area after he was hired as the in-house writer and editor at AOL. In 1996, he and his family moved to the Washington, D.C. His experience as a film critic influenced his writing, particularly his humorous works, as films were meant to be an accessible form of storytelling.

Īfter graduating, Scalzi became a corporate consultant and wrote opinion columns and film reviews for the Fresno Bee. He began writing professionally in 1990, while a college student, working freelance for the Chicago Sun-Times. During his 1989–1990 school year, Scalzi was the editor-in-chief of The Chicago Maroon. Ted Cohen, a philosophy professor, became his next thesis advisor, but Scalzi graduated without completing his thesis project. Scalzi abandoned his course of study with Bellow after he was elected Student Ombudsman of the University. Scalzi's thesis advisor, for a brief time, was Saul Bellow. Scalzi earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy at the University of Chicago, graduating in 1991. One of his classmates was blogger and journalist Josh Marshall. Scalzi's childhood was spent in poverty, an experience that inspired him to write his most famous essay, 'Being Poor.' He attended the Webb School of California, a boarding school in Claremont, on a scholarship. So, it was either going to be science fiction or mystery.

When I decided to start writing novels, I wanted to write in a genre I already knew and loved as a reader. As he recalled in an interview with the Dayton Daily News: Scalzi grew up reading science fiction and mystery, which inspired him to become a science fiction writer-a decision made randomly. One of three children to a single mother, he grew up in the Los Angeles suburbs of Covina, Glendora, Azusa, and San Dimas. Scalzi was born in Fairfield, California, on May 10, 1969. He has written non-fiction books and columns on diverse topics such as finance, video games, films, astronomy, writing and politics, and served as a creative consultant for the TV series Stargate Universe. His novel Redshirts won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2008 based predominantly on that blog, which he has also used for several charity drives. He is best known for his Old Man's War series, three novels of which have been nominated for the Hugo Award, and for his blog Whatever, where he has written on a number of topics since 1998.

John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (2018) Campbell Award for Best New Writer (2005)

Red shirts john scalzi