Not too much to say here, but I'll say it anyway.

Technical: The website was designed (if you want to call it that) on Netscape's Composer software; logically enough, it looks best on Netscape. It's also been produced on a PC and not a Mac — this may make a difference in terms of what fonts you see. My monitor is set at 600 x 800; this site probably looks best at that resolution. If you are using IE on a Mac with 480 x 640 resolution, I don't know that there's much I can do other than give you my sympathy. I'm sure it looks fine. Really.

The background image stretches 1000 pixels; after that, you'll get the planet again. If you're working on some amazing monitor that allows you that sort of width, you might want to adjust your browser (I can't imagine reading laterally across 1000 pixels is much fun, anyway).

If you're planning to download the novel, it's a pretty bare-bones process: I've included a link which goes directly to the file. Your browser will either download it directly, or ask you if you want it opened first (I'd just download it, personally). The file is an ".rtf" file, which means that you should be able to open it, with all the formatting, on your favorite word processor without problems, regardless of your computer platform (unless your using either an ancient computer or word processor). The file is virus free, of course, although if you receive the file from somewhere other than this Web site, I obviously can't say that that particular copy will be virus-free. I can't be everywhere, alas.

The .rtf file will be double spaced and largely in 12-point fonts. Do with it what you will to make it more readable for you, or more printer friendly. Really, I don't mind.

Editorial: Editorially speaking, the novel's been read and re-read about a hundred times by myself and others with an eye toward catching grammar, spelling and continuity errors. Be that as it may, a few will almost certainly still exist; I'll fix 'em as I catch them (or they are reported to me). Be that as it may, I don't expect you'll find any more errors than you'd find in a bound and printed book. I remember reading that a version of James Joyce's Ulysses released about a decade ago fixed, on average, an error a page. True, this ain't Ulysses. But then, it also doesn't have an error a page, either.

If you find any editorial errors, by all means let me know at john@scalzi.com.

This book is a work of fiction, of course. Any resemblance between characters in the book and people living or dead is a coincidence of amazing proportions. Names of celebrities are used but should not in any way be construed to represent these folks factually — in short, everything in the book is made up in my own silly little head.

Reader Agreement

Hi, there. I'm offering up this novel as shareware, not as freeware, and it comes with certain restrictions. By reading the novel on this site, or downloading the novel, you agree to bide by these rules and restrictions. Don't worry, I'm not going to ask for your first born (I already have one of those). But I do want to make sure that the reading experience you get is the one I intended; thus, this agreement.

If you find you can't live by this agreement, you shouldn't continue on this site or with the novel. Flee, flee, as fast as your mouse clicks will carry you.

Heck, you say, just give me the short version or the reader agreement. Fine: Don't steal the novel. That's pretty much the gist of it. Elaborations on this theme await you below.

1. You acknowledge that this novel is "shareware" — you are encouraged but not required to pay for its use (i.e., reading the thing). The suggested payment is $1 in US funds or its equivalent where ever you might live (payment address is available here).

2. You acknowledge that the copyright for this work is held exclusively by John Scalzi, and that all decisions regarding the distribution, formatting, and publishing of the work are his alone.

3. You agree not to market or sell this work in any way or in any format. This includes traditional formats such as books, or electronic formats such as CD-ROMs. You may provide electronic duplications of the novel to others, free of charge, in accordance to the conditions stipulated below. You may also print a hard copy and share that, provided you do not sell it.

1. You agree not to mirror this site in your or any other web or online space.

2. You agree not to remove any content on this site, including text and artwork, and present it, in any format, as the work of yourself or any other person other than John Scalzi.

3. You agree not edit or transform any portion of this web site, including text and artwork, and present it, in any format, as the work of yourself or any other person other than John Scalzi. Excerpting passages or lines for review or promotional purposes is acceptable.

4. You are free to link to the novel from your own sites; however, please link to the index page of this area (http://www.scalzi.com/agent), and not to individual novel chapters. There's nothing worse than getting dumped into the middle of a story. You may freely link to ancillary text, including the Table of Contents and all content described as "The Front of the Book" and "The Back of the Book" at that Web page.

1. You agree not to mirror this document in your or any other web or online space.

2. You agree not to present the document, in any format, as the work of yourself or any other person other than John Scalzi.

3. You agree not edit or transform any portion of the document and present it, in any format, as the work of yourself or any other person other than John Scalzi. Excerpting passages or lines for review or promotional purposes is acceptable.

4. You are free to provide electronic copies of the document to others, through disks, e-mail or other private means (i.e., not on a web or online site freely accessible by large numbers of people) under the condition that the copies are provided without alteration of any kind (the sole exception being changes in word processing format, although the ".rtf" format is acceptable to most word processors). You may also provide hard copies. You may not remove or edit any portion of the text in any way.

5. All attempts have been made to ensure that the downloadable file on the Scalzi.Com site is virus-free. However, John Scalzi cannot be held responsible for any viruses found attached to the document; nor is he responsible for the condition of the document received from sources other than Scalzi.Com.

Really, really, really want to put a copy of the book on your Website? Talk to me about it at john@scalzi.com. Hint: It'll help your cause if you are a major media outlet (or at least, a media outlet dealing with science fiction).