Tom Kratman's A Desert Called Peace and Carnifex

(Welcome to Day Four of Jimbo's Memorial Day Extravaganza: You Can't Court Martial me for Being AWOL Because I'm A Civilian Edition. What's two weeks between friends, right? Seriously though, my apologies to both of the authors whose reviews came in late. 

Today, we honor Lieutenant Colonel Tom Kratman, US Army, retired. He served for a total of thirty-two years, primarily in the infantry but also in the Inspector General's Office and Public Affairs. He was deployed to Panama, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Egypt.If you don't follow him on Facebook for his stories of serving in Panama, you're dead wrong.  He was awarded both the Combat Infantry Badge and the Ranger Tab. He has also been married for forty-four years, has four daughters and a bunch of grandchildren.)

First off, the disclaimer: The Colonel, despite being an amazing author, has the tendency to put things into a story that will probably put about seventy-five percent of the populations knickers in a twist at some point. If it's not his blatant disregard for the point of view of Transnational Socialists (who he styles as "tranzies") it's the rampant sexuality often expressed by those same people in his books. Things can get pretty explicit. If we're being real with each other, I may be tempted to point out that I love his books for those reasons among others, but if you're the easily triggered type, I'm sure that there's a Sweet Valley High book out there for you somewhere.  My sister liked those when she was about thirteen. Or maybe you could go all Dumbledore and peruse some knitting patterns. Either way, buckle up when you pick up a Kratman novel, because things are always interesting and the man just Does. Not. Flinch.

Anyway...

I'm reviewing these two books together because when I contacted the Colonel for his interview (and thank you to him and all the other authors who have replied over the years. I really have been blessed.) he mentioned that they were intended to be one book but he went a little long. I'm okay with that. I had a lot of fun with them.

The series (I think it's called the Carrera-verse) starts out on a planet named Terra Nova on their version of September 11, 2001. It brought back a lot of that day for me, even if the details were (necessarily) different. What our hero, Patrick Henessy (later restyled as Patricio Carrera) goes through that day is unthinkable. It changes him, and he was already leaning on the harsh side as I remember it. He crawls into a bottle for a bit, but once he comes out, look out!

A Desert Called Peace and Carnifex are both books about training and equipping a force to fight a war and then actually fight the war. Kratman's military experience shows here. He has the expertise to know how to train a force to fight effectively. These novels live and breathe authenticity. They also live a breathe a certain attitude.

Kratman would not be a good guy to go to war against, and neither is Carrera. Some of the methods that Carrera's troops use, both in and out of combat, do not meet up to the standards of the Geneva Convention. That's okay with me though, because the people he's fighting are not privileged combatants under the Convention and don't enjoy it's protections.  A Desert Called Peace is one of the very few (maybe the only) books where I would encourage a reader to read the notes at the beginning. There is something there that is very pointed and which would be well taken. I know I went back and read it AGAIN to make sure I got it right the first time I read these books. And then I read it a third time when I re-read these for the review. Seriously, it's shorter than any of my blog posts, but it lets you into the head of the author.

Wait.

I feel like I'm forgetting something. Is there something else I should be writing about?

OH YEAH! THE PLOT OF THE BOOKS!!!

Listen, Carrera goes from a retired gentlemen to a general leading an army in all but name quickly. It works though. I really got the feeling that it was something he was born to do and it just took him longer than it should have to realize it. He has more than enough motivation to do so once he gets going after a shock worse than many people could have survived. Carrera comes up with a plan, finds people to help him bring it to life and moves with alacrity to get involved in a war that is maybe a little more personal to him than it should be for a leader.

Seriously, just about every decision Carrera makes sense in context but, taken as a whole, I'm not sure the guy is exactly sane. The thing is that he's crazy like a fox. He seems a bit obsessed at times and approves things that I'm not sure I ever could, but he gets the job done. I would compare Carrera to Ben Sisco from ST:DS9 on one of his worst days. I mean, Carrera never actually did anything that would kill every human on the planet, but he LIVED on the planet he was fighting on. 

Then there's his other side: Carrera does absolutely everything he can to take care of his troops. Granted, he's the commander of a mercenary unit and doesn't have to force things through the legislature ala the Veteran's Administration in the US,  and that does make it easier, but he does whatever he can. Whether it's medical care, a pension for those wounded in combat, or even an extended version of the GI Bill's educational benefits. Speaking as the guy with the history degree, the first US president to not do enough for his soldiers was Washington, and there hasn't been a president that got it right since. 

And Carrera, like Cisco, is not a heartless monster. He loves and protects not just his men, but his family. It's the loss of his wife and children that push him into action and lead him to found the Legio del Cid to begin with. Carrera is a more complicated, fully formed human being than almost any other protagonist I've read.

And I  haven't even touched the action in ADCP and Carnifex. I could read these books for the action sequences alone and be satisfied. They're gritty and realistic. What they are not is a World War II propaganda film. Kratman's action sequences are ugly and violent, they way they should be. He has been there and done that and doesn't spare the details. 

