Damn it, Syfy, this is getting out of hand. How am I supposed to reach my daily quota of world-weary cynicism and snark if you keep pulling B.S. like this? It was bad enough that you started developing intriguing projects like Ascension and Letter 44, but then you had to go and announce you were making a series based on James S.A. Corey’s Expanse novels, some of the best science fiction I’ve read in ages. But that wasn’t enough for you, was it? Oh no, now you’ve doubled down and decided to adapt John Scalzi’s excellent, Hugo Award-nominated Old Man’s War series as well. Knock it the hell off already! (Please don’t actually knock it the hell off.)

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that The Neverending Story’s Wolfgang Petersen is developing the Old Man’s War series for Syfy along with producer Scott Stuber (Safe House). Petersen was already attached to a previous incarnation of the project, a Paramount feature film that Petersen would have directed, with a script by David Self (Road to Perdition). That project eventually stalled and so now Old Man’s War is making the leap to the small screen and a reinvigorated Syfy that lately seems bound and determined to live up to the potential it squandered during years of Ghost Hunters spinoffs. The show is being developed under the name Ghost Brigades, the title of the second book in Scalzi’s series.

We have an uneven love for Hugo-nominated science fiction author John Scalzi here at GFR. I love love love Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, and would easily classify it as one of the best science fiction novels I’ve ever read. However, publisher Josh Tyler was not a fan of one of Scalzi’s most recent works, the amusingly titled Redshirts. But while Redshirts may have left a bad taste in the boss’ mouth, Scalzi has recently returned to the Old Man’s War universe with a serialized e-book entitled The Human Division, which was collected and released as a whole a few weeks back. Now Tor.com has some extra goodies for Scalzi fans: two new Human Division short stories you can download for free.

You’ll have to sign up for a Tor.com registration, but once that’s out of the way you’ll be able to download “After the Coup” and the uniquely titled “Halfte Sorvalh Eats a Churro and Speaks to the Youth of Today.” They’ve got it available in several formats, including PDF, .epub, and .mobi.

The Human Division follows up on the events of The Last Colony, which was itself the third volume of Scalzi’s Old Man’s War saga. You can pick up the hardcover right here, and check out a synopsis for The Human Division below. And while we’re at it, you should totally be reading Scalzi’s blog.

Whether you’re a fan of award-winning sci-fi novels, or blockbuster action films, this news should grant you some peace. John Scalzi’s 2005 Hugo Award-winning novel Old Man’s War has a new scribe, playwright Chris Boal. If that last name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the brother of Mark Boal, the Acadamy Award-winning screenwriter of Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker.

Variety reports that Boal began making a name for himself in the screenwriting world last summer with a pair of script sales: one is a Viking drama that’s being produced by True Blood‘s Alexander Skarsgard, and the other is a drama about Julius Caesar. He also directed and produced the behind-the-scenes content for the DVD release of his brother’s flick, The Hurt Locker. Hooray for nepotism!

Boal will be taking over the Old Man’s War script that originated back in February 2011, with screenwriter David Self handling the initial adaptation. Wolfgang Petersen is in the director’s chair, marking the first feature film he’s helmed since 2006’s Poseidon. One of the last projects he was in talks for was an adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, now in Gavin Hood’s hands, so at least he’s sticking to the same genre.

If you were holding your breath for the last three years waiting on John Scalzi to write another Old Man’s War book, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that humans can’t live nearly that long without oxygen so you’re probably already dead; the good news is that Scalzi is finally revisiting his most beloved universe, so if you are a zombie or some type of hyper-intelligent fish then it’s time to celebrate!

If you are looking for a modern homage to Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers you could do no better than John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War. The first book in the series told the story of John Perry, a 75-year-old widower who decides to leave Earth and join the Colonial Defense Forces, only to find that a life adventuring among the stars could be just as brutal as it was absurd. The book had a great blend of action and humor that made it an instant sci-fi classic. The next few books in the series changed somewhat in tone and scope to tell a more personal story about family and relationships in Scalzi’s universe, with an ending that fundamentally changed the setting. Scalzi said after the end of the series that he wouldn’t return to the universe unless he found a compelling story to tell, but if he did it would likely not revolve around the protagonists from the first four books.