Old Man’s War Stuff

Posted on September 4, 2003    Posted by John Scalzi

A couple of things I learned about Old Man’s War while I was at Torcon:

1. Its release has been rescheduled for sometime in the second half of 2004, once again for marketing purposes related to the Tor line in general. I am almost entirely unconcerned. It’s been sold, I’ve gotten paid, and I trust Tor knows what it’s doing regarding marketing. I’m sure it makes my fiction agent twitchy, since the longer I’m unpublished, the longer he has to pitch my work as being from an unpublished fiction writer, but that’s one of the reasons I have an agent: To be twitchy about these sorts of things while I bang away at work. He’s a good agent, I’m glad I have him.

My only real regret is that there’s a chance that OMW won’t be on the shelves by the time of NorEasCon next year, should I decide to go. Not sure if people will buy my “Oh, the book’s not out yet” line two years running. I’m giving some serious thought to writing some short fiction to give myself a thin veneer of legitimacy (assuming, of course, that anyone will want to buy any short fiction I might write). But if that’s my largest worry, I’m in good shape.

2. I discovered that the cover art for Old Man’s War is being done by Donato Giancola. When Tor’s art director told me that, I provided her with a politely blank expression, since, alas, I am not up on cover artists’ names. But later I was able to head over to his Web site and discovered that he’s done several book covers which I have really enjoyed (like this and this and this), and learned during the course of the con that he’s indeed very highly regarded among authors and illustrators. So I’m looking forward to seeing his take on the story.

And no, I didn’t offer him any suggestions on what I think should be on the cover. Aside from the fact that when I’ve thought about it I’ve had no idea what I’d put on the cover, I also figure the guy knows his business. It’s that whole “assumption of competence” thing I have going. Anyway, I like surprises. I can’t wait to see what he’s come up with.