John Michael Scalzi was born May 10, 1969 in California. He attended the University of Chicago. During his 1989 -1990 school year he was the editor-in-chief of The Chicago Maroon. After graduating in 1991, Scalzi took a job as the film critic for the Fresno Bee newspaper, eventually also becoming a humor columnist. In 1996 he was hired as the in-house writer and editor at America Online. When he was laid off in 1998, he decided to become a full-time freelance writer and author. His first published novel was Old Man's War. His other works include Agent to the Stars, The Ghosts Brigades, The Androids Team, The Sagan Diary, The Last Colony, and Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas. In 2014 his… title, Locked In, made The New York Times Best Seller List.