From the Bookshelf of Apocalypse Whenever…

Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome (Lock In, #0.5)

John Scalzi

Start date: November 23, 2014

Finish date: December 1, 2014

Discussion: AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

Discussion leader: Gertie

Why we're reading this: Read this first.nThis prequel is highly recommended to help understand the world Lock In is set in.
[close] Read this first.nThis prequel is highly recommended to help understand the world Lock In is set in.

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AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

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What Members Thought

Nov 26, 2014 Gertie rated it really liked it

Read this free here:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/05/un...

I highly recommend you read this before you even read page one of the book that follows it.

...more

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May 03, 2020 Mitchell Friedman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: series, five-star, ebook, five-star-science-fiction, own, science-fiction, library, liked-reviews

Wow. Really hard to believe this wasn't written in the last couple of months. And this may have been written first, before the two books in the series. But this was a wow book. This was a blow-by-blow of dealing with a global pandemic with an illness that spread a-symptomatically. And then the United States Presidential and Governmental response. So it would be a lot more political if has been written in the age of the covid-19. A serious not-light work from Scalzi, that of course is still breez ...more

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Feb 21, 2016 Katie Kenig rated it really liked it

Shelves: scifi-fantasy

“The half-life between story of the century and not even the story of the day is quicker than you would ever guess.”

This book is the prequel to Lock In by John Scalzi. It was included at the end of my copy of Lock In, and I'm glad that I read it second to the other book. The world building is so exquisite in Lock In that this would have drawn away from that. Too many secrets, too soon.

Unlocked focuses on the stories of those dealing with Haden's disease in the first days, weeks, and years of the ...more

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Mar 31, 2021 Netanella rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, short-stories, 2021-wbtm-short-story-challenge, 2021-march-reading-challenges

This is my very first John Scalzi read! I know of him as a science fiction writer - his Old Man's War series has been on my TBR pile for a while now. But I've never cracked a page open.

Until now.

"Unlocked" is a prequel story, told in journalistic interview style, of the outbreak of the Hayden Syndrome that is featured in his duology "Lock In." If a person survives the virus, it leaves them physically immobile, but mentally aware. A true nightmare, in my book. Scalzi explores the social, politic ...more

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Dec 27, 2018 Colleen rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

I'm actually glad I read this last, even though I am also sorry I dallied so long in reading this to begin with. Gives a lot of background detail about the Haden's Syndrome and some of the history of various companies/political references omnipresent in the Lock In books (which take place roughly 25 years or so after the Super Bowl Flu began).

Done in the usual World War Z oral history format but it does not work fully as a standalone (could just be the size at 142 pages--so more of a novella/ex ...more

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