John Scalzi. Opinions? Recommendations? (To get him out of a thread about a terrible person.)
He has quite a wide range. I like most of what I’ve read by him. Collapsing Empire (3 books) is good. Starter Villain was a surprise. I liked it.
I've only read Old Man’s War so far. Interesting concepts.
I recently reread the OMW books and they’ve aged surprisingly well
I love most of his stuff, especially Lock In and Head On and the Dispatcher series. Avoided Old Man’s War series for a long time, finally read it and really enjoyed it. Redshirts, Kaiju Preservation Society, Starter Villain, Agent to the Stars are all lighter and more fun. Interdependency series is more vast space opera and good reading well.
He hasn’t done anything I hate, he’s a skilled craftsman as well as being a pretty decent human being who has lots of self awareness and is trying to make himself and the world better.
The Dispatcher series, I second that.
I enjoyed Redshirts, and I have Starter Villain waiting on my Kindle. I've heard nothing but good things about, so I'm looking forward to it. Eventually.
Starter Villain was good!
It’s inspired by Mary Robinette Kowal’s cat, who communicates using a talking board
Fogwoman: I've heard Mary Robinette talk about that cat. Aaaaamazing.
Kowal's book The Spare Man is terrific.
CeejayWriter: there are YouTube videos, even better
Fogwoman: Will hunt them down.
Elsie & Guppy Show Fogwoman: Yay!
If you like audiobooks, most of his more recent stuff is read by Wil Wheaton. The oldest end of the Old Man's War series is read by a brilliant performer, William Dufris, who, gods help us, died almost five years ago already.
Tanarian: I don't really do audiobooks, they don't fit my lifestyle well. But Old Man's War would absolutely NEED a brilliant reader.
Yeah, they're great for driving, but not as much puttering about the house unless you have a wireless solution.
Tanarian: Headphones are out. I don't like to be cut off from any noises around the house - makes me feel out of control or like I might miss something important. I've listened a bit in the kitchen from my tablet, though, and that is fine.
/me nods