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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Celebrating Jackals / Celebrating Jackals: Dorothy Winsor Gets a John Scalzi ‘Big Idea’ Post

Celebrating Jackals: Dorothy Winsor Gets a John Scalzi ‘Big Idea’ Post

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This post is in: ,

Are things ever going to settle down?  With everything that’s going on, that’s probably not in the cards for the near future.

Which makes it even more important to celebrate our victories and our accomplishments.

It can feel a little awkward, especially in these crazy times, to promote your own work or to be excited about something positive that’s going on in your life, so I hope this can be a place where we can all be excited when one of us has something good going on.

So here is the first post in what I hope will become a series:  Celebrating Jackals

I asked Dorothy Winsor if she would kick off the series by talking about why she’s excited to have been one of the people chosen to write a Big Idea post for John Scalzi’s blog, Whatever. Her post will be about The Wysman, which releases on June 27.  The hook for The Wysman:

As a former street kid, now training to be the king’s advisor, Jarka can’t stop hunting whoever’s grabbing street kids–even after the king orders him to back off. He also can’t stop wondering why the king ordered that.

I’ll let Dorothy tell us the rest – about the book, about John Scalzi, and about why getting a Big Idea Post is a big deal – in her own words.

Take it away, Dorothy!

Who is John Scalzi?

First, you need to understand that Scalzi is a very big name science fiction author. Here’s his author bio from Amazon.

“John Scalzi writes books, which, considering where you’re reading this, makes perfect sense. He’s best known for writing science fiction, including the New York Times bestseller “Redshirts,” which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. He also writes non-fiction, on subjects ranging from personal finance to astronomy to film, was the Creative Consultant for the Stargate: Universe television series. He enjoys pie, as should all right thinking people. You can get to his blog by typing the word “Whatever” into Google. No, seriously, try it.”

His best known book is probably Old Man’s War about a far future world in which the old are given young, artificial bodies if they consent to fight in an interplanetary war.  I’m also partial to Red Shirts, which should resonate with “Star Trek” fans: A group of Star Fleet security guards realizes they’re dying at outrageous rates and takes action.

Additionally, Scalzi is past-president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He’s just a huge fish in the SFF world.

In contrast, I am a teeny, tiny minnow. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t know me at all. I scan his blog most days, but I hardly ever comment.

What is a Big Idea Post?

A Big Idea post is supposed to talk about what the central idea of the writer’s book is and how that idea affected the writing. To do one, you have to apply and explain what you want to do and why he should care. I applied with a previous book and was rejected.  But this time, he accepted. Holy cow.

So I wrote about the inherently political nature of science fiction and fantasy books that take place in a world the writer made up. As soon as you make up a culture, you have to account for power. That’s it. And I guess it was enough.

Links for purchase, if you’re interested.

Here’s the Amazon link for The Wysman. And the link on IndieBound to order from independent bookstores.

And the link for ebook purchases not from Amazon (iBooks, Google Play, etc.).

In the meantime, the ebook for The Wind Reader, the first book in this series, is currently on sale for $.99.

Thank you, jackals.

???

Do you have any questions for Dorothy?  Have you read any of her books?  Do you want to talk about john Scalzi, or how cool it is that he does so much to help other writers, or talk about science fiction, or anything related?  Great!  Share something positive?  Awesome.  Maybe we can skip all the bad stuff for this one thread?

The Mighty Trowel shared some good news with us right around the same time that Dorothy learned that she had gotten the nod for the Big Idea post from Scalzi, which is what gave me the idea for Celebrating Jackals.  I wish I could remember what that was!

You don’t need to have published a book or have received an award, but those work, too!  Maybe you moved into your dream house, or you finished rebuilding your 57 Chevy, or you just got married or you’re retiring, or you had a kid, or you just passed your boards – when you have something to celebrate, I hope you’ll be willing to write up a little something and share it with us.  Send me an email if you’re interested.

