Very exciting news. 

Here’s the Locus announcement plus the full list of categories, which includes as finalists friends like Elizabeth Bear, Cat Valente, Mary Robinette Kowal, Saladin Ahmed, China Mieville, Jay Lake, Paolo Bacigalupi and Cory Doctorow — among many others. Congratulations to all!

Here are the finalists in my category of Science Fiction Novel:

• The Hydrogen Sonata, Iain M. Banks (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
• Caliban’s War, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Redshirts, John Scalzi (Tor; Gollancz)

An excellent field. I am delighted to be a finalist, but I have to tell you that with all my heart I hope it goes to Iain M. Banks this year, not only for this particular novel (which is excellent) but as a salute to his entire body of work. I would be very happy with that.

The winners will be announced at the end of June — good luck to everyone.

RT Book Reviews is a magazine that (as the title suggests) reviews tons of books, and every year its critics give out awards for what they’ve most enjoyed in the year, across various categories and genres. This year, I’m delighted to say that Redshirts has won the RT Reviewer’s Choice Award in the category of science fiction, in a fine field of nominees that included Blackout (Mira Grant), The Twelve (Justin Cronin), The Hydrogen Sonata (Iain M. Banks) and Sorry Please Thank You (Charles Yu). That is excellent company to be in. This is actually my second RT Reviewer’s Choice Award, the first one having been for The Last Colony. The second one is just as nice.

I’m also happy to say several friends have also won awards this year, including N.K. Jemisin (for Fantasy, with The Shadowed Sun), Elizabeth Bear (Epic Fantasy, for Range of Ghosts), Diana Rowland (Urban Fantasy Protagonist, for Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues) and Marjorie M. Liu (Urban Fantasy Worldbuilding, for The Mortal Bone). Congratulations to them and all the other winners.

This is a good place to remind people that I will be in Kansas City the first weekend of May for the RT Booklovers Convention, where they’ll be doling out these awards and I will be doing several things on the program, including a mass signing which will be open to the public. See you there.

This is excellent news: Redshirts has been nominated for the Kurd Laßwitz Preis this year, in the category of Best Foreign Novel. The Kurd Laßwitz Preis is arguably the German language’s highest science fiction award, so getting a nod for it always makes me a very happy author (winning is nice, too; I won one a couple of years ago from the German translation of The Android’s Dream).

The books and authors in the category this year are at this link, but for those of you who don’t want to bother, here’s the list (borrowed from here):

• Kevin J. Anderson und Doug Beason, Trinity (The Trinity-Paradox)
• Paolo Bacigalupi, Schiffsdiebe (Ship Breaker)
• David Brin, Existenz (Existence)
• Ted Chiang, Die Hölle ist die Abwesenheit Gottes (Short story collection)
• Peter Dehmel (Ed.): Die Erde und die Außerirdischen (Short story collection)
• Ian McDonald, Cyberabad (River of Gods)
• China Miéville, Stadt der Fremden (Embassytown)
• John Scalzi, Redshirts (Redshirts)
• Robert Charles Wilson, Vortex (Vortex) (Spin-Trilogie, Band 3)

My very bad German tells me the winner will be announced in November, but that’s fine, as this is good company to keep in the meantime. I would also like to take a moment to thank my translator Bernhard Kempen, who clearly continues to do an excellent job of making me comprehensible to my German readers. Danke, Bernhard!

And congratulations to my fellow nominees!

Wheee! Just to let you know. I’ll be updating with the entire nomination list as soon as it’s posted. I’ll post another entry with my reaction to the slate a bit later.

Update: The entire Hugo award nomination slate:

Best Novel (1,113 ballots)

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
Blackout by Mira Grant (Orbit)
Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi (Tor)
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (DAW)

Best Novella (587 ballots)

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications)
The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)
On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats by Mira Grant (Orbit)
“The Stars Do Not Lie” by Jay Lake (Asimov’s, Oct-Nov 2012)

Best Novelette (616 ballots)

“The Boy Who Cast No Shadow” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Postscripts: Unfit For Eden, PS Publications)
“Fade To White” by Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld, August 2012)
“The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi” by Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity, Solaris)
“In Sea-Salt Tears” by Seanan McGuire (Self-published)
“Rat-Catcher” by Seanan McGuire (A Fantasy Medley 2, Subterranean)

Best Short Story (662 ballots)

“Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld, June 2012)
“Mantis Wives” by Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, August 2012)
“Mono no Aware” by Ken Liu (The Future is Japanese, VIZ Media LLC)

Note: category has 3 nominees due to a 5% requirement under Section 3.8.5 of the WSFS constitution.