Of course, there's also the politics. Hennesy/Carrera starts out in the Republic of Balboa, which is totally not Panama. Obviously. It's on another planet, see? But when he starts a mercenary army in the heart of the country, he attracts some seriously negative attention. And then there's his relationship with the Federated States of Columbia, who should never be mistaken for the US. Nope. Not at all.  

And of course, there is politics on the other side, with the United Earth Peace Fleet (not the UN) and the actual enemy, an army of Islamofascists that may remind an uncharitable individual of Al Qaeda. Kratman does a good job of showing both sides, although he has an obvious rooting interest. I'm okay with that though. It matches mine.  

In short, if you want to read something that is entertaining, believable, action-packed and believable read A Desert Called Peace and Carnifex. It's that simple.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Legitimate Reprisals

A Desert Called Peace
Tom Kratman
Baen Books, 2013

Carnifex
Tom Kratman
Baen Books, 2013

A Desert Called Peace and Carnifex are available for purchase at the following links. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

D.T. Read's Ganwold's Child The Sergey Chronicles: Book One

(Author's Note: So I know I reviewed this previously, but a new edition just hit the 'Zon yesterday and I had to let everyone know.  Read had these self-published and resold the series to Chris Kennedy Publishing/ Theogony books. And yes, I've read the new edition. I got an Advance Review Copy awhile back. As much as I enjoyed it before, and I gave it five stars last time, it's better this time. The story is largely the same, but some of the language has been cleaned up and Ganwold's Child reads like it was written by a more experienced writer. If you've followed any writer for long enough, you either know what I mean, or you need to go back and read their first published book and their latest and tell me there's no difference. I'll wait....

Thank you for admitting that I'm right. Now, go read this book. And keep your eyes peeled, because books two and three of The Sergey Chronicles will be along here shortly.

I haven't changed much of the review below, except to update the cover (and OMG is that an awesome cover) buy links and bibliographical data, but it's a good review. Read it again. I would.)

(Welcome to the Third Day of Jimbo's Memorial Day Weekend Extravaganza! Yeah, I know I'm two weeks  late, but like Papa Heinlein once said, "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by." Yeah, I suck. I know. My apologies to both remaining authors. 

Anyway...

Today, we're honoring Lieutenant Colonel Diann Thornley Read, an Air Force Veteran with twenty-three years of service. She was an intelligence analyst, providing briefings to officers with much higher rank than hers. She served in Korea, Bosnia, Iraq, and Italy. She was awarded a Joint Service Medal Commendation and told that she "was the only American the multi-national coalition could understand."She says that, given the chance, she'd do it all again, too.

She states that she used a couple of locations where she was stationed for inspiration for her stories. I think that's probably where that air of authenticity comes from.)

Ganwold's Child by Diann Thornley Read (who can totally feel free to confuse with DT Read that I've reviewed previously, because they're the same person. You'd have to ask her why she uses both. Any confusion you may be feeling regarding that is totally my fault though, because Jimbo.) started off just a wee bit confusing for me. We're introduced to an alien race with its own language and idioms right off the top and I found myself scratching my head. It only lasted a few pages though, and then things got really, really good. 

Our main character is a guy named Tristan Sergey and he loves his mama. She's sick, the aliens he lives with don't have the tech to help her (based on symptoms, I'm guessing cancer but if the disease is ever mentioned by name, I missed it.) and so he sets off to save her due to a sense of Jwa'lai or duty to his mother. I find this concept fascinating, because it makes so much sense. One should always do as much as one can for his mother. On the other hand, although Read does a good job explaining what it is, I feel like I'm missing some kind of deeper cultural thing. If you've ever taken Anthropology, you know what I mean. That's really impressive. It hits just the right note. So off he goes to meet his father, who he can't remember because he's been stranded on this planet without contact with other humans since he was in diapers. He hopes that dad will help him - assuming Tristan can find the man in the first place.

Tristan is one impressive dude, too. The tech level he starts off at is basically stone age or a bit higher, and by the end of the first book (this is part of a trilogy) he's flying space fighters. He can also take a beating better than just about any other character I've read, and I loved Ben Raines from The Ashes series by William W. Johnstone. This is one bad dude. I don't want to give too much away, but don't give up on this kid. And a kid, by the standards of my forty-six year old self at least, he very much is. This works to his advantage at times. Young people recover from physical trauma more quickly. It can also sometimes work against him.

When Tristan finds his way (along with his friend/brother Pulou) from the alien village he was born in to the technologically superior human settlement nearby, he finds out how little he knows the hard way. He has not sense of history and knows nothing about politics. This is a dangerous situation for anyone, but even worse for him for reasons that would be spoilers. You'll have to trust me when I say it's not a good look for him, at least until you buy the book, which you should do immediately. I'll wait. 

...

...

...

...

Are you back yet? Good!

The political intrigue in Ganwold's Child is well done, layered and hints at a much bigger conflict than what we're shown here. I'm waiting to find out what's still out there, but I won't be waiting long. I'm going to buy the next book.

See how that works? SUPPORT YOUR AUTHORS PEOPLE!!

Anyway...

Tristan's quest starts off bad, gets worse and then, well..

