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Subterranean Scalzi Super Bundle
Subterranean Press bundles together all of their John Scalzi titles into one easy-to-buy special this November:
How I Proposed To My Wife: An Alien Sex Story
An Election
Judge Sn Goes Golfing
Questions for a Soldier
The Sagan Diary
The Tale of the Wicked
The God Engines
You're Not fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to the Coffee Shop
How I Proposed To My Wife: An Alien Sex Story
An Election
Judge Sn Goes Golfing
Questions for a Soldier
The Sagan Diary
The Tale of the Wicked
The God Engines
You're Not fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to the Coffee Shop
469 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2012
14 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
About the author
John Scalzi
192 books27.9k followersJohn Scalzi, having declared his absolute boredom with biographies, disappeared in a puff of glitter and lilac scent.
(If you want to contact John, using the mail function here is a really bad way to do it. Go to his site and use the contact information you find there.)
(If you want to contact John, using the mail function here is a really bad way to do it. Go to his site and use the contact information you find there.)
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 29, 2021
I didn't read everything in this bundle, but I liked most of what I read. I'm not sure if there's much point in posting a review, since the bundle isn't available anymore, but I might as well do it anyway.
How I Proposed To My Wife: An Alien Sex Story - nice funny short story.
An Election - another nice funny little story.
Questions for a Soldier - slight but good story, in the OMW universe.
The Sagan Diary - another OMW story. I skimmed this one. Not for me, I guess.
The Tale of the Wicked - This was a clever little story.
The God Engines - A good story, well told, but maybe in the "not my kind of thing" category. A bit too grim for me.
You're Not fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to the Coffee Shop - I skimmed a bit of this, but I'm not really interested in reading the whole thing. Probably a good thing to read, if you're actually interested in being a professional writer.
How I Proposed To My Wife: An Alien Sex Story - nice funny short story.
An Election - another nice funny little story.
Questions for a Soldier - slight but good story, in the OMW universe.
The Sagan Diary - another OMW story. I skimmed this one. Not for me, I guess.
The Tale of the Wicked - This was a clever little story.
The God Engines - A good story, well told, but maybe in the "not my kind of thing" category. A bit too grim for me.
You're Not fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to the Coffee Shop - I skimmed a bit of this, but I'm not really interested in reading the whole thing. Probably a good thing to read, if you're actually interested in being a professional writer.
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September 3, 2023All good, impossible to rate so much material but overall 4 stars.
November 27, 2012
This is a great big bundle of John Scalzi's short fiction and a non-fiction writing book. If you're considering reading this at all, I assume you are a fan of his writing; I had actually read about half of these before, but picked it up for the ones I didn't have. I'm glad I did, because somehow I had missed "Questions for a Soldier" in my quest to read everything in the OMW universe.
I think a lot of the time Scalzi's writing swings between inappropriately funny and horrifically serious and filled with horror, and this is more of a problem for me in his shorter fiction; they don't all settle into a tone I like. But I still really like his writing, so, hey, I'm still reading.
How I Proposed To My Wife: An Alien Sex Story: Basically, this one's the story of a mild-mannered reporter who ends up on an assignment to go on dates with all the alien species in his neighborhood. Wackiness, as always, ensues. It was a little too weirdly cheerful for me to get into it, but, hey, who doesn't like alien sex stories?
An Election: You probably know that you can read this story online. One of the reasons I bothered buying this bundle at all was because I wanted to own this story in some format. It's another funny one, but this time it works for me. It concerns the perils of running for local government as the only human candidate in a long time, versus opponents whose platforms consist of "the right to eat pets." Also, bonus points for queer characters!
Judge Sn Goes Golfing: Alien judge, golfing, murder, murder, murder. I didn't really understand the appeal of this one.
Questions for a Soldier: For me this was worth buying the bundle -- I had no idea this story was in the Old Man's War universe. It takes place prior to The Last Colony and has John Perry on Huckleberry explaining the CDF to the colonists there, before he decides to settle down, in the form of a transcribed Q&A session. And of course Savitri shows up to ask about how the CDF are a bunch of racist imperialists. I love Savitri so much. I want to read all the books about Savitri.
