What do you think?
Rate this book
The Interdependency #0.5
The Origin of the Flow
I sometimes write reference pieces for myself so I can give some context to myself about what I’m writing. Those pieces usually are never seen by others, but they’re useful for me, and they make a better book for everyone else.
This is one of those pieces. In the book, humans get around space via “The Flow” — a “metacosmological multidimensional space” that’s not of this universe but lets people get around in it at multiples of the speed of light. I decided I needed to give The Flow an origin story, as well as understand how people discovered it, so I wrote this piece for myself, which I am sharing with you now.
This is one of those pieces. In the book, humans get around space via “The Flow” — a “metacosmological multidimensional space” that’s not of this universe but lets people get around in it at multiples of the speed of light. I decided I needed to give The Flow an origin story, as well as understand how people discovered it, so I wrote this piece for myself, which I am sharing with you now.
5 pages, ebook
First published November 2, 2019
5 people are currently reading
2070 people want to read
About the author
John Scalzi
190 books27.8k followersJohn Scalzi, having declared his absolute boredom with biographies, disappeared in a puff of glitter and lilac scent.
(If you want to contact John, using the mail function here is a really bad way to do it. Go to his site and use the contact information you find there.)
(If you want to contact John, using the mail function here is a really bad way to do it. Go to his site and use the contact information you find there.)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
March 21, 2020
Very short introduction to the world of this series. Since I started with this one, I am impressed and ready to dive into the meat of it. Can't wait!
February 12, 2020
Link to the Fan-Fiction Short by JS
You can listen to it or read it. Both options are available on Scalzi's post.
The link is also in the story info but it's always nice to have it tucked into a review. I only chanced upon the short while trying to figure out what new book Scalzi has coming out. I don't try to read all of the stories attached to series because it's 50/50 on whether or not I will like them.
Scalzi: Because the piece is not in the book, this origin story of The Flow is not “canonical” — which is to say, while I wrote it to understand the universe I created, I reserve the right in the future to ignore it entirely or in parts if, for the purposes of writing a new book in the universe, I decide to go in another direction. To that respect, you could consider it “fan fiction” of my own universe. Which I think is pretty nifty.
At first, I wasn't sure if I would bother reading the whole thing but, before I knew it, I was laughing and then it was over. The short story is like an abbreviated biography with a definitive "tone" of humor. Sardonic is a good word. =)
Fun piece of potential backstory for the Interdependency.
You can listen to it or read it. Both options are available on Scalzi's post.
The link is also in the story info but it's always nice to have it tucked into a review. I only chanced upon the short while trying to figure out what new book Scalzi has coming out. I don't try to read all of the stories attached to series because it's 50/50 on whether or not I will like them.
Scalzi: Because the piece is not in the book, this origin story of The Flow is not “canonical” — which is to say, while I wrote it to understand the universe I created, I reserve the right in the future to ignore it entirely or in parts if, for the purposes of writing a new book in the universe, I decide to go in another direction. To that respect, you could consider it “fan fiction” of my own universe. Which I think is pretty nifty.
At first, I wasn't sure if I would bother reading the whole thing but, before I knew it, I was laughing and then it was over. The short story is like an abbreviated biography with a definitive "tone" of humor. Sardonic is a good word. =)
Fun piece of potential backstory for the Interdependency.
November 14, 2019
Those must have been exciting times to live. This is how the Flow was discovered and how humanity successfully managed to travel over a "stream" for the first time: the Mainz Rift. Also, an early look at the dawn of the Wu corporation. Loved it.
January 21, 2025
Relato breve donde Scalzi nos cuenta el origen de el Flujo, la forma en que se desplaza la Humanidad a través del universo de su saga La Interdependencia.
No es necesario leerlo a no ser que seas un maniático como yo y quieras leer toda la saga en orden incluyendo los relatos breves.
No es necesario leerlo a no ser que seas un maniático como yo y quieras leer toda la saga en orden incluyendo los relatos breves.
May 12, 2025
"Someone in the Dalimunthe mission control noted that humans had effectively littered outside the bounds of the universe. Someone else dumped their champagne on his head."
A little teaser to introduce us to the Interdependency series. Super short and super free. Audio and text available on Scalzi's site: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0...
A little teaser to introduce us to the Interdependency series. Super short and super free. Audio and text available on Scalzi's site: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0...
December 23, 2022
Very cool prequel story, which Scalzi & Emperox/Flow Empire fans should definitely check out. It's a secret history, of sorts. Here is the accidental discoverer of the Metabrane idea: "she was desperately trying to finish her fucking dissertation, which was about something else entirely. She couldn’t just abandon years of research and antagonize her dissertation advisor, who she was pretty sure hated her guts anyway, on the mere suggestion of metabranes maybe poking into normal spacetime. That was fine and all, but what she really wanted to do was get her doctorate, find a teaching job, marry her fiancé and go on a honeymoon in Anguilla with nothing to do but drink fruity drinks and sex up her new spouse.