~WaterGirl

 

 

Reader Interactions

135Comments

  2. 2.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Thanks, WaterGirl.

    I’d like to add that I asked my editor if she could tell how many hits Scalzi’s blog got or how it ranked, because I have no idea how to do that. Here’s what she said:

    “Without seeing into his Analytics, it’s difficult to know how many hits his website gets. But I’ve just taken a look using one of the tools I use and I’m seeing between 12k and 13k visits each month, and he ranks for over 350 Keywords”

    So I think that’s a lot. And it’s why I’m excited.

  4. 4.

    db11

    Shit. Just wrote a semi-long post on many things Scalzi and sci-fi which I lost  by accidentally hitting the back button on my mouse (argghh!!), so I’ll just say this:

    Congrats Dorothy! Looking forward to reading you book(s).

  6. 6.

    mali muso

    Congrats!  This is a BFD!  I read Scalzi’s blog every day even though I’ve never read a single of his books (SF is not really my cuppa).

  14. 14.

    db11

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Thank you for including the non-Amazon link. I refuse to concentrate yet more money in Bezos’ hands by patronizing Amazon.

    I realize it’s almost always the lowest-friction option for most people, but I try — where I can — to align my purchase choices with my larger intentions… even if it takes a few more clicks.

  17. 17.

    laura

    2 quick questions – why are you such a groovy bad ass and what drew you to scifi?

  19. 19.

    RedDirtGirl

    That is so wonderful! Congratulations. Don’t forget about us when you hit the big time!

  26. 26.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    Congratulations, Dorothy!

    Oddly, I have heavily read science fiction and fantasy throughout the years, I have followed his blog for years and I have a copy of at least one of his books within reach of where I’m sitting, but I’ve never actually read Scalzi.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    Congratulations!  When you are on Seth Myers, I can say I remember when you were Iowa Old Lady.

  33. 33.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @laura: I was never big into fantasy or science fiction until when my son was in grade school, and he wanted me to read them to him. Then he was into D&D, and I just kind of picked it up. But what really hooked me were the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies. For some reason, they just entranced me. So much so that for a while I wrote LOTR fanfiction. Then one day, I noticed that a site I used said I’d written a million words. There’s a saying that you have to write a million words of crap before you can write good stuff, so I decided I was there! And I started writing my own stuff.

    What I like about fantasy for YA books is that you can put the characters in adult situations. They work. They may have to support their family. So it’s interesting to see them struggle. You can really stress them out.

    Also, I never have to type the words “high school” ever again.

  39. 39.

    MisterForkbeard

    Congratulations, Dorothy! It’s a huge opportunity.

    I used to buy a lot of books based off what struck my interest on Scalzi’s site, as well as which authors wrote interesting essays about their book inspiration or theme. I hope this takes off for you.

  41. 41.

    JeanneT

    I just bought The Wind Reader:  looking forward to reading it this weekend.   AND I’m looking forward to your Big Ideas post – I hope it gives a big push to your future book sales!

  43. 43.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Obvious Russian Troll: Scalzi is good! He has this very… I don’t know, irreverent and witty way of writing characters that’s really entertaining, but if you read too many of his books at a time the characters start to sound similar.

    The Old Man’s War series is good and works for people who don’t generally read science fiction, so it’s a good place to start. The POV character is someone who is grounded in a fairly modern midwestern life, and he’s easy to relate to.

  45. 45.

    Laura Too

    Congratulations! This is so exciting, I’m happy for you! And thank you Watergirl for another uplifting idea.

  46. 46.

    Wolvesvalley

    Jumping in just to say that I am partway into the fifth chapter of The Wind Reader and feeling very resentful that I have to put it down to do something I can’t put off. Looking forward to following up with The Wysman when it’s released.

  50. 50.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @raven: @Laura Too: Thank you. Water Girl was really nice to ask me to do this because I am excited about the Scalzi post and the book and everything. You don’t have a book come out all that often. Unless, God forbid, you’re James Patterson.

  52. 52.

