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Reading, Science Fiction

Valor’s Child, Snippet Two

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Here’s the second snippet for Valor’s Child.  You can read the first snippet here.  Again, Valor’s Child comes out on the 30th of June, 2017:

Dad had offered to fly us, but Mom had said that she needed to do it.  I would have preferred to fly with Dad.  He, at least, would have kept up a conversation to distract me.  Mom just operated the settlement’s skimmer in silence.

I wanted to talk at that point, to try to reason with her, but I knew it would just end up with another argument.  Besides, setting in silence might give her the opportunity to realize what a mistake she and Dad had made.  They couldn’t send me to live with the Admiral.  For one thing, Mom only talked to her twice a year.  Once on Christmas and once on Easter.  It was pretty much the only times I’d ever seen them talk and even then, about half the time their conversations turned into drawn-out arguments.  Sort of like our conversations, of late, I silently admitted.  Mom never called her ‘mother’ or referred to her as anything other than ‘the Admiral.’  I’d taken to doing the same thing, mostly because I couldn’t very well call her Grandmother.  That would be too weird if I tried to compare her to Grandma Effy.  Grandma Effy baked delicious chocolate chip cookies and displayed pictures of her children and grandchildren.  Grandma Effy ran the archeological department at Nelson’s University.  The Admiral… well, I really didn’t know what she did.  Military stuff, I assumed.

I didn’t really know much about Mom’s mother.  Sure, I knew the history book stuff, she’d single-handedly saved Century and all that.  Well, not really single-handedly, and really, some folks argued that we’d be better off as part of the Dalite Hegemony.  Still, she did some heroic stuff.  She was one of the oldest officers still in service in the Century Planetary Militia.   She still served as a reserve commander of a unit, if I remembered right, and she also served as the commander for the Century Military Academy.  Mom didn’t seem to find military service all that heroic or maybe she just didn’t want to live in her own mother’s shadow.  Either way, she hadn’t had anything to do with the militia from the day that she graduated her secondary school.  She’d gone into archeology, instead, which was why our family had ended up at Basalt Mesa Outpost, about as far from civilization as anyone could be on Century, which was saying a lot for a desert planet on the frontier of human space with a population just under a billion.

It seemed dreadfully unfair to me that Mom was so critical about my desire to go into another field when she did the same thing.  Still, I kept quiet.  I could tell that Mom was conflicted about this whole plan that Dad had put forth.  I had to hand it to him for being devious, but that didn’t mean I had to appreciate it.  Oddly enough, it made Mom and I allies, both trying to figure out a way to avoid what was coming.  Silence was my best gambit in that, I knew.  If I gave her long enough to stew about it, she would see how ridiculous it was to send me to live with the Admiral.

Mom managed the first hour in silence, before she finally spoke.  “This is ridiculous,” she said, in an unwitting echo of my own thoughts.  I waited, hopeful that she would turn around.  She glanced over at me and shook her head.  “You know, I think this would be easier if you didn’t remind me so much of her.”  I blinked at that.  I reminded Mom of the Admiral?  That was an odd thought.  “You’re too darned stubborn for your own good and once you take it into your head to do something there’s no stopping you.”  She sighed, “I know you thought you were doing the right thing, Jiden, but this time you really went too far.”

I kept stubbornly silent.  I knew I’d crossed a line when I forged her signature.  Still, it was her stupid “bargain” that drove me to it.   That and the fight with Dad when he refused to sign it.  At least my rebellion had paid off.  I had been accepted to Champion Enterprises Internship Program.  So what if I had broken her bargain?  It wasn’t like she had made it so I could keep it, not and still be able to get the job I wanted with Champion Enterprises and to be with Tony.  And as far as Dad… well I’d shown him, too.

That part about Tony almost made me blush to admit… even to myself.  We really weren’t more than friends.  Close friends.  He hadn’t even tried to kiss me or anything.  Still, he had encouraged me to apply and he seemed excited when I let him know I was accepted.  As if Mom could read my mind, she asked, “This is about that Tony kid, isn’t it?”

I definitely didn’t want this conversation headed down that route.  Mom and Dad thought Tony was a bad influence.  Alright, so there was the time we skipped classes and went riding in his father’s skimmer, it wasn’t his fault that sandstorm came up and grounded us.  Besides, the adults came along soon enough to pick us up, right after the storm.  My mom glanced at me suspiciously and I could see her thinking about it.  “Was it his idea to forge my signature?”

I couldn’t help a retort at that, “You think I couldn’t think that up on my own?  I’m not stupid, you know.”  Still, I could privately admit that he had encouraged me to forge her signature.  He had pretty much predicted how my parents would react about it all, too.  Well, he’d said they wouldn’t know what to do so I’d get off basically without a hitch and he’d also assumed my dad would lose his temper.  But I was secretly relieved that Dad had kept his calm and not even Tony could have predicted the Admiral.

“I know you’re not stupid,” Mom said.  I could recognize her tone of exaggerated patience.  “But you are impulsive.  It would be just like him to suggest something like that… especially since he doesn’t have to face the consequences.  He’s nice and cozy out at Duncan City with Champion Enterprises.”

I grimaced, but I couldn’t argue there.  Century’s capital was an awesome place, from what Tony and his father had told me.  Lots of things to do, no water rationing, and I was sure Tony was living pretty comfortably.  I hadn’t had a chance to call him, not with all privileges revoked by my parents.  I was pretty sure what his response would be, though.  I could almost see his confident smirk and him shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the injustice.

My mom waited, almost as if she expected me to suddenly repent and blame it all on Tony.  As if I’d do something like that.  You didn’t turn on your friends, I knew.  Finally she spoke, “Well… you have all your coursework?”

I nodded.  The embarrassment burned on that though.  My parents had deactivated my net access.  Which meant I had to get them to authorize me to download the preparation classes for the internship.  They had only authorized that, which meant I couldn’t even update any of my friends on what had happened.  I clenched my jaw in anger.  That had been overboard, I thought, for all they knew, I could be dead or grounded and the worst part is that I couldn’t get any sympathy from them over the unfairness of it all.

