peterchayward

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/19/the-big-idea-william-alexander-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57373

You don’t have to fully understand something to enjoy or get value out of it. New York Times bestselling author William Alexander expands this idea to life itself in the Big Idea for his newest novel, Sunward. Read on to see how the world, though sometimes scary and incomprehensible, can also be pretty amazing.

WILLIAM ALEXANDER:

Sunward is space opera about parenting—specifically about parenting robotic kids, and more broadly about parenting kids who are wildly, gloriously, transformatively different from ourselves. 

It started as a short story that I wrote for Sunday Morning Transport, when pandemic parenting was much on my mind. My own kids were stuck at home, quarantined from the world but still trying to learn about it via disembodied classrooms. Their experience of grade school was simultaneously contracting and expanding in ways that I had no frame of reference for—except maybe in science fiction. Home was a spacecraft, isolated in the void. We lived in cramped quarters, bouncing off the walls and staring out the windows, but at least we could communicate instantaneously with every other ship and station. 

This mix of coziness, claustrophobia, catastrophe, and possibility messed with my head. I tried to squeeze the whole mess into a short story. Then the story grew into a novel—albeit a short one—about parenting juvenile bots in a turbulent solar system. 

Science fiction has lots of robotic kids. Some inhabit Pinocchio retellings, others Peter Pan retellings. Some are changelings, embodying old fears alongside newer uncanny valleys. Samuel Butler panicked about mechanical offspring in his 1863 essay “Darwin Among the Machines” (which also predicts eventual war between the machines and humanity). Osamu Tezuka’s beloved Astro Boy broke ground for so much of our science fictional landscape; his 1962 story “Robot Land” includes a robotic uprising set in an amusement park, published eleven years before the movie Westworld. 

Ted Chiang’s The Lifecycle of Software Objects (which you can find in his second collection Exhalation) critiques the impossible shortcuts that we almost always take in our stories about mechanical people. “Science fiction is filled with artificial beings who, like Athena out of the head of Zeus, spring forth fully formed,” he says in the story notes, “but I don’t believe consciousness actually works that way.” The digients of his novella are infants raised up by the constant attention of caring adults. Intelligent life needs to be nurtured. It takes time. There are no shortcuts. 

As adults we become increasingly skilled at pretending—to ourselves, and to everyone else—that we stand on certainties. Kids know better. They are much more accustomed to moving through worlds that they don’t understand, and don’t yet expect to. They find ways to navigate incomprehension. 

Science fiction can help us remember how to do the same—not necessarily in its literal predictions of the future, or in its warnings and cautionary tales, but in the way SF fosters an intuitive sense that all of this… <flails at the world like an unhappy muppet> …could be wildly, gloriously, transformatively different. 

Sunward: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Books-A-Million|Bookshop

Author socials: Website|Bluesky

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/19/the-big-idea-william-alexander-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57373

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/18/the-big-idea-dan-rice-4/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57336

What’s scarier, a haunted school or lifelong trauma? Spooky season is upon us and author Dan Rice has brought the ghost stories with his newest book, Phantom Algebra. Follow along in his Big Idea to see how ghastly high school can really be.

DAN RICE:

While writing Phantom Algebra, I encountered a challenge I had never faced before. The setting is a shared universe, specifically the fictitious town of Pinedale, North Carolina, located approximately fifty miles or so from Raleigh. The action needed to center around the berg’s haunted high school, Pinedale High.

I wanted the protagonist, Zuri, to be an outsider —the new kid at school —and not someone who believes in ghosts. But how to get her to Pinedale? I could have had a parent land a job in the city and have the story open with the family moving into a new home or Zuri stepping onto the school grounds for the first time. I don’t know…I felt that had been done before and wanted to do something a little different. 

I settled on the horror trope of a traumatic past. Zuri and her mother are on the run, have been for years, from Big Jake: estranged father, abusive husband, former boxer, and full-time gangland enforcer. This leads them to Pinedale after Zuri coldcocks her current high school’s star quarterback, ending his attempt to sexually assault her.