Read the book.

Read has built an entire universe here and it kind of makes me sad that she's only written three books in it. Her worldbuilding is excellent. There are some things going on here that make sense in context and you learn a lot going through the book, but you hardly notice what's going on. I love that about it. Tristan is not stupid, but he is inexperienced and naive, and I learned a lot along with him. What I got ahead of time was necessary for the story and kept the intrigue level high.

And I guess that's the thing about Ganwold's Child. There is a lot of physical action. If you like fist fights, shooting, dog fights and, of course, splody stuff this is definitely a good book for you. The cool thing about Read though, is that she included all of that without turning it into a Michael Bay-esque disasterpiece with special effects and no story. When something happens in Ganwold's Child it matters. The reader cares, and not just because they have to, but because the characters get our attention and hold it.

Let's face it. Read knows more about building up a babyface than the WWE ever will. The other characters drew me in almost as much, though. Ganwold's Child is full of both heroes and villains. Some of the heroes are a little more likely than others, but they all deserve the title. And the main protagonist, the wolf in sheep's clothing, is very easy to hate. Read did a good job with him though. He thinks he's a hero and that everything he does is warranted.  

It's worth mentioning that I was a bit concerned about Ganwold's Child. I write a bit of fiction myself here and there and my older stuff is not as good as my newer stuff. That makes sense. Writing is like anything else. You get better at it with experience. This is Read's first (published) novel, and I was kind of thinking...

Yeah, nevermind. 

My mama told me I shouldn't think because thinking always gets me in trouble. She would've been right here, too, because Ganwold's Child is a damn good book. If I were to go searching for differences between GC and her Seventh Shaman series, I would only say that the language in the newer series feels a little more relaxed and, honestly, who gives a rip? A good book is a good book. 

I'll let you all know when I've gotten to the next two in the Sergey Chronicles, but I will be getting to them. I need to find out how this ends. The first hit may not have been free, but it got me hooked. Read is an author worth following and I'm glad I got on the bus early in her career. Let's see where she goes from here.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Peimu

Ganwold's Child
D.T. Read
Theogony Books, 2023

Ganwold's Child is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Glen Cook's Sweet Silver Blues: Garrett, PI Series #1

Welcome to Day One of Jimbo's Memorial Day Weekend Extravaganza! I'll be posting four reviews in four days for your reading pleasure. Up first, we have Glen Cook. I am sometimes able to get in direct contact with authors, but not this time. Here is what I have about his time serving the good ol' US of A. Cook served in the United States Navy from 1962 to 1972 and specifically was attached, for a time, to the Marine Force Recon unit, 3rd Marine Battalion.[2] During his time attached to the Force Recon Unit, Cook participated in what he called, “practice combat,” and left active duty, “a month before [the unit] shipped out to Viet Nam.

Ok, so maybe the hard-bitten detective is a bit of a cliche. I mean, it’s been done to the point where even Star Trek parodied it. Remember Dixon Hill? And, of course, we’re all Harry Dresden fans here, right? It just works. That’s one of the biggest reasons I love Sweet Silver Blues by Glen Cook. Our main character, Garrett, is the stereotypical cynical detective who has seen it all. Except that this is the first book in the series, so apparently he still has more to see. You’d never make him believe that though.

Garrett is what makes the book. I mean that seriously. Of course, there are a slew of other characters, some major, some minor, some seen repeatedly, others that show up only once. But Garrett is THE MAN in the book. It’s not just that everything centers around him. He’s the main character. That’s how it’s supposed to work. It’s that his personality suffuses the whole book. Sweet Silver Blues has a feeling to it that you can’t quite shake, and it comes from the way Cook depicts Garrett. SWB is a first person novel and that’s a big part of it. Any story is, of course, going to be flavored by its narrator. 

Cook’s characters make sense. They do what they do for their own reasons and their reasons are at least somewhat logical. I can believe that Garrett had a tryst with a woman when he was young because that’s what young men want and what young men do. I can believe that people are seeking a large sum of money and are willing to commit fraud to obtain it, because that happens in the real world every stinking day. Money makes people crazy. I used to work in a call center that served over three hundred credit unions. I’ve seen it. 

As a side note, and since this is the Memorial Day Event, service members beware. A lot of credit unions serve military members, and I’ve taken the “I just got back from deployment and my wife/girlfriend took everything I own. My house is empty. What’s my balance?” calls WAAAAAY too many times. I left that job in 2012 and I’m still sick of hearing this. (And since I know someone out there is lying in wait to make a stink: Has a woman ever come back to her man having cleaned her out? Probably, but that’s a call I’ve never taken.) Make sure you know who you’re dealing with and know that if it was me, I’d keep some money where only I had access to it while I was deployed.

Sorry. I guess that’s your public service announcement for the weekend. Back to the reason you all came here. 

As Sweet Silver Blues is the first in the series, it is also our introduction to the world that Cook has created and it’s a good one. Cook avoids the mistake of many other authors who seek to cram the entire setting into the first two paragraphs. He gives us the details when he needs us to have them and relaxes the rest of the time. I love this approach because it gets me what I need and I don’t feel like I should be sitting in a classroom taking notes. 