“Well, depending on what the Admiral has planned, you should have plenty of time to do your coursework,” Mom said. I caught a tone of uncertainty in her voice though.  I wished I’d been able to overhear the conversation between her and the Admiral.  My brother, Will, was there, but he said it was pretty calm.  Just a quick call, some pleasantries, and then Mom told the Admiral what had happened and asked if she’d be open to having me stay there for the five months until my internship started.

I was pretty sure it would be awful.  Tony and his whole family had poked fun at the Century Planetary Militia, with good reason.  I mean, sure, they defended the planet and all that.  But they also wore their funny tan and brown uniforms and their shiny black boots and followed such weird traditions.  Tony’s dad had a hilarious impression of them that set us both just rolling with laughter.  Granted, I hadn’t understood most of it, but Tony’s family and some of their friends seemed to think it was great.

I was certain that the Admiral would be arrogant and tyrannical.  I mean, Mom had done everything she could to get out from under her and basically didn’t talk to her; she had to be some kind of petty tyrant.  Four months, twenty-two days, I thought, and then I can start my internship.

We continued the rest of the flight in silence.  Mom settled the skimmer on the edge of the airfield.  I noticed a low black form of a ground car at the edge of the tarmac.  Mom started the shutdown procedures on the skimmer and I listened to the turbines whine down.   A moment later an older-looking fellow in a suit climbed out of the vehicle and walked towards us.

Mom released her safety harness and stepped into the back and dropped the stairs.  I grabbed my bags from the small cargo bay and followed her as she stepped down.  To my surprise, she gave a big smile, “James, you’re looking good.”  She stepped forward and gave the older man a big hug.  “How’s things?”

The man gave her a smile and returned the hug, “Not bad, miss.  Hip gives me a bit of pain when we get a pressure change, but not bad.”  He released her and stepped back to look her over, “You’re looking good, miss.”

“Thanks, James.  How is the Admiral?” Mom asked.

“Busy, as usual,” James said.  “This is the young miss?”  He nodded at me.  His behavior was peculiar and left me wondering what planet he came from.

“Yes, this is my daughter, Jiden,” Mom said.

“Well, it’s nice to not have to crane my neck looking up at someone for once,” James said good-naturedly.  He was referring to the fact that my mom was tall, right at two meters.  I got my dad’s height in my last growth spurt, but I had the feeling that I wouldn’t be getting any taller.

I just gave him a nod.

“Your bag, young miss?” he asked.

Before I could do more than nod, he took it off my shoulder and led the way to the ground car.  I was confused and glanced at my mother, but she just walked to the back of the ground car.  Before she had arrived, James held the door open for her.  Mom thanked him and got in.  I was still confused, but I followed her.  James shut the door behind us.

As the ground car started up, my mom gave me a sharp look.  She saw the confusion on my face.  “James served with the Admiral in the war.  He was her steward, now he looks after things at home.”

“Ah,” I said.  I hadn’t realized that the Admiral was loaded.  I guess that made sense, though it seemed silly to have a servant.  Tony’s family had robots and house automation to do things for them.  Their skimmer was even an automated job, which was how Tony and I were able to slip away with it, neither of us knowing how to fly one, after all.

James lowered the partition window.  “Good to have visitors, miss.  The house has been very empty of late.”

“The Admiral hasn’t had many guests?” Mom asked.

“Young miss Melanie and master Rawn came in on ship last month.  Not a one since them,” James said.  I guess that he meant my cousins, Mel and Rawn. Uncle Hans and Aunt Anne Marie, their parents, had been killed in some kind of terrorist attack off-world, and Mel ran their freighter.  They’d visited us last month as well.  Mel was much older than me, but she was nice enough.  Rawn was younger than me, but he’d seemed pretty interested in some of the classes I was taking.  I guess he had a more limited selection aboard their freighter.  I’d enjoyed some of their other visits better, especially when I got the opportunity to go aboard their ship.

“I thought the Admiral was still in service, you haven’t had any military functions?” Mom asked.

“Yes, but typically we hold those on Academy grounds.  The Admiral is there most of the time, anyway,” James said.  “Old house seems quiet.”

They talked for a few minutes about places and people I didn’t know or hadn’t heard of and I just tuned them out.  I was confused by this odd man that seemed so familiar with Mom.  She’d never mentioned him, but she talked to him like an old friend.  He seemed nice enough; the situation just felt odd.  He didn’t even behave like a servant should, he told jokes (none of which I understood) and even teased my mother about rebellious teenagers.

That last part irritated me.  I knew I wasn’t rebellious.  It wasn’t like I was drinking and going to wild parties.  I’d just hadn’t told my parents that I didn’t apply to other schools and forged one signature.  Well, I admitted, there was the couple times I went out with Tony…

I just sat in silence, right up until the ground car pulled up in front of a big, stone house.  It wasn’t a mansion, just a large house, three stories of carved blue sandstone.  It looked like it was from Founding, crafted from available resources and designed to last.  I’d read in some of my history courses that early on the first settlers had built houses so that whole families would live under one roof.  Now, with more technology and equipment available, there was more room to spread out.

I shuddered at the thought of having to live with not just Mom, but also the Admiral, Dad, and my cousins in the brooding pile of stone.  Thank God that I don’t have to live like that, I thought.  Tony had mentioned Champion Enterprises provided their interns with their own private apartments.  That would be ever so much better than living here.

James opened the door and Mom climbed out.  I followed, though I couldn’t help a nervous glance upward at the house as we walked in the front door.  James paused, “Miss June, the Admiral is in her office.  Perhaps young Miss Jiden can wait in the library?”

My mother nodded, “That will work, thank you, James.”

He just gave her a smile before he turned to me, “I’ll put your bag up in the guest room.”

