Sneak Peek for Starter Villain

by John Scalzi

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Download a FREE sneak peek today!

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a standup, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world... be a cat.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction

30 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 11, 2023

About the author

John Scalzi, having declared his absolute boredom with biographies, disappeared in a puff of glitter and lilac scent.

(If you want to contact John, using the mail function here is a really bad way to do it. Go to his site and use the contact information you find there.)

Reviews

[Brok3n · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a boy!

My less than enthusiastic rating for Sneak Peek for Starter Villain is not meant to imply any lack of enthusiasm for Starter Villain itself. I have pre-ordered the latter and intend to gobble it down rapidly tomorrow. My disappointment is only because I had hoped that the sneak peek would get us far enough into the book for something interesting and unexpected to happen, some hint of what is to come, and that really doesn't happen in these first three chapters. So far there is just one very slightly weird detail (having to do with a wedding present), but that's it!

The story is told in the first person by someone called Charlie. Having embarrassed myself by missing the gender ambiguity of Jamie, the first-person narrator of The Kaiju Preservation Society, I paid attention this time. And I found this, among other things:

“Your mother meant a great deal to him, like I said. He was curious about her son.”

"Son" looks unambiguous. Charlie is a boy, at least for now. And I will use boy pronouns for him, until explicitly instructed otherwise.

Blog review.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Kurt Vonnegut novels .. I will defend Scalzi novels to anyone who asks .. and forget I read and enjoyed them in 30 days — something about cats and parking garages…..

[Durval Menezes · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's impressive how Scalzi can start with the most ridiculous subjects and end up with a great story -- and from this sampler, I can see this is at least his third time doing that (the other two were Red Shirts, and Kaiju Preservation Society). Maybe this is his special superpower...

Anyway, great story. The only thing I didn't like it's that the book's blurb here in GoodReads and elsewhere gives up too much of the story... more than the first 3 chapters to be sure, and that kinda sucks. Or perhaps not, won't be sure until I can read the whole book -- which as of now, I simply can't wait. Yes, it's that great -- or at least this sampler is.

[Bruce Meltzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great start by a great author.

The first three chapters provided a good foundation for the upcoming story. Without knowing the book title, you wouldn't have a clue as to what was about to come. The main protagonist is believable. Scalzi has such an amazing way with making the dialog come alive.

I highly recommend all of John Scalzi's novels starting with Old Man Wars series. Agent to the Stars is a hoot.

Thank you, John, for sharing your amazing talent!

Brujay

[Larry J · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good intro.

This was a very fun read and good introduction to what I’m sure will be a great book. Why am I sure? Well, that’s simple, everything John Scalzi writes is excellent. I just hope he reads this and gets it out sooner than September. I don’t like waiting so long and anticipation is highly overrated.

[Martin E Dinner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid start.

Looking forward to the full version.

Yes, the rest of this review is basically filler. Go Amazon! Good job Bezos.

[Mguhin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tantalizing sample.

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great start. I can't wait until the book comes out.

[TONY · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will listen to the full version! Go Wil Wheaton

[Jeff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scalzi being scalzi. This book is so good. I love the voice of the protagonist. Witty and humble. Great fast read. Great job as always!

[Elaine Bahr · Rating 5 out of 5]

The premise lived up to it's promise. Sentient animals, a league of villains, chaos, murder, deception this book had it all. I could relate with the MC and his struggles. Was this the best written book I've read this year, probably not, but it was a delightful parody of every Bond and Minions movie I've seen. Normally, science fiction and fantasy are not my favorite genres. I'm glad I took a chance on this story. This was a nice break from my typical reading list.

[Anne Maddox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I don’t even know how to describe this book. It WAS funny though.

[Michael Mullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unabridged Audiobook

Oh what fun was this. Twists and turns and a little cat to join you on the journey.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing start, curious to read the full book. This sneak peek doesn't introduce any of the things full book description does, just the main character. I'd argue the sneak peek needs more to it to set things up.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super-intelligent cats that communicate via specialized paw-friendly keyboards, asshole dolphins planning to form a union, and a villainous evil organization based on a volcanic island in the Caribbean. What’s not to love?

[Paul Veldhouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great “silent chuckle”. Modern villainy at its most silly, cynical, and intelligent. The main character is incredibly likable and surrounded by a “cats” (pun intended, read the book) of characters that are funny and well drawn.
Loved it. Kudos.

[Tom Comeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, now I have yo wait for the rest of it.

[Cliff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Potentially interesting...

...but ultimately pointless.
I've read and loved several of Scaliz's books, but this one left me wondering, why? The cats were good, I guess.

[Andrea Frankel · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF halfway. I usually love his books, but this seemed lifeless and pointless.

[Topher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not really sure which shelf to stick this on, as there were no fantastical elements within the preview. We'll go scifi for now, look for the book, and potentially change it later.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just the first three chapters.. but I am going to buy this book. Now that I am three chapters in. Also I enjoyed Red Shirts so i know that i like this author before

[Gregg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully warped. A fun read.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy a Scalzi book and this one was no different. Very fun, and action-packed. Plus informative about the relative benefits of a supervillain volcano lair.

[Ashlee Earl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read and creative story. I would def read a second book. I liked the middle but the beginning and end were meh. How it ended was a bit unsatisfying. The cats were a definite win!! 3.5