    Kristine

    Congratulations! Scalzi’s blog is popular with the SF publishing crowd, reviewers, etc, so it’s a great place to be seen.

  55. 55.

    Yutsano

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m just going to say to you what I tell Imani and Cheryl as they get more successful:

    A) MAZEL TOV!!!!

    B) Little peeps. Please to remember us little peeps.

  58. 58.

    KM in NS

    Long time lurker delurking to say congrats! I’m one of the viewers but not commenters. ?

  63. 63.

    Tony Jay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Hey, Mrs Big-Time Novelist, don’t forget to work a reference to BJ into your next opus. Some kind of rancid, bonestrewn pit occupied by packs of howling jackals, maybe, or a ramshackle hospital wing named for a ‘Master Blackstone’ where the victims of botched healing magics gibber and froth safely concealed from the delicate sensibilities of polite society. You know, something incredibly subtle that we’d still immediately recognise, cos we’re smart and dat.

    Now I’m off to read The Wind Reader. I’ve heard it’s quite good.

  65. 65.

    Hungry Joe

    In 1990 or ‘91, when I was the Book Review editor of the old San Diego Tribune (now the Union-Tribune), we had a goofy, hilarious, brilliant young summer intern named … John Scalzi. We’ve kept sort of in touch, though I haven’t seen him for a few years. The last time, I think, was at the L.A. Times Book Festival. He was still goofy, hilarious, and brilliant.

  66. 66.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @ThresherK: I think Coulton and Scalzi are the featured guests together on a yearly cruise. I believe they even went this spring after some cruises got hit by COVID and made it back just before everything locked down.

    @Tony Jay: You know, that would be fun! Maybe I can just name some characters after jackals.

  68. 68.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Tony Jay:  Let’s get a direct reference. A gang of reprobates called “Jackals” who are oddly well-informed about things and love dogs but are also generally useless. :)

  72. 72.

    MisterForkbeard

    Oh: I’m also excited for Dorothy because Scalzi wrote an essay/blogpost back in 2012 that I’ve used successfully to break the the idiocy of a lot of white game dudes:

    “Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Settings There Is” whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/

    Scalzi is smart, and ‘woke’ in the right way. If he saw something in Dorothy’s book or her Big Idea proposition, he saw something special in her. It’s a big deal, both professionally and I would imagine on a personal level.

  74. 74.

    db11

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    OK, managed to successfully blow-off my remaining work this afternoon, so can pick up where I left off!

    I’m a Scalzi fan, having read all of the ‘Old Man’s War’ series and 2/3rd’s of his most recent ‘Collapsing Empire’ series (waiting for ‘The Last Emperox’ to come out in paperback). Actually learned of his blog and started lurking there a couple of years before I bought his first book.

    In my view, Scalzi is ‘Beach Sci-Fi’: fun, fast-paced and well-plotted. I could do without some of his ‘smart-assery’ — which I think he overdoes — and the very American Cinema-style dialog. But I don’t let that diminish my overall enjoyment of his writing.

    In fact the easy-reading, highly-entertaining nature of his writing is much of the appeal, especially at times when you lack the mental energy to wade through something weightier.

    His own ‘Big Ideas’ are all compelling, if not quite at the level of Le Guin, N.K. Jemisin or Anne Leckie. His world-building is top-rate and his characterization is also well-done: internally consistent, believable and not always predictable. All-in-all, highly recommended for sci-fi fans.

    I was reading the thread when you posted that you had won a Big Idea slot, and I thought that was super-cool, so best wishes on it going well!

    I’m really looking forward to reading your books Dorothy and I wish you every success!

  75. 75.

    MazeDancer

    May everyone who reads Scalzi’s blog head straight to buy “The Wysman”.

    Congrats; Dorothy!

  77. 77.

    Tony Jay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    When I read about a goggle-eyed foreign boor constantly being chucked out of taverns for drunkenly mounting tables and forcing bemused patrons to suffer extended rants in his incomprehensible tongue, I’ll have my suspicions, but I won’t boast.

