John Scalzi's "Redshirts" - Best book I've read this year

I mentioned the other day that I was reading Redshirts, by John Scalzi (Tor, 2012; 317 pages).

I'm finished reading it now, and all I can say is, Damn, that was a good book. I can't do a proper review of it. I'd have to give too much away in the way of spoilers, and I don't want to do that. I want you - all of you - to go out and read it, and I want you to come to it as it did, with only the most basic idea of what it is about. I want you to discover its delights for yourself.

I will say that I wasn't sure how the codas were going to work (there are three of them), but all three of them relate quite solidly to the main story and are an essential part of the whole. It may even be said that the codas are where the book's soul resides.

I will also say that I can state with certainty that Redshirts has vaulted into the list of my favorite books. At some point, I will have to acquire a copy of my own (I read it out of the library). I like the other things I've read that Scalzi has written very much, but I love Redshirts.

There are a couple of basic things you probably do need to know about the book. It takes a meme from the original "Star Trek" series, turns it on its head, plays with it, and does some extremely odd and interesting things with it. Also, you might have heard that Redshirts is a funny book. And it is - it is very funny; laugh-out-loud funny, in fact. But don't let that fool you. There are interesting ideas here, too, and some interesting issues are raised. These issues show that Scalzi studied philosophy at the University of Chicago, but you shouldn't let that make you hesitate to read the book, either. It all works really well, and he sneaks those philosophical issues into the story in ways so that you might not realize he's dealing with philosophical issues until well after he has you caught up in them.

So that you'll know what you're looking for when you go online to order Redshirts or to the bookstore to buy it or to the library to check it out, this is what the cover of the book looks like:

Whichever way you read it, just go read Redshirts. There's even an audiobooks version, performed by Wil Wheaton.

Oh. One other thing about Redshirts. It won this year's Hugo as Best Science Fiction Novel at Worldcon.

It's one of those days...

This is one of those days of the year on which I always find myself in a reflective mood.

And, no, it isn't because it's Constitution Day, the day in 1787 when the United States Constitution was signed. Or because it was on this day in 1683 that Antonie van Leeuwenhoek wrote a letter to the Royal Society in London that contained the first known scientific description of protozoa. It certainly isn't because it was on this day in 1630 that the city of Boston was founded. Never been there. It isn't even because this is the day in 1976 that the first space shuttle, the Enterprise (the one that never flew in space), was first unveiled to the public, although that's a pretty neat thing that I remember clearly.

The reason that this is always a thoughtful day for me is that it was on this day in 1922 that my father was born. I've written about him here before. My father was a good man, and I miss him a great deal even after all these years, and on this day I always think of him and all the things he did for me, and all the support he gave me, and the ways in which I am the person I am because of hi

I've had a pretty busy day today, but I've also taken time off, as I always try to do on his birthday, to do something that my father would have appreciated. Today, that has been reading Redshirts (2012), by John Scalzi, the novel that recently won the Hugo Award, given at the World Science Fiction Convention, for Best Novel. Redshirts kind of takes the phenomenon of "Star Trek" and turns it on its head and shakes it up and has some fun with one of the central memes to come out of that classic television series. I'm only on page 112 right now, so I don't know how things are going to come out, but it's funny as hell so far while at the same time proposing some interesting (and sometimes kind of mind-bending) ideas.

Why am I reading this in honor of my father's birthday? Well, my father was a big science fiction fan (okay, he was a geek; he raised me right), and a huge "Star Trek" fan. Back when the original series was in its first run, when I was in elementary school, we watched it together every week, much to the dismay of my mother, who was not much of a science fiction fan. My father also had a slightly bent sense of humor. I suspect that he would have loved this book.

This is not to say that I'm only reading Redshirts in memory of my father. I'm reading it because it is a really good book, and I find it more and more difficult to find really good science fiction.

So, I'm going to go read some more now.

I read blogs...and sometimes I recommend one

I'm in the process of spiffing up a few things here at "I Was Just Thinking", and while I was playing around with my blogroll (see "Places I Go, Blogs I Read" on the sidebar), I realized that I've never linked to "Whatever", John Scalzi's blog. That's fixed now.

