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John Scalzi

Author of Old Man's War

126+ Works 53,959 Members 2,849 Reviews 165 Favorited

About the Author

John Michael Scalzi was born May 10, 1969 in California. He attended the University of Chicago. During his 1989 -1990 school year he was the editor-in-chief of The Chicago Maroon. After graduating in 1991, Scalzi took a job as the film critic for the Fresno Bee newspaper, eventually also becoming a show more humor columnist. In 1996 he was hired as the in-house writer and editor at America Online. When he was laid off in 1998, he decided to become a full-time freelance writer and author. His first published novel was Old Man's War. His other works include Agent to the Stars, The Ghosts Brigades, The Androids Team, The Sagan Diary, The Last Colony, and Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas. In 2014 his title, Locked In, made The New York Times Best Seller List. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by John Scalzi

Old Man's War (2005) — Author — 8,617 copies
The Ghost Brigades (2006) 4,590 copies
The Last Colony (2007) 3,755 copies
Lock In (2014) 2,997 copies
Zoe's Tale (2008) 2,575 copies
The Collapsing Empire (2017) 2,463 copies
The Android's Dream (2006) 2,347 copies
Fuzzy Nation (2011) 1,783 copies
Agent to the Stars (2005) 1,711 copies
The Human Division (2013) 1,568 copies
The Kaiju Preservation Society (2022) 1,498 copies
The End of All Things (2015) 1,266 copies
The Consuming Fire (2018) 1,239 copies
Head On (2018) 1,091 copies
The Last Emperox (2020) 1,036 copies
The Dispatcher (2016) 834 copies
The God Engines (2009) 798 copies
The Sagan Diary (2007) 778 copies
Starter Villain (2023) 761 copies
Metatropolis (2008) — Editor; Contributor — 574 copies
After the Coup (2008) 271 copies
Murder by Other Means (2020) 255 copies
Questions for a Soldier (2005) 229 copies
Judge Sn Goes Golfing (2009) 159 copies
Travel by Bullet (2022) 146 copies
The Tale of the Wicked (2012) 105 copies
An Election (2012) 97 copies
Slow Time Between the Stars (2023) 76 copies
Everything but the Squeal (2016) 76 copies
A Very Scalzi Christmas (2019) 66 copies
The Life of the Mind (2015) 61 copies
Clash of the Geeks — Editor; Contributor — 56 copies
This Hollow Union (2015) 48 copies
To Stand or Fall (2015) 44 copies
Can Long Endure (2015) 44 copies
Muse of Fire (2013) 44 copies
Redshirts: Chapters 1-4 (2012) 31 copies
The Origin of the Flow (2019) 25 copies
Subterranean Magazine, Issue #4 (Spring 2006) (2006) — Editor — 12 copies
The High Castle 10 copies
Pluto Tells All 7 copies
Extras 3 copies
Sarah's Sister 2 copies
The Statue 2 copies
Eternal 1 copy
A model Dog 1 copy

Associated Works

The Martian Chronicles (1950) — Introduction, some editions — 16,530 copies
The Forever War (1974) — Foreword, some editions — 9,362 copies
Always Coming Home (1985) — Introduction, some editions — 2,125 copies
Robots vs Fairies (2018) — Contributor — 228 copies
Twenty-First Century Science Fiction (2013) — Contributor — 180 copies
The Best of R. A. Lafferty (2019) — Contributor — 153 copies
Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2014 Edition (2015) — Contributor — 153 copies
Black Tide Rising (2016) — Contributor, some editions — 94 copies
The Art of John Harris (2014) — Foreword — 88 copies
The Best of Subterranean (2017) — Contributor — 73 copies
Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology (2020) — Contributor — 68 copies
Rip-Off! (2012) — Contributor — 65 copies
Scenting the Dark and Other Stories (2009) — Introduction — 63 copies
Mash Up (2012) — Contributor — 61 copies
Resist: Tales from a Future Worth Fighting Against (2018) — Contributor — 56 copies
The Stories: Five Years of Original Fiction on tor.com (2013) — Contributor — 38 copies
A Better Way to Die (2015) — Introduction, some editions — 30 copies
Love, Death + Robots: The Official Anthology, Volume 1 (2021) — Contributor — 21 copies
First-Person Singularities: Stories (2017) — Introduction — 18 copies
Love, Death + Robots: The Official Anthology, Volume 2+3 (2022) — Contributor — 11 copies
Tor.com: Selected Original Fiction, 2008-2012 (2013) — Contributor — 11 copies
The Paulandstormonomicon — Contributor — 2 copies
MidAmeriCon II Souvenir Book — Contributor — 1 copy
Subterranean Magazine Summer 2008 — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

aliens (687) American (211) anthology (330) audible (414) audio (313) audiobook (608) classic (247) ebook (1,423) fantasy (798) fiction (5,489) goodreads (440) goodreads import (217) hardcover (225) humor (695) Kindle (897) library (223) Mars (384) military (624) military science fiction (522) mystery (280) novel (592) Old Man's War (468) own (343) owned (281) paperback (283) read (1,244) science fiction (15,507) Science Fiction/Fantasy (347) series (280) sf (2,428) sff (713) short stories (919) signed (572) space (349) space opera (725) space travel (242) speculative fiction (329) to-read (6,354) unread (354) war (608)