***

Entertainment, Science Fiction

Movie Review: Passengers

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passengers-movie-reviewPassengers is a movie that’s seen a lot of grief over the past month.  I think that’s in part because it asks difficult decisions.  In short, one character makes a morally terrible decision early on… and he makes it for a very human reason.

When he makes that decision, the viewer can empathize with him.  In fact, I’d go as far as to say that most people, if they’re honest with themselves, would come to the same decision and they’d chose the same way.

The story doesn’t make light of that decision, but it also doesn’t linger.  From that point on is where much of the story really begins.  There’s a lot to take in, with good humor, romance, and even some tense moments.  It’s a genuinely fun movie with some fantastic chemistry between the characters (human and android included).  The characterization is strong and as a viewer, I was caught up in the little triumphs and big failures that the characters experienced throughout the movie.

Part of that, I’m sure, is that the movie has such a sense of optimism, of humans pushing new barriers and solving problems.  There’s elements of such grand hope, of literally reaching for the stars, that I want to see it again, just to relive that experience.  The characters in Passengers are put in extremely dire straits, but they never question their decision to journey to the stars.  Indeed, the movie itself never questions that.  This isn’t the technology cautionary tale that Hollywood likes to beat people with.

I think the reason that Passengers gets grief is that it forces the viewer to like and appreciate a different perspective… and to consider that other perspective.  It’s not a safe movie, where the ice-bergs in a relationship are tiny things.  Yet, it is a love story, and there’s elements of forgiveness and atonement.   It is a very human movie, where the main characters are flawed in ways that ring true.

This is a movie that I plan to buy.  It’s fun and for those who can handle it, it examines elements of what it is to be human and to make bad decisions.  It’s a movie I want my kids to watch someday and to talk with them about.  I highly recommend seeing it.

passengers-movie-header-image
I can’t help but say that new parents understand these expressions…
Reading, Science Fiction

First Snippet: Renegades: Out of Time

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Here’s the first snippet for Renegades: Out of Time.

Chapter I

 

The Aurore emerged from shadow space into the heart of a maelstrom.

Captain Mike Noguchi blanched as a thermonuclear detonation flashed in front of the ship, close enough that it filled the bridge with light.  “What the hell is that!?”  Mike demanded.

Simon looked up from the sensors, “Multiple detonations, massive energy releases all around us!  We’re in the middle of a firefight Captain!”  Of the original crew, Simon was the only one to call Mike by his title.  The others mostly just called him Mike.  Then again, Simon was also something of an outsider.

Mike didn’t take longer than a heartbeat to consider things.  “Pixel, cut power to the drives and defense screens, now.”

The thrum of the ship’s drives dropped to silence and the bridge lighting dropped, “I cut the reactor, too,” Pixel said.  “It’ll take us a few minutes to bring it back online, but we’ll be less visible.”

Mike nodded, yet his eyes were for the sensor displays.  The ship had enough standby power to still give them some picture of what was happening.  If worse came to worse, their weapons had a charge on their capacitors for a single salvo each.

They were in the middle of a battle.

“A few billion square kilometers of space and we show up in the middle of a battle,” Mike growled.  He saw Ariadne open her mouth and he pointed a finger at her, “Don’t.  Don’t you dare.”

He knew she wasn’t going to make a sarcastic comment.  It would be out of character for the cheerful woman, even though Mike had trusted their new navigational officer over her psychic navigational skills.  Not that she’d be wrong, if she were to get snarky, he thought.  Though that wasn’t fair to Sharric Nelson.  He had no way to know there’d be a Chxor fleet in their path.

No, she was probably going to say something cheerful and optimistic and Mike didn’t want to have to deal with that right now.  They were in the middle of a battle, he had reason to be grouchy.

The transponders nearest them weren’t Nova Roman.  Simon had noted on the display that he thought they were Chxor.  Mike hoped that his sensors and communications officer was wrong… because there were a lot of enemy transponders.

“Why do we have such a good count on the enemy ships?” Mike asked.  “I thought the Chxor used powerful jamming systems, right?”

Simon nodded, “Yes, Captain, but we’re behind them.  They’re directional jammers, I believe.”  He cleared his throat, “It doesn’t seem as if the Chxor are paying us any attention, Captain.  I think the general detonation of the last wave of missiles hid our arrival.”

“Interesting…” Mike murmured.  Simon had begun to populate what he thought were the ship classes.  Mike saw forty of the Chxor’s Five-class dreadnoughts.  The massive ships mounted heavier guns than he really wanted to think about, with missile tubes and fusion projectors, plus anti-fighter rotary cannons.

“Let’s blast the bastards!” Eric snarled.  The former Centauri Commando’s hands hovered over his weapon’s console and his face wore an eager look.  With his blonde hair and blue eyes, he looked like an eager child in a candy store.  With how twitchy Eric Striker could be, Mike felt tempted to cut power to his weapons officer’s console.

“They have us outgunned by several orders of magnitude,” Mike said shaking his head.  “How about we see if it’ll do any good before we die gloriously?”

The Chxor formation was clearly accelerating away from the Aurore… and just as clearly headed towards the inhabited planet.  That was bad news for a number of reasons.  They had planned on resupply in the Malta system.  It was the last human-held system on their route into Chxor space.

“Any signs of human forces?” Mike asked.  If the fight was over…

“Captain,” Simon said, and brought up a visual scan.  It looked to be the remains of a battleship, possibly one of the Desperado-class battleships.  Mike wasn’t certain, because the front end was simply gone and the rear area was twisted wreckage, still glowing in areas from multiple hits.

“Range?” Mike asked.

“Uh, three hundred kilometers,” Simon said.

“Bring us alongside, tuck us in close,” Mike said to Sharric Nelson, “Just use the maneuvering thrusters.”  The civilian navigation officer’s dark face was set in a tense expression.  Clearly he had hoped for orders to plot a course out of the system.

“Oh, good, we can pick up survivors,” Ariadne said.