Best Related Work (584 ballots)

The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature Edited by Edward James & Farah Mendlesohn (Cambridge UP)
Chicks Dig Comics: A Celebration of Comic Books by the Women Who Love Them Edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Sigrid Ellis (Mad Norwegian Press)
Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who Edited by Deborah Stanish & L.M. Myles (Mad Norwegian Press)
I Have an Idea for a Book… The Bibliography of Martin H. Greenberg Compiled by Martin H. Greenberg, edited by John Helfers (The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box)
Writing Excuses Season Seven by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler and Jordan Sanderson

Best Graphic Story (427 ballots)

Grandville Bête Noire written and illustrated by Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse Comics, Jonathan Cape)
Locke & Key Volume 5: Clockworks written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
Saga, Volume One written by Brian K. Vaughn, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
Schlock Mercenary: Random Access Memorabilia by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (Hypernode Media)
Saucer Country, Volume 1: Run written by Paul Cornell, illustrated by Ryan Kelly, Jimmy Broxton and Goran Sudžuka (Vertigo)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) (787 ballots)

The Avengers Screenplay & Directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel Studios, Disney, Paramount)
The Cabin in the Woods Screenplay by Drew Goddard & Joss Whedon; Directed by Drew Goddard (Mutant Enemy, Lionsgate)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, Directed by Peter Jackson (WingNut Films, New Line Cinema, MGM, Warner Bros)
The Hunger Games Screenplay by Gary Ross & Suzanne Collins, Directed by Gary Ross (Lionsgate, Color Force)
Looper Screenplay and Directed by Rian Johnson (FilmDistrict, EndGame Entertainment)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) (597 ballots)

Doctor Who:“The Angels Take Manhattan” Written by Steven Moffat, Directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)
Doctor Who:“Asylum of the Daleks” Written by Steven Moffat; Directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)
Doctor Who:“The Snowmen” Written by Steven Moffat, Directed by Saul Metzstein (BBC Wales)
Fringe:“Letters of Transit” Written by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Akiva Goldsman, J.H.Wyman, Jeff Pinkner. Directed by Joe Chappelle (Fox)
Game of Thrones:“Blackwater” Written by George R.R. Martin, Directed by Neil Marshall. Created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (HBO)

Best Editor – Short Form (526 ballots)

John Joseph Adams
Neil Clarke
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Sheila Williams

Best Editor – Long Form (408 ballots)

Lou Anders
Sheila Gilbert
Liz Gorinsky
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Toni Weisskopf

Best Professional Artist (519 ballots)

Vincent Chong
Julie Dillon
Dan Dos Santos
Chris McGrath
John Picacio

Best Semiprozine (404 ballots)

Apex Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Jason Sizemore and Michael Damian Thomas
Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews
Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Jason Heller, Sean Wallace and Kate Baker
Lightspeed edited by John Joseph Adams and Stefan Rudnicki
Strange Horizons edited by Niall Harrison, Jed Hartman, Brit Mandelo, An Owomoyela, Julia Rios, Abigail Nussbaum, Sonya Taaffe, Dave Nagdeman and Rebecca Cross

Best Fanzine (370 ballots)

Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
The Drink Tank edited by Chris Garcia and James Bacon
Elitist Book Reviews edited by Steven Diamond
Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia, Emma J. King, Helen J. Montgomery and Pete Young
SF Signal edited by John DeNardo, JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester

Best Fancast (346 ballots)

The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Presenters) and Andrew Finch (Producer)
SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester, John DeNardo, and JP Frantz
SF Squeecast, Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, Catherynne M. Valente (Presenters) and David McHone-Chase (Technical Producer)
StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith

Best Fan Writer (485 ballots)

James Bacon
Christopher J Garcia
Mark Oshiro
Tansy Rayner Roberts
Steven H Silver

Best Fan Artist (293 ballots)

Galen Dara
Brad W. Foster
Spring Schoenhuth
Maurine Starkey
Steve Stiles

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (476 ballots)

Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2011 or 2012, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award).

Zen Cho *
Max Gladstone
Mur Lafferty *
Stina Leicht *
Chuck Wendig *

* Finalists in their 2nd year of eligibility.