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Scalzi, John Michael, II
Birthdate
1969-05-10
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Fairfield, California, USA
Places of residence
Covina, California, USA
Glendora, California, USA
Claremont, California, USA
Fresno, California, USA
Bradford, Ohio, USA
Education
University of Chicago (BA|1991)
Occupations
film critic
humor columnist
In-house writer/editor (America Online)
Professional blogger (America Online)
business consultant
Relationships
Booth, John Wilkes (distantly related)
Blauser, Kristine Ann (wife)
Organizations
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)
Fresno Bee
America Online
Awards and honors
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (2006)
Hugo Nominee (Fan Writer ∙ 2007)
Hugo (Fan Writer ∙ 2008)
Robert A Heinlein Award (2023)
Agent
Ethan Ellenberg (Ethan Ellenberg Agency)
Bibi Lewis (Ethan Ellenberg Agency)
Joel Gotler (film/TV)
Short biography
John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his Old Man's War series, three novels of which have been nominated for the Hugo Award, and for his blog Whatever, where he has written on a number of topics since 1998. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2008 based predominantly on that blog, which he has also used for several charity drives. His novel Redshirts won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel. He has written non-fiction books and columns on diverse topics such as finance, video games, films, astronomy, writing and politics, and served as a creative consultant for the TV series Stargate Universe.

Members

Discussions

OCTOBER READ - SPOILERS - Old Man's War in The Green Dragon (December 2014)
OCTOBER - NO SPOILERS - Old Man's War in The Green Dragon (September 2014)
Old Man's Warriors in Science Fiction Fans (May 2013)
Chat about... Redshirts by John Scalzi in The SF&F Book Chat (February 2013)

Reviews

This was fine, but it felt almost too Scalzi. Too many pop culture references that felt clunky and out of place (although I did love the reference to "The Fugitive"), constant call outs to the locale that felt like it was written for people from that area specifically, and a main character who ways supposed to be portrayed as in way over his head, but had absolutely no issue going toe to toe with the villains and rattling off pages of witty banter. The ending twists were meh, everything felt too clean. I definitely enjoyed elements of it and I wouldn't say it's bad, it's just a very specific style of popcorn fiction that I don't really love.… (more)
½
 
Flagged
James_Knupp | 65 other reviews | Mar 12, 2024 |
This is exactly what the subtitle says it is - an Oral History of Haden's Syndrome. Haden's Syndrome is a highly contagious virus that makes COVID-19 look like the sniffles. Introducing it as an oral history works really well since presents a wide range of information about the effects of the syndrome in just a few dozen pages. Fingers crossed this didn't give away too much about the Lock In series it's the prequel to.
 
Flagged
wandaly | 42 other reviews | Mar 5, 2024 |
You can always count on John Scalzi to write a fantastic science fiction story. Interesting and fully-fleshed out characters, unique story, great world building, fun plot. And if you like audiobooks, this one is narrated by Wil Wheaton, so yay!
 
Flagged
ardaiel | 122 other reviews | Mar 4, 2024 |

Lists

Awards

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Associated Authors

Wil Wheaton Narrator, Editor, Contributor
Ann Leckie Contributor
Elizabeth Bear Contributor
Tobias Buckell Contributor
Jay Lake Contributor
Karl Schroeder Contributor
Rachel Swirsky Contributor
Scott Mattes Contributor
Catherynne Valente Contributor
Jeff Zugale Cover artist
Stephen Tolouse Contributor
Bernadette Durbin Contributor
John Anealio Contributor
Patrick Rothfuss Contributor
Ron Hogan Contributor
Jo Walton Contributor
Chris Roberson Contributor
Tobias S. Buckell Contributor
Nick Sagan Contributor
David Klecha Contributor
Allen Steele Contributor
Stuart B. MacBride Contributor
Dean Cochrane Contributor
Ilsa Bick Contributor
Gillian Polack Contributor
James Allison Contributor
Bruce D. Arthurs Contributor
John Harris Cover artist, Illustrator
Vincent Chong Cover artist
Bernhard Kempen Translator
Peter Lutjen Cover designer
Donato Giancola Cover artist
Amber Benson Narrator
Sparth Cover artist
Getty Images Photographer
Tavia Gilbert Narrator
Masayuki Uchida Translator
Shelley Eshkar Cover artist
Mike Krahulik Cover artist
Irene Gallo Cover artist
Arndt Drechsler Cover designer
Pascal Blanchet Cover designer
Neil Lang Cover designer
Hanna Vadenpaa Cover artist
Tavia Gilbert Narrator
Vincent Cong Illustrator
Kristine Scalzi Author photographer
Tristan Elwell Cover artist
Michael Hogan Narrator
Edward Miller Cover artist
Scott Brick Narrator
Molly Crabapple Cover artist
Natalie Metzger Illustrator
Peter Ganim Narrator
Michael Koelsch Cover artist
Luke Daniels Introduction
Fred Berman Narrator
Gahan Wilson Cover artist
Kay Eluvian Narrator
Daniel Dos Santos Cover artist

Statistics

Works
126
Also by
27
Members
53,959
Popularity
#279
Rating
3.9
Reviews
2,849
ISBNs
499
Languages
17
Favorited
165

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