Mike looked at his XO.   The tall, beautiful blonde woman’s face showed concern.  Mike decided not to crush her positive thinking by telling her that he just wanted something to hide behind.  Then again, he thought, who knows, there might actually be survivors… and if there aren’t there’s bound to be some valuable salvage.

The Aurore wasn’t a military ship, after all, she was a privateer.

“Simon, you getting anything on communications?”  Mike asked

“Negative, sir,” Simon responded, “too much jamming.”

The Aurore didn’t mount an ansible.  Radio communications wouldn’t penetrate the jamming.  A laser transmission should, though it would be directional so they’d need line of sight to someone…

Mike brought up the course plotted by Sharric and began to fly the vessel himself.  They didn’t have much bridge crew and while they did have a spare helmsman, Mike would rather do it himself.  Besides, the maneuvering thrusters didn’t have much juice.  There was an art to using them for a maneuver like this.

“Sir,” Simon said after a long moment, “I’m picking up a large force near the planet.”  He brought up the icons on the main display.  While part of Mike wished they’d had the money to retrofit to more modern tactical displays –at least for the Captain’s chair– he was glad the ship had a military-grade main display.

Mike studied the force.  It looked to be five or six capital ships, with a host of smaller vessels.  Nothing near an even match for the Chxor armada.  Too bad, he thought, I really don’t want another world falling to the Chxor Empire.  “Transponders?” Mike asked.

“They match Nova Roma,” Simon said.  “This ship,” he highlighted what looked like one of the larger vessels, “is a Helot-class carrier, the Furies Wrath, it should be Lord Admiral Valens Balventia’s ship.”

Mike frowned in thought for a moment.  He didn’t recognize the name.  “Shouldn’t Lord Admiral Roccaberti be the one in command?”

“No sign of his ship, Captain,” Simon said.

They had come up on the wreckage of the battleship and to Mike’s surprise, he saw that distress beacons had begun to appear, drowned out by all the jamming and weapons fire until they came close enough to see them.  Mike brought up the intercom, “Rastar, are you suited up?”

“Yeah, Mike,” Rastar said.  “I got the rest of the boarding party ready to go.”

“Have Run prep his team, too,” Mike said.  The little Chxor acted as the ship’s doctor, not that Mike really trusted him to work on him if he was injured.  But since doctors were in short supply during war time and he’d already proven that he could do field surgery, Mike had kept him on.  Besides, Run understood the Chxor language, which meant that he might be useful to translate.

On that cue, Run spoke up, “I would advise against remaining in the system.  The human defeat is inevitable.  Once they have been destroyed, the Chxor Fleet Commander will sweep for surviving vessels and we will be destroyed.”

“Thanks, I’ll take that under consideration” Mike snarled.  The little bastard’s assurance of defeat made Mike want to lend a hand to his fellow humans.

As always, sarcasm was wasted upon the Chxor.  “Thanks are not necessary, I merely stated the obvious.”

“Rastar, go rescue survivors,” Mike snapped.  He looked at Simon, “Get me a channel with this Admiral Balventia.”

“Sir,” Simon said, “there’s a lot of jamming.  The range is extremely long for the laser transceiver…”

“Get me a comm line,” Mike snapped.  “I don’t care if you need to go out on the hull and wave your hands.  I want to talk with Admiral Balventia, now.”  Simon’s face grew pinched, but he went to work.   “Oh,” Mike looked at Ariadne, “Put the crew at battle stations, I want everyone suited up, just in case.”  In all the excitement, he’d forgotten about the rest of the crew.

He was used to operating a smaller ship, one where the entire crew was less than a dozen people.  At least, that’s how things had been before.  Now, aboard the freighter Aurorae they had a hundred and fifty crew and room for two hundred more, plus passengers.  And since slavers had retrofitted the ship, Mike thought, we have life support for all the cargo holds.

Not that he planned on having the ship full of that many people, but they might find a ship in distress or a high priority passenger trip or something.  Failing that, Mike thought, I’ve run livestock before, it’s nice to have versatility like that.

“Anubus, is your ship ready?” Mike asked

“The October Sky is ready,” Anubus growled.  “Why are we remaining in the system?  The human defense is a lost cause.”  It amused Mike that Anubus mentioned his combat prowler was ready to fight while at the same time suggesting they should flee.  Clearly the disparate parts of their Wrethe were at odds over the situation.

“Plenty of salvage on that wreck,” Mike said.  “Or are you too scared to take a few risks?”  The Wrethe’s silence was answer enough to that question.

“Captain, I have a link to the Admiral’s carrier,” Simon said.

“Put me on,” Mike said.  Hopefully they could do some good.  If not, well, Mike would be willing to pass along any last messages to family or loved ones.  Maybe there’ll be some pay in that…

***

Fantasy, Reading, Science Fiction

Book Review: The Hand of Mars by Glynn Stewart

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Glynn Stewart's Hand of Mars
Glynn Stewart’s Hand of Mars

Glynn Stewart’s Hand of Mars picks up a few years after his previous book (Starship’s Mage) left off.  The story remains focused upon Damien, who has grown in skills and abilities, but seems to be the same person we saw at the end of the last book.

The story revolves around a planet where a corrupt governor has ironclad control over a planet and has even subverted the Emperor’s appointed military officers.  Damien, sent to help one of the Emperor’s Hands of Mars, must investigate, find out the truth, and set things right.  What seems like a simple proposition goes rapidly sideways with drastic political and military repercussions.

Damien remains an interesting character, with a strong personal sense of responsibility and an overall sense of integrity.  His earnestness, his desire to do what is right, is put to the test… yet at the same time, he never truly has to make a difficult decision.  The bad guys in this novel are really, really bad, willing to wipe out tens of thousands or even millions of people, just to get their way.  When he confronts them, we have that sense of satisfaction as he brings them to justice… but there’s never any doubt over whether he’ll make the right choice.

I did enjoy watching Damien grow.  There was no doubt about where he was headed, growing in both experience and authority, and it was nice to see the character rise in that fashion.  Glynn Stewart handled it well, giving Damien time to shoulder more and more responsibility and letting the reader see the character develop.

The side characters in this novel don’t feel quite as engaging as in Starship’s Mage.  There it was easier, I think, due to the smaller cast, a single ship with a small(ish) crew.  I didn’t feel as much personal attachment to the characters in the sequel, which removed a lot of the dramatic tension regarding their survival.  They were interesting, from Hand Stealey to her Marine escort and many of the other characters… but they felt more like a backdrop.  This was Damien’s story, and they were here to support that.

Which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy the book.  It remained a fascinating read and as always, the magic system and the universe are engaging.  I read the book quickly and felt satisfied at the end.  It’s a quick, engaging read with good guys confronting the bad.  I’m definitely looking forward to the next book and I enjoyed watching Damien’s character grow.

ROGUE MAGE TURNED INTERPLANETARY ENVOY

Three years ago, as Ship’s Mage of the starship Blue Jay, Damien Montgomery was pursued to the edge of human space by both the agents and enemies of the Mage-King of Mars — before being brought in from the cold.

Now, trained in new skills by the Mage-King himself, Damien has been sent to the planet Ardennes alongside Alaura Stealey, Hand of the King. A rebel movement there has destroyed cities fighting a Governor seemingly lost to corruption.

But not all on Ardennes is as it seems. As allies becomes enemies and an entire world comes apart in chaos around him, Damien will find both his skills and integrity tested to the utter limit.

You can get it from Amazon.

Reading, Science Fiction

Review: Desert Strike by Leo Champion

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Leo Champion's Desert Strike
Leo Champion’s Desert Strike

Leo Champion’s Desert Strike is a book.  Okay, review done.  No, seriously, it’s a book.  And it’s got things in it.  Go read it.

In all seriousness, there’s a lot going on in Desert Strike.  We see war on a global scale, with a Chamberlain-esque government determined to avoid it, a hyper-violent enemy determined to murder and/or enslave the good guys, and a strange semi-benevolent star-spanning nation which supports both sides in return for the resources they’re fighting over.

Mix into this massive landships up-to and including aircraft carriers, a mix of tech that feels gritty and at the same time cutting edge, and incompetent leaders within the good guy’s chain of command, and you have a very interesting setting for the story that unfolds.

The book has several characters, and what Leo Champion does best is making those central characters seem real with believable goals and ambitions.  You have a bad-ass, general, Jaeger, driven by anger and revenge.  You’ve got a young, rookie pilot, O’Conner, who wants to leave his mark.  These are the “Tropes” the “of course he has this person” but Leo goes further than that, he makes them real.  The side characters abound, with momentary glimpses at a bigger universe, then whipping back to the central plot.

And what a plot.  The enemy has been given free rein, and they use it.  This isn’t a book where the good guys have it easy, where victory is well within grasp if they only work hard for it.  If anything, I’d say the odds are too heavily stacked against them.   At times, you feel that the only victory left is a pyrric, one, where the planet is left a radioactive wasteland… yet somehow you still cling to hope that the good guys will turn the tide.

Desert Strike is a book which surprised me in a lot of ways.  I’ve enjoyed reading several of Leo’s books, but he writes in a certain tone, one which is instantly recognizable.  Desert Strike takes his normal tone and softens it a bit, ironic in a book about combat and war.  It has a fun edge to it, one which isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself, a bit of tongue in cheek even as a character’s life is in the balance.

The aerial combat feels like Vietnam Era, the ground war feels like something from the far future, and everything fits in a way that is hard to describe.  If you’re a fan of military science fiction, I think you’ll enjoy the solid characters and gripping combat.  If you just like exploding stuff, well, there’s plenty of that here for you too.

It’s about to go hot. 

On the dry world of Arkin, the Zinj are taking over. A technologically-competent strain of Islam that make ISIS look like the Amish, they’re challenged only by the nations of the West – and a divided West without much will to fight.

Among those who do have the will are fighter pilot Egan O’Connor, a working-class kid from a tough neighborhood, ready to test himself and serve his country. He’s a chivalrous rookie ready for an honorable battle.

Jimmy Newland’s a cavalry NCO who’s earned his spurs. He’s ready to fight but he doesn’t want to; he’s seen enough skirmishes to know how bad it can be. But he’ll do his job if the cold war gets nastier – as it’s about to.

And there’s nothing chivalrous at all about Air Marshal Elisabeth Jaeger, a career intelligence officer promoted to field command. Twenty-five years ago she saw her husband murdered by the Zinj; she’s spent the time since avenging him. As she’s about do on a scale just a little bit broader than spywork…

You can find it: here.

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Writing

Author’s Toolbag: Maps and Drawings

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The number one job of an author is to tell a story.  In this sense, illustrations such as maps and drawings can be excellent tools for an author, particularly when they are used to immerse the reader more fully into the world.

I’m the type of reader who spends hours, sometimes days pouring over the maps, imagining myself in those worlds and feeling a bit of a thrill as I follow the characters along their journeys.  While I also enjoy the occasional drawing of a character, location, or item, seldom do these things resonate with me as well as a good map.

I’m also the type of author who is into world-building: creating a living, breathing world… and maps are a key part of that for me.  I’ve had the world layout for Eoriel mapped out for almost twenty years, tweaking details, changing names of cities and mountain ranges, altering coastlines slightly, but always with the same general layout.  The same can be said for the Shadow Space Chronicles, I’ve had the general layout of the universe in mind for years, and I’ve spent countless hours drawing out star systems, planet orbits, and the typical routes that ships travel.  I do this because I want to know what path the characters will take and why.  I want to know what language the locals will speak when the characters stop into a bar or tavern.

What does this have to do with the story?  A bit of nothing and a bit of everything.  It doesn’t matter in the slightest what language they speak in the bar… but the fact that they have a culture and language adds a level of richness, of reality to your writing.  So to, does having a map, of knowing that the characters can take the dangerous mountain pass in the dead of winter or divert two hundred miles to a  fortress held by enemies which is the only other way through.   Knowing that the characters will need three weeks (or three months) to travel to the next star system not only gives you a way to pace your story, but adds all kinds of fun plot developments and character arcs.  What do they do to pass that time?  How do they get along together on a tiny ship?  Which character(s) snap under the pressure?

Drawings, in the same way, not only help the reader to visualize the world, but it helps you as an author too.  Even a crude sketch can help you to develop what a character looks like in order to better describe them, or whether that city in the mountains is nestled in a valley or sprawls across a hilltop.  For a reader, a nice drawing can be an added bit, a way to fill in some of the details or even to add to the layer of mystery around something in your story.  As they say, a picture can be worth a thousand words.

How do I approach both of these?  Well, to be honest, with a map, I want there to be reasons for conflict.  Natural boundaries are frequently the dividing lines for nations… but sometimes those nations may disagree on which dividing line they are prepared to accept.  A nation that lives and thrives in the jungles may come into conflict with another nation which clearcuts the jungle to establish farmland.  Mountain tribes might raid lowlands where the growing season is longer and food is more plentiful… or lowlanders might send conquest parties to seize mineral rich valleys for mining.

Rivers, coastlines, bays, and lakes all serve as methods of transportation and as boundaries.  Mountains serve as boundaries and have profound effects upon rainfall and local climate.  Forests and jungle can act as barriers or havens, while swamps and marshes serve as foreboding locations and obstacles for characters or refuges for those who need to hide.  Deserts too, can serve as both obstacle and refuge, depending on the cultures of the people involved.

Drawings can hint at cultural themes, with stylistic emphasis in order to accentuate descriptions in your writing.   A well drawn illustration at the start of the book can set the mood or establish a theme for the reader, putting them in the right mindset.

Maps and drawings are both tools.  Learning to use them right is an excellent way to develop your novel and take it to the next level.

Writing

Author’s Toolbag: Creating Science Fiction and Fantasy Languages

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One of the things that impressed me about reading Tolkien for the first time (and even more so, years later) is how he crafted entire unique languages for all of the nations and peoples in Middle Earth. The same has been done (with varying levels of success) by many authors. Some have created languages that are memorable, others crafted ones that add some flavor but not much more than that, and still others create a mess that serves as a hindrance to the reader.

When someone goes about crafting a language, Tolkien is often held up as the example. Of course, he was a linguist, so he had some advantages. He knew and understood languages on a level which most authors don’t really have time to do. Don’t forget, that he spent years developing his languages.

So, other than spending years working on developing a language, how can an author produce something that adds value to their work? There are a number of techniques that I’ve seen and used myself. The first one is to “borrow” from other languages. Tolkien borrowed heavily from Welsh, Finnish, and Gaelic. This of course requires finding or knowing languages that sound or look right for the culture you’re dealing with, as well as some vague familiarity with the language.

Another great technique is using a few words to add a bit of flavor to your text. A greeting here, a curse word there, can give the reader a feel of a distant land and new people. A great example of this is the Firefly series, where they used Chinese greetings, exclamations, and curses. Never enough that a listener was confused, just enough to add some spice.

Crafting languages with other alphabets or runic symbols is another method to add a bit of variety. Where this becomes an issue is formatting, especially with ebooks. If you fancy yourself an artist, you can spend hours, weeks, or even years crafting a unique alphabet (or borrowing from existing ones), which may then only appear in cover art or pictures within the novel.

Pitfalls of writing with your own fantasy and science fiction languages are things most well-read readers have encountered.

By and large, most readers tend to avoid big blocks of text they can’t read or understand. Now, if your intention is to confuse the reader, having long sentences in your own created language can work, but otherwise, I’d advise against it. Unless you think you’re as good as Tolkien (and even then) you probably won’t have people spending hours or days figuring out how to read your invented language.

The above mentioned runic language is another pitfall. Even if you consider yourself a professional artist, take the time to make sure what you are putting into a novel is what you really want there. Even in traditionally published novels I’ve seen crudely drawn bits of runes that I’ve mistaken for doodling in the margins.

By and large, the most important aspect is when you edit your novel. You may have spent years developing your languages, but if your story flows better without those, then you’ll need to cut it. By all means, throw some things in there to make it a bit more exciting or exotic, but not enough to eject the reader from your story.

Reading

Book Review: Frank Chadwick’s How Dark the World Becomes

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How Dark the World Becomes by Frank Chadwick
How Dark the World Becomes by Frank Chadwick

Frank Chadwick’s How Dark the World Becomes is a space opera, adventure science fiction novel from Baen Books. I’ll admit that I was somewhat dubious about a “new” author, but I quickly became fully absorbed in the story of Sasha Naradnyo.

At first glance he is an utterly reprehensible character: he’s a mid-level crime boss who makes money from running gambling rackets and drugs. Yet this is a universe where humans survive on the margins of society, where they are welcome only in areas of brute labor, violence, and crime. Sasha is only a criminal because it is the only way for him to rise… but he also gives back in the form of funding a local hospital and protecting those he can from the harsh universe.

We don’t see much of Sasha as a criminal, instead, we come to him as he transitions, forced out of his previous life and into a wider world as he shows his true colors by protecting two children and their keeper. The writing is fast-paced and the universe is gritty and everything about it feels like one of the noir crime detective novels.

It is a fantastic read from a great author. I went from hating the main character to giving him a grudging respect that surprised me. Frank Chadwick doesn’t pull any punches, he delves into the darkness of his universe, taking his characters and putting them through the wringer and making it very clear from the beginning that no one – not even the main character – is safe.

I’ll note, this isn’t a book I would read when I’m in a dark mood. It’s gritty and in your face, not a cheerful or inspirational story, but one with a world-weary main character who has almost everything stripped from him.

The exciting debut of a nonstop noir SF from legendary game creator Frank Chadwick.  With one single act of kindness, a tough-as-nails hood with a heart of gold saves two alien children from assassination—and resets the balance of galactic power in the process.

Sasha Naradnyo is a gangster.  He’s a gangster with heart, sure, but Sasha sticks his neck out for no man.  That’s how you stay alive in Crack City, a colony stuffed deep into the crust of the otherwise unlivable planet Peezgtaan.  Alive only—because if you’re human, you don’t prosper, at least not for long.  Sasha is a second generation City native. His parents came to this rock figuring to make it big, only to find that they’d been recruited as an indentured labor force for alien overlords known as the Varoki.

Now a pair of rich young Varoki under the care of a beautiful human nanny are fleeing Peezgtaan, and Sasha is recruited to help.  All things considered, he’d rather leave the little alien lordlings to their fate, but certain considerations—such as Sasha’s own imminent demise if he remains—make it beneficial for him to take on the job.

But Sasha discovers his simple choice has thrust him into the midst of a political battle that could remake the galactic balance of power and save humanity from slow death by servitude.  Now all he has to do is survive and keep his charges alive on a hostile planet undergoing its own revolution.

But it’s the galaxy that had better watch out.  For now the toughest thug in Crack City has gotten his first taste of real freedom. He likes it, and wants more.

The stunning debut of a nonstop science fiction noir thriller from legendary game creator Frank Chadwick.

You can find it here on Amazon

Reading

Book Review: A Call to Duty by David Weber and Timothy Zahn

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A Call to Duty by David Weber and Timothy Zahn
A Call to Duty by David Weber and Timothy Zahn

I first read David Weber and Timothy Zahn’s A Call to Duty last year.  I’ve long been a fan of both authors and I purchased the eARC (Advanced Reader Copy) from Baen’s eBooks without hesitation.

I’ll say right off that the book is every bit as fantastic as I had hoped.  The characters are fantastic, the setting is great, and the story is very engaging.  I particularly love seeing the great Star Kingdom of Manitcore in its infancy, watching the growing pains as it develops, and seeing it evolve.

The main character, Travis Uriah Long, has his flaws.  He’s got a painfully narrow focus and an inability to keep quiet when he sees something as being wrong… no matter how much trouble it gets him into, along with a social awkwardness that only gradually begins to fade.  To make matters worse, his half-brother dabbles in politics and since Travis is in the military and his brother is in league with the politician swinging against the military, things get a little difficult for poor Travis.

The book comes with all the exploding spaceship goodness that you can expect from a Baen read, along with the above mentioned fantastic characterization and gripping story.  Even though we know where the Star Kingdom will eventually end up, there’s enough tension because we have no idea what will happen to our characters in the process.  While our intrepid hero might well make it through the series, there are no guarantees.

All in all, if you are a fan of anything Weber or Zahn, this book, and the series it begins, is definitely worth a read.  You can find it on Amazon here.

NEW SERIES FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHORS. Book #1 in Manticore Ascendant, a new series set in David Weber’s best-selling Honorverse, from multiple New York Times best seller David Weber and #1 New York Times best-selling author Timothy Zahn. FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK.

Growing up, Travis Uriah Long yearned for order in his life . . . some things his neglectful mother couldn’t or wouldn’t provide. So when Travis enlisted in the Royal Manticoran Navy, he thought he’d finally found the structure he’d always wanted so desperately.

But life in the RMN isn’t exactly what he expected. Boot camp is rough and frustrating; his first ship assignment lax and disorderly; and with the Star Kingdom of Manticore still recovering from a devastating plague, the Navy is possibly on the edge of budgetary extinction.

The Star Kingdom is a minor nation among the worlds of the Diaspora, its closest neighbors weeks or months away, with little in the way of resources. With only modest interstellar trade, no foreign contacts to speak of, a plague-ravaged economy to rebuild, and no enemies looming at the hyper limit, there are factions in Parliament who want nothing more than to scrap the Navy and shift its resources and manpower elsewhere.

But those factions are mistaken. The universe is not a safe place. Travis Long is about to find that out.

Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Odin’s Eye Snippet Two

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Here’s the second snippet for Odin’s Eye, coming this weekend!  Odin’s Eye is the sequel to Fenris Unchained and a novel in the Star Portal Universe.  You can find the first snippet here.

Time: 1200 Zulu, 24 June 291 G.D.

Location: Bliskin Station, Hanet System

 

“Yep,” Mike Majors nodded as he pointed out exterior damage to the ship’s forward ring, “That’ll need some repairs.”

It was a bit of an understatement, in Mel’s opinion. Having experienced the wrenching sensation of the off-balance warp drive, she would have said both damaged rings would have needed to be replaced. Their surfaces were covered in emitters designed to warp space… many of those emitters were damaged, out of alignment, or simply destroyed.

“I was hoping to get some upgrades,” Fenris said, his voice a gravelly baritone.

Majors didn’t even bat an eye at being addressed by the AI… which made Mel wonder just how many Guard laws that the Mercenary Guild bent or outright broke out here at Blisken Station where people paid extra to keep their secrets.

“That’s entirely possible,” Majors said. “Now, just off-hand I’d say it looks like you’re equipped with Tango-Seventeen drive field emitters, which were top of the line back a hundred years ago, but we can probably either upgrade or entirely replace them with something like X-Ray-Elevens.

“They’re the same series of emitters so we wouldn’t need to replace any power conduits or do any hull redesign. It would keep your drive field depth and give you even better speed at strategic warp, you’d be a match for most current military craft.”

“You have a good eye,” Fenris said. “Most humans don’t realize how deep a drive field I have.”

Mel rolled her eyes at that. She wasn’t certain whether the ship or the engineer was trying harder to flatter the other… either way, she knew it was going to cost the group money as the two worked each other over for more options.

“Oh, yeah,” Majors said. “I could tell that from just a glance. What I’m really interested in, is whether you’re satisfied with those disruptor cannon; they’re Mark Thirteens out of the Preserve, right?”

Like other engineers she had met, Majors wore a headset with an eyepiece that scrolled information to him. Mel could see ghostly text flit across it too fast for her to read anything.

