It’s mentioned here in this announcement in the September ’11 issue of Locus:
And now you know. Well, you and a couple of thousand other people, all of whom showed up to my readings over the last several months and swore secrecy about the title until I and Tor released it. And you know what was awesome? Almost without exception, people held themselves to that oath. I think it says something fairly incredible about science fiction fandom that you can ask a couple of thousand people to keep a secret, and they will. Thanks, folks.
Also: Out in June, 2012.
No, it’s not a Star Trek novel.
But yes, it’s called “Redshirts” for a very particular reason.
Loved the reading at WorldCon, thanks for releasing the title. I can now torment my friends more effectively.
Because its full of Communists of course!
I totally read this, and it’s FUCKING AMAZEBALLS HILARIOUS AND AWESOME.
I’m really glad you chose this particular title, John.
We’re using that as a blurb, Wil.
I sure hope it riffs well with Neal Stephenson’s Ringing Valers…
That was the previous Awesome Use Of Red Shirts.
W00t! I was really hoping this would be the name.
If, every time a red shirted character dies in the novel, we take a drink, will we be drunk by the end of the novel?
I’m pretty sure that if I saw a blurb from Wil Wheaton saying something was, and I quote, “FUCKING AMAZEBALLS HILARIOUS AND AWESOME”, I’d pretty much -have- to buy it.
That would be a terrific blurb! I have a policy to buy any book that has “FUCKING AMAZEBALLS” on the jacket.
So the title’s out of the bag. I’m still not saying anything about the chapters I heard at your Fuzzy Tour, or a Context last weekend. Except for what Wil said in ALL CAPS.
Amazeballs. I now have a name for my new band.
A Paul Street Boys hommage?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paul_Street_Boys
Or will Garibaldi appear?
Can’t wait till…. 2012?
Whenever they talk about a college football player getting red-shirted, I envision them as being eaten by an alien.
The back cover blurbs should all be things like “Captain! I found this awesome book and– AAAAGH!”
(the front cover blurb already having been taken care of, clearly).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN
I’m hopeful that by “I totally read this” Wil means “I’m totally going to read this in a studio so you can listen to it next year”.
Also: c’mon man. Tell us a little of what it’s about if it’s “not a Star Trek novel”!
(feverishly clears all appointments scheduled for June 2012 – the monthly badger grooming will just have to wait until July, dammit!)
Wil Wheaton? Awesome. Wrong place to comment but I always hoped they’d do a “Traveler” spin off Star Trek after Next Generation ended. Somebody write that.
Will this be anything like Mary Gentile’s “Grunts”?
I haven’t read that book.
I can safely say this is the most enticing novel title I have seen since, well, pretty much ever.
I tried to pitch that idea to Jon Ordover back in the 1990s, but he told me that Paramount wanted to get rid of the Wesley Crusher character all together, and that the rough-and-tumble grittiness of that kind of story would be at odds with the Socialist Utopian ideals the Paramount executives. Pity. I had a great little plot about Wes discovering his dead dad’s undercover secret identity as “Black” Jack Crusher, a smuggler, and how it was at odds with his Boy Scout image. Oh, well.
On a bus tour of Boston, we were told by the guide: “during the Revolutionary war, the british soldiers wore a uniform with bright red coats, so that blood wouldnt show. For much the same reason, the american soldiers wore brown trousers.
You had me at “standalone”. Not enough writers do this anymore. Can’t wait to add this to my collection.
“Also: Out in June, 2012″. Thank you for a birthday present! I will temporarily suspend my friendly harassment for new fiction.
Thank god. I accidently told my wife about it after you swore us all to secrecy and I was terrified everyday she would let it slip.
(In actuality, I am the one who should never be told secrets)
Laura
I heard a reading from this at MiniCon back in April, when you subbed for Charles Stross. Wonderful to hear that it’s got a publication date – I’ve been waiting for it!
I would totally go to a concert by Tudor Lewis & the Amazeballs. Just FYI.
if only i could “like” button this post john i would :)
Woo! Can’t wait to read it.
Re: Secrecy, oddly enough I seem to recall hearing that title some point in the past during a con-recording of you that you posted a link to. The actual reading was removed from the audio clip, but I could have sworn I heard you remark “the neat thing about Redshirts is…” about 10 seconds after the clipped portion. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now I wonder if that slipped through by accident.
Awesome! Loved the reading in Portland! Totally looking fwd to this book!
Judging by the sample you read in Salt Lake during the fuzzy tour, I have to agree with Wil. Can’t wait to read the rest.
Chris @8: Possibly by the end of the first chapter!
You decided to stick with the title! I got the impression you were planning to changing it.
As of 1:24 PM EDT, the top result for a Google search on “Redshirts a novel with three codas” is an Official Scrabble Players’ Dictionary.
That is some kind of reverse-SEO accomplishment, there.
We’re pretty good about keeping secrets. Or you’re pretty good at inspiring loyalty. :)
Very appropriate title. Well done sir. :)
Yay! I’m looking forward to it and I’m glad you kept the title.
Does the book “wave the bloody shirt,” as it were?