The fights in Sweet Silver Blues  are epic. They’re up close, personal and intense. They’re more fist fights than sword and sorcery per se in most cases but they work that way and you do get the occasional flash of steel and magical effect as well. Not all of the combatants are human and there are some adjustments made to make that work as well. I was reminded of the time I saw Rocky IV at the theater and the way the crowd reacted. I wanted to cheer, but that wasn’t safe while reading an e-book. I use my cell phone for work. Waving my arms around cheering would have been counterproductive.

Cook’s take on mythological creatures is original too. There are some creatures here that are portrayed in ways that I’m not used to seeing them. There are also some effects that come from certain things that aren’t quite the way I learned it. If you’re the super-nerd purist-guy type and everything has to appear exactly the way it appeared in Bulfinch’s or in LOTR or some other junk you’re going to lose your mind. That’s okay though, because I’ll be the person laughing at you. A fresh take is always good to see and there are definitely a few here. There are also a few new species that I’ve not seen anywhere else and I like that.

The easily offended might take offense at Cook’s offensive use of what he calls “breeds”; half-breeds between humans and magical species. Think Hagrid and Flitwick from Harry Potter. It didn’t bother me. Yes, some of the characters (including Garrett himself) have a negative attitude toward beings that are only half human. It makes sense though. If it’s going to get your panties in a bunch though, I’d suggest reading something else. If you missed it, that’s my version of a trigger warning. Quite honestly though, it’s one of the most believable parts of the book. And if you think it wouldn’t happen elsewhere, I’d suggest you take a look at some of the attitudes that Hagrid has to put up with. 

This is the part where I don’t talk about a particular creature that I liked or how they come to be because it would be a spoiler. That kind of irritates me because it was cool but I don’t do spoilers. Trust me on this one though, if you don’t read Sweet Silver Blues you’re missing out on something with these guys.

Magic is handled in a way I’ve never quite seen it done before too. I loved it. Garret has a definite dislike of spellcasters in general and that seems a pretty common attitude. There’s a bit of fear there too. Both are fairly common and yet, it seems pretty easy to use magic if you’ve got the right connections. I plan on reading further in this series and I hope he explores the magic of his world further, because it seems like there’s a lot there we don’t see in book one.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Hung Over Detectives

Sweet Silver Blues: Garrett, PI Series #1

Glen Cook

ROC, 1987

Sweet Silver Blues: Garrett, PI Series #1 is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no cost to you.

Chris Kennedy and James L. Young Present Those in Peril (The Phases of Mars Book 1)

Welcome to the third and final installment of this year's Memorial Day Event, Day Late/Dollar Short Edition. My apologies, but as a Lyft driver in Detroit during the Movement Music Festival weekend, I was wiped by the holiday and, seeing as I hadn't done my review ahead of time the way I had planned it out months ago, I ended up sleeping when I should have been writing. I assure you I hadn't intended for that to happen, but I also had slept an average of about four hours a night for three days in a row and, when I got home from a memorial service on Memorial Day I sat down for "just a minute" and woke up five minutes after I should have left for work. Oops.

At any rate...

Today's review (that should have happened yesterday) is Those in Peril, and anthology edited by Chris Kennedy and James L. Young. I did Chris's Bio on Sunday and I'm extremely lazy, so you can feel free to look there if you want to know more about him. If you haven't read it, you probably should. He's an impressive guy.

The other editor of the anthology is James L. Young. He served in the Army after completing his degree at West Point. He served from 1997 to 2003. He was an armor officer, attaining the captain at the end of his career and was the Executive Officer of the First Stryker Brigade (C 1/14). He says he was stationed in both Korea and Germany. I wonder if he got any cool electronics for cheap, being that close to Japan. I would have if it would've been me.

Oh, and just to take note, the following authors of stories in Those In Peril are veterans or currently serving:

Kacey Ezell (her bio is actually here) is active duty US Air Force.
Stephen J. Simmons is a veteran of the US Navy.
Joelle Presby is a US Navy Veteran.
Phillip Wolrab is a veteran of the US Army.
Doug Dandridge is a veteran of the US Army.
Philip S. Bolger is a veteran of the US Army.
Justin Watson is a veteran of the US Army and a West Point graduate.

If I missed anyone, it is because I didn't see a reference to your service in your bio and I didn't do any real research. If this happened it is totally my fault and I apologize.


So first, a few thoughts on Those in Peril as a whole: I really enjoyed it. Then again, it's an Alternate History anthology featuring navies and naval combat and I've loved Alt Hist since I was first introduced to the concept. With the exception of the first story, it appears to have been set up in chronological order. I loved that about it. There is no continuity per se as each story has a separate Point of Departure and they don't work as a continuous story. That's okay though, and it's a lot easier to follow a bunch of different stories if they're in a definable order and you can get your brain to follow things in a logical order, if that makes sense.

