When I was thirteen years old, a very literate friend of my parents was chatting with me one day about what I was reading. When she learned that I was an avid reader of books in the Tom Swift Jr. science fiction series (Tom Swift and His Jetmarine, Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship, Tom Swift and His Giant Robot), she said, “I think we can do better than that,” and invited me to come to her house and look at some of the science fiction books she had in the attic.
When I arrived at her home a few days later she showed me a box full of books by Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke and other science fiction greats of the ’50s and ’60s, none of whom I’d heard of. I brought all those books home and devoured them. They made me a science fiction fan for years to come. In college I discovered the books of Larry Niven, starting with Ringworld, and in my twenties I was a member of the Science Fiction Book-of-the-Month Club.
My interest in reading sci-fi eventually waned (though I could always be counted on to see any sci-fi movie that came out), but it was reawakened about ten years ago when I read John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War and a few of its sequels. (There are now six books in that series.)
I was so entertained and impressed with the Old Man’s War series that I hunted down every other book Scalzi had written. I enjoyed them all. I now pre-order each of his books as soon as they’re announced and I’ve never been disappointed. There are only three authors whose books I snap up whenever one comes out. (The other two are Lee Child and John Sandford.) Scalzi is the only science fiction writer among them.
Scalzi is an extraordinarily capable writer. While all his fiction is science fiction, he writes in a multitude of different styles and subgenres, from brooding, gothic space-war drama to cheeky and wisecracking picaresque, and they all work. I consider him the full package because he nails the storytelling, the dialog, the humor, the suspense, and the payoff. Earlier this year I read his latest book, The Last Emprox, the final volume of his Interdependency trilogy. Once again, it entirely delivered the goods.
Interestingly, Scalzi is also a blogger. He’s been posting on his blog, Whatever, since 1998 and has what I gather is a huge following. Many of his posts feature pictures of his cat, or the view from the window of his hotel room during a book tour, but a good number are long and cogent essays on a variety of topics, politics and writing in particular.
I read somewhere that an unusually high percentage of people who read one Scalzi book go on to seek out the other books he’s written. By my count he’s authored 16 novels and at least that many novellas and short stories. If you haven’t yet read any of his stuff and you like classic science fiction along the lines of Robert Heinlein and Joe Haldeman, I suggest you start with Old Man’s War and see whether it floats your boat. If you’d be interested in a science fiction murder mystery, check out Lock In, and if you like your sci-fi funny and satirical, pick up a copy of Redshirts. Assuming you like what you read, you can move on from there. (And please let me know if Scalzi wins you over.)