The more John Scalzi I read, the less convinced I am that he can write characters who aren’t John Scalzi. Mind, that’s not entirely a criticism as I thoroughly enjoy John Scalzi, and so I like all his characters who are very clearly him as well. Same reason I like Bill Murray; you don’t buy a ticket to a Bill Murray movie for the same reason you see a Meryl Streep movie. Disappearing into a role is not the same as embodying a character so […]
The Interdependency
I love Scalzi. He is fun and his books a fast reads that always leave me entertained. His audiobooks are frequently narrated by Will Wheaton and I enjoy his voice work. All in all, I am a fan and the Interdependency trilogy is a lot of fun and I really enjoy it. This is a new world for Scalzi. In this universe, interstellar travel is possible through pathways known as the flow and it is collapsing. Soon worlds will not be able to access each […]
Space Western
I do love some sci-fi, and I’m fully aware that Star Trek TOS owes as massive a debt to old western serials as sci fi owes to Star Trek. But man, I just can not get into westerns. At all. I watched The Searchers specifically because it’s the best western out there and thought “yeah I’m sure it is, and it took all of my focus to pay attention to it” after the credits rolled. So it’s not scalzi’s fault I didn’t love this, as […]
My favorite Scalzi so far
I hate to be that guy, but don’t judge this book by its cover. The art is lovely enough, so I mean no offense to the artist when I say that this, like so many sci-fi covers, looks like it’s gonna be capital S serious. Red alerts in deep space and stoic men and nary a woman in sight. If you’ve read any Scalzi, you know it won’t be, but if I were a new reader, this would not be a book I’d pick up immediately. […]