Anyone who follows this blog ought to know that I'm a big fan of the Dama. She's one of the main authors in the Four Horsemen Universe and I'm a member of the fan club.  So when Those in Peril opened with "Naked," a story by Kacey Ezell I got excited, especially since I really liked Minds of Men, the first book in her Pscyche of War series and this is a story set in the same universe. I was not disappointed. Psychic women and warfare go together like peas and carrots or Forrest and Jenny. I read this one twice just because I could.
her Pscyche of War series and this is a story set in the same universe. I was not disappointed. Psychic women and warfare go together like peas and carrots or Forrest and Jenny. I read this one twice just because I could.

Up next is "Captain Bellamy's War,"by Stephen J. Simmons. a story in which the English pirates in the Bahamas declare independence and found their own nation. You can't beat a story that includes the phrase "Admiral Blackbeard." It's just not physically possible. But...

But...

It's a short. It needs to be a novel.

I WANT THIS TO BE A NOVEL.

*POUT*

*SIGH*

I guess Mick Jagger was right.

I can't always get what I want.

*WHINE*

NOT FAIR!!!

Well...

If Stephen J. Simmons gets it written and published, I promise him one guaranteed sale.

After that, we get "A Safe Wartime Posting" by Joelle Presby. It's the story of a guy sent out to keep the president's nephew from getting himself in trouble and features a setting with the US and Germany allied in fighting World War I. I really enjoyed this one. I could totally see Woodrow Wilson pulling a stunt like this, too.

"Beatty's Folly" by Philip Wohlrahb is another story about the US fighting against the British during World War I. It features an angry Theodore Roosevelt and that's a concept that should be more than a little bit frightening. It's predicated on the fact that France assisted the South during the US Civil War and kept the fighting going until 1867. The US supports a rebellion in Ireland. Lots of stuff goes boom. It's a good time.

"Martha Coston and the Farragut Curse" by Day Al-Mohamed is the story of Martha Coston and her invention of signal flares. I like this story because it brings up a good point about naval warfare and history in general: It is often the usung person that saves the day. In this case, it's a woman who knows a lot of chemistry. It also helps that she's no one's fool and pays attention to what is going on around her. Hold on: Could I have enjoyed this story so much because I like sciency females? Nahh...

"The Blue and the Red: Palmerston's Ironclads" is another story about the English and Americans trying to kill each other on the water, only this time with a twist: The main character is a reporter who gets captured. I had fun  with this one. Often in military history and/or fiction we read about the bond between all warriors but something that nearly always gets left out is that people outside the military form bonds too. This is a story (at least in some ways) about the bond between reporters. It features plenty of fighting to keep your bloodlust sated too.

"Far Better to Dare" by Rob Howell is the US vs. Spain ala the Spanish and American War only later in history and with better technology. We get a view from the deck of an American battleship. I find it interesting as well that they Americans in the story are able to identify only the class of their enemies and not the exact ships. It's the type of thing I'd seen in Star Trek a million times but I hadn't considered that it would work that way in the real world. That's a good bit of added realism that was really cool.

"Off Long Island: 1928" by Doug Dandridge is the story of a British and American war set in the late 1920s and a particular battle contained therein. I like this story a lot, both for the action and because the author included a conversation at the beginning that really helped place this story in context of a war that never actually happened. I really wish that there was a novel to go with this one.

Ahoy! A new Sarah Hoyt novel has been sighted off the port bow! That has me excited because I'm a fan and it's been awhile. "For Want of a Pin" is the story of a young girl from Portugal (where Hoyt grew up) fleeing an invasion by France and headed to Brazil. It's more character driven than combat driven, but I've always liked that about Hoyt's writing and this story is no exception.

"Nothing Sufficient Can Be Said to Describe It" by Meriah Crawford is the story of a man and his Grandaughter conversing about a battle he has been researching. Maybe it's just the historian in me, or maybe I'm going soft in my old age, but I really enjoyed this one. This story really has an episodic feel to it because of the letters and the breaks between them. I enjoyed it.

"Corsairs and Tenzans" Philip S. Bolger is the story of the US and Japan united in Alliance against Nazi Germany. I find the concept of an "Oahu Pact" to be fascinating. This is another one I'd like to see turned into a novel. I don't really like Germany's chances in a naval war against either country, quite frankly, but it'd be fun to watch them get taken down. Yamamoto Isoroku having a conversation with Chester Nimitz gave me goosebumps.  Well done Bolger!

"For a Few Camels More" by Justin Watson is the story of a Japanese submarine and her crew doing mercenary work after the end of the Second World War. This one has plenty of suspense and intrigue to go along with some actual combat. I have a soft spot for mercenary stories to begin with but this is a good story because of more than just that.

NATO Capitalist Running Pig-Dogs versus the Soviet Red Menace! "Per Mare Per Terram" by Jan Niemczyk is a story of the fight I wanted as a kid. It is also the story of the fight I feared would come as a kid. I'm from Detroit and we were a major industrial target. The thought of extreme heat followed by a mushroom cloud was on that freaked me out from way before I was old enough to actually be thinking of any such thing. Niemczyk may have set his story a couple of decades later, but it still scratches that itch for me.

