Starter Villain Audiobook By John Scalzi cover art

Starter Villain

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Starter Villain

By: John Scalzi
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.

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 stand-up, 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, hyperintelligent 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.

©2023 John Scalzi (P)2023 Audible, Inc. Adventure Fantasy Science Fiction Superhero Funny Witty Feel-Good Scary Suspenseful

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About the Creator

New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi is celebrated for his sharp, whip-smart sci-fi. With novels such as Redshirts, Lock In, The Collapsing Empire, and The Kaiju Preservation Society, Scalzi’s uncanny ability to craft new worlds and technologies has earned him three Hugo Awards, three Locus Awards, a Heinlein Award, and the Audie Award for Original Work. His works have been translated into over 30 languages. Adding to his long-form fiction triumphs, Scalzi acted as a creative consultant on the Stargate Universe television series and as a writer for the Emmy-winning Netflix series Love Death + Robots. From 2010 to 2013, Scalzi served as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and in 2016, he received the Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio. He currently resides in Bradford, Ohio with his wife and (several) pets.

About the Performer - Starter Villain

About the Performer

Wil Wheaton loves to tell stories. He’s been doing it his whole life.
By age ten, he had already been acting for three years. In 1986, at age 12, he earned critical acclaim as Gordie Lachance in Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me; at 14, he began his four-year turn as Wesley Crusher on the hit TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, which led to his portrayal of a fictionalized version of himself on CBS’s The Big Bang Theory.
He currently hosts The Ready Room, the official online hub for all things Star Trek Universe.
An accomplished voice actor, Wil has lent his talents to animated series, including Family Guy, Teen Titans, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. His video game credits include four installments each of the Grand Theft Auto and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon series, as well as Fallout: New Vegas, DC Universe Online, Broken Age, and I Expect You To Die 2.
His audiobook narration of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list and was one of Goodreads’ 10 Best Narrator and Audiobook Pairings of All Time. He has also lent his voice to titles by John Scalzi, Randall Monroe, Joe Hill, and Bill Gates. Wil’s narrations regularly appear on Audible’s bestseller list.
He has contributed columns to Salon.com, The A.V. Club, The Wall Street Journal, LA Weekly, Playboy, The Washington Post, and the Suicide Girls Newswire.
In his New York Times bestselling Still Just a Geek, an older, somewhat wiser Wil revisited 2004’s Just a Geek with all-new reflections that show just how far he’s come. In this vulnerable, honest memoir about trying and failing and trying again, Wil opens up about love, trauma, tragedy, and confronting the worst parts of himself. Equal parts funny and poignant, Still Just a Geek weighs the folly of youth against the pain of experience—and celebrates all the strange, awful, beautiful adventures in between.
In recent years, Wil has opened up about his CPTSD from surviving childhood abuser and exploitation. He has earned recognition as an outspoken mental health advocate, chronicling his own journey in his blog and as a public speaker for NAMI. His powerful, candid essay about his struggle with chronic depression and anxiety garnered national attention.
Though he keeps trying to retire from on-camera acting, his cameo as The Traveler in Star Trek: Picard’s second season delighted fans, sparking speculation about his character making appearances elsewhere in the Star Trek Universe. Wil was a finalist in the 2023 Celebrity Jeopardy Tournament, where he won 250,000 dollars for the National Women’s Law Center.
Wil lives in Los Angeles with his badass, irrepressible wife Anne, their rescued dog and cat, and five arcade cabinets.

Unique Premise • Humorous Plot • Perfect Comedic Timing • Memorable Animal Characters • Unexpected Twists

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I wish I was as good with words as the great Scalzi himself … but I’m not. I won’t try.

Buy the book, listen to the book, enjoy the book, be happy with your decision, eat a burrito, be even happier, now you’re on a roll, do great things, achieve self fulfillment. Go forth and live life to the fullest.

Scalzi + Wheaton = Magic

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Completely different from Old Man's War. Amusing story and moves quick. A good diversion from the doom and gloom of current events and other dystopian type of stories. I didn't want to stop listening. Kinda wish there was a sequel. As usual Wheaton does a great narration.

Fun Story

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The ending was good. At the last hour mark I was half expecting a second book that I would have really enjoyed. Alas, this is a complete book; excellent in it's own right.
Will does a good job narrating.

A fun story

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Difficult to write SF without using the
Old Mainstream alien military battle
Formula.
Entertaining adult SF Accomplished here

Good break from swamp of SF war stories

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Listened in one sitting and absolutely loved it! Seems like it wrapped itself up, but I would have loved a sequel.

Vulgar dolphins and typing cats! >^..^<

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