Fuzzy Nation Sold

Posted on April 13, 2010    Posted by      82 Comments

Well, that’s sorted, then: This is your official notice that Fuzzy Nation has been sold to Tor Books, which tentatively will publish the novel in about a year, more or less, give or take. I’m deeply pleased to have the book find a home with Tor, which has published all my novel-length fiction to date, and which is filled with excellent people who have been a delight to work with. I’m very happy to be working with them again.

Yes, I know: A year is a long time to wait. Just remember that between now and then Tor will also be releasing its version of METAtropolis, so if you hadn’t had a chance to catch up with that Hugo-nominated anthology featuring me, Elizabeth Bear, Tobias Buckell, Jay Lake and Karl Schroeder, you’re in for some good reading there. Beyond that I can assure that between now and the release of Fuzzy Nation, I have at least a couple of surprises in store for you. No, I won’t tell you what they are. That’s why they’re called “surprises.” But suffice to say I plan on giving you things to peruse. For your pleasure. ‘Cause I love you, man. Yes I do.

Now, someone go off and update my Wikipedia page, would you? Thanks.

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82 Comments on “<i>Fuzzy Nation</i> Sold”

  2. You say a year, but won’t it be held up by the lawsuit from the CZC claiming defamation?

  4. Well, despite my stated concerns on the record, I am interested in seeing what you’ve done and I’m glad you’ll get the chance to show it to the reading public.

  7. Congrats: Now we have a timeline.

    Now all I need is a conveyor to get to another Fourth Level timeline where it’s already out in paperback.

    Or in a low-priced electronic edition.

  11. Very cool – always good to hear that more Scalzi goodness is on the way. I’ll have to check out Little Fuzzy in the meantime.

  15. A year isn’t that far away.

    Question: did you agent shop it to Tor or did PNH stop by your blog and scream MUST HAVE?

  16. In the words of the bard: “Woohoo!”

    Just read “Little Fuzzy” (yay Project Gutenberg), on the basis of this, so now I’m really looking forward to “Fuzzy Nation.”

  20. A YEAR? Well, after all, you DO still have to write the thing…wait, no, that’s done. Oh, but they have to find an artist and commission a cover…uh, no actually they don’t. Aha! Marketing, because nobody knows about it yet…except the thousands who read this blog and who immediately tell all their friends.

    Soooo, basically they have to hit “Print.”

    A YEAR?

  21. Now, someone go off and update my Wikipedia page, would you? Thanks.

    Done — although someone else also did so while I was editing the page. So I just let their edit be rather than clobbering it.

  22. So what, your agent just calls Tor up and says, Scalzi has another book? :) Just kidding. Congrats. I’ve never read the original, but maybe I will, which is a nice off-shoot of your project.

  24. A year?!? Well, that’ll give me time to read my way down to Little Fuzzy in the stack.

  27. Congrats! Hey, I’ve been meaning to tell you – I ran into a young man at the haircutter’s and he saw your copy of Zoe’s Tale on my nook. He said, “You read Scalzi, too?”

    Your fans are everywhere! :)

    I told him he has to check out your blog!

  30. The world is Good. Congrats on Fuzzy’s new home at Tor. I guess we’ll have to wait for a Subterranian edition to get some illustrations on the inside. Me like picture books.

  31. Congrats, John. I’m glad to hear this, I just finished Agent to the Stars (very enjoyable) and I’ve exhausted your novel catalog. Looking forward to more.

  34. Great news! (As long as it wasn’t Larry the Intermittently Appearing Iguana that informed you of the sale…)

  36. Congrats! I just downloaded the public domain Little Fuzzy to reread last weekend. Of course I just got a new iPad so I have about 30 public domain books all lined up there for me. Eek.

  37. @33 (rickwhoisnotthatrick)
    I wasn’t being terribly serious, just venting the frustration of having to wait a year at the specific publisher rather than at the realities of the monstrous kruft-entity that is the publishing industry. Publishers are easier targets.

  38. For that matter, John could release it himself as an ebook (in a variety of formats) through this site, and still make a tidy enough sum to keep himself in Coke Zero for the foreseeable future.

    Well, he COULD have, but no, he had to sell it so now we get another year of his merciless taunts about how great it’s going to be when we FINALLY get to read it.

    Or, as Stephen Crane said when informed about Fuzzy Nation’s delayed release: “Was I brought here merely to have my nose dragged away as I was about to nibble the sacred cheese of life? It is preposterous.”

  39. Just kicked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell back a slot and opted to blow through Little Fuzzy on Gutenberg. Loved it. Looking forward to the reboot.

  40. “Beyond that I can assure that between now and the release of Fuzzy Nation, I have at least a couple of surprises in store for you.”

    Rebooting the Gor series?

  44. That’s excellent news. I bet your agent already had this in the works, but you never know with publishers. Good they decided to work with you again. Can’t wait to read it.

  45. Congrats! Ideally they’ll release it Ace Double style back-to-back with Little Fuzzy…

  46. Beyond that I can assure that between now and the release of Fuzzy Nation, I have at least a couple of surprises in store for you.

    You’re rebooting the Left Behind series? Complete with a launch party at the Creation Museum?

  48. I’m wondering if Tor would like John to do the experiment like Cory D. did. You know, where the paper release and a free e-book come out at the same time. I don’t remeber the details of the Little Brother release, but I’m sure someone does. I’m just wondering, since if it does make good business sense (and Cory said it does), then a blog-author like John would be an ideal author to market like this. Just Curious. I’m all for the author making more money.

  49. Great news. Congratulations!

    Just curious: will FN go through a copy-editing cycle with TOR or are they taking it “as is”?