Despite the trauma of watching Big Jake nearly beat her mother to death, Zuri is a fighter like him, dreams of being a world champion, and remembers fondly learning to punch, kick, and grapple under his tutelage. Zuri can’t escape the past because every time she follows her first instinct to solve her problems with her fists, she perpetuates her family’s violent legacy. Isn’t that true of all of us? We can never escape the past because it is carried within us. The best we can do is to learn to cope healthily.

At Pinedale High, Zuri encounters challenging academics, especially mathematics, and a student body that believes the school is haunted. She doesn’t believe this for an instant, only giving credence to what she can beat into submission. When circumstances prove she can no longer deny the ghostly world, Zuri is presented with a problem as gnarly as an algebraic equation. How can she battle bullying poltergeists she can’t see or strike?

Zuri navigates Pinedale with the aid of new friends, fellow outcasts like herself, and eventually bonds with a tween spirit haunted by trauma she cannot escape even in death. Freeing the spirit from her abuser means unearthing Pinedale’s celebrated founding father’s legacy of filicide and satanic magic. Many of the town’s inhabitants haven’t an inkling that Pinedale’s foundation is awash in the blood of an innocent, but they will suffer for their communal past unless Zuri and her friends can face down monsters living and dead.

In the end, I found that Pinedale High being a shared story universe didn’t limit my storytelling. By leveraging the character-centric horror trope of past trauma, I told Zuri’s unique story while remaining within the bounds of Pinedale, the high school, the nearby haunted forest, and the handful of shared characters that give the series continuity.

Phantom Algebra: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|IndieBound|iBooks

Author socials: Website|Bluesky

Read an excerpt. 

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/18/the-big-idea-dan-rice-4/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57336

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/17/view-from-a-hotel-window-9-17-25-spokane-wa/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57326

My hotel room in Spokane is in fact really nice. The view? Maybe less so.

Tonight! Spokane! I’ll be at Auntie’s Bookstore at 7pm. I’ll read stuff and answer questions and sign books, mostly in that order!

Tomorrow! I’m at Bookshop Santa Cruz, also at 7pm! More reading! And answers! And signing! Fun!

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/17/view-from-a-hotel-window-9-17-25-spokane-wa/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57326

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/16/the-shattering-peace-is-out/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57316

Today is the Day! The Shattering Peace, my 19th novel, the seventh book in the Old Man’s War series, and my second novel of the 2025, is finally out in North America in print, ebook and audio (UK, you have two more days to wait for print/ebook. Be strong). It’s received rave reviews in the trades, including receiving starred reviews from Kirkus and Library Journal, and the general consensus so far is that it’s an excellent return to the Old Man’s War series. This makes me happy.

It’s important for me to note that while this is the seventh book in the series, it’s designed to be one that people who have not read the series before can get into. It’s a standalone book (so far) in the universe, and everything readers need to know to enjoy the story is laid out in the first couple of chapters. Newcomers won’t get lost, I promise. For the people who have read previous books in the series, you’ll find some old friends here, as well making some new ones.

You will find The Shattering Peace in literally every bookstore, online and offline, that carries science fiction. Remember also that for the next two weeks I am also on a book tour here in the US; come see if I’ll be near to where you are. Also! If you desire a signed book but my tour dates are not near you, remember you can call any of the bookstores where I’ll be on tour and ask them to have me sign it and then ship it to you. We’ll both be happy to do that. Subterranean Press also has signed copies available, and if you are outside the US, they ship internationally.