What I really want to do here and now is urge you, if you never have, to go over and read Scalzi's blog. It is a rare and wonderful thing, and I think everyone should read it. First of all, Scalzi is a very, very good writer. Trust me on this, and if you don't trust me, just know that he has won some of the biggest awards in the science fiction world and has had books on the New York Times Bestsellers List. He's smart, he's funny, and when he needs to be serious, he's very good at that, too.

Second, if you only know Scalzi's name as a science fiction writer, and you don't like science fiction, don't let that put you off of reading "Whatever". He writes about science fiction, to be sure. But, he also writes about other things, like life and politics and, occasionally, the absurdities of the world we live in.

Third, he doesn't let commenters on his blog get away with stuff. He wields what he calls his Mallet of Loving Correction with sureness and skill. And he's had practice. Several times, he has written controversial posts on controversial topics that have gone viral and brought in all kinds of people who don't ordinarily read his blog, people who think they can step into his virtual living room and act like hooligans. They learn very quickly that it's his living room and his rules. And one of those rules, as I understand it, is Be Excellent. You aren't being Excellent when you try to start a flame war, and that sort of thing doesn't fly on "Whatever".

Fourth...oh, just click over and read a sample of what goes on over at "Whatever". If you enjoy a combination of silliness and serious commentary on serious subjects, plus some stellar recommendations of books to read by other authors (Scalzi hosts a feature called "The Big Idea" on "Whatever", in which he gives over space for writers to write about where the ideas for some of their latest work came from), I think you might like "Whatever".

Scalzi doesn't need me to boost his signal. "Whatever" is a very popular and long-established blog (he's been writing the blog since 1998). But, you know, I really enjoy reading over there, and I thought you might like it too, if you haven't already found your way there.

I hope you will continue to come by and read "I Was Just Thinking" on a regular basis. Of course. But I hope you'll go over and read Scalzi's blog, too. Because I do, every day.

Coffee? No, Thanks...I'd Rather Not Torture My Taste Buds

Making my usual rounds of the Internets this morning before I start on the list of things I need to get done today, I came upon this post from John Scalzi, over at his blog, Whatever, in which he proclaims that coffee "tastes like ass".

It is so nice to find someone else who agrees with me about coffee. Which is to say, someone else who thinks coffee tastes nasty.

I get so tired of people looking at me like I've suddenly sprouted a second head out the top of my regular head, complete with a third eye in the middle of its forehead, when I say that I don't like coffee. I have to confess that I haven't really researched the history of coffee - I don't care enough to put in the time to do that - but I have wondered from time to time what the deal is...how did our culture here in the United States come to the point where it is assumed that everyone drinks coffee, and that people who don't do so are somehow wrong. No, really. I've heard people insist that unless you drink coffee, you are not a proper adult.

It is just as tiresome when people ask me, "Is it because you used to be Mormon?"

No. My distaste for coffee - for all hot beverages, for that matter - came long before I ever was a Mormon. My dad started trying to turn me into a coffee drinker when I was about ten years old. My mom didn't drink coffee, and so he tried to get me started on it so that he would have someone to have a cup of coffee with in the morning.

His efforts never succeeded. Even getting past the fact that coffee is hot, which is difficult enough for me to get beyond, it just tastes awful. I don't care how much you dress it up with cream, sugar, or other flavors, there is still that underlying bitter, acidy taste that Is. Just. Not. Right.

The funny thing was that my mom always used to say that while she didn't like the taste of coffee, she loved the smell. I've heard others rhapsodize about how wonderful coffee smells.

No it doesn't. It smells as bad as it tastes.

But, you know, I'm not the judgmental type. So, go ahead. Drink that coffee. I don't understand the attraction, but whatever. Just don't act like there is something wrong with me because I don't drink it. Would you like it if I insisted that you are not a proper adult because you don't like the thing you really, really don't like? Say, broccoli? Peas?

I didn't think so.