#scalzi

[torpublishinggroup]

This advertisement is for Starter Villain, a new science fiction adventure from Hugo Award–winning author John Scalzi.

Meet the new boss.

JK this cat doesn’t work for Tor. At least, we’re pretty sure, with remote work it’s hard to tell who is and isn’t a cat. The person posting this could be a cat. You’d literally never know.

But we do know you should check out Starter Villain by John Scalzi, because it does have hyper intelligent cats working for a villainous organization.

WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT

When divorced substitute teacher Charlie’s long-lost uncle Jake dies, he’s not expecting much. Certainly not to inherit a supervillain business, complete with an island volcano lair, giant laser death rays, lava pits, and hyper-intelligent talking spy cats.

But it gets worse.

Because his uncle wasn’t just a supervillain. He was a supervillain who was in the middle of trying to take down the other supervillains. Somewhere along the way he decided that the rich, soulless predators back by multinational corporations and venture capital were a bad idea. And they needed to be stopped.

And now they’re after Charlie.

[living400lbs]

Discussing some billionaires:

They're "[a] bunch of dudes born into money who used that money to take advantage of other people to make even more money. It works great until they start believing that being rich makes them smart, and then they get in trouble."

- from Starter Villain by John Scalzi

[keystonewarrior]

There are Smudge cats everywhere.

[fanaticsfiction]

Authors Convinced Fanfic is Illegal/Requires Permission

Terry Goodkind: “Copyright law dictates that in order for me to protect my copyright, when I find such things, I must go out and hire lawyers to threaten these people to make them stop, and to sue them if they don’t.”

John Scalzi: “Let's remember one fundamental thing about fanfic: Almost all of it is entirely illegal to begin with. It's the wild and wanton misappropriation of copyrighted material”

Diana Gabaldon: “OK, my position on fan-fic is pretty clear: I think it’s immoral, I know it’s illegal, and it makes me want to barf whenever I’ve inadvertently encountered some of it involving my characters.”

Robin Hobb: “Fan fiction is like any other form of identity theft. It injures the name of the party whose identity is stolen.”

Anne Rice: “I do not allow fan fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan fiction with my characters. I advise my readers to write your own original stories with your own characters. It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes.”

Anne McCaffrey: “there can be no adventure/stories set on Pern at all!!!!! That's infringing on my copyright and can bear heavy penalties…indiscriminate usage of our characters, worlds, and concepts on a 'public' media like electronic mail constitute copyright infringement AND, which many fans disregard, is ACTIONABLE!”

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: “No. Absolutely not. It is also against federal law.”

Lynn Flewelling: “Whether you are writing about Seregil or Fox Mulder or Sherlock Holmes, if you do not have legal permission from the author, their estate, or publisher, then you are violating US copyright law. It is creative piracy. Doesn't matter how many disclaimers you put on, or if you're being paid. It. Is. Illegal.”

Someone Else, elaborated in the notes

[keystonewarrior]

Starter Villain

p54, yep, this is the good part

[claraoswalds]

Uh, no, that was a different— uh, sorry, could you help me?

[herunseenworlds]

1st quarter readings:

Futuristic violence and fancy suits by Jason Pargin - Insane ideas, interesting characters, violence and funny.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - A sci-fi classic that is not my favorite.

The first cate in space ate pizza by Mac Barnett - Short and fun reading for a rainy afternoon.

Parable of the sower by Octavia Butler - An eerie fiction too close to reality. Everyone must read!

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor - Great flow, lovely character, just a bit too naive ending.

Wool by Hugh Howey - Loved every single chapter of this book.

Starter villain by John Scalzi - Cats that can communicate with humans, interesting twists and funny scenes.

The dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin - A bit slow, but then it hooks you and when you understand the title your brain explodes.

Merlin’s tour of the universe by Neil deGrasse Tyson - I like the idea of questions and answers but the selection could be better.

Have you read any of these?

[keystonewarrior]

Looks like normal Smudge to me.

Today I Sneezed For Ten Minutes Straight and It Appears to Have Caused Me Some Minor Brain Damage So Here's a Picture of Smudge High On Catnip While I Recover

We’ve all been there, Smudge. Maybe not because of catnip, but otherwise, yes. Also, I am fine, honest, I just can’t focus worth a damn. I’m calling the day a wash. Hope yours was all right. — JS

[torpublishinggroup]

This advertisement is for Starter Villain, a new science fiction adventure from Hugo Award–winning author John Scalzi.

In a dog-eat-dog world…be a cat.

When Charlie inherits his uncle’s villain business, one of the most surprising things about it is the cats. The sentient, super-intelligent, computer-using cats.

And let’s not even get started on the dolphins.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

When divorced substitute teacher Charlie’s long-lost uncle Jake dies, he’s not expecting much. Certainly not to inherit a supervillain business, complete with an island volcano lair, giant laser death rays, lava pits, and hyper-intelligent talking spy cats.

But it gets worse.

Because his uncle wasn’t just a supervillain. He was a supervillain who was in the middle of trying to take down the other supervillains. Somewhere along the way he decided that the rich, soulless predators back by multinational corporations and venture capital were a bad idea. And they needed to be stopped.

And now they’re after Charlie.

[living400lbs]

Discussing the prior business owner's decisions:

“He was worth three trillion dollars,” I said. “He could have splashed out.”

Williams shook his head. “That wasn’t his style. He always kept costs down. I had to fight him to get upgrades sometimes. We were using computers that had Windows 7 on them until just last year.”

“He wasn’t worried about computer security?”

“That’s what I asked him,” Williams said. “He grudgingly upgraded.”

- from Starter Villain by John Scalzi

[wilwheaton]

Yesterday, John Scalzi's latest book, Starter Villain, dropped.

I got to narrate the audiobook! I'm so proud of the work we did together, I made a video to announce it.

[achromatophoric]

John Scalzi’s book When the Moon Hits Your Eye references Wenclair* in Chapter 17!

Rosa was not goth. Rosa called herself the Enid to Sal’s Wednesday.

* It was in the context of Rosa contrasting with Sal, her goth non-binary platonic bestie, but it was still a treat. 😅

[footballmakesmen]

[keystonewarrior]

Starter Villain

p21, maybe somebody will get Spicy at the reference

[gingerblivet]

Yup, every year when we end up on the same boat for a week I say hi and ask him how Smudge is doing. I’ve also personally witnessed his impressive panel moderation technique when it comes to audience questions, it’s a thing of beauty.

Here he is with a copy of Starter Villian I checked out from my local library that I had him sign as a fun little Easter egg for the librarians:

He did that face unprompted, btw

The book mentioned Acoustic Kitty in a throw away line so I at least had to go to Wikipedia and wtf man

[lifblogs]

“My breakfast partner was Hera, an orange-and-white cat who, after I had retreated to my childhood home after the divorce and layoff, had emerged from the backyard bushes and informed me through meowing that she lived with me now.”

Yeah, that’s definitely how cats work!