Major league contract

Science fiction author John Scalzi signs blockbuster deal

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John Scalzi has gone where no science fiction author has gone before: He signed a $3.4 million, 10-book, multi-year deal with his publisher, Tor/ Forge, in May.

Scalzi’s deal was written about in the pages of The New York Times’ business section, another place where no other science fiction writer has likely ever been.

Speaking with City Pulse from his home in Ohio, Scalzi said he was “actually pleased about that, getting written up in The New York Times. It was talked about like a sports deal — fascinating,”

While the deal doesn’t approach the stratospheric salaries baseball teams will pay for a starting pitcher, it’s a pretty sweet deal for a science fiction author. The transplanted Californian and former movie critic for The Fresno Bee has built himself into a brand name in the science fiction genre, with 11 widely acclaimed books, a well read blog and a throng of over 85,500 followers on Twitter.

What makes the deal so appealing to Scalzi is that it sends a message: It’s important to give an author some security in an industry where even best-selling authors can easily find themselves looking for a publisher for their next book.

“The contract said, ‘We believe in the publishing industry,’” he said.

Scalzi is on a multi-city tour, including Lansing, to promote his new book, “The End of All Things,” which is part of his “Old Man’s War” series.

While the book hit the shelves just Tuesday, many of the loyal fans who line up early to see Scalzi this week will have already read the new book. The four-part collection of interconnected novellas was first released in digital form earlier this year.

Although not yet commonplace, releasing episodes or serializing novels is a trend in publishing, with publishers and authors hoping of building an audience for the release of the hardcover edition. Even major authors like horror master Stephen King and mystery writer James Patterson have explored similar techniques. 

The latest installment of the “Old Man’s War” series picks up where “The Human Division” left off, with the multi-world in disarray. At the end of “Human Division,” a space station is destroyed, leaving readers with a gripping cliffhanger.

Scalzi’s first novella — science fiction readers like to call these episodes — in “The End of All Things” is a compelling brain twister, featuring a feckless space cruiser pilot who is sucked into a plot to that turns him into a kamikaze pilot. The pilot literally becomes a bodiless “brain in a box,” able to control a disguised war ship on a suicide mission to pull the worlds into war. Let’s just say things don’t go as planned.

Longtime readers might skip to the last novella, which features Harry Wilson, the heroic protagonist of “The Human Division.” Scalzi, however, believes it’s important to read the four in order, because there are revelations throughout that build to a dramatic conclusion.

This new book is not what you would expect from a typical military science fiction book. It is more ethereal, and Scalzi enjoys playing with the reader’s brain — just as he has done in previous books. Scalzi is one of a new generation of science fiction authors who are turning the genre upside down. Local fantasy and science fiction writer Jim Hines is cut from the same cloth.

Both authors are committed to challenging the tropes of traditional science fiction — sexy women, white heroes and disgusting aliens. Scalzi called it “white man’s default” in an interview with The Washington Post. In reading Scalzi’s novels, it’s often difficult to discern a character’s gender, race — or even species.

Fans of Scalzi might already know this, but when Scalzi first decided to write a novel, he said it all came down to luck. He was an avid reader of both science fiction and mystery books and wasn’t sure which genre he should tackle.

“I decided to flip a coin,” he said. “Heads, science fiction. Tails, mystery. I always tell people I’m lucky.”

He recalled meeting his wife, also through luck, while he was working as a journalist.

“I had an appointment to do a story on a local DJ that was cancelled,” he said. “It was rescheduled for the next day, and that’s where I met my wife. Luck isn’t about what happens to you, it’s about being prepared to do something with it.”

Scalzi’s considerable catalog of books gives him a rich history of storylines and characters to pull from — something that certainly worked in his favor as he negotiated his new deal. Scalzi has never had a book that reached The New York Times’ No. 1 best seller spot, but his backlist of books continue to sell in the five figures each year, according to his publisher.

And while his connection to his fans gave him increased leverage in the negotiations, Scalzi warns authors that social media is not for everyone.

“I’ve had a blog since 1998 and I have 85,000 followers on Twitter,” he said. “You have to spend a lot of time chatting, and if you hate it or are not good at it, don’t do it.”

John Scalzi, author talk and book signing

4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16 FREE Schuler Books (Eastwood) 2820 Towne Center Blvd., Lansing (517) 316-7495, schulerbooks.com

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