John Scalzi

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John Scalzi

Goodreads Author


Born
in The United States
Website

Genre

Influences
Robert Heinlein, Dorothy Parker, HL Mencken, Coke Zero

Member Since
December 2007


John 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.)

John Scalzi is currently not accepting new questions.

Popular Answered Questions

John Scalzi My mortgage. Which sounds like I'm trying to be a smartass, but which is actually true. Writing is my job; I don't do anything else. If I don't write,…moreMy mortgage. Which sounds like I'm trying to be a smartass, but which is actually true. Writing is my job; I don't do anything else. If I don't write, I don't get paid, and like everyone else, I have to make money to get along. I like my house; I want to keep it. So I am inspired to write. (less)
John Scalzi Basement insulation.

(More seriously, I'll give them to friends)…more
Basement insulation.

(More seriously, I'll give them to friends)(less)
Average rating: 4.05 · 1,345,532 ratings · 117,549 reviews · 188 distinct worksSimilar authors
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More books by John Scalzi…

New Cover Song: “These Days”

I moved my home music studio up from the basement to Athena’s old bedroom in the last couple of weeks, so now it’s time to put it to use, and for my first bit of music in the new space, I decided to record an old tune: “These Days” by Jackson Browne, first released in 1973.

Having said that, this arrangement is rather more like the 1990 cover version by 10,000 Maniacs, which was the first version

Read more of this blog post »
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Published on February 15, 2026 16:10
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The Shattering Peace
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John’s Recent Updates

John Scalzi wrote a new blog post

New Cover Song: “These Days”

I moved my home music studio up from the basement to Athena’s old bedroom in the last couple of weeks, so now it’s time to put it to use, and for my f Read more of this blog post »
Sisters in Science by Olivia Campbell
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When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
"This is one of those books that should absolutely not work. It does. I laughed in an airport lounge loudly enough that people turned to look at me. I also cried MORE THAN ONCE over a book about a MOON MADE OF CHEESE. Fuck you, John Scalzi. How dare."
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Quotes by John Scalzi  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Here's a quick rule of thumb: Don't annoy science fiction writers. These are people who destroy entire planets before lunch. Think of what they'll do to you.”
John Scalzi

“1. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about the things they read (or watch, or listen to, or taste, or whatever). They’re also entitled to express them online.

2. Sometimes those opinions will be ones you don’t like.

3. Sometimes those opinions won’t be very nice.

4. The people expressing those may be (but are not always) assholes.

5. However, if your solution to this “problem” is to vex, annoy, threaten or harrass them, you are almost certainly a bigger asshole.

6. You may also be twelve.

7. You are not responsible for anyone else’s actions or karma, but you are responsible for your own.

8. So leave them alone and go about your own life."

[Bad Reviews: I Can Handle Them, and So Should You (Blog post, July 17, 2012)]”
John Scalzi

“If you want me to treat your ideas with more respect, get some better ideas.”
John Scalzi, Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded

Polls

February Science Fiction -- The following poll decides which two selections will go on to the final round for Science Fiction BOTM of February 2017.

 
  22 votes, 26.2%

 
  20 votes, 23.8%

 
  14 votes, 16.7%

 
  7 votes, 8.3%

 
  6 votes, 7.1%

 
  4 votes, 4.8%

 
  4 votes, 4.8%

 
  4 votes, 4.8%

 
  3 votes, 3.6%

More...

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1881 The Webb Schools Book Club — 82 members — last activity Jan 13, 2014 09:48AM
Did you know that Goodreads was started by a Webb alumnus? Otis Chandler '96 is the founder of Goodreads. Alumni, faculty, students, parents and frie ...more
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Shanereads Thanks for accepting my invite!


message 4: by Eric (last edited Jan 16, 2013 11:44PM)

Eric Birk Thanks for becoming my Goodreads friend.You are a huge influence.
Eric


message 3: by Dmack

Dmack love what i've read so far; my son really really loved the ending and the whole philisophical side; i liked the action but i'm a simpleton


message 2: by Fran

Fran Friel Many thanks, John!

Happy Thursday,
Fran


message 1: by Wes

Wes Your books are responsible for my brother getting into Science Fiction.
I sent him Old Man's War when he was in Iraq. He loved it, and it soon got passed around to the guys in his unit, who loved it as well.
You can't go wrong sending Military Sci-Fi to a bunch of ground-pounders :)

Now he has started reading Asimov, Clarke, and many more of the classics. Mwuhahaha, I had the last laugh. He used to razz me when we were teenagers for being a science fiction nerd :)


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