Well, this is nice: Redshirts had landed on Locus magazine’s annual list of recommended reading in science fiction and fantasy, in the category of science fiction novel (oddly enough!), and also gets some love from the Locus contributors in their end-of-2012 recaps. I’m very pleased about this; I’m delighted that Redshirts is seen to be operating on more than just the “hey this is a funny book” level (although, of course, I like that it’s recognized for that too).

While I won’t go down the entire list of recommended reading, because it would be long and also, hey, buy a copy of the magazine, why don’t you, I will say that Toby Buckell, James S.A. Corey, Cory Doctorow, Charlie Stross, Karl Schroeder, Al Reynolds, Kameron Hurley and Nick Harkaway all share my category, which makes me happy because I like them all a lot as humans (and yes, I know James S.A. Corey is actually two people. I like both of him). I’m also pleased that friends pop up in other categories as well, including (but not limited to) N.K. Jemisin, Mary Robinette Kowal, Nick Mamatas, Paolo Bacigalupi, Holly Black, Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan, China Mieville, Allen Steele, Cat Valente, Saladin Ahmed, Madeline Ashby and Gwenda Bond. And that’s not even getting to the short fiction categories! Seriously, I know some super-awesomely creative people. I don’t know how I got that lucky.

Congrats to everyone who made the reading list this year; 2012 turned out to be an excellent year for science fiction and fantasy.

Update: 12:54pm: Oh look, Locus has put the recommended reading list online.

Today is not only the release of The B-Team but also the trade paperback release of Redshirts, meaning, yes! Those of you who wish to have to book in a slightly more compact, slightly cheaper print form, this is your day! Also, I imagine at some point today the price of the eBook version will drop a bit to reflect the changeover in format, so be looking for that, too.

I’ve been delighted with how well Redshirts has done out in the world; it’s my best-selling hardcover release ever and overall (including eBook and audiobook version) it’s done gangbusters. It’s fair to say that its success surprised me; I wrote it almost entirely for the sheer fun of it (“What? No one’s actually written a novel called Redshirts? Well, let me just pluck that low-hanging fruit”) and I thought it was going to be a fun little book that would do okay and kill time until The Human Division came out. But it’s clear that it’s outperformed well beyond that.

The lesson I take from that is: You never know how people will respond. Don’t worry about it and just write as well as you can. The other lesson I take from it is that all those people who think humorous science fiction doesn’t sell, or can’t sell, are really completely totally high. It sells. It sells just fine. I’ll probably talk about this a bit more at some point in the near future.

In the meantime: Look! Redshirts in trade paperback! Available at your favorite book store! If you haven’t gotten it yet, now is a fine time to do so. Also, if you want the book in hardcover, I’d hurry.

Three things science fictional and fantastical, and lumped into a single post because of it:

1. Walter Jon Williams is once again heading up Taos Toolbox, a “graduate-level” writing workshop for science fiction and fantasy, and it’s application time once more for the program. WJW tells me in a note, ”We want to concentrate on giving talented, burgeoning writers the information necessary to become professionals within the science fiction and fantasy field. Though short fiction will be enthusiastically received, there will be an emphasis at Taos Toolbox on the craft of the novel, with attention given to such vital topics as plotting, pacing, and selling full-length works.” I know a lot of satisfied graduates of the toolbox, so if this sounds cool to you, hit up that link above for more details.

2. Behold! The cover to the French edition of Redshirts:

It’s very groovy in a late-60s sort of way, and of course clearly plays up the Star Trek association in the typography and iconography. The subtitle is “in defiance of danger” (or so Google Translate — our era’s very own universal translator! — tells me), and that’s fairly accurate in terms of the story, I suppose. Anyway, very cool.

Additionally, if you want a copy of your own, it’ll be out February 21.

3. As I contributed a story to Audible.com’s Rip-Off! anthology, in apparent contradiction to my policy of not contributing to anthologies, I have other editors pinging me about the possibility contributing to their anthologies as well.

Sorry, guys, no. Rip-Off! was a very specific project, to which I contributed for a specific, almost certainly not repeatable purpose. Generally speaking I am still not planning to contribute to anthologies for two main reasons: One, no time for it with the other projects I have planned; Two, I have discovered that I am really really really bad at writing specific-themed short stories to a deadline, and dislike being the dude editors have to badger for a story. It’s annoying for them and annoying for me. So rather than develop a reputation for always being late and kind of a dick, I just sit out anthologies entirely.

