On the Slate, 2008
Posted on December 30, 2007 Posted by John Scalzi 19 Comments
In order to facilitate you in your acquisition of ScalziProduct™, here’s a handy list of things I know are coming out from me, and being written by me, in 2008.
Stuff I Know is Coming Out in 2008
1. The Rough Guide to the Universe, Second Edition — This hits either in March or May. It’ll feature updated information, particularly on Mars, Saturn and Pluto, but also about the universe in general. Because although the universe hasn’t changed much since I wrote the first edition in 2003, what we know about it has, rather significantly.
2. Zoe’s Tale — This is solid for August in hardcover; I believe the actual release date is 8/17, but I’d have to check. I’m still writing this. I like what I’ve written so far quite a bit. I need to write faster.
3. The Last Colony — The mass market paperback edition of TLC is likely to be available near the release date of Zoe’s Tale.
4. Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998 – 2008 — Ten years of Whatevery, in convenient hard copy form. Don’t worry, it won’t be all of it, just the highlights. Like Coffee Shop, this is likely to be a limited edition release. The 10th anniversary of Whatever is September 13, so expect this one around that date.
5. Agent to the Stars — Tor’s trade paperback edition of this novel will be out in November. This new edition will feature some changes to the text (mostly to make all those Hollywood references more current) and will feature a new introduction to the book by me.
In addition to these books, I’m contributing to at least two Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader books in 2008: Their one on Michigan and their one on Pennsylvania. Per the usual Uncle John thing, my name will not be attached to my contribution, but I’ll get paid well, and I can live with that instead.
For those of you who like audio, an audio version of The Ghost Brigades is on the way sometime in 2008. You can assume that means that audio version of Old Man’s War has done nicely. Thank you. There may be other audio goodies in the course of the year, but TGB is the only thing with a signed contract at the moment.
Finally, I’ve written and sold one short story in the Old Man’s War universe; more details on when and where you can find that when I get more details myself.
Stuff I Know I’m Writing in 2008 (in no particular order of writing):
1. The High Castle — The sequel to The Android’s Dream got bumped for Zoe’s Tale, but I’m jumping into it when ZT is done, for an early 2009 release. People who came to see me on the book tour earlier in the year heard me read the first chapter; suffice to say that this series is evolving a tradition of insane first chapters.
2. Untitled 2008 John Scalzi Novel — Which will clearly not be called that. I’m not saying anything about this one other than that it’s a stand-alone and science fictional, although not set in either the Old Man’s War or Android’s Dream universes. Who knows when this will be out.
3. “That Fantasy Novella I Was Going to Write This Year But Didn’t” — Again, not the actual title. This got bumped into 2008 because of other projects that I had to undertake this year. However, I’ve definitely got it on the 2008 schedule, and once written, it’ll be available via limited edition hardcover from Subterranean Press. Again, I don’t want to say too much about it, except to say that I’ll be interested to see what you all think of it, because it really won’t be the usual sort of thing from me.
4. “A (Short) Novella for an Anthology” — If you’re sensing the theme of these things not having an actual title, you’d be right. This will be for Godlike Machines, an anthology that will be coming out from the Science Fiction Book Club; I think it was one of the last anthologies SFBC acquired before it canned the ancien regime. This was one of several anthologies I was invited to participate in over the last year, most of which I had turn down simply as a function of time. However, as a lark, I suggested I would do this one if I were allowed to follow a certain entirely ridiculous premise in my story; Jonathan Strahan, the editor of the anthology, outbluffed me and agreed to it. As they say: Bwa ha ha ha hah ha! No, I won’t tell you what the premise is. You’ll just have to wait.
So that’s what I know I have coming out, and to do, in 2008. Independent of all that I have other stuff I have sketched out, including a new humorous non-fiction book, some new fiction ideas of varying sizes and a couple of possible projects that don’t necessarily have to do with printed text, but all of that is preliminary at the moment, and anyway, before I can get to any of that, I need to finish some of what I’ve already got on the plate, starting with Zoe. All planning and no finishing is not a good way to do a writing career.
2. Untitled 2008 John Scalzi Novel
. . . tease!
NetDef:
It’s not a tease. I don’t have a title. I also don’t have much in the way of plot yet, either, come to think of it. But I do have a contractual obligation!
