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John Scalzi is an American science fiction author and popular blogger living in Ohio.
Scalzi was already a successful published non-fiction author and movie critic when he launched his career as a novelist by publishing his first book, Old Man’s War, as a series of online chapters on his personal website starting in 2002. The novel was a hit almost immediately and was subsequently picked up by science fiction imprint Tor Books. His second published novel Agent to the Stars was likewise first released on his website on a donation based model before being published by Subterranean Press.
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Order of Old Man's War Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Old Man's War | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Ghost Brigades | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Last Colony | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Zoe's Tale | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
5 | The Human Division | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The End of All Things | 2015 | Description / Buy |
Order of Old Man's War Short Stories/Novellas
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Questions for a Soldier (Short Story) | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Sagan Diary (Short Story) | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
3 | After the Coup (Short Story) | 2008 | Description / Buy |
Order of The Dispatcher Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Dispatcher (Short Story) | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Murder By Other Means | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Travel by Bullet | 2022 | Description / Buy |
Order of End of All Things Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Life of the Mind | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
2 | This Hollow Union | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Can Long Endure | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
4 | To Stand or Fall | 2015 | Description / Buy |
Order of The Interdependency Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Collapsing Empire | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Consuming Fire | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Last Emperox | 2020 | Description / Buy |
Order of Human Division Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The B-Team | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Walk the Plank | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
3 | We Only Need the Heads | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
4 | A Voice in the Wilderness | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Tales From the Clarke (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The Back Channel (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Dog King (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
8 | The Sound of Rebellion (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
9 | The Observers | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
10 | This Must Be the Place (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
11 | A Problem of Proportion (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
12 | The Gentle Art of Cracking Heads (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
13 | Earth Below, Sky Above (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy |
Order of Lock In Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Lock In | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Head On | 2018 | Description / Buy |
Order of Shadow War Of The Night Dragons Short Stories/Novellas
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Dead City (Short Story) | 2011 | Description / Buy |
Order of The Android's Dream Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Android's Dream | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Judge Sn Goes Golfing (Short Story) | 2009 | Description / Buy |
Order of Whatever Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Mallet of Loving Correction | 2013 | Description / Buy |
Order of John Scalzi Standalone Novels
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Agent to the Stars | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The God Engines | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Dead City (Short Story) | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Redshirts | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Virtue Signaling and Other Heresies | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
6 | A Very Scalzi Christmas (Short Story) | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Kaiju Preservation Society | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Starter Villain | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
9 | When the Moon Hits Your Eye | 2025 | Description / Buy |
Order of John Scalzi Short Stories/Novellas
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story (Short Story) | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Tale of the Wicked (Short Story) | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The President's Brain is Missing (Short Story) | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
4 | When the Yogurt Took Over | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
5 | An Election (Short Story) | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Muse of Fire (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Everything but the Squeal (Short Story) | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Automated Customer Service (Short Story) | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
9 | Constituent Service (Short Story) | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Order of John Scalzi Short Story Collections
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Miniatures | 2016 | Description / Buy |
Order of John Scalzi Non-Fiction Books
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Rough Guide to Money Online | 2000 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Rough Guide to the Universe | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Uncle John's Presents: The Book of the Dumb | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Uncle John's Presents Book of the Dumb 2 | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
5 | The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
6 | You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi On Writing | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
7 | 24 Frames into the Future | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Don't Live For Your Obituary | 2017 | Description / Buy |
Order of Black Tide Rising Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Under a Graveyard Sky | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
2 | To Sail a Darkling Sea | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Islands of Rage & Hope | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Strands of Sorrow | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Black Tide Rising | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The Valley of Shadows | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Voices of the Fall | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
8 | River of Night | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
9 | At the End of the World | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
10 | At the End of the Journey | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
11 | We Shall Rise | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
12 | United We Stand | 2024 | Description / Buy | |
13 | Mountain of Fire | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Order of Fuzzy Sapiens Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Little Fuzzy | 1962 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Other Human Race | 1964 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Fuzzy Sapiens | 1964 | Description / Buy | |
4 | The Fuzzy Papers | 1977 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Fuzzy Bones | 1981 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Golden Dream | 1982 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Adventures of Little Fuzzy (Short Story) | 1983 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Fuzzies and Other People | 1984 | Description / Buy | |
9 | The Complete Fuzzy | 1998 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Fuzzy Nation | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
11 | Caveat Fuzzy | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
12 | The Fuzzy Conundrum | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
13 | Fuzzy Ergo Sum | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
14 | Fuzzy Logic | 2022 | Description / Buy |
Order of Far Reaches Collection Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Slow Time Between the Stars | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
2 | How It Unfolds | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Long Game | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Void | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Falling Bodies (Short Story) | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Just Out of Jupiter's Reach (Short Story) | 2023 | Description / Buy |
Order of METAtropolis Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | METAtropolis | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Cascadia | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Green Space | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
4 | A Symmetry of Serpents and Doves | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Byways | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The Wings We Dare Aspire | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Stochasticity (Short Story) | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Tensegrity (Short Story) | 2016 | Description / Buy |
John Scalzi Anthologies
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Space Opera | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Rip-Off! | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Tor.com: Selected Original Fiction, 2008-2012 | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2014 edition | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Black Tide Rising | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Robots vs. Fairies | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Love, Death and Robots: The Official Anthology: Volume One | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Uncanny Magazine Issue 60: September/October 2024 | 2024 | Description / Buy |
John Scalzi graduated from the University of Chicago in 1991 with a degree in philosophy. During his time in college he was the editor-in-chief of The Chicago Maroon, and also did freelance writing for the Chicago Sun-Times while still a student. After graduation he would move back to California where he would work for the Fresno Bee. He wrote opinion columns and film reviews before eventually being hired as an in-house writer and editor for AOL. He was laid off in 1998 and went to full-time freelance work after that experience.
