The Sci-Fi Book will be reading John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War in March. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2006.
“John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife’s grave. Then he joined the army.
The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce–and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity’s resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don’t want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You’ll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You’ll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you’ll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.
John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine–and what he will become is far stranger.” – Amazon
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Want to join in?
If you would like to join us you can visit our forums and add your name to the list here. Want to know how our Sci-fi Book Club works first? Read on!
Choosing a Book
All books are nominated and voted on by our members. Anyone can nominate a book and everyone can vote. To see what we’ll be reading in April click here.
Spoiler Free Discussion
Sci-Fi Book Club begins on the 1st of every month. Once a book is started we discuss our books in a way that will not spoil the story. We limit how much you can discuss and when and break it down by week.
Week 1 – You may only discuss the first 1/4 of the book
Week 2 – You may only discuss the first 1/2 of the book
Week 3 – You may only discuss the first 3/4 of the book
Week 4 – Anything goes
We are going to go based on page count. So for example, if a book has 500 pages then week one you can discuss up to page 125 and then week two 250 and so on. Each week will have a separate thread, so as not to spoil the story for people who fall behind or come in late.
What if you want to read faster than that?
Not a problem at all. You are more than welcome to read ahead, but when discussing things just remember to post in the appropriate thread. And if you’re not sure when something happened, you can always use the spoiler tag to hide your post.
Should you not want any spoilers or discussion during the reading process, just come after the end of week three and start discussing the book once you have finished. (This is how most book clubs operate anyway.)
We would love for you to join us! You can sign up for this month’s book club here or visit our book club section to see all our past selections here.
Want reminders?
Follow @FFBookClub on Twitter for reminders when book club starts nominations, voting and discussions.
Jennie Ivins
JC Kang