Reading the blurb after the story, I realized that this was part of a novel. I went to Amazon to buy said novel. Then I realized that it wasn't there because it's a web novel, so I clicked the link. I couldn't get access. Does anyone know how I can access this novel? I need to know how it ends.

Anyone who reads the blog knows that I'm a James Young fan. Stories like "Fate of the Falklands" are why. The Falklands War is not something that is well known by American audiences but it should be. The fight doesn't turn out the way you'd expect (I mean, it's alt hist right?) but this is a damn good story. I've read it twice. I'll probably read it again.

All in all I really enjoyed this anthology. There may have been a few more stories centered around a war between the US and UK than was technically necessary, but I think that's just me whining because it made the work harder to review. (Seriously, two stories about the US and UK fighting are easy to differentiate if you've read the whole story. They're not so easy to differentiate in a paragraph as part of a review. Hopefully I did a decent job.) That much having been said, it's still a great book that's worth your time and money. I'm really looking forward to To Slip the Surly Bonds, the next anthology in the series.

Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Sixteen Inch Shells

Those in Peril (The Phases of Mars Book 1)
Chris Kennedy and James L Young ed.
Theogony Books, 2019

Those in Peril (The Phases of Mars Book 1) is available for purchase at the following link:

Memorial Day Event Part One: David Guenther's Zombie Airman

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Welcome once again to the Jimbo's Awesome Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews Memorial Day Event!

This year, I'll be reviewing three books in three days all of which were written by veterans and feature the US Military in action. It's an awesome chance to highlight some of the people who have put their asses on the line to keep mine and read some military science fiction and/or fantasy in the process. And I mean, I love our veterans almost as much as I love a good book and I love a good book almost as much as I love my kids. So this a totes legit thing, right?

But enough about me, let's talk about David Guenther, author of Zombie Airman and a longtime veteran of the United States Air Force. (I may be crazy, but I think that might be why it's Zombie Airman and not Zombie Soldier or Zombie Marine.)David served from 1982 to 2003, retiring at the rank of Master Sergeant (E-7). He was a 1T191 Aircrew Life Support mechanic and was deployed for Display Determination (part of Desert Storm), Desert Storm itself, Operation Southern Watch and Operation Enduring Freedom. Guenther had a part in saving many pilots after they had punched out. He worked on the C141B Air Lifter, C-5 Galaxy, F-16, A-10 (just like my buddy Swen!), OV-10, F-111E, B-52, KC-135, KC-10 and T-37. He sent me a list of places he's been stationed as long as my arm and I'm not going to list them all because I want to get to the review part of the review sometime today, BUT he also served at Eielson AFB, where my grandfather had served as a young man decades earlier, and I think that's really cool. He also, at least if I'm interpreting this right, did some work providing SERE training to our pilots.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm reviewing one of his books today?

Zombie Airman is starts in the right place and it FREAKING STAYS THERE. Seriously folks, how many times have we been "treated" (I'm looking at you TWD) to a story where our hero gets hurt,  conks out and wakes up like a month after the whole world has gone to Hell. Not this book. We're there right at the start and the whole book is set in the first few days after things break down. It gets ugly quickly, which makes sense in a zombie story, but we get to see it get bad instead of seeing it after it's already bad. I really like that aspect of it.

Something else that has always driven me crazy (Once again looking at you, TWD) is that writers of zombie stories always seem to assume that the military is going to go tits up in the apocalypse. NEWSFLASH: The military has plans and supplies for when Shit Hits the Fan and the training and knowledge to use both. So not only did Guenther hit on a logical way to start clearing zombies and fixing things, he found probably the only logical way. The military (especially after eighteen years of war) is made up of survivors and people how know how to get things done. If anyone survives the zombie apocalypse it's going to be the military. This is the second series I've seen where the whole world hinges on the reactions of the military. Hopefully this turns into a trend.

A huge part of what makes this book work is not just the military though, it's the characters. One of my favorite characters is named Gloria. She's a smart, tough, woman with some world experience and knowledge of the streets. She's hard when she needs to be, but she's a good person too. She is helpful to those around her that deserve it (yes, I said that) and knows when to clear out to keep herself and those that matter safe. Seriously. Gloria is the kind of person you can trust. She is the kind of person you want at your back whether it's the Zombie Apocalypse or just an average Sunday when you're trying to deal with a situation.

One of the strengths of Zombie Airman is that the characters (that haven't been turned) have a tendency to act in a logical and intelligent manner unless they're in a panic. I like that. We all know the commercial where the people in the horror movie skip past the started car and go hide behind the chainsaws, right? You don't get that here. These are smart people acting in a rational manner doing things to help themselves.  And sometimes, they act normal in other places. Something a lot of non-military writers writing military fiction (even the writers who do it well) forget is that normal stuff still matters. It makes sense that a character who has been through a lot and gotten all icky is going to want to eat a meal and take a shower. Guenther puts that in here.

Well, unless it's Caleb. Sort of. I mean, he deals with things in a mostly rational manner except that he seems to be a boy off on a lark. He's the zombie airman in the title. I like the kid despite his brash manner. And I get his sacrifice. I know all about the horrors of letting someone else drive my vehicle. He seems to get through it though. I'm proud of him.

