Author John Scalzi tapped as Universe consultant

The producers of Stargate Universe are reaching outside the world of television for some creative input, tapping science fiction novelist and freelance writer John Scalzi as a consultant for the series. Scalzi made the announcement today at his blog.

As a consultant Scalzi’s job will be to “assist the producers and directors in shaping the direction of the series, to offer technical writing suggestions and advice, and basically to be useful when they want another point of view on something,” he said. “It’s a background rather than foreground sort of job. No, I won’t be writing for the series at this point; hey, I just got the one gig, let me do that first.”

Born in California, the 39-year-old writer has published such genre novels as Old Man’s War, The Last Colony, and The Android’s Dream. In 2008 he won a Hugo Award in the “Best Fan Writer” category for this blog, Whatever (it’s now a decade old). He currently lives in Ohio.

“Yes, I’ve seen scripts and now know all sorts of stuff about the series you don’t, yet,” he added. “No, I won’t tell you anything more than what’s already out there; my title is ‘creative consultant,’ not ‘dude who leaks stuff.’ Yes, the producers and writers are very smart folks who have a definite idea of what they want SGU to be, and I think it’s a good and intriguing idea with lots of interesting possibilities, which is why I signed on.”

The author also got an early peek at the set of the Ancient deep space exploratory ship, the Destiny. “I also got the tour of the sets, which are still under construction, and which look pretty damn nifty so far,” Scalzi said. “It all went very well, and I liked what they were doing with the show and the people involved, and equally importantly they seemed to like me, too. So I was happy to say yes when they invited me onboard.”

Stargate Universe begins filming next month, and will premiere on the SCI FI Channel in the U.S. this summer.