The Sagan Diary: This is also in the OMW series, set, I think, around the time of "Questions," or at least in between the same two books. It's nice to get a story about Jane, but I wish I liked it better; it's a very quiet character study in which nothing much happens.
The Tale of the Wicked: A fun little space opera-type story in which self-aware computers do bad things. But in a way that is somehow charming.
The God Engines: I wanted to like this so much. I love the idea of the universe, the worldbuilding, the gods... and then it all turns body-horror halfway through and I think I had to stop reading every time I tried this. Ick. Sorry.
You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to the Coffee Shop: I will confess I didn't actually reread this after buying the bundle. But it's non-fiction about writing, and if you enjoy Scalzi's blog posts you will probably like this.
Overall, I am happy I bought this for "Election" and "Questions," and if you like Scalzi's writing at all you'll probably find something to like here.
I think a lot of the time Scalzi's writing swings between inappropriately funny and horrifically serious and filled with horror, and this is more of a problem for me in his shorter fiction; they don't all settle into a tone I like. But I still really like his writing, so, hey, I'm still reading.
How I Proposed To My Wife: An Alien Sex Story: Basically, this one's the story of a mild-mannered reporter who ends up on an assignment to go on dates with all the alien species in his neighborhood. Wackiness, as always, ensues. It was a little too weirdly cheerful for me to get into it, but, hey, who doesn't like alien sex stories?
An Election: You probably know that you can read this story online. One of the reasons I bothered buying this bundle at all was because I wanted to own this story in some format. It's another funny one, but this time it works for me. It concerns the perils of running for local government as the only human candidate in a long time, versus opponents whose platforms consist of "the right to eat pets." Also, bonus points for queer characters!
Judge Sn Goes Golfing: Alien judge, golfing, murder, murder, murder. I didn't really understand the appeal of this one.
Questions for a Soldier: For me this was worth buying the bundle -- I had no idea this story was in the Old Man's War universe. It takes place prior to The Last Colony and has John Perry on Huckleberry explaining the CDF to the colonists there, before he decides to settle down, in the form of a transcribed Q&A session. And of course Savitri shows up to ask about how the CDF are a bunch of racist imperialists. I love Savitri so much. I want to read all the books about Savitri.
The Sagan Diary: This is also in the OMW series, set, I think, around the time of "Questions," or at least in between the same two books. It's nice to get a story about Jane, but I wish I liked it better; it's a very quiet character study in which nothing much happens.
The Tale of the Wicked: A fun little space opera-type story in which self-aware computers do bad things. But in a way that is somehow charming.
The God Engines: I wanted to like this so much. I love the idea of the universe, the worldbuilding, the gods... and then it all turns body-horror halfway through and I think I had to stop reading every time I tried this. Ick. Sorry.
You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to the Coffee Shop: I will confess I didn't actually reread this after buying the bundle. But it's non-fiction about writing, and if you enjoy Scalzi's blog posts you will probably like this.
Overall, I am happy I bought this for "Election" and "Questions," and if you like Scalzi's writing at all you'll probably find something to like here.
December 8, 2013
This is an ebook omnibus of some of John Scalzi's work published by Subterranean Press, which was made available for a short period at a very good price as a promotional item. The contents included three very funny short stories, two short pieces from the Old Man's War universe, a novella, and a non-fiction essay collection on writing. They're all still available as individual titles, and I think all worth having, assuming you like Scalzi's writing style.
Fiction:
How I Proposed To My Wife: An Alien Sex Story
Trashy newspapers don't change their methods just because the embassies downtown include the ones from off Earth...
An Election
An insight into local election time, science fiction style.
Questions for a Soldier
The Sagan Diary
A short story and a novella set in the Old Man's War universe. I think that reading the first book of the series gives enough background knowledge to follow and enjoy these, but The Sagan Diary in particular probably isn't going to work for anyone who hasn't read at least the first novel.
Judge Sn Goes Golfing
Omitted for the first release, and I didn't manage to grab the update before it went off sale, so I've not read this one.
The Tale of the Wicked
Short story riffing off Asimov's Laws of Robotics.
