Category Archives: Books and Literature

Scalzi’s episodic The Human Division kicks off with The B-Team

The B-Team marks John Scalzi’s return to his Old Man’s War universe, the series for which he’s most known. Set after the events of The Last Colony and Zoe’s Tale, it tells of a Colonial Union team sent to repair a diplomatic mission gone wrong. While it seems enjoyable without knowledge of the previous books in the series, it would also spoil them. I highly recommend reading the rest of the series first. Readers familiar with the series should enjoy seeing the ramifications of Perry and Sagan’s actions and those of the Conclave.

The B-Team is the first episode of The Human Division, which will be released as one collected book shortly. It’s comprised of thirteen short stories considered episodes of a whole. The B-Team was released on Tuesday, January 15, and a new episode will be releasing every Tuesday until the entire story is published. This reminds me of serialized novels in the past; however, those only worked as a while novel. The Human Division actually consists of stand-alone episodes. It’s a short story collection with an over-arching (presumably) story. This seems like an evolution of Scalzi’s last novel, Redshirts, which he considered a novel with three codas.

The B-Team follows all new characters in the Old Man’s War universe but was still very exciting. The political landscape of the universe was changed significantly at the end of the last Old Man’s War novel, and it’s nice to see those changes. I’m looking forward to the remaining episodes!

John Dies at the End

Last week I finished John Dies at the End by David Wong (a pseudonym of Jason Pargin), a comedy horror novel about Dave and John, two losers who end up being forced to be heroes. While going through three major arcs, the idea behind the book is best explained by the setup of the first arc. There’s a drug called Soy Sauce that gives people incredibly heightened senses. Users can practically read minds based on observable clues (similar to the crumb of cake in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). The side-effect to Soy Sauce is that it gives you the ability to see things related to the paranormal. These things, presumably, are around us but not normally visible.Because John and Dave are the only ones able to interact with this other layer of reality, it’s up to them to stop the big bad guys.

I’ve never really read any horror novels, so I’m not sure how to compare it. There are movies that would freak me out to read alone, but I don’t think the book would really do that to me. However, I guess I was always reading it with people around or in broad daylight on the street. (I like to read while walking.) The humor probably helps, especially because it isn’t very intellectual humor. The story is told by Dave while John can act very immature, reciting puns in the face of mortal danger and always being quick to make a penis joke. Still, I will admit to getting a little freaked thinking about the book when alone and in the dark. Then again, that happens to me anyways.

For the first half of the book (or maybe more), the novel seems incredibly disjointed. The novel not only has Dave jumping around as he tells it, but there’s are scenes at the beginning and end that exist outside of his retelling as well. By the end of the novel, it really does come together. That doesn’t mean that all questions are answered, however. Many answers are supplied, some are suggested, and others remain. I guess you could consider that appropriate in a tale of so many paranormal subjects.

Remember what I was saying about the humor? Here’s a link.

Fuck that idea like the fucking captain of the Thai Fuck Team fucking at the fucking Tour de Fuck.

A movie based on the novel was recently released on some digital distribution networks with a limited theater release later this month. In addition, a sequel is also available called This Book Is Full Of Spiders: Seriously Dude, Don’t Touch It that was released in October. I found the book very engaging and funny with a ton of crazy one-liners. Surprisingly, some of the paranormal ideas seemed incredibly interesting to me as well. I gave the novel a five out of five on Goodreads.

John Scalzi

scalzi

The most exciting part of Comic-Con was getting to meet my favorite author, John Scalzi. He was nice enough to pose with me for the photo shown above!
There were two panels featuring John as well as autographing. There was some confusion about the line, but the folks at the Tor booth did a great job. In fact, after hearing about what Tor has allowed John to do and how they’re selling their e-books DRM free now, I’m very happy with Tor.

Before signing at the Tor booth, comedy and musical duo Paul and Storm played a little song about George R. R. Martin. It was a fun way to start an autograph session. After the song, we were given free copies of Old Man’s War and then got to meet John!

