Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 9h

I don't live there, it's my company office

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 11h

NO

Me, hovering over a funnel cake with a bottle of ketchup

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 12h

Me: I'm feeling a bit out of shape and not where I want to be physically, I should make it a goal to start eating better

Also me: FUNNEL CAAAAAAAKE

A funnel cake with powdered sugar and cherry topping

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Reposted by John Scalzi

David Mack @davidmack.bsky.social · 14h

After many months of writing, editing, proofreading, and promotion, at long last I’ve released my latest book into the wild to fend for itself.

Say “hello” to my 39th published novel (my 32nd novel for Trek), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Ring of Fire, now on sale!

davidmack.pro/writing/ring...

David Mack - Ring of Fire

Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the Enterprise come to the aid of a civilian research station whose secret mission is threatened by murder and sabotage.

davidmack.pro

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 16h

Also The White Bikini of Ursula Andress is the name of my next band

merritt @merrittk.com · 16h

there was so little pornography in the 60s that a bikini from a james bond movie became so famous that it has its own wikipedia page en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_b...

White bikini of Ursula Andress - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 16h

I mean, you won't be there to file a claim PRESUMABLY

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 17h

The solicitations you get when you own a church

(We have standard, non-ministry-centered, insurance on the building)

"How much risk can your ministry afford?"

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 17h

(also the cat was fine)

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 17h

So, as long as we are posting classic videos with animals and music

youtu.be/Veg63B8ofnQ

Kitty Corliss "Grinding the Crack"

YouTube video by Karl Compton

youtu.be

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 17h

Also:

www.youtube.com/shorts/E08Qf...

It’s so nice that she laughs at a meme about her #taylorswift #taylorswiftedit

YouTube video by Taylor's Vibe

www.youtube.com

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 17h

After a dozen years this is still my favorite remix

youtu.be/-aLYvZ5sX28

Taylor Swift - Trouble (Goat Remix)

YouTube video by V∆GUE

youtu.be

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 19h

It went up on the site a chapter at a time for free and I told people if they didn't want to wait they could send me money and I'd send them the entire manuscript.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 19h

I know Andy knew of me prior to writing The Martian. I'm not sure he knew about the serialization of OMW prior to its traditional publication. You'd have to ask him. But it's nice it worked out for the both of us at differing times.

Brian Dear @brianstorms.bsky.social · 19h

Now I am curious, John: any chance Andy Weir was familiar with and inspired by your serialization of Old Man's War (which I loved, by the way) in 2002, and that got him to serialize The Martian on his own blog years later?

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 20h

CONFIRMED I AM THE LOST GROSSMAN TRIPLET AND SO IS CHRIS BOHJALIAN

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 20h

My brain is convoluted so it was no problem, and thanks!

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 20h

... and then the distribution to those drugstore racks consolidated, dropping SF/F, and chain bookstores took off and books that could be sold as hardcovers that looked good on shelves were in demand, and then you started getting longer novels in the SF/F genre. Market imperatives always matter.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 20h

Honestly if you want at least some insight as to why "classics of literature" are constructed as they are, it's worth knowing the market imperatives of the time. American science fiction and fantasy started in magazines and drugstore racks; short stories and 40K novels were how people go paid...

Crewman Six, Snack Viking @crewmansix.bsky.social · 21h

I feel like this probably explains a lot more of the so-called classics of literature than is immediately obvious on the surface. 🤔

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 21h

These are giving @scarfolk.bsky.social vibes, which I suppose means Scarfolk did a really good job of internalizing 20th Century poster design

Scoiattolo @offline.mountainherder.xyz · 1d

In 2009, NATO put an archive of internal security posters online. They’re great!

www.nato.int

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 21h

One of the reasons Crime and Punishment is so long, yet ends so abruptly, is that it was serialized, Dostoyevsky had gambling debts and strung it along to get paid, and finally his editor told him to wrap it up, already

Plague Cthulhu @lostshadows.bsky.social · 21h

The last time I saw someone pushing the idea, they claimed it would stop books becoming so padded with filler to make them longer.

As an owner of an unabridged copy of the Count of Monte Cristo, I don't think they really understood how this actually works.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 22h

One should assume, if one had not already, that every single thing the GOP has to say about pretty much anything is a lie or fabrication.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 23h

“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..”

@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 22h

Yes although of course you can do that with just a regular book, you don't have to read it all in one sitting

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 22h

YES. That's it, thank you.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 22h

Well, you have to write the story to BE serialized, which means paying attention to a structure that makes people want to stay engaged week after week. After that you have to market it, and that's always a real issue. Marketing is always a challenge for any commercial creative endeavor.

Justin A Levine @justinalevine.bsky.social · 22h

Is it a lot of extra work to serialize a book? Or just no interest by the public?

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 22h

Also, for a while in the 10s there was a publisher (whose name is not on the tip of my tongue, alas), who tried to make serialization a thing again. It did not become a thing again, or at least not through that publisher. But lots of things that didn't work before work later, so, maybe!

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 22h

Did it twice, in 2002, when I serialized Old Man's War on my personal site (which led to it being traditionally published in 2005), and in 2013, when Tor and I released The Human Division in 13 installments, one a week. Each installment made the USA Today bestseller list, which was cool.

Mac Crane (they/them) @mcrane12.bsky.social · 1d

bring back the serialized novel, we could spend all week discussing each chapter online like we do tv shows

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