So if you’re thinking of inviting me to contribute to your anthology: Thank you, no.

I had the missus, pictured here with Redshirts, pick a number between four and twelve; she picked eleven. Then I had her pick a number between zero and five; she picked two. Then I asked for a final number between zero and nine; she picked eight. Thus was 11:28pm picked as the winning time for the contest. Then I looked to see who had popped in at 11:28pm.

No one had. Fine, I thought, then I’ll just pick whoever popped in closest to that time. That person is:

Oldcoloradonews, who popped in at 11:26pm, two minutes out.

So congratulations sir or madam, you are the winner! Now all you have to do is send me a note from the same e-mail address you used to leave the message, with your physical address and actual name, the latter for signing purposes, the former to give USPS something to do with its time. Send you note to “john@scalzi.com,” if you please.

Thanks to everyone for playing. I may give out a couple more trade paperbacks of Redshirts between now and the 15th, so keep on your toes and check back frequently to artificially inflate my visitor stats for your next chance to win!

Just arrived at the Scalzi Compound. It looks lovely. You all will get to get yours in 11 days (that’s January 15th)…

Except for the one of you I randomly select to get a copy from this comment thread! For you, I’ll mail one out tomorrow (or, like, Monday. Probably Monday). I’ll even sign it.

So let me know in the comment thread if you want it! This is open until 11:59:59pm tonight, Eastern. I’ll devise some way to randomly select a winner and let you know who it is tomorrow. One comment entry per person only, please.

Go!

Update: Yes, anyone anywhere ON THE PLANET may enter. If you’re on the ISS, piss off.

(Just kidding, you astronauts can enter too)

Because I know you wanted to see it. Even if you did not know until this very second that you wanted to see it.

It’s brief enough to quote in full. It’s from Nick Harkaway from this longer “a year in reading” column over at The Millions:

John Scalzi’s Redshirts is a little bit of genius. It starts out as a very funny Star Trek in-joke and then crosses the rubicon to become a somewhat disturbing examination of that joke before diving into the dark and delivering a strange, bittersweet literary ending which isn’t so much a punchline as it is the moment when you realize you’ve been paying for your drinks all night with $100 bills instead of $10s but that at the bottom of your plate of peanuts there’s a diamond.

In other news, “Peanut Diamonds” is the name of my next band.

Nick is just one of many notables putting in a “a year in reading” list over at The Millions. You can link through to see them all here.

For all my British friends who were wondering when it was they might be able to get their hands on the actual, verified, made-in-the-UK version of Redshirts: Today is that day! Rush this very instant to your favorite bookstore and demand it. Politely, please. Don’t, like, upend a front table as soon as you arrive to the store and bellow “DAMN YOUR EYES WHERE IS REDSHIRTS?!?” to the now appalled and terrified retail staff. They’re just trying to get along with their day, man. They don’t need that sort of scene. You can also get it online: Here’s the Amazon UK link; here it is at Waterstone’s.

The astute and/or fanatical among you may note that Redshirts is being published in the UK by Gollancz, which is to say, yes, I have a new publisher in the UK. I’m delighted to be working with them, and hopefully this will be the start of a beautiful relationship. Much will depend on the sales figures. But I believe in you, UK! Hey, did you know that the holidays are coming up? That’s what they tell me. It may just be a rumor. But if the rumors are true, Redshirts would be a fine gift for yourself, the ones you love, and also just random people. Seriously, buy the book, walk up to some person you don’t know, thrust the book at them and say “All the answers are in here. You’ll know them when you see them. I can’t say any more. They are watching me,” and then just walk off, cryptically. Studies I have just made up in my head show it’s the best way to get random people to read a book.

On second thought, just stick with the people you know. Probably for the best that way.

In any event, UK, I do hope you enjoy Redshirts. I had fun writing it; I think you’ll have fun reading it.

(P.S. Check out the latest SFX Magazine; it’s got a thumbs-up review of the book which declares that the book ”doesn’t boldly go up its own arse.” That’s a blurb for the paperback for sure!)

(P.P.S: And here’s a new review at Sci-Fi Bulletin, which says “Think of a combination of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and Galaxy Questand you’ve got the flavour of John Scalzi’s latest novel Redshirts – but it’s much more than that.”)