The God Engines
A blend of dark fantasy and science fiction, about exactly what the title says. Starship engines that are captured gods, and a universe in which this is reality. This examination of faith and power isn't going to be to everyone's taste, but if you do like it, you'll like it a lot.
Non-Fiction
You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop
Collection of essays, mainly from Scalzi's blog, about writing as a business. I'd read many of these when they first appeared, but I'd have still been happy to pay full price for this ebook. Scalzi has selected and arranged the essays in a coherent order, often with notes updating the older essays and putting them in context. The essays span a decade, and some of the early information about writing as a career is now largely of historical interest, but that historical interest is useful in understanding what has happened to writing as a business during the rise of the internet.
Scalzi has spent his adult life earning his living through writing, intially non-fiction but latterly adding fiction. He's a great believer in teaching other writers the financial knowledge they need to manage their writing as a self-employed small business, and this collection is very much focused on writing as a business, not an art. It's entertaining in its own right as a species of memoir, but it's also full of practical information for writers.
Fiction:
How I Proposed To My Wife: An Alien Sex Story
Trashy newspapers don't change their methods just because the embassies downtown include the ones from off Earth...
An Election
An insight into local election time, science fiction style.
Questions for a Soldier
The Sagan Diary
A short story and a novella set in the Old Man's War universe. I think that reading the first book of the series gives enough background knowledge to follow and enjoy these, but The Sagan Diary in particular probably isn't going to work for anyone who hasn't read at least the first novel.
Judge Sn Goes Golfing
Omitted for the first release, and I didn't manage to grab the update before it went off sale, so I've not read this one.
The Tale of the Wicked
Short story riffing off Asimov's Laws of Robotics.
The God Engines
A blend of dark fantasy and science fiction, about exactly what the title says. Starship engines that are captured gods, and a universe in which this is reality. This examination of faith and power isn't going to be to everyone's taste, but if you do like it, you'll like it a lot.
Non-Fiction
You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop
Collection of essays, mainly from Scalzi's blog, about writing as a business. I'd read many of these when they first appeared, but I'd have still been happy to pay full price for this ebook. Scalzi has selected and arranged the essays in a coherent order, often with notes updating the older essays and putting them in context. The essays span a decade, and some of the early information about writing as a career is now largely of historical interest, but that historical interest is useful in understanding what has happened to writing as a business during the rise of the internet.
Scalzi has spent his adult life earning his living through writing, intially non-fiction but latterly adding fiction. He's a great believer in teaching other writers the financial knowledge they need to manage their writing as a self-employed small business, and this collection is very much focused on writing as a business, not an art. It's entertaining in its own right as a species of memoir, but it's also full of practical information for writers.
February 22, 2016
the stories are good, the blog posts, not so much
This is a book on five acts.
The first act you have the stories. In this act, "The Diary of Jane Sagan" and "God Machines" are going to get stuck in your head, 'cause they are pretty excellent stories.
The second act are blog posts, which are meh.
The third act is a single story, which is ok.
The fourth act are more blog posts, which manages to be more Boeing than the ones in the second act.
The fifth act are unused chapters from "Lock In". They are probably good, if you read the published story.
Now, while the stories are good, the fact that 70% of the book are blog posts is a real let down, mostly because I think blog posts are boring. Sure, there are exceptions to this rule, like Wil Weathon's book, in which he just don't put the posts, but actually put some background about them. For Scalzi, there is no such reflections and most of the posts are not even interesting, 'cause they are temporal or regional (like elections and things related to the USA). After a while, I just skipped most of them.
Is it a worth book? Hard to answer. If I had only the stories and no blog posts, that would be awesome, but the posts just make the book longer without the need for such.
This is a book on five acts.
The first act you have the stories. In this act, "The Diary of Jane Sagan" and "God Machines" are going to get stuck in your head, 'cause they are pretty excellent stories.
The second act are blog posts, which are meh.
The third act is a single story, which is ok.
The fourth act are more blog posts, which manages to be more Boeing than the ones in the second act.
The fifth act are unused chapters from "Lock In". They are probably good, if you read the published story.