And indeed Dalimunthe did all of those things, in roughly that order. . . ."
Story link: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0...
And indeed Dalimunthe did all of those things, in roughly that order. . . ."
Story link: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0...
June 5, 2021
6 June 2021
Scalzi makes for such a satisfying read: a variety of foci from simply enjoying life with fuzzy critters to pulling off a trick that will change the lives of galaxies. There's lots of cleverness often with an arch, snarky sort of tone also frequently employed in his blog. He's very understanding of the human condition and creates characters with different layers. Smart, funny, and understanding, one might be inclined to crush on him, except that part of his personal appeal is how very much he loves his wife.
This makes a nice little supplement to the Interdependency novels.
(I'm trying to go back and fill in where I didn't get around to reviewing something in the first place. Notes for myself, if nothing else)
Free online
Scalzi makes for such a satisfying read: a variety of foci from simply enjoying life with fuzzy critters to pulling off a trick that will change the lives of galaxies. There's lots of cleverness often with an arch, snarky sort of tone also frequently employed in his blog. He's very understanding of the human condition and creates characters with different layers. Smart, funny, and understanding, one might be inclined to crush on him, except that part of his personal appeal is how very much he loves his wife.
This makes a nice little supplement to the Interdependency novels.
(I'm trying to go back and fill in where I didn't get around to reviewing something in the first place. Notes for myself, if nothing else)
Free online
November 30, 2021
Really enjoyed this little story about the origin of the science that fuels travel in the interdependency books. Psyched to read that series in the future!
"The universe, despite the roots of its name, was not alone."
"The universe, despite the roots of its name, was not alone."
May 18, 2021
Just reading this for completeness' sake, as Scalzi's Interdependency series is up for a Hugo this year. I liked the first novel, but was not hugely invested in it, so this story is fine and a little funny, but not terribly exciting. (It was apparently written more as a worldbuilding exercise, which I do all the time when I'm writing stuff, so I can absolutely respect that. Sometimes you just have to get this shit out of your head and onto paper.)
June 26, 2025
I wouldn’t exactly call this a prequel, but it’s fun to see how the flow originated within this world tongue is what we know of in this series.
July 12, 2025
3 Stars. Well that was something. Not sure if I’d even call it a story. Just really an info dump. Starting the series now!
Read: 7/12/25
Read: 7/12/25
November 3, 2019
"The weird news was that the Vasquez’s signal was...." Oh, well done, Mr. Scalzi. Lull us into a nice, light, easy read and then -- pow! -- the "oh, wow!" moment.
June 4, 2020
You can find it here:
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0...
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0...
Read
December 10, 2019It feels weird to rate what is essentially a collection of paragraphs posted to a blog, so I will not do so. It's an enjoyable but inessential bit of Interdependency backstory, but in a year without a single Scalzi novel, it will have to suffice.
December 30, 2020
Read on Nov 29
3.6/5 stars. Take it or leave it. It's kind of good to know info, but isn't essential.
Narrated by Wil Wheaton. Yep, Start Trek: Next Generation Wil Wheaton! He does the whole series!
Origin of the Flow (Interdependency 0.5)
Brief (10 min) story of Big Bang to the discovery of "the flow" a Sci-Fi idea to allow breaking the Speed of Light law.
Just for the record... you'll want to read this series. The old "Old Man's War" author is back!
(He sort of started calling it in later in that series. Like you'd wait to the last minute to do a 15-page report in school kind of thing. Not this trilogy. He's on top of his game!)
3.6/5 stars. Take it or leave it. It's kind of good to know info, but isn't essential.
Narrated by Wil Wheaton. Yep, Start Trek: Next Generation Wil Wheaton! He does the whole series!
Origin of the Flow (Interdependency 0.5)
Brief (10 min) story of Big Bang to the discovery of "the flow" a Sci-Fi idea to allow breaking the Speed of Light law.
Just for the record... you'll want to read this series. The old "Old Man's War" author is back!
(He sort of started calling it in later in that series. Like you'd wait to the last minute to do a 15-page report in school kind of thing. Not this trilogy. He's on top of his game!)
August 23, 2021
The author describes this as fan fiction for his own novel; I want to give him more credit than that.
Many authors (especially those in science fiction) are justifiably proud of the world they've created, and aren't willing to "kill their darlings", so they do info dumps that laboriously explain their brilliance. Others tend to avoid those info dumps for the sad reason that they haven't put all that much effort into constructing a coherent and consistent world. The reality within their story can this end up malleable, warping and twisting to make their job easier.
What Scalzi has pioneered here is a clever solution: geek out in the creation of an internally consistent world, and then explicate it in what will end up an addendum that, most likely, never sees publication. It will serve as a clarifying but invisible structure to weave the narrative around.
I suggest other authors do the same!