The German version of Redshirts, called Redshirts, is out today. If you’re in Germany and reading this (and several of you are, Germany is this blog’s biggest readership outside of native English-speaking countries), you can buy it off Amazon.de or, presumably any bookstore that has a reasonable science fiction section. If you would like to read a bit first, there’s an excerpt on my German publisher page (and of course off of the Amazon page as well).

I’m also delighted to see that in the first couple of hours of it being for sale, it’s already number five on Amazon.de’s science fiction list, behind three Perry Rhodan installments and a George RR Martin book (which is fantasy, but never mind that). It’s also at number eight, for the Kindle edition. It’s a nice way to start a day. It’s also got its first one-star review, which is not about the book, but some dude griping about the publisher. I hate that shit.

I’m very excited regardless. I sold the book last year when I was in Germany — my publisher there announced he was buying it at one of my events, which is one of the nicest ways to find out you’ve sold a book, I have to say — and this is the first foreign-language version of the book that’s out (it’s sold in several other languages too, at this point). It’s fun to see it on its way in the rest of the world.

The next country Redshirts is coming to: The UK! This Thursday! You know I’ll let you know about that, too.

Excellent. Here’s the announcement page. I won this award a couple of years back with The Last Colony, so it’s nice to be nominated again. Other nominees in the Science Fiction category are Mira Grant (Blackout), Iain Banks (The Hydrogen Sonata), Charles Yu (Stories) and Justin Cronin (The Twelve). This is fine company to keep. Congrats to all.

There’s a Fantasy category as well, which feature nominations for Mary Robinette Kowal, N.K. Jemisin, Michelle Sagara, Tina Connelly and Lisa Sherin. And look! Elizabeth Bear nominated in the Epic Fantasy category! Congratulations to them as well!

Here’s where to send the questions that you would ask that I might answer.

To make sure the questions go there and not here, I will disable the comments on this post.

And if you’re seeing this after 3pm today, go over and see what answers I provide! I’ll be doing that from 3 to 4.

And then I will have a snack. That’s not material to events, mind you. I just thought you’d want to know.

And if you would like to talk about it too, here is the link. Note that having read the book would be useful in the discussion. Note also that since everyone who is participating is presumed to have read the book, there are MASSIVE SPOILERS in the comment thread.

Also, on Friday around 3pm Eastern/Noon Pacific, I’ll be dropping by io9 to answer people’s questions about Redshirts. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you on Friday, too.

I’m turning off comments on this post to encourage those of you who want to talk about the book to do it over at io9.

Tor/Forge, my primary science fiction publisher, announced today that their previously-announced policy of putting out their eBooks DRM-free is now being implemented, which is to say that if you buy any of their eBooks moving forward, there will be no digital rights management software on it. So go! Buy! DRM free!

And yes, this includes previously published works — Old Man’s War, The Android’s Dream, Fuzzy Nation, etc are now all being sold without DRM restrictions (Also, no, I don’t know what that means for those of you who bought copies when they were DRM’d. Check with your retailer, please.)

For those authors apprehensive about what having a DRM-free eBook out there means for sales and/or unauthorized copying, I’ll note that my anecdotal experience having Redshirts go out DRM-free has been been very positive. First, the eBook sales of Redshirts, on a week to week basis, have been substantially higher than they were for any of my previous books (for example, first week it sold roughly two and a half times as many as Fuzzy Nation did in eBook, and that book did fine eBook business its first week). Second, we’re not seeing any particular increase of instances of the book being shared in violation of copyright , i.e., dropping DRM hasn’t suddenly made it more available in the dark and stinky portions of the Internet than other (previously DRM’d) books of mine.

Bear in mind that there are a ton of caveats here relating to Redshirts sales relative to other works of mine in eBook form — for example the recent growth of the market, the subject of the book, advertising and marketing of the book, my own reputation and backlist, etc — that need to be factored in. Nevertheless, by any objective standard, Redshirts eBook sales have been very healthy and as far as I can see offering the book DRM-free has offered no visible downside as yet. I’m happy and excited to offer up the rest of my books in a DRM-free manner as well. Get them wherever you like to buy your eBooks.

(And, of course, remember that the print versions are sold without DRM as well! So if you like print, support your local bookstores.)

