I'm writing the same review for all of the John Scalzi books that I've read. If you want to know what this book's about, read the description and the sample. I'd only be repeating that info here. What I want you to know is that Scalzi is a genius Writer (with a capital "W"). "Writer" seems so pedestrian when referring to Scalzi. Better to describe him as "Novelist" or "Storyteller" or "Wordmonger" (maybe not that last one). Or "Craftsman." His stories are clever and brilliant, all unique, humorous and dramatic, believable...yet out there. If you want to get your mind off your troubles, or the troubles of the world, or you want to let go of your disbeliefs willingly (like a movie), or you need some frivolity, or you like plot twists and turns, or you think you can guess what's coming next or later in a story (like I do) but you get it totally wrong, or you just want a tale that blows your mind, read one of John Scalzi's books. I guarantee that you will be totally ecstatic, if not downright jubilant. You're welcome.

I love Science Fiction and Horror stories and they are my preferred genres to read and review. This story is really pretty good. Treaty negotiations with a race of aliens are not going well. That is when Deputy Ambassador Schmidt asks Lieutenant Harry Wilson to get involved. The Colonial Union needs to be successful in these discussions or face future problems with the race named the Korba.

Wilson is a technician who is a genetically modified Colonial Defense Force soldier but he is not really trained for battle. He is more comfortable tuning hi-tech equipment than fighting. He is pulled into the diplomatic arena to possibly help save the day if he follows instructions.

What follows is an interesting story that I enjoyed. It is extremely short and I was able to read it in less than 20 minutes. I think you will like it!

The plot is unique and I found it entertaining and worth the reading time.

A light hearted short (and wet) story in the old man's war universe. One, two more words should do it

but I was very disappointed in the length. I read quickly and I finished this in about ten minutes. Compared to a movie at $10 for 2 hours, this wasn't quite as efficient.

On the other hand, I did like the setting (Colonial Union) and the writing was up to Scalzi standards.

The humor was a delight. The repartee between the two conveyed the uncertainty of dealing with unknown customs and expectations of alien peoples. Reminds me of Earth.

I got involved in John Scalzi's "old man's universe" by accident, and have never been more grateful for such a happy circumstance. This story takes place in that universe, and all you need to know (which you'll pick up) is earth in future is a farm planet for soldiers and colonists, there are a lot of alien races, the vast majority want to eat us spread on crackers, and the few that don't we want to make nice with.

After the coup features our hero Harry (a minor character from Scalzi's first and second book of this series, "Old Man's War" and "The Ghost Brigades"), a colonial defense forces soldier, enhanced to be more effective against all those alien species out there that are trying to eat us (how he's enhanced is a fun part of the entire idea behind these books, so I won't give that away here), who as part of an ambassadorial mission to set up a treaty with a species that doesn't want to eat us, ends up getting pulled into a situation that really isn't part of his job description. This is a fun, fast read, you feel empathy for poor Harry (because even though he signed up for this kind of crap, he was kind of hoping it was behind him), and it's a good primer for the Human Division that Scalzi did as this is the lead in. Some of the Human Division stories(as it was written in serial form, which I was happy to pay for) are hit and miss, but this one is well worth it. Great for a lunch hour read!

I've always enjoyed Scalzi's ability to tell a story. He has the knowledge or thought through the details of whatever he wants to talk about to the point that he can have his characters or narration not have to beat a dead horse about them. He presents the Sci-fi or the fantasy without over explaining it. And he trusts that the reader will get it and move on with the story. But I love this particular one because it is basically an Abbott and Costello buddy story, and doesn't try to hide it. And best of all it's set in the middle of one of my favorite narrative universes.

Scalzi is truly great novelist, and the collection of similar stories about the diplomatic corps in the (now Hugo winning) Old Man's War universe clocks in at about novel length. And it does hang together pretty well as a "novel". But the weakness of the length is that character development suffers. If you read the collection, this doesn't matter very much. But in the case of "After the Coup", it becomes a chapter out of context. The context absence doesn't hurt much, but enough to cost the offering a star in this case.

Colpa mia magari, non ho controllato bene la dimensione, sono poche paginette

Ma anche per poche paginette, veramente poco consistente, direi che no vale la pena, a meno che non lo trovi stampato su un quotidiano o sulle patatine

I bought this short story because I thought it was an independent one. Unfortunately, once I started reading I realized it was a chapter of a book I had previously bought. Very disappointed with the information in Amazon.

Enredo fraco e previsível, mas é John Scalzi... s s s s s s s s s s s s

Love John Scalzi's work. Great series for sci-fi readers.

This is basically just a small fight scene, but fun for what it is. A lot of these short stories don't have a huge amount of depth, I wonder if it's just not his strong suit.