Zombie Airman showcases a new type of zombie that we've not seen before. I don't want to spoil too much but I've definitely never seen zombies do some of the things they do in this book. I really enjoyed that. I mean, there are certain things that zombies have to be, and they're all of those but they're more than just the shambling horde screaming "Braaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiins." Also, at least in one aspect they're kind of reminiscent of vampires, even if they don't suck blood. There is at least one other major difference that I'm not going to spoil because I suck. If you really want to know, buy the book or check it out on Kindle Unlimited. I encourage it. It's worth your time and your loot.

Zombie Airman is also a book that doesn't shy away from political realities. There are some things in here that make sense in a real world context that I wish didn't. The world Guenther builds is based closely on our own in the present day, with all of the warts and foibles that you would expect. Guenther's years as a leader appear to have given him a good working knowledge of human nature as it manifests in legitimate interactions. 

Having said that, I do have one minor complaint about Zombie Airman: Guenther uses a lot of military abbreviations. Military people have a tendency to do that. There are a lot of things in the military that need abbreviating. I'm not so sure that something that works perfectly well in an After Action Report works as well in a novel though. I'm thinking that this would be a better book with just a few minutes work using find and replace and either putting "Airman First Class" where it says A1C, or maybe just deleting it in a lot of places. The book would just read more cleanly that way and the story would still be just as awesome since it wouldn't be changing anything there.

And the story itself is awesome. Zombie Airman is action packed and fun. There are definitely some moments that are kind of icky, but it's a freaking ZOMBIE NOVEL. If you want squeaky clean fun, go watch a Disney movie. There is a ton of action-packed hardcore violence of the type that it would take to survive in an environment full of things that want to eat you. Guenther's characters are not bloodthirsty and savage, but they don't waste their time handwringing when they should be fighting. These are the people I'd want at my side if it all went down. Happily though, I'm stuck with only reading about them.

Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Infected Victims

Zombie Airman
David Guenther
Self Published, 2018

Zombie Airman is available for purchase at the following link:



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F31TCVB/

Call for Submissions/Suggestions for Our Memorial Day Event

(So I wrote this a couple of days ago as part of a batch I did on my day off. I've since managed to track down a couple titles. I still need more and if I get a bunch I'll do my best to extend the event. Our vets deserve the recognition.)

We here at Jimbo's (all one of us) love our veterans. We appreciate what they've done for our country and we want to do what we can to help them out. Unfortunately, Jimbo's is a blog and not a medical service that works better than the VA. Sorry vets, I have to stick to what I'm actually qualified for. So, what can a Science Fiction and Fantasy blog do to help out our vets?

Well....


Some vets are authors. Some of those authors write science fiction and fantasy. Some of the books they write feature members of the US Military in action, often in the future. I'm looking for those books because I do a Memorial Day event where I do a review a day on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. That means I need four books to read. Right now, I have one for sure: David Guenther's Zombie Airman. It sounds good, but I haven't really read something that I'm not going to review for another four and a half months.

Every year I've done this, it turns into a behind the scenes shit show (although people have told me they loved the finished product) as I try to figure out what I'm going to review and how I'm going to get it all read in time because dammit, I need to plan better. I mean, some people came through for me last year, but it was a close thing. And I mean, it's my blog, but why should I do all the work?

So here's what I'm asking for:

I need another three books like the ones I described above that I haven't already reviewed. If you happen to be an author that fits into the category and want to submit your book ala the normal submission process (IE emailing a .mobi, .epub or .pdf to thatjimboguy@gmail.com) that's awesome. If you know of someone who fits the category and you're not an author, let me know and I'll at least consider picking up an ebook. DO NOT send me pirated copies. I don't believe is stealing other people's work and I DAMN SURE don't steal from people who have risked their asses to protect mine.

One year (I think it was my first one) I did do a review of Amy Lynn by Jack July. It was an awesome book by a vet about the US Military in action but it wasn't a work of Science Fiction or Fantasy. At the end of the day, I'm glad I did it. It is a damn fine book and I've since gotten to know the author a bit on Facebook and he seems like a genuinely nice guy. Going forward though, I'm going to try to stick to SF/F because this is a SF/F blog.

Also, and I wish I knew of a way to do this more sensitively, if anyone knows of a SF/F author that fell in the line of duty, please let me know, especially if the royalties are going to any family that has been left behind. I want to pick up a copy and feature it. I don't know if such a thing even exists, but if it does, please let me know about it. If it was your father/mother/sister/brother/cousin/aunt/uncle/friend that's okay. I want to feature them here and I can't do it if I don't know they ever existed.

If you know any of the details of their service (or you are the person who served) include a few details about their service. What branch were they in? What did they do in that branch? Did they get deployed anyplace cool or serve during any wars (and yes, people, anyone who served in the military is a veteran. It's not their fault if we weren't at war at the time.)? Did they get to play with any of the really cool hardware? I do a little bio before I do the main part of the post and not every vet has their own Wikipedia page. I need the details so I can write them up and make sure whoever gets the proper credit.

