman a little better. You could also grab a drink in post-apocalyptic Wales. All that and more, in July books. More »

The Future Of Science Fiction Publishing Is In Cyberspace

Alasdair Wilkins — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:18:25 PDT

A panel of science fiction writers and editors recently met at a publishing conference to discuss how blogs and internet marketing have affected the publishing industry and what their impact will be going forward. More »

In "Zoë's Tale," It's Hard to Be a Teenage Messiah

Grey_Area — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:00:00 PDT

Zoë's Tale, the last book in the Old Man's War sequence by John Scalzi, has just been nominated a Hugo for best novel. It deals with the harrowing complications of interstellar politics and teenage girls. More »

Metatropolis Is The Best Kind Of Urban Renewal

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:42:45 PDT

The futuristic city is often a supporting character in science fiction, but these urban visions rarely feel like places you could live in. So Metatropolis, a new anthology of city tales, is a nice surprise. More »

Why Can't Your Favorite SF Author Write Faster?

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:27:32 PST

Essayist Geoff Nicholson once tried to win a childhood reading contest by devouring science fiction stories. Now he's struggling with a crucial question: why are some writers so prolific, and others slower than you'd like? More »

John Scalzi Joins Stargate Universe Crew

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:00:00 PST

Good news fans who've enjoyed novels like Old Man's War and Agent To The Stars. Author and blogger John Scalzi has joined forces with Joseph Mallozzi, Stargate producer, and is now the creative consultant for the new spin-off series Stargate Universe. But what does it all mean, besides frequent trips to Canada? According to Scalzi's blog, he'll be

assisting the producers and directors in shaping the direction of the series, to offer technical writing suggestions and advice, and basically to be useful when they want another point of view on something; it’s a background rather than foreground sort of job. No, I won’t be writing for the series at this point; hey, I just got the one gig, let me do that first.

Cousin Of Son Of Space-Bat, Part 2

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:20:00 PST

Where are all the original science fiction movies? Zoe's Tale author John Scalzi rails against the sequels and tweakels coming in 2009. But then he makes a point I haven't seen anyone make before. More »

The Slow-Motion Death Of The Pulps

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:40:00 PST

It's apparently time for our semi-annual discussion of whether the pulp SF mags are dying. Locus reports that Asimov's has seen its circulation drop 5.2 percent, to 17,581. Even worse, Fantasy & Science Fiction has seen an 11.2 percent drop, to 16,489. (Wondering if those numbers include pass-around.) Compare that with 2004's rough numbers, which people were describing as horrendously low. PBS asked John Scalzi and two magazine editors what's up, and they say it's not just the Internet, it's distribution and changing audience tastes, among other things. (Plus, it's the Internet.) [PBS via BoingBoing] More »

John Scalzi's "Agent to the Stars" Delivers Much-Needed Humor

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:20:00 PDT

What happens when blobs from another planet pick up signals from Earth, travel for generations to come meet us, and get into orbit only to discover all our pop culture portrays them as monsters? If they're the protagonists in John Scalzi's re-issued first novel Agent to the Stars, they hire themselves a Hollywood representative. Scalzi's novel hits shelves this month, and our own Grey_Area writes on Threat Quality that the book is refreshingly funny in these dystopia-obsessed times. Check out his full review! [via Threat Quality] More »

Metatropolis Story of Decaying Cities, Read by Saul Tigh

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:20:00 PDT

Instead of reading about the stock market this afternoon, divert yourself by listening to some near-future tales of the ecopocalypse instead. The first story from John Scalzi's new audiobook anthology Metatropolis is online for free, and it sounds fantastic. Written by Jay "Mainspring" Lake and read by Michael "Saul Tigh" Hogan, the story is called "In the Forests of the Night" and it follows the general theme of the book, which is that environmental collapse has completely transformed urban life. More »

