Hugo-winner author John Scalzi is celebrating his 53rd birthday today.
John Scalzi was born May 10, 1969 in Fairfield, California. A former president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc (SFWA), he is the author of over twenty genre novels. He has also written short stories, novellas, and novelettes, and is an active blogger. Scalzi has written nine non-fiction books so far, including three books in the Rough Guide series.
Scalzi’s first traditionally published novel, Old Man’s War won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and was nominated for a Hugo. It was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Old man’s War received the Geffen Award from the Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy for Best Translated Novel.
Scalzi’s novel The Ghost Brigades, set in the same universe as Old Man’s War, was nominated for a Prometheus Award.
Before he won awards for his novels, he was already a Hugo winner for writing about science fiction. He was nominated for a Hugo for Best Fan Writer in 2007 and 2008. In 1998, Scalzi began his personal blog, “Whatever”. Some of his blog entries have been collected into books. In 2008, Scalzi won the Hugo for Best Fan Writer and was nominated for the Hugo for Best Novel for The Last Colony.
Although some critics considered his novella Fuzzy Nation an extreme act of hubris, writing a reboot of H. Beam Piper’s classic Little Fuzzy (which came as close to perfection as as a novel can, and in in no way shape or form needed a reboot). However, the audio version of the novella, narrated by Wil Wheaton, won the Audie Award for Science Fiction from the Audio Publishers Association.
Scalzi does not limit himself to the printed word. He was a creative consultant for the SciFi Channel’s show Stargate Universe, and he worked on Love, Death, + Robots.
John Michael Scalzi was born and raised in southern California. He attended the University of Chicago, where he earned a degree in philosophy. He has been married to Kristine Ann Blauser since 1995. They have one daughter, Athena. The Scalzi family lives in Bradford, Ohio.
A very happy birthday to John Scalzi! May there be many more books in his future.
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Susan Macdonald is the author of the children's book "R is for Renaissance Faire", as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in "Alternative Truths", "Swords and Sorceress #30", Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, "Cat Tails" "Under Western Stars", and "Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid". Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio's web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