I’m very happy with this book and its story and I’m so thrilled that it’s finally out in the world for you all to enjoy. Welcome back to the Old Man’s War universe, and who knows? If enough of you like this one, maybe I’ll write another.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/16/the-shattering-peace-is-out/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57316

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/15/attending-a-mystery-skulls-concert-at-skullys-music-diner/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57283

For about five years now, I have absolutely loved the music of Mystery Skulls. It was only recently that I learned Mystery Skulls is actually just one guy named Luis Dubuc, and he’s the singer, songwriter, and producer behind it all. While I would largely describe the music as EDM, it honestly has such a unique sound to it that’s very unlike a lot of other electronic music I’ve heard before.

To me, Mystery Skulls’ music is more approachable than a lot of electronic music. With plenty of awesome lyrics and vocals, it is something I would show to someone who isn’t super into EDM already.

Back in May, I learned that Mystery Skulls was going on tour, and would be performing in Columbus in September. I immediately bought two VIP tickets, one for me and one for the friend that introduced me to Mystery Skulls in the first place.

I know I’ve mentioned it a ton of times before, but I am really not a concert person. I hate loud noises, don’t really like live music all that much, and I’m not fond of crowds. I’d rather just jam to my music by myself at the volume I prefer and not pay a ton of money for it.

All that being said, I had the most amazing time at the Mystery Skulls concert, and it was pretty much the best concert I’ve ever been to. My friend and I had so much fun!

The concert was held at Skully’s Music Diner in the Short North area of Columbus. I’d never heard of the venue before, but that makes sense considering I literally just said I don’t like live music (generally).

I loved this venue. It’s a bit of a smaller place, with two bars, a standing room area in front of the stage, and a balcony area. It’s got a dive bar vibe but with a stage. The bathroom really sealed the deal for me, with one of the two stalls having a broken lock, and the other one having a shower curtain instead of a door. At least the floor wasn’t sticky! I was very impressed by that.

So, I’m sure you’re all wondering what the VIP tickets included. At $85 dollars a piece, you got early entry for a meet-and-greet, where you got to talk to Luis and get a photo with him. I declined a photo and he asked if I was in witness protection program, which I found very amusing. After that, everyone got in line for a turn to play a round of Street Fighter with him in a one-on-one battle. I also declined this opportunity, as I suck at those type of fighting games and didn’t want to embarrass myself.

Plus, we got merch bags! A reusable bag with a cool lanyard and a VIP card that Luis signed when we met him, and a RFID card that unlocks early access to an album he’s planning to release in 2026.

So, how was the show? Well, there was an opener, and I don’t know about y’all, but I have never liked an opener at any concert I’ve attended. That was NOT the case here. The opener of the evening was NITE, two twin brothers from Texas with some of the coolest, dark-synth dance music. Like a gothic electronic vibe. It reminded me of if you were having a Stranger Things themed dance party.

I seriously loved every song they played, and they were so fun to watch perform. They really got the crowd hype for the main event. I highly recommend checking out some of their music, and I’ll leave two here for you that I particularly enjoyed:

Aside from NITE being a banger opener, Mystery Skulls kept the energy up the whole time, never slowing down or letting the vibes slip away for even a second. It was amazing to hear all my favorites, plus some new stuff that was special to the tour, and everything was seamlessly remixed together into an awesome blend of never-ending dance. Not to mention the light show was killer.

I know you’re probably at the edge of your seat waiting for me to share some of my favorite songs, so I shan’t keep you waiting any longer.

First up, we have my all-time favorite of his: “Ghost.” This is the first song I ever heard from Mystery Skulls, so it’s nearest and dearest to my heart.

A very close second place song would be “Hellbent.”

For a more funky fresh vibe, I recommend “Freaking Out.”

And for a more clubby, EDM vibe, I recommend “Losing My Mind.”

There’s so many songs of his that are great but I won’t spam you with all of the ones I like.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you about the very interesting and surprisingly in-depth animations that feature Mystery Skulls’ songs, and are the very thing that my friend sent me to begin with.

While these animations don’t actually have anything to do with the music or Luis himself, the series features several of his songs and is inspired by the music.