    I will though.

  78. 78.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @KM in NS: I lurked for quite a while before I posted here. It felt to me like everyone knew everyone else, and I was just horning in. But then during the 2012 election, I was driven to post. I haven’t regretted it. Not often anyway.

    @MisterForkbeard: I’m impressed at how he can turn out blog content every day. Even if some of it is taping bacon to a cat, that’s still amazing.

  79. 79.

    db11

    @MisterForkbeard: I seem to be on the same page with you today, because I totally concur with everything you say in this post.

    Scalzi doesn’t offer the Big Idea slot to books he doesn’t like or authors he doesn’t respect, so it is indeed a BFD that he offered it to Dorothy!

    (wonder if Biden is a sci-fi/fantasy fan… maybe we need to get him copies of her books ;)

  80. 80.

    frosty

    Congratulations Dorothy! One million words, I can’t even imagine it. I took a stab at a sci-fi novel when I was in my 20s. Turned out it wasn’t in my wheelhouse. A lot of technical reports and watershed plans over the last 35 years though that just might have gotten to a million words. (If you include all the copy’n’pasted ones)

    ETA And there’s your book in the pile at the top of Whatever!!!

  81. 81.

    feebog

    Big SciFi and Scalzi fan here. Follow him on Twitter and have read almost all his books. He is semi famous on twitter for his non-conforming burritos. Pre-ordering your book right now Dorothy.

  82. 82.

    Mary G

    I am a huge Scalzi fan, (more of the blog, though I’ve read all his books), and I loved “The Wind Reader,” so I’m tickled pink to see this! Congratulations Dorothy! Can’t wait for the new one.

  86. 86.

    MisterForkbeard

    @db11:

    I seem to be on the same page with you today, because I totally concur with everything you say in this post.

    There’s an old saying about Great Minds that I think applies here. :

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah. And he consistently produces good-to-decent quality books, too. He’s just a very prolific writer in general, and it’s very impressive to me when I consider how easily I get burned out on things.

  88. 88.

    TaMara (HFG)

    OMG! I’m so late to this post, but I’ve been gone all afternoon getting my head examined (ok, not really, just my eyes).

    I’ve read the Wysman (as well as Dorothy’s other books) and really enjoyed it. It’s not my typical genre to read, but once I got into it, loved the story and characters. Builds to a tense and satisfying (and surprising) conclusion.

    A well deserved honor!

  89. 89.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Tony Jay: Maybe the Jackals gang can have someone who is oddly well informed on the doings of the kingdom next door, which is helmed by a King Flobalob the Dumpy, or something.

  91. 91.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Tony Jay: Maybe jackals can inspire some short stories for me. I have trouble writing short stories, but this could be fun.

    @db11: My guess is Scalzi has zero idea who I am. Which is fine. No reason he should. Maybe Biden has grandchildren the right age.

    @frosty: Is it???? OMG. I haven’t seen that yet. ETA: I just went over and looked and there it is! I emailed the link to my editor.

    @feebog: I’ve seen his burrito concoctions. Dear lord.

  93. 93.

    Barbara

    Congratulations! It’s not my world so I don’t know much about John Scalzi, but it’s wonderful that your work is being recognized and I hope it leads to even greater things for you!

  96. 96.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Kelly: Yeah. I’d love to see him do a followup to this post.

    Every once in a while, he releases a book of his selected blogposts. They’re actually pretty interesting, though some are pretty esoteric.

  97. 97.

    grumbles

    Woohoo, congrats!

    As a fan of both jackals and Scalzi, this is a lovely peanut butter cup moment.

    “You smeared your jackals on my sci fi author.”

  99. 99.

    db11

    @frosty:

    ETA And there’s your book in the pile at the top of Whatever!!!

    Maybe Jackals that have already read ‘The Wysman’   — i.e. @TaMara (HFG):  — or ‘The Wind Reader’ can pop over to Whatever and leave a nice comment there on Dorothy’s behalf?

