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.