Since becoming a full time novelist Scalzi has continued to maintain his popular blog, Whatever, where he published his popular 2005 essay “Being Poor” which was later republished in newspapers across the country. He is also active on social media, often being asked to weigh in on controversial topics and using his site as a place to promote other authors and creatives through his Big Idea series of promotional posts as well as for regular blog entries on his life and family, and even cat pictures such as his now infamous “bacon cat” meme.
Scalzi’s first book, Agent to the Stars was written in 1997 and published free to read on his website in 1999. Instead of charging, he asked readers to donate whatever they would like if they enjoyed the book and he ended up making about $4,000 from the book. The book was later released in paperback by Tor.
After this, his first published novel was Old Man’s War which was released one chapter a day in December of of 2002 before being scooped up by Tor Books for publication.
In 2015 he signed a multi-million dollar deal with Tor Books which will cover his next 13 books, making him one of the best paid authors in the science fiction genre. The deal includes the sequel to “Lock In”, titled “Head On” which was released in 2018.
John Scalzi Awards
Scalzi’s work has been well received by critics and readers alike. He picked up the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer at the 2005 World Science Fiction convention and since then has also taken home several more Hugos across a range of categories as well as the Nebula, Locus, Seiun, and Kurd Lasswitz awards. He regularly appears as a guest at science fiction conventions and other literary events.
In 2016, he was awarded the Ohio Governor’s Award by the Ohio Arts Council in the Individual Artists category. Scalzi currently resides in Bradford, Ohio as his family moved there to be closer to his wife’s family.
Also in 2016, he was named as a Critic-at-Large by the Los Angeles Times and would begin contributing to the paper as a columnist covering culture and literature.
John Scalzi Books Turned Into Movies/TV
Scalzi worked as a consultant for the television series Stargate Atlantis and currently three of his books are under development for the small screen as well.
Legendary Television is working on an adaptation of his thriller Lock In, while FX is adapting the bestselling comic novel Redshirts into a miniseries. Meanwhile Syfy has tapped Wolfgang Petersen to create a series set in the Old Man’s War universe, entitled Ghost Brigades after the second book in that series.
Best John Scalzi Books
Old Man’s War: Scalzi’s first novel launched what is still his most popular series of books, which now includes six novels and multiple short stories. The books consistently tops readers polls of the best science fiction books of the past few decades.
The novel is set in a space-faring future in which wars a fought by volunteers recruited from people past retirement age. These volunteers are given new bodies in exchange for their military service off-planet defending the human Colonial Defense Forces from alien threats.
John Perry is one such volunteer who joins up at the age of 75 after the sudden death of his wife. As he navigates this strange new life he finds the universe is far bigger and scarier than he could have imagined before joining up and he will need every bit of his lifelong experience and wisdom to get him through this second shot at life.
Lock In: This near future thriller follows the aftermath of a new viral epidemic that leaves a small percentage of those exposed with a debilitating condition known as Haden’s Syndrome. Those affected by it are in a state of paralysis and can only interact with the outside world by using sophisticated robotic interfaces. Decades after the epidemic a series of possibly Haden-related murders baffle the FBI and a team of agents, one of whom is a Haden herself, must figure out who the killer really is before it’s too late.
Redshirts: This comic novel follows the misadventures of five new ensigns serving on a disaster prone starship whose crew seems to be dropping life flies. They slowly become aware of a strange pattern; the command staff seem to be immune to the incredibly high death rate among the enlisted crew. As they dig into this strange statistical anomaly they discover the shocking truth, which is that the universe they inhabit is absurd in a way that can only be explained by one thing; they are the fictional creations of bad television writers!
When Does The Next John Scalzi book come out?
The next book by John Scalzi is When the Moon Hits Your Eye and will be released on March, 25th 2025.