    (after all, what’s a little astroturfing amongst friends?)

  100. 100.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @TaMara (HFG): I can get into genres I don’t usually read sometimes too. I think it has to be the characters that do it for me.

    @pamelabrown53: Elated? Me? LOL. Yes, I think you can tell.

    @WaterGirl: They can look for the picture of the spine of my book in the stack of ARCs and say they look forward to reading it! LOL. Then my Big Idea post goes up June 29, but I already told you all what it was about.

    @Barbara: Thanks, Barbara. It’s funny how different genres work for different readers. It’s probably determined by some horrible thing from childhood!

  101. 101.

    West of the Rockies

    Oh, my gosh, Dorothy!  This is a BFD!  Congratulations!  I am so happy for you.  Man, as a fellow writer, way to social media-ize (it’s a perfectly cromulent word).

  103. 103.

    prostratedragon

    (Huffing and puffing to catch up on threads) Congratulations to DAW! I’ve downloaded one book and will grab the other soon, plan to read them in coming weeks.

  110. 110.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: yes, characters are always my draw, although sometimes that’s not enough to get me through a genre I’m not a big fan of – I find the real graphic crime dramas tough, even though they are well written and great characters.

  111. 111.

    FelonyGovt

    Don’t know anything about Scalzi but I wanted to congratulate you because this sounds like a HUGE big deal!

    I read The Wind Reader and loved it. Very exciting! As someone said I hated to put it down. I’ve preordered The Wysman and I’m really looking forward to it.

  112. 112.

    Tony Jay

    @MisterForkbeard:

    “Daddy, what’s a ‘cum-encrusted sausage-sheath with onion-bulb eyes and the soul of a cave-dwelling carrion eel’?”

    “What? Why?!? ”

    “Because that naked gentleman standing on the table over there says only “hobble-brained slopgobblers too busy feltching themselves on wood-carvings of popular troubadours to notice the smell of rotting carrion” would vote for one.”

    “Finish your gruel, Millicent. We’re leaving.”

  114. 114.

    Wolvesvalley

    @WaterGirl:

    [Wolvesvalley] seemed a little cranky about having to wait until the Wysman comes out

    No, right now I’m enjoying The Wind Reader too much to get cranky. After I finish it, though, I will probably be very impatient for June 27 to arrive. I’m reminded of waiting for Christmas when I was a little kid.

  118. 118.

    Tony Jay

    @MisterForkbeard:

    “613 pages of smut, scatology and shameless self-promotion…. are we witnessing a future Presidency in the making?”

    New York Times Review of Books

  127. 127.

    Miss Bianca

    So late to this post, just want to say congrats, DW! A Scalzi blog post is a BFD!

    I’ve read his blog a couple times, he seems like a very cool guy. I’ve read Redshirts, which I loved. And I have one called, I think, Locked In on my to-read list – picked up from the freebie pile at my local library. It’s about…wait for it…a plague.

     

    ETA: Oh, and of course, you have it right – Lock In!

  129. 129.

    stinger

    Dorothy, what fantastic news! I’ve only read Old Man’s War, but Scalzi was “famous” for me due to his blog long before I read that book.
    Jackals interested in writing may like to visit Dorothy’s website (click on her nym) as she regularly posts about aspects of fiction writing.

  131. 131.

    Tehanu

    I enjoyed The Wind Reader and look forward to The Wysman. As for John Scalzi, I second all the recommendations above and add one of my own:  Agent to the Stars, which is hilarious.

  132. 132.

    J R in WV

    Dorothy,

    So glad for you newest book getting some well deserved attention~! Scalzi is one of my favorite blogers about SciFi… and I enjoyed his fiction a whole lot, also too. I have wished a lot, often for his stacks of books to be sorted out into showing us books already available… but in your case, that’s OK, I’ll be waiting for your book to hit the racks.

    Seriously,

    JR

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