SDCC 2012 Autographed Vinyl Toy

gem had John sign her vinyl, which I posted about earlier, but I’ll show here as well. He signed in red on the hand. It looks like bloody knuckles!

Autographed Old Man's War

I asked him to sign Old Man’s War, the first book in his fantastic series (soon to be a movie), and told him it was an honor to meet him. He said, “no, it’s an honor to meet you! In fact, I’m going to write that!” That was pretty cool!

Autographed Zoe's Tale

I also asked him to sign Zoe’s Tale, the fourth novel in the series. Afterwards, I asked his wife Kristine and daughter Athena to sign as well. I felt excited to meet them too; it feels like I know so much about them from John Scalzi’s blog, the Whatever. They said yes, so now I have a family-autographed novel! It was shortly after the signing that I saw him walking away from the booth and asked for the photograph shown at the top.

To get good seats for the Spotlight on John Scalzi panel, we caught the end of the previous panel and then moved to the front. While waiting for the panel to begin, the audience ended up singing together. John came into the room and decided to help. He led us in a rendition of Don’t Stop Believing before showing us that it’s possible to turn any song into a B-52’s song.

The panel itself was a lot of fun. I managed to record the whole thing. I don’t think John would ever read this, but let me just say sorry anyways for sitting in the front row with a camera aimed at you for an hour. Honestly though, I’m sure he’s used to this.

My final encounter with John was the panel he moderated on comedy in science-fiction and fantasy. It was a very entertaining panel, and I left with an interest in some new books and authors! Again, I was sitting in the very front with a camcorder. It was the last day of Comic-Con, but we woke up early and lined up early to ensure good seats. It paid off!
It was such a pleasure to meet him. I hope someday I can do something awesome enough to get on his radar. It’s a longshot, but you never know!

Harry Potter and History

Harry Potter is not primarily about friendship, courage, or love. Many times it’s pure luck that Potter triumphs over Voldemort or his minions. Maybe the message was intended to be “if you’re brave and love your friends, then it’ll seem like you’ll lose until chance happens to save you,” but even if that was intended, it isn’t the message I see. The message is that it’s important for us to remember the past.
Things always happen to work out for Potter. I’m not complaining. I loved the books. But realistically (I know, I know, it’s not realistic anyways), it sure seemed like Voldemort should have won. That was largely due to the community as a whole being unprepared because they refused to talk about him, consider the evidence, or properly teach history.
‘Voldemort’ should have been in everyone’s vocabulary. The threat of Death Eaters should have been considered more easily even if one held the assumption that Voldemort was dead. Open-mindedness, equality, and the pursuit of truth seem to be the themes that I see in Harry Potter.

New Books

I’m still reading Little Fuzzy, the original book that Scalzi’s Fuzzy Nation rebooted. Despite having the same basic plot outline, it’s different enough to still be quite entertaining.
I have four books in my queue now thanks to the store making me impulsively purchase books. First, I still have Agent to the Stars, which is written by one of my favorite authors, has a plot that seems fun, and has a gorgeous cover. In the book, aliens want to make contact with Earth but realize we would find them ugly and foul-smelling, so they get a Hollywood agent to help them.
Anyways, today I purchased two more books. I picked up The Lonesome Gods based on a recommendation after feeling like giving westerns a try. I don’t really know what to expect, and I don’t have particularly high expectations. I should remind myself to give the genre another try if this book doesn’t work out. Lastly, I also purchased It’s Superman today. I saw it sitting on the counter a couple weeks ago and decided to grab it today. (Also, I like it’s cover.) I guess it’s a reimagining of Superman. Lucky for me I’ve never even read a Superman comic, so it’ll all be new.
I need to stop buying books.

Fuzzy Nation



Fuzzy Nation, originally uploaded by theuser.

