I just read Redshirts by John Scalzi, and enjoyed it hugely; to the extent that the family on the other side of the room wondered why I kept cackling out loud, over on the sofa.
The book is silly and sentimental and extremely far-fetched, and at the same time very good, with a strong central idea and a loveable cast. Also it’s not afraid to mess with your mind a little.
Anyone who knows what a redshirt is will enjoy this book. While that’s a Star Trek reference, you don’t have to think that Star Trek was actually good to appreciate it. (Which is an advantage, for obvious reasons.) (I’m a Deep Space Nine guy myself).
Which is to say that yes, this is Sci Fi, but no, it’s not in the Star Trek style at all. Those who would never stoop to genre lit but are still interested in books and publishing would probably enjoy How to Build a New York Times Bestseller (or Maybe Not) by Scalzi on his blog; an unsentimental and only-slightly-arrogant insider’s look at popular publishing in 2012 and how it can be made to work.
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From: Nathan (Jun 26 2012, at 13:38)
Of great interest to me is not the book itself (well, not JUST the book itself...I did in fact place a copy on my wish list), but the fact that the paperback version appears to be less expensive than the Kindle version, at least on my account.
(I checked using Konqueror, which I really only use when I want to check how something behaves when no tracking cookies have been set, and it appears the paperback is less expensive for most people as well).
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