Blog post Number 43 Written: 07-14-2021 Uploaded 01-13-2023
Since I have been talking about my personal feelings about some authors, here’s another one.
Old man’s war was a great book. I hadn’t read any new or fresh sci-fi in some time when I picked up Old man’s war. I was in a slump and growing board of the Genre. I had read everything I could find of Orson Scott-Card, and I had con through some of the other classics like Heinlein and Orwell. This was the next and exciting, (or at least new to me) that I desperately needed. It was different but still packed full of wonder, science, technology, adventure, and conflict like I had never seen before and yet also remained relatable and down to earth.
The big takeaway for me was that science wasn’t just space ships, lasers, battle mechs, supercomputers, and faster than light engines, but also biological. Science was human, it was grown and manipulated and cloned. That was important. I think it has helped me, as a writer to include the human part, to keep the story more relatable. To engage the readers’ feelings and not just their mind and imagination. The Biological part of the science had been all but forgotten for some reason, and Old Man’s war had reminded me, that the whole field of science was still there to be researched, exploited, and then written about.
On top of a good book and a reminder for my writing, I have a funny story about Old Man’s war. My father and I read it at the same time, and he loved it more than I did. Neither of us knew there were more books in the series. For some reason, we both assumed it was a stand-alone novel. I haven’t looked at print dates to see how many of the others if any had been published at the time when we read old man’s war. But several years later I find out, there’s a whole series of books, not just one, but six or seven or something like that. I still haven’t read any of the sequels. I would like to, but currently, my shelves are full and my TBR shelf has grown into an entire bookcase. I don’t plan or expect to pick those up for further reading any time soon, but my father, ( who also still hasn’t gotten or read the books, but that’s for a different reason entirely) but my father is super ultra stoked for there to be more books.
So hat’s off to John Scalzi for writing a fantastic book, or six. For making in the rough world of science fiction publishing, for helping me write, for making it onto my personal list of favorite and most influential authors.
If you don’t know who or what I am talking about, I strongly suggest you go pick up a copy of Old Man’s War. Good stuff.
P.S. Since this was written, I have read all the sequels, and they’re all good too. Heartily recommend.
Chace Randolph 