I just finished Scalzi’s new book, Fuzzy Nation, last night. I picked it up Tuesday when it was released, and it was definitely a fun read. It follows Holloway, a prospector on an alien planet. He discovers a rich mineral deposit but also creatures that just might be sentient. If they are, the planet belongs to them and humans can’t exploit it. The book is a reboot of H. Beam Piper’s 1962 book, Little Fuzzy, now in the public domain.
Last week I read Carrie Vaughn’s After the Golden Age. In it the daughter of Captain Olympus and the Spark, the city’s best two superheroes, has no powers of her own. Working as an accountant, she attempts to put her parents’ arch-nemesis behind bars but finds out some interesting family history while she’s at it. The book was definitely entertaining but read like a teen novel and had quite a few errors.
About a month ago I finished Moondogs by Alexander Yates, a strange tale about a man visiting the Philippines to visit his father, a kidnapping, and superpowered soldiers. Oh, and the kidnapper had a rooster for a sidekick. It was good, but it sure left me feeling discontent with the way it ended.
Now I’m starting Little Fuzzy, and then I plan on reading the final book in the Hyperion series, The Rise of Endymion!

Scalzi’s Summer Movie Preview

Gaaah, Meh, or w00t! The 2011 Sci-fi and Fantasy Preview – Filmcritic.com Feature

Here’s my quick take on the summer’s science-fictional and fantastic would-be hits, which I grade, in order of increasing enthusiasm, as follows: “Gaaah,” “Meh,” “Hmmm,” and “w00t!” Because ranking by stars or letter grade is boring.

– John Scalzi
There are a lot more more interesting movies coming out than I realized.
Thor
Scalzi says Hmmm, and I’m going to have to agree. I’m interested because I like the Avengers, but Thor’s never been a character I’ve followed much. Although I’m looking forward to seeing it, I’m not sure how I’ll like it.
Priest
Scalzi says Meh. I’ve never heard of it before, but since all I know about it is that it takes place in a “future dystopic theocracy” and stars Paul Bettany, I’d give it a Hmmm.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
While Scalzi gives it a Meh, I’m going have to go lower and say Gaaah. Just stop.
X-Men: First Class
Meh. While Scalzi says Hmmm, I just don’t really care about the X-Men as much anymore.
Super 8
Meh, but since I don’t know anything about it and Scalzi gives it a w00t, I guess I should keep it in mind.
Green Lantern
I’m going to have to agree with Scalzi’s Hmmm here. It looks interesting even if Ryan Reynolds is annoying.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Yes Scalzi, Gaaah. I can’t believe they’re still pumping out Transformers. This needs to end.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Meh. While Scalzi gives it a w00t, and I do agree that it’ll probably be great, I can’t seem to get excited about Harry Potter now that the books have come to an end. I’m behind on the movies anyways; I haven’t even finished watching Half-Blood Prince.
Captain America: The First Avenger
How can you say meh? w00t all the way! It’s about Captain America, who is totally awesome. How can you meh Captain America? I hope the movie’s great.
Cowboys & Aliens
Here’s one we can both w00t over! While the graphic novel didn’t wow me, judging my the cast of Cowboys & Aliens, I think this one is going to be great!
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
I’m in agreement with meh. It doesn’t anger me or anything, but I have no desire to see this.
Conan the Barbarian
While gaaah seems fairly strong, I can say meh and look away from this one. But then again, maybe I’d say gaaah if I knew anything else about the movie besides that it’s apparently being released soon.

Best SFF Novels of the Decade Tor Reader Poll

Best SFF Novels of the Decade Readers Poll RESULTS | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts via The Whatever

We are exhaustedly happy to announce the final results of the Tor.com Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novel of the Decade Reader’s Poll!

Scalzi’s Old Man’s War took the top spot, with Gaiman’s American Gods coming in second! Both are fantastic books that I really enjoyed. Sadly, I didn’t read any of the other eight, so I guess I should try to get on that now, hm?