John Scalzi

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

Includes the names: J. Scalzi, John Scalzi, Scalzi; John, Hjohn Scalzi, Johnl Scalzi, Джон Скалці, John Scalzi (Editor) Subterranean Press

Series

The End of All Things

Whatever Collections

Uncle John's Presents: Book of the Dumb

The Dispatcher

Works by John Scalzi

Popular Recent

Old Man's War (2005) — Author — 8,866 copies, 412 reviews

Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas (2012) 5,034 copies, 427 reviews

The Ghost Brigades (2006) 4,713 copies, 163 reviews

The Last Colony (2007) 3,847 copies, 125 reviews

Lock In (2014) 3,094 copies, 211 reviews

Zoe's Tale (2008) 2,658 copies, 112 reviews

The Collapsing Empire (2017) 2,564 copies, 125 reviews

The Android's Dream (2006) 2,412 copies, 103 reviews

Fuzzy Nation (2011) 1,836 copies, 121 reviews

Agent to the Stars (2005) 1,750 copies, 102 reviews

The Kaiju Preservation Society (2022) 1,716 copies, 104 reviews

The Human Division (2013) 1,620 copies, 62 reviews

The End of All Things (2015) 1,324 copies, 42 reviews

The Consuming Fire (2018) 1,302 copies, 70 reviews

Head On (2018) 1,150 copies, 55 reviews

Starter Villain (2023) 1,115 copies, 89 reviews

The Last Emperox (2020) 1,091 copies, 52 reviews

The Dispatcher (2016) 862 copies, 76 reviews

The God Engines (2009) 816 copies, 54 reviews

The Sagan Diary (2007) 796 copies, 30 reviews

Metatropolis (2008) — Editor; Contributor — 585 copies, 30 reviews

Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome (2014) 559 copies, 45 reviews

Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008 (2008) 403 copies, 18 reviews

The Human Division #1: The B-Team (2013) 327 copies, 20 reviews

After the Coup (2008) 287 copies, 14 reviews

Murder by Other Means (2020) 276 copies, 21 reviews

Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi (2016) 266 copies, 17 reviews

Questions for a Soldier (2005) 241 copies, 6 reviews

The Human Division #7: The Dog King (2013) 211 copies, 9 reviews

The Human Division #2: Walk the Plank (2013) 210 copies, 11 reviews

You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing (2007) 192 copies, 11 reviews

The Human Division #3: We Only Need the Heads (2013) 191 copies, 9 reviews

The Human Division #5: Tales From the Clarke (2013) 184 copies, 9 reviews

The Human Division #4: A Voice in the Wilderness (2013) 176 copies, 8 reviews

The Human Division #6: The Back Channel (2013) 174 copies, 7 reviews

The Human Division #8: The Sound of Rebellion (2013) 171 copies, 4 reviews

Travel by Bullet (2022) 163 copies, 11 reviews

The Human Division #9: The Observers (2013) 160 copies, 8 reviews

Judge Sn Goes Golfing (2009) 159 copies, 8 reviews

The Human Division #12: The Gentle Art of Cracking Heads (2013) 158 copies, 4 reviews

The Human Division #11: A Problem of Proportion (2013) 156 copies, 6 reviews

The Human Division #10: This Must Be the Place (2013) 154 copies, 4 reviews

The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies (2005) 150 copies, 4 reviews

The Human Division #13: Earth Below, Sky Above (2013) 147 copies, 5 reviews

The Mallet of Loving Correction (2012) 140 copies, 4 reviews

The President's Brain is Missing (2010) 122 copies, 10 reviews

Slow Time Between the Stars (2023) 111 copies, 9 reviews

Uncle John's Presents: Book of the Dumb (2003) 110 copies, 2 reviews

The Tale of the Wicked (2012) 105 copies, 8 reviews

An Election (2012) 100 copies, 8 reviews

The Rough Guide to the Universe (2003) 98 copies

How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story (2007) 95 copies, 3 reviews

Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony (2014) 82 copies

The Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City: Prologue (2012) 80 copies, 2 reviews

Everything but the Squeal (2016) 79 copies, 1 review

A Very Scalzi Christmas (2019) 71 copies, 9 reviews

The Life of the Mind (2015) 64 copies, 2 reviews

Don't Live For Your Obituary (2017) 59 copies, 2 reviews

Clash of the Geeks — Editor; Contributor — 55 copies, 7 reviews

This Hollow Union (2015) 51 copies, 2 reviews

Uncle John's Presents: Book of the Dumb 2 (2004) 49 copies, 1 review

Can Long Endure (2015) 47 copies, 2 reviews

To Stand or Fall (2015) 47 copies, 2 reviews

Muse of Fire (2013) 44 copies, 1 review

24 Frames into the Future: Scalzi on Science Fiction Films (2012) 36 copies

Virtue Signaling and Other Heresies (2018) 35 copies, 1 review

Redshirts: Chapters 1-4 (2012) 32 copies, 1 review

The Origin of the Flow (2019) 25 copies, 1 review

Subterranean Scalzi Super Bundle (2012) 20 copies, 1 review

That Was the Millennium That Was 17 copies, 1 review

Waiting for Athena 15 copies, 2 reviews

Subterranean Magazine, Issue #4 (Spring 2006) (2006) — Editor — 14 copies, 1 review

Tordotcom: Chambers, Scalzi, Wagner 14 copies

Old Man's War Series: (Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony, Zoe's Tale, The Human… (2016) 13 copies

The Secret History of the Last Colony 11 copies

The High Castle 10 copies

When the Yogurt Took Over 9 copies, 3 reviews

Alien Animal Encounters 8 copies

When the Moon Hits Your Eye (2025) 7 copies, 1 review

Pluto Tells All 7 copies

Interdependency Boxed Set: The Collapsing Empire, The Consuming Fire, The Last Emperox (The Interdependency) (2021) 7 copies

The Lock In Series: Lock In, Head On, Unlocked (2019) 6 copies

Regarding Your Application Status 6 copies

Dave and Liz and Chicago Save the World: A Short Story 6 copies, 3 reviews

Sketches of Daily Life: Two Missives From Possible Futures 6 copies

Denise Jones, Super Booker 5 copies

Utere Nihil… [short story] (2014) 5 copies

Sneak Peek for Starter Villain (2023) 4 copies

The Kaiju Preservation Society Sneak Peek (2022) 4 copies

Missives from Possible Futures 1: Alternate History Search Results 4 copies

The Other Large Thing 4 copies

Old Man's War Universe: Short Stories 4 copies

An Interview With the Nativity Innkeeper 3 copies

John Scalzi Collection 3 Books Set (The Collapsing Empire, The Consuming Fire, Head On) (2019) 3 copies

Extras 3 copies

Old Man's War: John Scalzi, the Last Colony, Zoe's Tale, the Ghost Brigades (2010) 3 copies

The Rough Guide to Money Online (2000) 3 copies

Automated Customer Service {short story} (2019) 3 copies, 2 reviews

Wojna starego człowieka (2024) 2 copies

To Sue the World (short story) 2 copies

The Statue 2 copies

Hafte Sorvalh Eats a Churro and Speaks to the Youth of Today [short story] 2 copies, 1 review

The Far Reaches Collection: Stories to Take You Out of This World (2023) — Contributor — 2 copies

