Scott Sigler's The Rookie

Scott Sigler rocks.

I first was introduced to Sigler's work with his debut podcast novel called Earthcore. This totally free book was released as a podcast and was a rich blend of science fiction, science, thriller and horror. I. Was. Hooked.

He released other novels, all freely available online, like Ancestor, Infected, and Nocturnal. The following garnered by his audio novels enabled him to finally get a publishing contract while continuing work on followups to many of his titles (Contagious has already been released as the followup to Infected, and I'm STILL WAITING FOR EARTHCORE'S SEQUEL!); and like many of his fans I've purchased some of his work to give as gifts to support an author whose work I truly enjoyed.

But you know the neatest part?

Well, aside from his strong integration of science into his horror/scifi style, of course...

He had me enjoy a book that with every chapter released I thought, "I'll probably delete it soon..."

His story The Rookie is once again a thriller/science/scifi mix with a dash of mobsters and sports stirred into the pot. And I hate sports.

Here's the synopsis from his own website (linked above):
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Set in a lethal pro football league 700 years in the future, THE ROOKIE is a story that combines the intense gridiron action of "Any Given Sunday" with the space opera style of "Star Wars" and the criminal underworld of "The Godfather."

Aliens and humans alike play positions based on physiology, creating receivers that jump 25 feet into the air, linemen that bench-press 1,200 pounds, and linebackers that literally want to eat you. Organized crime runs every franchise, games are fixed and rival players are assassinated.

Follow the story of Quentin Barnes, a 19-year-old quarterback prodigy that has been raised all his life to hate, and kill, those aliens. Quentin must deal with his racism and learn to lead, or he'll wind up just another stat in the column marked "killed on the field."
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I mean it. I can't tell a touchdown from a linebacker. "Third in ten" is like speaking Aramaic to me. If they're on the ten yard line I don't know if it's good or bad.

Despite thinking I was going to delete the chapter from my iPod until he would release more of something my style, like The Crypt, I listened to every chapter the bastard released. And I enjoyed the story.

For someone like me that's really saying something about the story.

More than that Sigler ties his stories together; The Crypt takes place in the Rookie universe. Aliens from The Rookie are hinted at in modern-day Infected. Like a sociopathic sci-fi Stephen King, the man makes his audience feel as if they're part of a greater story arch with inside references that newbies won't "get" until they're initiated into the Church of Sigler.

He's worked 15 years to reach that point in his craft. And he got pretty damn good at it.

Sigler is one of the big names in podcasting of novels. As a matter of fact he was one of the handful that inspired me to actually sit down and try writing a novel. Not because he made it look easy, but because he made me realize that maybe I had a story to tell. And he was frank about his own story in trying to get published and what the industry was like; there are no gummy bears or rainbows in his off-book stories (although if there were I'd bet that the gummy bears would wield the rainbows as weapons to slice your head off, and there'd be a feasible line of reasoning behind how they did it, too).

If you have ANY interest in horror and science, or just horror and science fiction, check out his stories. They're freely available. I dare you to not have the urge to purchase one of the print books after listening to even two of his books. The crossovers, the hard science, the fact that the man goes out of his way to connect with his audience...all this comes together into a perfect storm of entertainment. He's a pioneer on the ground floor of podcast novels. Grab your media player and download them TODAY!