John,
I was one of those in the audience at the Beaverton Powell’s back in May and was hoping that this would be the title. It simply works so well. FWIW, I think Wil Wheaton’s comment above would indeed make an awesome jacket blurb.
Congrats again on getting another novel published. It’s a very intriguing title, and I’m sure there is going to be some pretty big humour/parody/homage to old school Star Trek. Probably a few people who don’t live to the end of the novel, all because they liked to wear red.
Er… bad editing. Of course my last comment should read as “planning to change it.”
You DID use that title! Excellent…
What’s it about?
How did you manage to sneak a stand-alone novel past both your agent and your publisher?
I thought that anything less than a trilogy was forbidden?
So very excited for a new Scalzi book! Yea! Too bad I can’t put it on this year’s Christmas list…
Sweet. I’m glad to see the title’s not changed and that I’ve still done Portland proud.
Alas, not even Tor would have the amazeballs to use a blurb that included the word “FUCKING”. Especially not entirely capitalized, as it probably should be in this context.
If they do use Wil’s blurb, I hereby pledge $100 to Scalzi’s favorite charity. It must at minimum include “FUCKING AMAZEBALLS HILARIOUS AND AWESOME”. I’ll be generous and give full credit even if they tuck it inside instead of putting it on the cover where it belongs.
sffgeek @46: Not to worry. If it sells well (and why wouldn’t it? I mean, it’s John Fuckin’ Scalzi!!) Tor will no doubt pressure him do a sequel, with three or four more codas. I could be wrong, but I think OMW was a “standalone” until it sold a metric buttload of copies. ;-)
Here’s the link and it really is an old reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_(character)
It refers to the security officers’ uniforms on Star Trek — the characters wearing it often were the ones to die in that episode
I know what a Redshirt is, but what’s the novel about?
you realize that since Wil says its Amazeballs that we all want to read a except? – well ok we’d all want to read an except regardless but an amazeball except would be extra nice..
Is that famous three-named actor Patrick Nielsen Hayden?
Well that’s great. But now I want to know what it’s *about*.
#54: PNH is not the same person as NPH.
“The Redshirts” have a negative connotation here in Thailand (relevant link). Well, depends who you ask really.
In the absence of more concrete information, I’m assuming that this is the poignant tale of a tailor in Maoist China.
Does that mean I can finally tell my wife about the reading? :-)
I can’t wait for 2012 now! Wait, the world ends in 2012. Now I’m really conflicted.
Will the book be out before the wold ends?
I can’t wait to read this!
Amazeballs, that’s a good one.
Elgion: This novel is WHY the world ends in 2010. We are all redshirts. At least the world will end in a “FUCKING AMAZEBALLS HILARIOUS AND AWESOME” way.
Elgion @60: Don’t worry. Most of these “prophecies” predict the end for December 2012. John’s book comes out in June. You’ll have a good six months to read Redshirts in preparation for your doom. ;-)
There is a Celebrity Author who is well-known to live in a big old house outside the Twin Cities. This is so well known that one verse of a filk song about his big annual party describes the drive there in detail.
This author’s fans include some you really don’t want having your home address. And to my dumbfoundment, I have never heard of this sensitive information getting into wrong hands.
Fandom’s stewarding of Genuinely Sensitive Information astonishes me.
Neil @64: Unless I’m mistaken, I suspect that this Celebrity Author shares your name. :P
Wil said “I’m glad you chose this particular title”, and several other people said similar things. I assumed that the “Redshirts” part of the title drove the rest of the book, and the rest was just hard work and creativity to find out what the characters were going to do with it, rather than the book getting off to an untitled start and acquiring the name later. And yeah, the reading at Worldcon was loads of fun, and I haven’t leaked the title (/throws hand sign), though I’d actually heard it when it had briefly escaped earlier in the year.
@50, I’m not really sure, but I don’t think that’s actually his middle name…
I’m guessing somebody dies in Act 1…
I know a secret that has been just as well kept from those who needed not to know, including most of the general population, by over hundred of thousand people for over a hundred years.
The trick is that most people wouldn’t care until they were in a smaller class of people who need to not know, and they’ll get to know eventually, and the secret is awesome.
Oh, and the other trick is to spread dozens of conflicting rumors about the same subject so the truth doesn’t stand out in the event of a leak.
Let me guess, there is an heir to the Russian Tsars…
#71: that’s Tsar Trek you’re thinking of.
“”
#71: that’s Tsar Trek you’re thinking of.”"
**GROAN**
Amazeballs…I now have a name for my…oh, maybe I shouldn’t go there.
Hooray! I was at the L.A. reading, had to run to a playwriting meeting afterwards w/ my co-writer, and really wanted to tell him about it but I REMAINED SILENT. Now the truth can be known!
I’m buying it in hardcover. You’re bad for my wallet, Scalzi.
As the probable publicist, I promise that I will do my absolute best to actually use “FUCKING AMAZEBALLS HILARIOUS AND AWESOME” somewhere in the press release. Or at the very least, the blogger pitch.
Can’t wait!!!!! Amazeballs!