    My bet is on an editing cycle. Human critters have a compulsive need to rub their scent on stuff to mark it, no matter how good it is. (Note: metaphor altered slightly for courtesy).

    I’ll have to find my copies of LITTLE FUZZY and FUZZY SAPIENS and reread them prior to FN’s release.

  50. …Curious about the long delay. My money’s on “our market for that kind of book is already being served until then” but who’s to say I’m right?

  51. “the long delay” ….? Not really.

    Here at the Johns Hopkins University Press we’re working on Spring 2011 list now. And the Fall 2011 titles are wandering in.

  52. Does anyone else read FUZZY NATION in the style of Jimi Hendrix’ “Foxy Lady!” whenever they see it?

    No? Just me?

    I’ll go hide a little then…

  54. It’ll look good on my bookshelf beside _The Complete Fuzzy_ I think. =) Congrats!

  55. I’m just wondering, since if it does make good business sense (and Cory said it does)

    Something that may work as a rare experiment may not make good business sense as a common practice. Tragedy of the commons, and all that.

    Jo Walton’s experience with giveaway e-books is just the opposite of Cory Doctorow’s, so I am not sure there is an identifiable trendline as yet.

  61. Of course Tor bought your book. Why would they not? They like money don’t they? And you have a stable of thousands eager to throw money at any publisher that brings out one of your books. (I proudly count myself part of that stable.)

  62. Jas @ 52

    I do NOW.

    Thanks ever so much.

    On a more serious note – PROJECT GUTENBERG!!

    Never heard of it before these last few days, and within 60 seconds of googling it, I had the book ready to read on the laptop.

    So, many thanks to those who touted it, and isn’t it cool to live in the future like this?

  63. I’m looking forward to it. I like what you write and I was sad that Piper didn’t do more than he did with the whole idea.

  64. I am not at ALL surprised that the book sold, and especially that it sold to Tor. I mean…it may not be contractual or anything, but I have a sneaking suspicion that PNH at least has a wee bit of “My Precioussss” feeling about the Scalzi Ouvre…having bought that first one, and it being such a success for both parties.

    I mean, not like it was guaranteed, but at one level it’s kind of a no-brainer for Tor, innit?

  66. Congrats,

    Are there going to be limited editions of this? I usually get two copies of your books when they come out, a normal one for reading and a fancy one for my collection.

  68. I am sneezy!

    Allergies. Spring. You know.

    Baz:

    I assume there will be a limited edition, and that it will be from Subterranean Press. But no specifics at this point.

  69. Julia at #55, good link. As someone who is trying to understand the truth of marketing books in the modern age, it helps to get data from the source. Unfortunatly, data does not come from Tor, at least not that I know of. So Cory D. says it works (it probably does for him), and another author says it doesn’t, and Tor says what? Is the Free ebook concept mostly about fail? Probably.

  70. speaking of limited editions from Subterranean Press, the latest newsletter announced Zoe’s Tale available fro preorder !

  71. I just finished the original. I found it entertaining, but a bit dated ( understandably). I look forward the (presumably) spiced up Scalzi re-boot.

  72. A year sounds about right:

    They have to book space at the printer, they have to get it into the catalogs that bookstores order from and they order months in advance.

    That’s not everything, but just those two things are going to add time – and you can’t do the latter until you’ve scheduled the former.

  74. Mr. Strauss, your message really needed a beverage alert. I’m getting these comments via email and I was actually taking a sip when it arrived.

    Bad form, old boy, particularly since I once met Dr. Zadeh.

  76. quick question, random i might add, but aside from “zoe’s tale” what other books will come from that series?

  77. Great!
    Already looking forward to the sequel.
    To paraphrase the Velvet Underground
    “Got a Fuzzy Nation.Do it again”
    Sorry.
    Love your books :-)

  78. John, I wanted to thank you for doing this. I grew up reading Little Fuzzy et al, and was tremendously excited to find that you had rebooted it. I’m looking forward to reading it!

  79. I’ve just finished Little Fuzzy, and loved it! I would not have heard of it without your postings regarding it. So, I have to wonder, are there some other gems that you could recommend to your readers?

  80. I’m a little confused and perhaps mistaken, John Carr wrote a biography of Piper where he stated that his estate was purchased by Jim Baen a noted editor in the sci-fi field from Piper’s wife and Jim died in 2006. The impression you left was that the estate is owned by the Piper family.

    I have great interest in Piper and would love to speak to anyone controlling the estate.

  81. I’ve read your “Old Man” books and enjoyed your point of view on war and colonizing the universe. I’m curious why any author, especially one with your obvious skills, rewrites a classic. Want is your purpose as a writer in doing this project? If you have answered this question already somewhere on this site, please direct me to the location. I came here after seeing your Fuzzy book on Amazon.com.
    Having read 1,000’s of books since my childhood, I’ve come to respect and value, if not agree with, the individual voice of each writer. Piper’s belief in ecology and justice was shaded by his machismo and his extreme views on women. I hope your fans who have read Little Fuzzy will go on to read the rest of his works that are also available on the Guttenberg Project. The last Fuzzy works are not unfortunately. .
    If you’re wondering why I’ve read so many books, I was a military brat and spent years oversears with no TV (and I’m now a lot older). I grew up with Asimov, Heinlein, Verne, Piper, Burroughs, Clark, Twain, Dickens, Harding, Conrad, and so on. I only had access to the classics and I read everything I could find. I still do! I’m trying to compile a list of every book I’ve read. It’s a fun process. I’ve got to finish before senile dementia starts.

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