Old Man’s War
Old Man’s War
We’re back with what is becoming something of a modern science fiction classic, Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. This is a book where humanity is defended by soldiers over the age of seventy-five and under the age of ten. Listen to the episode to hear us discuss universe building, characterization, imperialism, and bioethics. We also talk about the fuuuuture, quip machines, strange alien religions, and, of course, boobs.
Also, next week will be our year in review episode. If you have any last minute comments or questions about anything we’ve covered in the last year, get them in ASAP! If you’re not sure what we’ve covered since last March, go to the Episodes page and look at the titles in “Season Two.”
The music bump this week is a Carl Reike march called “Old Comrades,” performed by a tuba quartet because who doesn’t love that?
Old Man’s War – Six Year Old Adults
Recommendations:
Gabs: 6/10. Easy to read, but probably best recommended to science fiction fans.
Ben: 8/10. Solid writing and an interesting universe, plus it made me laugh a couple of times.
Novel Ideas 
Redshirts
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This week’s episode is Redshirts by John Scalzi, a science fiction/comedy novel with more than a touch of meta to it. It’s also a fairly short novel, and you’ll notice that our episode is a few minutes shorter than usual to match, only minus the three codas. In our conversation we touch on science fiction tropes, author commentary, some of the qualities of bad writing, and violating the fourth wall. We also touch on the meta-ness of meta-ful meta-tude, hilarious misspoken phrases, and, of course, ice sharks. The mystery of what exactly an ice shark is may not get solved, but I think you’ll agree that Ben should not be allowed to title books.
The music for this week’s episode is “Redshirt” by Jonathan Coulton, which was commissioned by John Scalzi for the release of the novel.
The header is Troy Zimmerman’s (winning) entry in the fan art contest for Redshirts held on John Scalzi’s blog.
23 – Redshirts – Yo Dawg I Heard You Like Star Trek
This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged alternate podcasts, bad writing, Galactic Positioning System, gender politics, ice sharks, John Scalzi, meta, Old Man's War, possible commentary, redshirt trope, Redshirts, Tequila Mockingbird, The Fart in Our Stalls, yawning.