Old Man’s War
I’ve discovered a number of my favorite authors by finding them interesting, either as panelists at cons or participants in various online arenas. The latter dates back to my time on the FidoNet SF echo, followed by mailing lists, rec.arts.sf-lovers (I wasn’t around USENET when it was still net.sf-lovers), and the current crop of USENET groups, blogs, and the like.
John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War is sort of an odd hybrid of the two. I heard about the book first at a con (the Tor “upcoming stuff” session at Worldcon), liked the sound of it based on their description, and then started reading Whatever and By The Way…and I figured that anyone who can pump out that much blogging goodness on a daily basis and still keep it interesting could probably also manage a good book, especially with editors and whatnot involved.
I wasn’t disappointed.
Everyone compares it to Starship Troopers, including the author. It’s an homage, though, not a pastiche, and despite Scalzi’s not having read The Forever War, it’s also reminiscent of that, as Cory Doctorow’s blurb would have it. I also thought some of the background and attitude echoed James Alan Gardner’s League of Peoples books (which now need to go on my re-read stack). Nothing close, but the tone and feel were similar enough that if you like the Gardner, try this; if you liked this, try Expendable and see if you like Gardner.
I don’t generally buy hardcovers, for the form-factor issues more than the price, but I’ll be picking up Old Man’s War as soon as the mass-market paperback arrives, or an e-book in a format suitable for my Palm (that portability thing, y’know). Sadly, Tor seems to have had sufficiently low sales of the books they did make available electronically that they’ve stopped bothering; I can understand why, but I don’t have to like it.
