Posted on March 13, 2018 Posted by John Scalzi 21 Comments
That’s right! The prologue to my upcoming novel is up at Tor.com. You can read it now! Here’s the link!
Oh, and, hello. I’ve had a busy day away from the Internets. Hope you’re well.
Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, contributor – AMS
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The kind of thing that gives prologues a good name! And I’m not much of a sports fan. I enjoyed ‘LOCKED IN’ and look forward to the rest of ‘HEAD ON’.
Can’t wait!
I will read and enjoy hugely when I get a moment. Apologies all for using an unrelated thread but I have a small tale of thanks I wanted to share with our esteemed host. I’m currently, sadly, boxing up my late dad’s impressive library of science fiction and fantasy, accumulated over six decades or so. It’s impressively organised alphabetically by author, impressively dusty in parts, and impressively varied.
One of the last ‘new’ books dad read before he died suddenly last year was by a little known author called something Scalzi. (I loaned him my copy of Old Man’s War.) His verdict? He loved it. He loved the premise, the humour, and (having some experience with the military) the representation of newly initiated squaddies. (Of COURSE you call your brainpal Asshole, even if you’re old enough to know better.) I’m sorry he didn’t get to read more. We’d reached a point where I was suggesting books to him for once, so he was flitting about a lot (Leckie, Jemisin, and Cixin Liu all read and judged in his last year).
Anyway, point of this post is to thank Mr Scalzi for a book that my dad really enjoyed, that I was able to recommend to him having benefited from his recommendations for decades. It felt really good to be able to do that, and it’s a memory I’ll treasure. And he’d TOTALLY call his brainpal Asshole.
Wow, this looks good.
He shoots, He SCOOOOOOOORRRES!!!
Looking forward to the rest, John.
I think Hilketa deserves to be added to the fictional sports pantheon right next to Quidditch. In fact, above Quidditch, at the top.
So, Chris’ partner in this is named “Leslie”. I wonder if Leslie is male or female . . .
:-)
A sport where you use someone else’s head as a ball. I didn’t even get past the italicized part and I’m already invested in the story.
Boston Bays!? I hope they’re not going to be playing with deflated heads! Can’t wait for the rest.
I’m going to try to avoid reading the prologue because I want to avoid even that level of spoilerage (until my willpower gives out) but I thought it might be pointing out that “hilketa” is Basque for “murder”. I assume that’s why John named it that, otherwise it’d be one heckuva coincidence.
*might be WORTH pointing out. Darnit.
I have an audiobook question. Is Head On going to be available with two different narrators as Lock in was? I notice it isn’t available for presale yet on Audible.
Are we getting audiobooks? Will there be two like last time? Same narrators? Will there be a deal to get both if you preorder? I can’t wait!
Oh John never go full Calvinball.
Of course, I have the sneaking suspicion that section was a little bit of you winding up sports fans like me. Like that video of nonsense singing Italians to demonstrate what English sounds like to non-speakers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VsmF9m_Nt8
:)
Can’t wait for that sequel! Thanks for the preview, it’ll hold me for a little while longer.
Just have to say though: that Toronto team name really tickled me. Apart from being the name of a famous Canadian air show squadron, the word “Snowbirds” is actually mostly used where I live to describe the retirees heading South (usually Florida) for the winter month. Pair that with a team of ruthless robot-bodied athletes and you’ve got a pretty funny mash-up!
Curious what came first: The game or the book title.
@Althane, John mentioned in the publicity blitz around Lock In that his worldbuilding background included a threep-based sport not mentioned in the book.
I love it! I’m keen to read this one and I’m really interested to see where it goes.
In addition to @Jack O’s reference to Quidditch and @Mike S’s comment about Calvinball, I’d like to say that this is actually ringing more of 43-Man Squamish than anything else. :) :)
To read, do we apply this book directly to our foreheads?
You are such a teaser!!
@John Hedtke – LOL. We’re sorting ourselves generationally, by the most popular fictional sport. Boomer (Squamish), Gen X (Calvinball), and Millennial (Quidditch)