Book 1

Old Man's War

by John Scalzi

Published 1 January 2005
John Perry did two things on this 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army. The good news is that humanity finally made it to interstellar space. The bad news is that planes fit to live on are scarce and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. Fr from Earth, the war has gone on for decades: brutal, bloody, and unyielding. We fight to defend Earth from our new enemies and to stake our claim to planetary real estate. On Earth, the bulk of the resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defence Force. Only those of retirement age can join the CDF: they want people who carry the skills from decades of living. CDF members are taken off Earth to serve two years at the front. If they survive, they're given a generous homestead on hard-won colony planets, never to return to Earth. John Perry is taking that deal with only the vaguest idea what to expect.

Book 2

The Ghost Brigades

by John Scalzi

Published 21 February 2006

They are the special wing of the Colonial Defence Forces, elite troops created from DNA of the dead and turned into the perfect soldiers for the CDF’s toughest operations. The universe is a dangerous place for humanity, as three hostile races combine to halt our further expansion into space. Their linchpin is a turncoat scientist, Charles Boutin, who unfortunately knows the CDF’s biggest military secrets. And to prevail against this alliance, they must find out why Boutin did what he did.

Jared Dirac is the only human able to provide answers, being a superhuman hybrid created form Boutin’s own DNA. Jared’s brain should therefore be able to access Boutin’s electronic memories . . . but when that appears to fail, Jared is instead passed on to the Ghost Brigades. Then, just as time is running out, Boutin’s memories slowly begin to surface within him . . . but all this while the enemy is planning something much worse for mankind than just military defeat.

Praise for Old Man’s War:

`Clever dialogue, fast-paced story and strong characters.’ The Times

`An original idea, which is brilliantly executed’ Sc-Fi Now


Book 3

The Last Colony

by John Scalzi

Published 17 April 2007

Hard-core military science fiction at its very best, John Scalzi's The Last Colony is the third in The Old Man's War series.

'Gripping and surpassingly original' – Cory Doctorow, author of Walkaway


They must save themselves or die trying.

John Perry was living peacefully on one of humanity's colonies – until he and his wife were offered an opportunity these ex-supersoldiers couldn't resist. To come out of retirement and lead a new frontier world.

However, once on the planet, they discover they've been betrayed. For this colony is a pawn in an interstellar game of war and diplomacy. Humanity's Colonial Union has pitched itself against a new, seemingly unstoppable alien alliance, dedicated to ending all human colonization.

As this contest rages above, Perry struggles to keep his terrified colonists alive on the surface below – despite dangerous interstellar politics, violence and treachery. And the planet has yet to reveal its own fatal secrets.

Continue the gripping space war series with Zoe's Tale.


Book 4

Zoe's Tale

by John Scalzi

Published 1 July 2008

How do you tell your part in the biggest tale in history?

I ask because it's what I have to do. I'm Zoe Boutin Perry: A colonist stranded on a deadly pioneer world. Holy icon to a race of aliens. A player (and a pawn) in a interstellar chess match to save humanity, or to see it fall. Witness to history. Friend. Daughter. Human. Seventeen years old.

Everyone on Earth knows the tale I am part of. But you don't know my tale: How I did what I did - how I did what I had to do - not just to stay alive but to keep you alive, too. All of you. I'm going to tell it to you now, the only way I know how: not straight but true, the whole thing, to try make you feel what I felt: the joy and terror and uncertainty, panic and wonder, despair and hope. Everything that happened, bringing us to Earth, and Earth out of its captivity. All through my eyes.

It's a story you know. But you don't know it all.


Book 5

The Human Division

by John Scalzi

Published 14 May 2013

Hard-core science fiction at its very best, John Scalzi's The Human Division is the fifth in The Old Man's War series.

Lieutenant Harry Wilson has an impossible mission. He must help preserve the union of humanity's colonies, in the wake of a terrible revelation.

For years the Colonial Union has protected its citizens from the dangerous universe around them. But the people of Earth now know the ugly truth. The Union deliberately kept Earth as an ignorant backwater – and as a source of recruits for its war against hostile aliens. Now, other alien races have formed a new alliance against the Union. And they've invited the incensed people of Earth to join them.

Managing the Colonial Union's survival will take all the political cunning and finesse its diplomats can muster. And Harry and his team will be deployed to deal with the unexpected – for failure is unthinkable.

Continue the gripping space war series with The End of All Things.


Book 6

The End of All Things

by John Scalzi

Published 11 August 2015

The universe is a hostile place in John Scalzi's The End of All Things the sixth in The Old Man's War series.

Our fate is in their hands . . .

The Colonial Union's Defence Force was formed to save humanity when aggressive alien species targeted our worlds. Now Lieutenant Harry Wilson has an urgent new mission, as a hostile universe becomes ever more dangerous. He must investigate a sinister group, which lurks in the darkness of space playing different factions against one another. They'll target both humans and aliens, and their motives are unfathomable.

The Defence Force itself is weakening as its soldiers fall - without recruits to replace them. Relations with Earth have broken down and it will send no more troops, even as human colonies become increasingly vulnerable to alien attack.

Lieutenant Wilson and Colonial Union diplomats must race to keep the peace, seek reconciliation with an enraged Earth, and maintain humanity's unity at all costs. If they don't, it will mean oblivion, extinction and the end of all things.


Old Man's War Boxed Set I

by John Scalzi

Published 26 August 2014