Young Adult Books Will Save Science Fiction

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:00:00 PDT

The biggest growth in science fiction publishing these days, hands down, is happening in the young adult market, and that's great news. While the "real" science fiction publishers are chasing a shrinking - and graying - readership, tweens and teens are discovering SF for themselves, thanks to books from a diverse range of writers. Best of all, YA science fiction isn't aimed at a subculture, but at everybody of a particular age. More »

Why Hacking History Is Harder Than You'd Think

Charlie Jane Anders — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:00:46 PDT

You'd think that messing around with the timelines would be fun and easy — after all, we're always hearing that the slightest change to history could change everything. But it's not that simple, as we learned at a panel yesterday at Worldcon. For one thing, history is a lot more resilient than you'd expect, according to novelists John Scalzi, Eric Flint and John Hemry, plus Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell. We also learned why most alternate history books involve World War II or the Civil War. More »

Why the Publishing Industry Cares About You

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:09:43 PDT

Book industry blog Galleycat was at the Los Angeles Book Expo this past weekend, and posted about a panel with Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi where the blog-maniac SF authors talked about the value of online community (i.e., people who read and comment on blogs). Awesome Tor editor Patrick Nielson Hayden also joined them. Read the post to find out why SF writers and publishers love you. [Galleycat] More »

Speed Racer Could Have Been Star Wars, Says John Scalzi

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:34:48 PDT

In an interesting column over at AMC, scifi writer and film critic John Scalzi explains why Speed Racer is doomed not so much because of its content, but because of the changing economics of film distribution. He points out that when Star Wars went into wide release in 1977, it garnered the equivalent (adjusted for inflation) of about $20 million its opening weekend — exactly what Speed Racer earned. And it was considered a monster hit. What has changed? For one thing, Star Wars was able to stay in theaters for nearly a year. More »

Are Adults More Ignored Than Children In SF Lit?

Graeme McMillan — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:30:00 PDT

They've published books, linked to and even interviewed each other, but now authors Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi are collectively wondering whether anyone is paying attention to their most recent books, and just what is the most under-appreciated genre of literature: Young Adult or Regular Science Fiction? More »

Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi Are Doing It for the Kids

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:20:33 PDT

Scifi authors Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi both have books coming out (Little Brothers and Zoe's War respectively) that are aimed at young adults. It's great to see two smartypants writers aiming their often-subversive messages at the next generation. Now they've just done a great mutual interview about their new books, plus a little digression into lighting things on fire and putting bacon on cats. You can see the video on YouTube via BoingBoing. More »

Hugo Nominees Available As E-Books (For Judges Only)

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:00:00 PDT

Four out of five Hugo-nominated novels are available for free, in electronic format — but only if you're a Hugo voter. To receive copies of Halting State by Charles Stross, Brasyl by Ian McDonald, Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer and The Last Colony by John Scalzi, you have to send an email to hugo2008@scalzi.com with proof that you're registered for Denvention, the 2008 WorldCon. Too bad only Hugo voters get to read these books electronically, since even non-attendees might want to weigh in about them online. Also too bad that Harper Collins chose not to include Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union in the care package, although an excerpt is online here. Sadly, the omission may put Chabon at a bit of a disadvantage with the Hugo voters. [Whatever] More »

Sample The Hugo Selections Online

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:00:07 PDT

You can read several of the stories and novellas on the Hugo nominations list, including Elizabeth Bear's "Tideline," Ted Chiang's "The Merchant And The Alchemist's Gate," Gene Wolfe's "Memorare" and Nancy Kress' "The Fountain of Age" online. The novel nominees include Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policeman's Union, Charles Stross' Halting State, Ian McDonald's Brasyl, and John Scalzi's The Last Colony. Long-form dramatic presentation nominees include Heroes season one, while short-form dramatic presentation nominees include two Doctor Who stories, a Torchwood episode, Battlestar Galactica's "Razor" and an episode of the fan-produced Star Trek: Phase II. More »