Talk show host Al Birnbaum, the “Voice of the Wilderness”, is suffering from an ever-increasing drop in ratings and doing his best to deny that this will have an effect on his career. When a mysterious man shows up to offer him a chance at renewed fame and influence Birnbaum must decide what steps he is willing to take to avoid a descent into obscurity.
The fourth episode of John Scalzi’s novel, The Human Division, goes live today in audio and ebook format. As a reminder for those who are not reading these, each of the thirteen episodes will be released on consecutive Tuesday mornings for the bargain price of just $.99. Thus far readers have gotten a satisfying bang for their buck each week, and this week is no different.
It is too early to declare this as a pattern that will remain throughout the novel*, but the episodes thus far have alternated between the main story line one week and a stand alone supporting story the next. Although each episode is meant to be “stand-alone” these alternate story lines appear to more closely fit that description. However, astute readers will realize that each of these episodes, while entertaining in their own right, are revealing nuggets of information that will come to play as the greater story unfolds. Each episode we are getting an interesting story and new clues. How fun is that?
If you have read this week’s episode and want to talk spoilers in the comments, I welcome you to do so and ask that you please include the SPOILERS tag at the top.
Happy reading everyone. Meet you here next Tuesday for more of The Human Division.
*I had to laugh. I wrote that sentence early this morning after reading the episode and less than an hour later got an email notification of John Scalzi’s latest blog post which points out this pattern.
My husband is subscribed but haven’t heard anything from him about it. Not even sure if he has started it yet. So, I have only read Zoe’s Tale, would I enjoy these or should I read the other books in the series first?
Old Man’s War is so much fun that I would recommend you read that first even if you don’t read the other two in the (at the time) trilogy. It introduces one of the characters that is a main character in this current book and for that reason alone it is nice to have that background information.
I’ve got episodes 1-3 on audiobook (4 doesn’t seem to be there yet). I must do some catch up listening!
Yes, do! Would love to talk about your thoughts about the story thus far.
I think I would like the pattern–I like order, but I also like chaos. Hmmmm
It certainly isn’t an uncommon way to tell stories, especially when you have two separate story lines that may eventually merge. What is fun about this is that one story line will continue with characters introduced in the beginning and the alternate weeks are (thus far) a variety of other characters who you may not ever see again but whose stories will come to bear in the greater overall tale.
This chapter was a nice read. It felt very contemporary in setting. As I said before lots of intrigue.
Off to read part 5. Then wait patiently until Tuesday.