At John Scalzi’s site he’s publishing serially chapters from his novel “Old Man’s War.” As of Monday, 12/16, he’s up to chapter eight, and so far, it’s turning into a pretty good read.
For many of you who don’t know me, I’ve been reviewing books for small-time newspapers for about a decade. I read some science-fiction, but I’m not immersed in it. I also know that there’s a lot of self-published stuff out there on the Web that is, quite frankly, krep. Huge, steaming piles of krep. The kind that melt your monitor and that even a hard-drive wipe won’t eliminate.
“Old Man’s War” isn’t like that (the subtitle I gave it would be understood if you get up to chapter four, which I also found hilarious). The premise is simple. In the future, humans have started colonizing the stars. The Colonial Defense Force has been set up to defend them. They actively recruit old men and women, promising that they’ll rejuevenate their bodies in return for up to 10 years service, after which, like the Roman centurions, they’d be given land off-Earth to colonize. How and why they do this is not known.
As you may guess, what John Perry finds once he signs up is something far more interesting. After all, no one who joins the CDF ever returns to Earth. Not much is known about them, except that they may have access to technologies far more advanced than any seen on Earth.
Scalzi is publishing a chapter a day, about 5,000 words at a time. The book’s written, so you’ll get the entire chunk by the time the last chapter’s out on 12/29. Or, if you want it all up front, send him a $1.50 and he’ll e-mail the whole she-bang to you.
For what it’s worth, I like the book. It reminds me of “Starship Troopers” both in subject and style, although without Heinlein’s sermons. This is publishable work, and I’m enjoying the chapters so far. You might as well.
Anyway, it’s free, so what do you have to lose?