The 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time 2 copies

Sarah's Sister 2 copies

Suburban Excursion 2 copies

Jackie Jones and Melrose Mandy 2 copies

Old Man's War Series 1-6 1 copy

An Alternate “Life of the Mind” 1 copy

Totality 1 copy

Difficult Time 1 copy

The Old Man's War Series #1-6 1 copy

Short Stories and Other Writings 1 copy

La Vieja Guardia nº 05/06 La humanidad dividida (2023) 1 copy

La Vieja Guardia nº 04/06 La historia de Zoë (2022) 1 copy

La Vieja Guardia nº 06/06 El final de todas las cosas (2023) 1 copy

La Vieja Guardia nº 03/06 La colonia perdida (Spanish Edition) 1 copy

La vieja guardia nº 01/06 (Spanish Edition) 1 copy

Állati gonosz (2023) 1 copy

The State of Super Villany (short story) 1 copy

An Interview With Santa’s Lawyer 1 copy, 1 review

John Scalzi Super eBook Bundle 1 copy

Your Smart Appliances Talk About You Behind Your Back (short story) 1 copy

Penelope (poem) 1 copy

Cute Adorable Extortionists (short story) 1 copy

Midnight rises 1 copy

Lock In (with bonus novella Unlocked) 1 copy

Important Holidays on Gronghu (short story) 1 copy

The AI Are Absolutely Positively Without a Doubt Not Here to End Humanity, Honest (short story) 1 copy

Life on Earth: Human-Alien Relations (short story) 1 copy

Urania 1610 - UOMINI IN ROSSO 1 copy

A model Dog 1 copy

(Un) Lock In: The Lost Chapters 1 copy

How I Keep Myself Ammused on Long Flights, Part II: The Gremlining (short story) 1 copy

8 Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know About Your Favorite Holiday Music 1 copy

How I Keep Myself Ammused on Long Flights: A Twitter Tale (short story) 1 copy

New Directive for Employee-Manxtse Interactions (short story) 1 copy

Eternal 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Martian Chronicles (1950) — Introduction, some editions — 17,007 copies, 323 reviews

The Forever War (1974) — Foreword, some editions — 9,590 copies, 253 reviews

Always Coming Home (1985) — Introduction, some editions — 2,195 copies, 20 reviews

The New Space Opera 2 (2009) — Contributor — 336 copies, 11 reviews

Robots vs Fairies (2018) — Contributor — 240 copies, 8 reviews

Twenty-First Century Science Fiction (2013) — Contributor — 190 copies, 6 reviews

The Best of R. A. Lafferty (2019) — Contributor — 167 copies, 4 reviews

Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2014 Edition (2015) — Contributor — 157 copies, 3 reviews

The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11 1/2 Anniversary Edition (2010) — Foreword — 101 copies, 3 reviews

The Art of John Harris (2014) — Foreword — 100 copies

Black Tide Rising (2016) — Contributor, some editions — 95 copies, 3 reviews

The Best of Subterranean (2017) — Contributor — 78 copies, 6 reviews

Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology (2020) — Contributor — 69 copies, 3 reviews

Rip-Off! (2012) — Contributor — 65 copies, 3 reviews

Mash Up (2012) — Contributor — 64 copies, 2 reviews

Scenting the Dark and Other Stories (2009) — Introduction — 64 copies, 3 reviews

Resist: Tales from a Future Worth Fighting Against (2018) — Contributor — 55 copies, 1 review

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, 7 reviews

Love, Death + Robots: The Official Anthology, Volume 1 (2021) — Contributor — 24 copies

First-Person Singularities: Stories (2017) — Introduction — 18 copies, 2 reviews

John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular: How SJWs Always Lie About Our Comparative… (2015) — Narrator, some editions — 16 copies, 6 reviews

Love, Death + Robots: The Official Anthology, Volume 2+3 (2022) — Contributor — 12 copies

Tor.com: Selected Original Fiction, 2008-2012 (2014) — Contributor — 12 copies, 2 reviews

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

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

DNF at 30%. I was pretty bored listening to this one. But not too long after the ‘procedure’, I knew immediately I didn’t need to keep reading.

You lost me at “barbs”, Scalzi.

Flagged

ilkjen | 411 other reviews | Sep 30, 2024 |