Now, while the stories are good, the fact that 70% of the book are blog posts is a real let down, mostly because I think blog posts are boring. Sure, there are exceptions to this rule, like Wil Weathon's book, in which he just don't put the posts, but actually put some background about them. For Scalzi, there is no such reflections and most of the posts are not even interesting, 'cause they are temporal or regional (like elections and things related to the USA). After a while, I just skipped most of them.
Is it a worth book? Hard to answer. If I had only the stories and no blog posts, that would be awesome, but the posts just make the book longer without the need for such.
October 30, 2015
This is a anthology of short stories and two collections of articles from Scalzi's blog. The short stories are definitely the highlight of the bundle though.
Some of the stories are set in the worlds of some of Scalzi's novels (Old Man's War, Red Shirts, Lock In), which should be of interest to people who enjoyed his other work. There are a also a few stand alone stories too, of which The God Engines is probably the highlight.
The two blog post collections are interesting but not as engaging. The first is organised by topic, which sometimes results in the same ideas being repeated in a short number of pages. I imagine this wouldn't have been as much of an issue if you read the posts as they were released, spaced out over a few years.
The second collection instead organises the posts alphabetically by title. I found some of the topics less interesting than others (e.g. it goes into a lot more detail about the business of being a writer than I'm personally interested in), so having those posts spread out helped keep things interesting.
Some of the stories are set in the worlds of some of Scalzi's novels (Old Man's War, Red Shirts, Lock In), which should be of interest to people who enjoyed his other work. There are a also a few stand alone stories too, of which The God Engines is probably the highlight.
The two blog post collections are interesting but not as engaging. The first is organised by topic, which sometimes results in the same ideas being repeated in a short number of pages. I imagine this wouldn't have been as much of an issue if you read the posts as they were released, spaced out over a few years.
The second collection instead organises the posts alphabetically by title. I found some of the topics less interesting than others (e.g. it goes into a lot more detail about the business of being a writer than I'm personally interested in), so having those posts spread out helped keep things interesting.
May 8, 2014
1) How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story (4/5) - Cute & funny.
2) An Election (3/5) - Amusing.
3) Judge An Goes Golfing (3/5) - I don't get golf.
4) Questions for a Soldier (4/5) - Intriquing. Town Hall on Huckberry (New Goa) with John Perry while he is serving his 10 years as part of the Colonial Defense Force. Old Man's War #1.5 between Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades.
5) The Sagan Diary (2/5) - Sweet, but a little boring. Old Man's War #2.5 between The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony.
6) The Tale of the Wicked (4/5) - Braaaains.
7) The God Engines (4/5) - Clever. My favorite of the collection.
8) You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing (3/5) - A series of blog posts about being a writer -- the profession more than the act of writing. Really interesting, but I'm not the target audience.
2) An Election (3/5) - Amusing.
3) Judge An Goes Golfing (3/5) - I don't get golf.
4) Questions for a Soldier (4/5) - Intriquing. Town Hall on Huckberry (New Goa) with John Perry while he is serving his 10 years as part of the Colonial Defense Force. Old Man's War #1.5 between Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades.
5) The Sagan Diary (2/5) - Sweet, but a little boring. Old Man's War #2.5 between The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony.
6) The Tale of the Wicked (4/5) - Braaaains.
7) The God Engines (4/5) - Clever. My favorite of the collection.
8) You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing (3/5) - A series of blog posts about being a writer -- the profession more than the act of writing. Really interesting, but I'm not the target audience.
January 22, 2016
Interesting
I mostly enjoyed the books, short stories, novellas, and blog excerpts. There was only one that I couldn't get into out of all the offerings, so not too bad for the price.
I mostly enjoyed the books, short stories, novellas, and blog excerpts. There was only one that I couldn't get into out of all the offerings, so not too bad for the price.
January 2, 2013
Great collection of Scalzi work. A really great value over buying separately.
God Engines was my favorite
God Engines was my favorite
August 29, 2013
Good collection of Scalzi's work.
Check out my reviews of the individual works if you're interested.
Check out my reviews of the individual works if you're interested.
June 15, 2015
Great compilation of some things I've read, some things I haven't and some interesting asides.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews