Tag Archives: MilitarySciFi

A Snippet Of A Space Opera!

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Y’all know I love a good Space Opera! The galaxy wide themes, everything living at stake, huge empires colliding, all of it makes for very dramatic stories! However in the midst of those mighty Space Operas it is easy to miss out on all the little side stories that would combine together into the greater tale. That’s what reading The Long Lost War by Jeff Walker brought to my mind!

This brief SciFi story is cinematic in nature! It felt like something that would easily translate to the big screen, and dealt with deep questions while not slowing down the ever moving plot line!

It is a short SciFi story that features clones and warring forces, and one clone who seeks to question everything going on around them. One who needs to know the why of things. Is there a purpose to this war? How long has it been fought? What are the goals? Can it be stopped? Why isn’t anyone else asking these questions?

This story delivers. It pushes you to think and leaves you wondering. Really fun, quick to read, I recommend giving this SciFi a read!

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Book 36 Of ?

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I’ve just completed reading the 36 book of The Horus Heresy and I really enjoyed it a lot!

The Path Of Heaven by Chris Wraight features the White Scars who are an interesting Legion to follow. Based off of a Mongal Horde sort of group their Legion cherishes speed as one of their primary traits, and they feel like outsiders from the very Imperium they’ve fought to expand and protect. This outsider mindset plays heavily into their decisions on which factor to support in the Galactic Civil War.

The book started a little slow, ironically as speed is so cherished by this Legion, but I think the slowness was primarily a result of over focusing on the enemies in this book, and setting up the deception that warfare brings with it. That said once this book started rolling it really drew me right into it and didn’t let go until the very end! One of the better books in the series.

So let’s talk about this series a bit! This is book number 36 of…. well right now 56 I think m, but as the series is still ongoing who really knows? And that is honestly something that I’m really enjoying about this series, the fact that it just keeps on going and growing. I’ll admit I was a bit frustrated with how sideways everything went early on after a quick start out of the gate with the first few books, but now I know I’d rather the series be this sprawling and wide ranging. The Heresy itself is supposedly only a ten year period of time but the series has jumped around to ten or forty or two hundred years before the “present” time. Each jump deepens the story and increases the build up! The best analogy I can think of is if you ever watched Dragonball Z and you remember how they’d spend like three episodes building up energy for one powerful punch, that’s similar to what the authors are doing here! If they’re going to tell a story of galactic civil war they’re going to truly make it as epic as the galaxy itself!

As a plus for any considering if they want to dip their toes into The Horus Heresy I can truly say I’m still loving this series 36 books into it and I’m eager for however many more books it will last!

PS: it appears WordPress just changed their App and now instead of writing one long blog post it’s split it into several boxes which is causing me some consternation and throwing me off my blogging game just a little right now, but hopefully it posts ok and I get accustomed to it soon! Hope y’all are all well!

Modern Military SciFi In War Stories!

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Y’all, when Apex Publications asked if reviewers would be interested in reviewing books from their back catalog to help spread the word that in September their entire back catalog would be on sale I jumped at the opportunity to join in! Now I know September is flying past so I’m only now letting you know that their back catalog of books is on sale for 25% off for this month if you use the discount code of SEPTEMBER and I apologize for that lateness BUT when you look at the cost and value of the book I’m reviewing for them I think that even if you read this post at a later date you’ll still want to obtain this book and give it a read! Ok let’s dive into this book now:

First off: it is tricky to get a good photo of an e-book cover! Ha! But this cover is perfect for this book. WAR STORIES is a short story collection of new Military SciFi by a variety of authors and it is hard hitting and thoughtful right from the start! If you’re curious what Military SciFi is then I’ve got a lovely post for you on that topic HERE but the short version would be SciFi that deals with military experience as a central factor rather than a story that just has a conflict/war in it. Military SciFi takes a deep look at humanity and holds a mirror up in front of us to confront us with ourselves and what we as a species do to one another and for what purpose. I love Military SciFi and in reading this short story collection I’ve been hit hard with the stories I’ve read. Well thought out. Very thought provoking. Fiction that feels real and challenges me. This is the type of book that takes me a while to work through because I find myself stopping to reflect after every story I read. Y’all, War Stories is an excellent intro to Military SciFi for those new on the scene and it’s an excellent one to cause lifelong Military SciFi readers to gain new perspective. It’s available HERE on APEX Publication’s website.

While you are there please look around at their entire catalog and even if you can’t take advantage of their September discount I think you’ll find books that will capture your interest!

Vintage SciFi Month 2018 Recap

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As y’all already surely know if you’ve been following me for any amount of time: January is always Vintage SciFi Month and this January’s reading was incredible! Let’s take a look at the three books I read this year.

Tactics Of Mistake by Gordon R Dickson is the fourth book of The Childe Cycle which I’m working my way through bit by bit each January. While it isn’t the best book in the series it is really good! It is a strong addition to an excellent series. If you’ve read Dorsai and wanted to know how the Dorsai became the most badass soldiers in the known universe then this is the book for you! If you’ve never wondered that but you still enjoy Military SciFi combined with Vintage Philosophy then this is still the book for you!

Up next was Philip K Dick’s classic of SciFi: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep and it was an excellent story! I watched Blade Runner as a kid but I had never made time for the story it was based upon. I am glad I finally did! It was a very subtle story with a slow burn that once lit wouldn’t go out. Very enjoyable and easy to lose yourself in the story.

This January close to fifty people joined me for the #ReadDune Group Read, several of them reading Frank Herbert’s Dune for the first time! The good news is that almost everyone loved it! I mean how could you not love this book? This was either my fourth or fifth time to read it and I enjoyed it yet again! Getting to see everyone’s reaction to it was so much fun. Dune will always be special to me and I’m happy to report that it gets better with each reread!

I hope to see y’all join in on Vintage SciFi Month next January!

Damming The Heresy Or Adding To The Flow?

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When reading a never ending series you realize the only way to reach the end is to never stop reading. That said every so often it’s good to pause and evaluate if you’re enjoying the series. Upon finishing the thirtieth book of The Horus Heresy I decided to do just that.

One of my early complaints about The Heresy was that every few books you’d get a story that didn’t advance the overall storyline. It felt like it would go sideways. This was a way of building up the series, of showing you what was happening all around the Imperium Of Man during The Heresy. The Damnation Of Pythos by David Annandale felt like one of those sideways books and I won’t lie I was a little frustrated by that at the start. Especially considering the previous book actually featured Horus and advanced the story greatly! To go from a book that’s focused on one of the central characters to the Heresy to a book that features a battered and near destroyed company of Space Marines trying to pull themselves together after being almost destroyed in events that took place in the fifth book of the series was a little like changing gears while driving without using a clutch.

However I must admit that as I read on in the book I started to see how this story fits in the overall story, and I was able to appreciate the added depth it brought to series. It’s also an amazing example of GrimDark SciFi such as you often see in the pages of a Warhammer40K book, I say that to say it felt more WH40K than Horus Heresy style and I’m happy with that. This book, whether intentionally or not, started to form more of a bridge between the events of The Horus Heresy and the events of the every day Imperium Of Man in the 40K universe. Less hope and more faith combined with inner struggles and ultimate sacrifices for gains you can’t yet see.

Thirty books into this Heresy and I’m still quite happy with this series and the directions the authors are taking it in. Truth told I’m going to be sad when I reach the end of this never ending series. I’m going to miss it because it has been such a great reading experience.

That said I’m also starting the thirty-first book right now. Because the only way to reach the end of a never ending series is to never stop reading it. Let The Heresy Continue.

Military SciFi: What Makes It Good

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What qualifies a book as Military SciFi? Or better yet: What makes a story a GOOD Military SciFi story? 
Wikipedia describes it like this: “Military science fiction is a subgenre of SciFi that features the use of SciFi technology, mainly weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters that are members of a military organization involved in military activity; occurring sometimes in outer space or on a different planet or planets.” 
I am happy with that description. Military SciFi, as basic as this sounds, involves primary characters who are based within the military and are engaged in some form of military conflict. Typically you’ll experience that war from the every day soldier’s point of view, and often that soldier will climb through the ranks so that you can experience the war from multiple levels. This leaves room for a lot of character development to happen, and in good Military SciFi that development happens.  
There it is again: GOOD Military SciFi. What sets the best stories apart from the rest? Well that is a highly subjective question, and fortunately I enjoy subjective questions! 

  
Good Military SciFi features technology, but focuses on humanity. It is a human story designed to look into the heart of humanity and warfare. Yes we want to read about the cool space guns and space ships but the story can’t be a tech manual. That’s boring and ultimately becomes outdated quickly. Good Military SciFi looks deep into us, into what makes us human, what drives us, what breaks us, and ultimately how we find the will to persevere. The cool technology sets the stage for the players to act, it isn’t meant to be the play itself.

  
Good Military SciFi should include diversity of some form. The military has often been a leader in areas of integration and diversity. It has had successes and failures but in theory it is a place where you excel based on character, deeds, and abilities. However good Military SciFi can showcase the struggle minorities face to be known for their abilities, or show a non minority character facing, acknowledging, and advancing beyond their inner prejudices. It isn’t a prerequisite of Military SciFi but the best ones do address the issue of diversity.  And we need more diversity in books.

  
Good Military SciFi deals with the moral dilemma of warfare. War is not pretty, and it is not easy, and it comes with a high cost both to the victors and the defeated. Good Military SciFi recognizes this and addresses the cost of war on the people waging it and the nation state behind them. War brings out the best and the worst in us. This fact shouldn’t be ignored. 

  
Good Military SciFi involves ambiguity. The fog of war envelops not just the plot but also the hearts and minds of the characters. Everything shouldn’t be tied up into a neat little package for the reader. The reader should have to invest in the story alongside the characters and reach their own conclusions about the dilemmas facing them. 

  
The best Military SciFi involves sacrifice. These tales should be cautionary tales designed to help us understand the high cost of war and one of those costs is sacrifice. The willingness to put your life on the line in front of others is a part of the military mindset, and often that sacrifice is required for the good of the many. 

  
Military SciFi is also about the camaraderie that military service develops. Oftentimes you’ll hear veterans attest that the primary reason they fought and held a position was for the soldier next to them. They fought, bled, and sacrificed for each other. 

  
In my eyes good Military SciFi includes a look at the technology, the trappings of the military, the training, and the actual warfare, but it goes beyond that to teach us a lesson about ourselves. About humanity. About what our soldiers face, and about our responsibility to our veterans. It lets us look into human nature and either help us understand humanity better or at least learn some of the questions about humanity that we should be asking.  
And it tells a damn good story.