The series, called Mystery Skulls Animated, starts with “Ghost,” and introduces us to a Scooby-Doo-esque crew who come across a haunted mansion. But things aren’t quite as they first appear.

There were tons of people at the concert in Columbus wearing merch of this animated series, and pretty much everyone I talked to at the concert had seen the animations, too. So while they’re not canon in any capacity, they are huge in the Mystery Skulls fandom itself.

I won’t link all the videos in this post since I’m mainly just here to tell you about the concert, Mystery Skulls, and NITE, but if you want to see the rest of them, here’s an in-order playlist for you.

These animations are absolutely wild and it’s so cool to see the skill and talent progress over the several years they’ve been released. Honestly I loved revisiting these for this post.

So, there you have it! My adventure to Columbus for the Mystery Skulls concert was a huge success, and I’m so happy my friend and I got to see a musician we love perform. I think I’m starting to realize I don’t hate concerts as much as I thought I did, and am mainly not a big fan of huge arena type concerts with 50,000 people and mega-screens you watch the performers on because you’re so far back that they look like a speck on the stage.

What’d you think of the songs? Are you an avid concert-goer? Let me know in the comments, be sure to follow Mystery Skulls and NITE on Instagram, and have a great day!

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/15/attending-a-mystery-skulls-concert-at-skullys-music-diner/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57283

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/13/27-years-of-whatever/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57260

It’s come ’round again, the anniversary of the first day I sat down and wrote something here intended for daily(ish) updating, twenty-seven years ago, long ago enough that AOL was still a viable and ongoing concern and that blogs weren’t called “blogs,” they were called “online diaries” or “online journals.” Because I was a former journalist and also a bit of an ass, I spurned both those titles (as I would the word “blog” a little later), preferring to say that I wrote an “online column.” Over time, I have become rather less precious about this, especially now that “blog” is a concept that now hearkens back to a cretaceous era of the Internet, before social media and algorithms and the concept of being “terminally online.” If only we knew then what we know now. We might all go running into the night, never to return.

Be that as it may, Whatever continues, and I still post here regularly, along with my daughter Athena, who was a couple months from being born when I started this whole thing. At this point in time, she actually does more here than I do; she posts almost all the Big Ideas, and writes as many of the longer pieces here these days than I manage. This partly because so much more of my professional life happens offline these days — in the last week or so, as an example, I wrote a short story, a script treatment and some of my novel, and then traveled to Portland for a convention, and starting Monday I embark on a two-week book tour — and partly because Athena is writing cool and interesting stuff and I’m really happy about that. The Whatever is better for having her as part of it, and it’s been fun watching this place grow from my personal soapbox into a two-person shop. I like that 27 years on, this site is still evolving.

I am very really happy with what’s going on in my professional writing life at the moment (I have some very cool stuff going on right now I absolutely cannot tell you about yet, but when I can tell you, I think you’ll be excited), and one side effect of that is that at the end of the day I often don’t have it together to post more than something short here. I don’t think this is a tragedy, but I would like to write slightly longer here than I have recently. I have some ideas how to do this, but a lot of that will have to wait after the book promo season I am about to find myself in. In the meantime, there will be views out of a hotel window, posts about cats, and more cool stuff from Athena.

And so, onward — for Whatever and for me and Athena. I like where everything is with Whatever, and I look forward to where we go from here. Another year awaits.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/13/27-years-of-whatever/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57260

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/12/new-books-and-arcs-9-12-25/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57247

We’ve made it to another Friday, and here is a new set of books and ARCs that have come to the Scalzi Compound. What here is piquing your interest? Share in the comments!

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/12/new-books-and-arcs-9-12-25/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57247

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/11/charlie-offers-a-carrot/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57243

Charlie knows you might be stressed out right now, and would like to offer you her carrot:

It’s dirty and slobbery, but that’s what makes it so special. She hopes you enjoy her gift to you.

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/11/charlie-offers-a-carrot/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=57243