I was not referring to the lack of a title (entirely understandable . . .) but rather the idea of a new upcoming previously unknown science fiction novel from you.
I stand by my first “one word comment.” [evil grin]
You must have some sort of huge pull w/ the Sci-Fi cover-artists’ community. The ZT cover is cool as usual. There are guys who would sell their favorite child for one cover as good as any in the series.
Is Tim Pratt in each of theses?
However, as a lark, I suggested I would do this one if I were allowed to follow a certain entirely ridiculous premise in my story; Jonathan Strahan, the editor of the anthology, outbluffed me and agreed to it. As they say: Bwa ha ha ha hah ha! No, I won’t tell you what the premise is. You’ll just have to wait.
Or I could just hassle Jonathan next time he drops by the shop, and see if that gets me the info quicker. Not that I need much of an excuse to hassle Jonathan.
And yay for more Scalzi goodness. I’ll have to poke the people in charge of ordering and make sure we get enough of your books in this time, so that we can actually have them in stock for more than a week or so. *is working hard, honest*
I’ve got to wait until 2009 for The High Castle?!? Aaaawwwww…
“That Fantasy Novella I Was Going to Write This Year But Didn’t”
What’s wrong with that for a title? I know it’s a little meta, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t funny.
Scalzi, this teasing is reprehensible. You spend entirely too much time contributing to/working on/fixing a borked Whatever for me to even come close to believing you’ll actually produce that much text for our eventual (oft-delayed) gratification and enjoyment.
Prove me wrong- I double dare ya!
I’m of a mind to believe that since you’ve now gone and lost all your regularly paying (writing) gigs, you’ll never (earn enough extra cash to) get your iMac fixed. Bad Scalzi! Scalzi Bad! You’re a bad, bad man Scalzi.
Hmmm… maybe there’s an idea for a new grift for ya- have the loyal readership fund the iMac repair? I’d a dunnit for free when I was in Dayton last summer but I knew I’d never be able to talk the girlfriend into a second side trip in addition to the Longaberger factory visit on the way back home.
Is that paypal account still active? ‘Cause, you know, your loyal readers now want to throw money at you again for another good cause, seeing how Athena’s gonna need that iMac to start doing her homework, not to mention the requisite social networking, etc.
Loyal Fans of Scalzi Everywhere- The Return Scalzi’s iMac to Working Condition Effort is now underway! Let the cash flow forth, be fruitful and multiply!
Ok, I’ll stop now.
Karl C:
I’ve already decapitated the Mac by taking out the hard drive. It’s not coming back. And Athena’s had her own computer since she was sixteen months old.
John,
Is one of those 2008 projects a continuation of the project that you were working on back in, oh I dunno, late 2006 or early 2007. You said than that you couldn’t tell us anything about it, but that it was posing some interesting structural challenges for you, and that you were having to do much more planning than is normal for you.
Or did that one get set aside?
It will be interesting to read your fantasy novella, since we haven’t seen anything like that from you yet.
Adam:
That was probably “The Big One,” which I set aside.
Outside of getting new OMW and TAD novels, I think I am most interested in the novellas. We haven’t seen much of your short work, and the short fiction we *have* seen has generally not been a plotted story with narrative, per se, not like the novels are.
Sounds like you’re a very busy man, John. About the only person who might be busier is Elizabeth Bear (have you seen her schedule? Great googly!)
Alas, not everyone has the time or inclination or be George R.R. Martin. Based on how long his latest installment is taking, it looks like even George R. R. Martin is hard pressed to fill his own shoes.
Maybe someday.
Well, I finally got around to reading Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades and The Android’s Dream, so I can sincerely say that I’m looking forward to your new stuff.
What? I got lured here by bacon and cats…
But Untitled 2008 John Scalzi Novel is a wonderful title. It would be especially wonderful if you put a pseudonym on the cover. “Untitled 2008 John Scalzi Novel” by P. Widdington Qua or something like that.
Wow! Another fantastic Harris cover for a book I will be awaiting impatiently. Write Scalzi, write!!! :)
I Just saw on Sub-press that you are doing the intro for their Heinlein tele-play collection but didn’t see it listed here – is this a contradiction, omission, exception or error?
I didn’t list it because it’s not a major project for me, in the sense of time commitment.