“Yes,” Fenris growled. “Truthfully, I don’t think they provide the full output that they had on their specifications.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’d heard,” Majors said. “I also heard that they’re subject to projector failure when they’re fired in rapid sequence.”

“You know, I thought that was just a malfunction in my secondary systems, but that would explain the drop in rate of fire,” Fenris said.

Mel shook her head; this was about to get very expensive. She jotted down new main armament, even before Majors answered.

“Well, we’ve actually got some of their Mark Twenty-Fives in stock, pulled them off… well, I can’t really say what I pulled them off,” he winked conspiratorially at Mel, “but I’ve got a full set of those, which should be as easy as a one-for-one swap. There’s still a healthy market for the Mark Thirteens, so it wouldn’t cost much beyond installation and a bit of overhead. The Mark Twenty-Fives will give you a significant boost in firepower.”

It was a long moment before Fenris spoke, “I’ve looked at the specifications for the Twenty-Fives, I like that idea. What do you think about my power systems?”

“Well,” Major said after a glance at his eyepiece, “I’d say that they’re pretty solid. Power output is limited, but we could probably boost it with some…”

 

 

Time: 1400 Zulu, 25 June 291 G.D.

Location: Bliskin Station, Hanet System

 

“This looks like it’s going to be expensive,” Marcus said as he looked over Mel’s notes from the day before. “New drive emitters, new main armament, upgrades to the power systems, new secondary armament, and some defense upgrade options as well…”

Fenris’ growl answered him, “I’m worth it.”

“We know you are,” Mel said, “It’s just that we don’t know how much money we’ll have to do all this yet.”

She didn’t miss Marcus’s derisive snort; he thought letting Bob arrange things was tantamount to setting them all up to be murdered for their money or turned in to the Guard for a bounty.

“I offered to launder the money,” Fenris growled. “For that matter, I think I could probably simply hack…”

Mel held up her hands, “We talked about that, Fenris; the one place someone is guaranteed to notice hacking is when you start messing with money. Even just moving it around, someone is bound to notice. If you take it from accounts, even inactive accounts, they’ll notice sooner.” The last thing they wanted was anyone realizing there was a rogue AI on the loose.

“Fine,” Fenris said, “but I’d like repairs to begin soon.”

“They will,” Mel said. She didn’t mention how the ship had spent the past century making do with what it could manage on its own. The AI seemed to have exhausted much of his patience when he realized his freedom. At least he still values human life, she thought.

“I’d like to test my new systems out against an appropriate target after repairs are complete,” Fenris growled. “Maybe a pirate?”

Mostly values human life, she corrected herself. It seemed that like most men, Fenris wanted to play with his shiny new toys, even before he had them. “I’m certain we’ll figure something out.”

She looked around, “Bob left already?” The spy would have to physically travel to the Chrysalis system to make contact with the criminals he wanted to use to launder money.

That, in turn, meant that they had to use some of the cash to pay for his travel, as well as the travel of whoever went later after he set things up. Someone would have to carry the data codes for the money transfer and they would definitely want some backup and an escort of some kind. Probably Brian and Marcus, maybe me as well, she thought.

“He and Lace left this morning,” Marcus said. “I figure we’ll head out once it’s all set up. You bring the codes, Brian and I will back you up.” He didn’t bother to hide his suspicion of the agent. In his opinion Bob was just as untrustworthy as anyone else.

“We get a total value, yet?” Mel asked.

“Total account value is seventy-seven million, five hundred and thirty-four thousand, nine hundred and eighty-two Guard dollars,” Fenris said. “Though the exact value varies dependent upon exchange rates for the accounts in the Harmony Protectorate.”

Mel gave a low whistle, “That is a lot of money.”

She wasn’t certain about the going rate in the Harmony Protectorate. She knew they were a semi-autonomous collection of four systems that operated with a modified colonial charter under the UN Security Council… but still technically part of Guard Space. She hadn’t dealt much with them, since they had ruinous trade tariffs for foreign vessels.

Plus, she thought, there’s been a lot of ships disappearing out that way and even Vagyr’s pirates can’t account for all of them. It wouldn’t surprise her to hear that someone in the Protectorate was sheltering pirates.

Marcus grimaced, “I’m sure it won’t be nearly as much after we launder it. Standard cut for something like this is upwards of thirty percent.”

“Thirty percent?!” Mel demanded. “That’s extortionate!”

Marcus grinned, “It’s stolen money, so… yeah, it is extortionate. The kind of people we’re dealing with won’t do this from the goodness of their hearts and it costs them a pretty penny to do what they do. They’ll have to funnel the money through a dozen worlds, exchange it for bearer bonds or cash in transit and then funnel it back along the way. This much money, spread across a dozen worlds and systems, it’s going to take a lot of time and work. Plus they’ll probably have to bribe a few customs agents and several senior bank executives to hide those transactions.”

Mel just shook her head, “Still, thirty percent…” She hadn’t thought herself that attached to the money, but to see a third of it disappear so easily left her reeling.

“We’ll get cash to pay for some of the repairs, maybe enough left over to work some cover identities for us all, probably not enough to get a solid ID for you and I, though.”

Mel nodded at that. It seemed to be something of a fixation for Marcus, yet she couldn’t blame him. Without a new, solid identity, they were ghosts in the system. They weren’t free to move about any world, to step aboard any civilized space station, really, to accomplish anything. “We’ll have to register Fenris, too,” she said, “and pay for a Guild Charter if that’s what we’re going to do.”

“If we’re going to stay in civilized space I guess it’s our best option,” Marcus said. She didn’t miss the disapproval in his voice though. He didn’t like that option and he hadn’t yet explained why.

She looked down at her list and the preliminary estimates. Given how their funds were about to shrink, she didn’t know if they would have the money. Certainly they wouldn’t have the money for everything. So where could they afford to cut corners?

It wasn’t a question she could answer. For now, she just hoped Marcus was wrong about the going rate for money launderers.