Many authors (especially those in science fiction) are justifiably proud of the world they've created, and aren't willing to "kill their darlings", so they do info dumps that laboriously explain their brilliance. Others tend to avoid those info dumps for the sad reason that they haven't put all that much effort into constructing a coherent and consistent world. The reality within their story can this end up malleable, warping and twisting to make their job easier.
What Scalzi has pioneered here is a clever solution: geek out in the creation of an internally consistent world, and then explicate it in what will end up an addendum that, most likely, never sees publication. It will serve as a clarifying but invisible structure to weave the narrative around.
I suggest other authors do the same!
March 22, 2023
I had just finished reading and loved the Interdependency series when I discovered this short story set in the same universe existed. I had to read it.
It turns out it is a prequel of sort, a reference piece that the author had written for himself to give some context to himself about what he was writing. He decided to release it as part of a charity event.
In the Interdependency series, humans get around space via “The Flow”, a “metacosmological multidimensional space” that’s not of this universe but lets people get around in it at multiples of the speed of light. This is the Flow's origin story, and it covers how people discovered it.
It's cute and interesting to read, but you definitely do not need to read it to appreciate the series. The author himself describe it as "non canonical" and "fan-fiction of his own work".
It turns out it is a prequel of sort, a reference piece that the author had written for himself to give some context to himself about what he was writing. He decided to release it as part of a charity event.
In the Interdependency series, humans get around space via “The Flow”, a “metacosmological multidimensional space” that’s not of this universe but lets people get around in it at multiples of the speed of light. This is the Flow's origin story, and it covers how people discovered it.
It's cute and interesting to read, but you definitely do not need to read it to appreciate the series. The author himself describe it as "non canonical" and "fan-fiction of his own work".
January 3, 2020
Not really a book, but just a relatively short blog post available at the author’s site, here: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0...
It’s basically a bit of author research in short story / synopsis form on the structure known as the Flow that appears in Scalzi’s Interdependency series. It’s a very quick read, nicely done, and of interest to anyone reading those books. Nothing critical or integral to the plot of the books; but it’s cool to see a writer’s thought process on things like this, so I would certainly recommend it.
It’s basically a bit of author research in short story / synopsis form on the structure known as the Flow that appears in Scalzi’s Interdependency series. It’s a very quick read, nicely done, and of interest to anyone reading those books. Nothing critical or integral to the plot of the books; but it’s cool to see a writer’s thought process on things like this, so I would certainly recommend it.
March 2, 2021
I love John Scalzi books. I've waited to read The Interdependency series until I've had all three books. That time has finally come, so I started with this short story explaining Flow. That was a big mistake. First off, Scalzi freely calls this fan fiction of his own work. In other words, it isn't the prequel I thought it to be. Second, it actually made me want to read the trilogy less, not more. I'm still reading the books next, but this was a waste of my time. I hope it doesn't weaken the true story, but I already have a bad taste in my mouth. Lesson learned, I guess.
December 23, 2019
Interesting backgrounder for the larger Scalzi work The Last Emperox. From Scalzi's post, "...this origin story of The Flow is not 'canonical' — which is to say, while I wrote it to understand the universe I created, I reserve the right in the future to ignore it entirely or in parts if, for the purposes of writing a new book in the universe, I decide to go in another direction. To that respect, you could consider it 'fan fiction' of my own universe. Which I think is pretty nifty."
March 5, 2020
Very short and brusque, but logically consistent and interesting from that perspective. I liked the insight into the writing process and wonder how many of these short backgrounds go into or are cut from books during the writing process.
I wish it gave more information but not bad as an aside. By far not essencial reading for the Interdependency series.
I wish it gave more information but not bad as an aside. By far not essencial reading for the Interdependency series.
April 14, 2021
If you are a Scalzi fan like I am and cannot find this story, even on Amazon, it is free in written and audio form on Scalzi's website. It is very short and almost more of an essay than a story, but it was a fun and clever diversion.
3+ 4- rounded up because it was free!
3+ 4- rounded up because it was free!
December 9, 2022
A fun little background read before I begin the third and final book in The Interdependency trilogy.
If you don't find it on the book's own page in here, here is the link: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0...
If you don't find it on the book's own page in here, here is the link: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0...
November 16, 2019
While being in very little ways connected to the overall arcing storyline of the Interdependency it somehow managed to keep the tone fantastically so. What a great piece of world building.
November 27, 2019
Enjoyable addition to the Interdependency universe. I like that Scalzi thought through how the discovery of the Flow might have been made.
February 5, 2020
Now that is an interesting way to explain the whole Interdependency series!
April 1, 2020
Short and sweet
April 30, 2020
Too short :-(
July 12, 2020
This was a good enough to introduce humanity discovering the Flow and realizing its potential
August 23, 2020
Less than 10 minute read.
Available at the Author's blog here : https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0....
Available at the Author's blog here : https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/0....
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews