John Scalzi's Secret Project Revealed!

If you've been reading John Scalzi's blog, Whatever, (hint: you should be!) you would know that Mr. Scalzi has been dropping hints about a Super Secret Project That [He] Cannot Tell You About for some time.

And if you read Whatever, you probably also enjoy Scalzi's fiction and know that Scalzi hasn't published a full length novel since 2008's Zoe's Tale and after the release of The God Engines in late 2009 (Hugo nominated novella) he doesn't have any work on the publishing calendar in the near future

So what has Scalzi been up to beside his creative consultant gig on Stargate Universe?

Fan-fiction.

Yes. Fan. Fiction.

Fanfiction in H. Beam Piper's "Little Fuzzy" universe to be exact. Scalzi is rebooting the original Hugo nominated story. You can read the absurdly unexpected details on Scalzi's blog here.

The difference between Scalzi's fan-fiction and yours is that he is a professional writer who has professional writing connections. After writing this Fuzzy Nation novel without a publishing contract and without permission from the Piper estate, Scalzi gained permission to write in the Fuzzy universe and is currently shopping the novel to publishers. I bet he will sell it too.

Cover (unofficial) Artist: Jeff Zugale

To be honest, I typically don't like when authors do this. But unlike Eoin Colfer's And Another Thing... and Frank Herbert's veritable plethora of Dune sequels, I've never read the source material. I don't have any warm fuzzy feelings for the original so I won't feel like my childhood has been raped if Scalzi takes a liberty or two with the original characters or plot.

Whether its fiction or just a polemic about the latest government woes, Scalzi is one of my favorite writers so this is a book I will probably end up reading (if it gets published, that is), even if it doesn't make me feel "fuzzy" at first glance.

On a side note, the original Little Fuzzy is in the public domain so Wooooooo! - Free Kindle Edition!