Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 264 pages
Audiobook Length: 8 hours and 5 minutes
First Published: 2023
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Publisher’s Description
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.
Quotes from Starter Villain
“I can’t tell if you’re joking with me,” I said. “I’m mostly joking with you.” “That ‘mostly’ is doing a lot of work in that sentence.”
“He was dead when he arrived here,” Chesterfield said. “Do you expect that condition to change?” “It would be unusual if it did.”
“What do you want to do first, then?” “I want to throw up from stress,” I said. “But let’s visit the dolphins instead.”
About John Scalzi
Scalzi was born in the United States. He is a science fiction author and former president of The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He has been recognized both for his books and his blog. Visit the author’s website →
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