The graphic above has only been forwarded to me about 40,000 times (I was first referred to it here). Yes, I’ve seen it. Yes, it’s funny. One suspects that the folks at Independent Health are sweetly oblivious to the cognitive dissonance their chosen shirt color provides us geeks.

While we’re at least tangentially on the subject of Redshirts, here’s Paul Di Fillipo’s review of the novel at Barnes & Noble Review. It has a couple things I consider spoilers, but in the main it’s an excellent review, not just because it’s positive but because the estimable Di Fillipo gets what’s going on with the book. Also, he favorably compares it to Voltaire’s work (in a glancing way, mind you) and this is the first time I’ve been compared to that lovely fellow, so I am tickled pink.

As hard as it is to believe, the long, crazy Redshirts tour is finally coming to a close with two more events, one in Lexington and one in Louisville. After this I go home and have to, you know, start living like a normal human again, including writing books and doing SFWA stuff. I don’t know how I will handle the adjustment.

Be that as it may, here’s what all y’all need to know about the last two events.

Lexington, Thursday, June 28, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 7pm. The final bookstore stop, so please come. As usual, I’ll have readings, special guests, Q&A, and the signings of books. It will be fun, and if everyone in Lexington does not show up, I will wallow depressively in complete and abject failure. You don’t want that, do you, Lexington? Of course not. So it’s all on you. Show up every other single town I have been to! You have the power!

Louisville, FandomFest, Friday – Sunday. I’ll be doing panels, Q&As and signings at FandomFest. Here’s my schedule.

Saturday 1 PM Humor in Speculative Fiction (Beckham Room)
Writers’ perspectives on the employment of humor in writing speculative fiction, tips, advice, etc.  Some great co-panelists here such as: Ernest Cline, Jim C. Hines, Laura Resnick, and moderator Lee Martindale.

Saturday 2:30 PM Spotlight John Scalzi  (Jones Room)
Moderated/guided by Michael Cruikshank of Joseph-Beth Booksellers, this session will focus on my work and career, with some questions fielded from the audience.

Sunday 11:30 AM  Exploring Genres Science Fiction  (Beckham Room)
Open panel discussion on science fiction, ranging from space opera to hard science fiction, in terms of where it is now and where it is heading in the near future in the writing/publishing world.  Co-panelists include Timothy Zahn, Debra Dixon, Stephanie Osborn (a writer who had a career working at NASA) and moderator Lee Martindale.

Sunday 1:30 PM Guest of Honor Signing (Expo Area/Joseph-Beth Booth)  
A full hour and a half reserved  to sign/meet and greet fans.  The signing area is by the Joseph-Beth Bookseller exhibit, and they will be stocking all of my titles for the attendees to purchase.

And then I go home. Forever. Or until ComicCon. But never mind that now.

So: Lexington! Louisville! See you soon. Very soon. Like, uh, in 24 to 48 hours soon. Yes, that’s it.

As part of my continuing mission to remind authors and other creative people that there is nothing they will ever create that will be universally loved, here are some choice comments from one-star reviews of Redshirts, my current, fastest-selling and in many ways most enthusiastically received book:

“Sophomoric is the kindest word I can come up with. Boring might be another. Flat characters describes in 2 words, waste of money in 3 words.”

“DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME READING THIS….and if you ignore my advice, and read it anyway, I will happily send you a note saying ‘told you so!’”

“This is an onanistic, shallow and very disappointing book.”

“First time in a decade I was actually unable to finish a book.”

“The only reason I didn’t burn this book is because I borrowed it.”

I actually have an overwhelming desire to send this last dude a copy with the inscription “BURN ME.” But then I’m pretty sure I would go to Hell. Because book burning? Bad.

Once again: How do I feel about one star reviews? I’m fine with them. I’m sorry these folks had an unhappy reading experience, but the point is that no matter what I wrote, someone would have had an unhappy reading experience. I know this because there’s not a novel I’ve written that someone hasn’t seen fit to complain about, often at length and sometimes with the vitriol usually reserved for politicians of the party one does not like.

It’s part of the territory, and the sooner one as a creator comes to grips with it and accepts it as part of the process, the better off one will be. I think as a creator you owe your audience your best efforts, but if at the end of your best effort some of them are still not happy, the best response is, oh, well, maybe next time. You will never make everyone happy. If you try, you’ll likely create something mediocre, and then nobody will be happy. Least of all you.

One-star (and otherwise negative) reviews happen. Accept them, own them, and then move on from them.