And yes, I did state that I'd accept submissions but I usually end up buying the books for my Memorial Day event and that's awesome. Somewhere out there is a veteran who made the extra money they needed to get a larger sized Slurpee from me. Just think, twelve extra ounces of sweet and syrupy goodness and it all came from me.

Yes, that WAS humor. And no, this isn't Good Morning Vietnam. I can get away with corny jokes on my own blog.

I'm not particularly concerned with what sub-genre the book falls into. Let's face it: Most will be military science fiction, but nothing is impossible to a true Spec Fic fan. If Harry Turtledove can do a story about the American Civil War and flip everything backwards and add magic... Yeah, it's possible. Horror seems like a natural thing and an urban fantasy could work really well too, and that's just off the top of my head. I'm not even a published author.

Also, I'm working on a fiction piece for Memorial Day Weekend to feature here. I don't know if I'll get it done though, because I have a really bad history when it comes to finishing my stories. If I make it, I guess I'll start the event a day early though, because I don't want to cheat a deserving author out of a spot. And anyway, I'm not promising to have it done. It's the product of an idea I had for a contest that took place a couple years ago and I figured it's a natural fit IF I ever finish it...

And now I'm off topic.

Oh, and for the record, don't think I don't still want regular submissions from other authors. I totally do. It's just that  I need a particular type of author/book for a particular event. I honor veterans here four days out of the year and the rest of the population for three hundred and sixty-one days.

So seriously guys, let me know what you know about that would work. The hard part of doing this event isn't the reading or the writing it's trying to find out what in the world is even available that fits the criteria. And yes, I could relax the criteria, but the problem with working for myself is that the boss is a real prick sometimes and he won't let me weasel out of this. So please, if you've got a suggestion, drop it into the comments below, or email me, or hit me up on Facebook. I've got a group there for the blog and we'd love to have you. Thanks!

Memorial Day Post: John R. Taylor's Return to Normandy

(Yes, I know that I'm a day late and a dollar short but this is my annual Memorial Day post dedicated to all of those who went off to fight for the United States of America and didn't make it home. "Home of the Free because of the Brave" is a cliche but it's true. This post is also dedicated to anyone who has lost a loved one in the service of the USA. Let's not forget that every service member who passes leaves a family behind.)

There is very little in the world as satisfying as reading a work of military science fiction written by a veteran. They can portray things in a manner that is believable and authentic because they've been there. The relationships between the characters work on a level that can't be faked. The tactics make sense. The characters are neither cowardly nor psycho gung-ho and eager to die. They are, in short, just like members of the real life military. All of this is true of John R Taylor's Return to Normandy. He nailed it. I really enjoyed this book.

The premise of the book is pretty simple: In celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the D-Day invasion, several of the nations that participated in the battles on D-Day, including the Germans, send paratroopers to drop on Normandy. This actually happened in the real world. In Taylor's version the lead plane is filled with American paratroopers who are transported back in time to June 6, 1944 and arrive before the invasion troops. They have period weapons and uniforms as part of the festivities, but no ammunition. Things get interesting quickly.

Our heroes don't know what to do at first but that makes sense. They were planning on landing in a wide open field in front of a huge crowd of spectators and instead they're getting shot at by Germans at night. I can't help but think that confusion is the only possible reaction. It's not like this was some kind of experiment intended to transport them. I mean, when they first hit the ground they don't know when or where they are. Once they figure it out they can't figure out how they got there and a few members of the platoon reject the idea. It's natural and believable.

I don't have the details of Taylor's actual military service (his bio lists him as having served in the 101st Airborne just like his characters) but I'm guessing he never made high officer rank. He seems to have a healthy dislike of those who give orders and get soldiers killed. That makes sense too. According to his Amazon bio, Taylor served in combat in Vietnam and obviously lost some buddies. I can't blame him for being bitter. High command was hated in Vietnam and for good reason: A lot of the men giving the orders behind the lines had no clue what conditions were for the troops they were issuing orders to. They understood the war they were fighting from an academic point of view but not what it was actually like since they hadn't been in those conditions.  I'd hate to be the officer he patterned some of these characters on but that's neither here nor there.  It does bring up a good point though.

I'm as big a fan of stories like the Honor Harrington saga as anyone, but sometimes it can get a bit frustrating when everything is told from the top down. One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book is that it's told from the point of view of the common soldier. The main character is the lieutenant but he's still a man in the field facing the same dangers as his men. I love that. He gives the orders but he's no Dwight Eisenhower, leading from hundreds of miles away. That is, in my opinion, the best way to tell a story.

I don't do spoilers, but I'm going to this time. Taylor's men meet up with the men from Easy Company, a la Band of Brothers. Talk about a good time. They actually know who they're meeting up with since they've seen the show. It's a good time for them and for the reader as well. I found myself grinning like an idiot when it happened and it fits so well that it didn't throw me out of the story at all. I got a big kick out of it.

Getting back to the point about officers: At one point, Lieutenant "Spike" Wilson gets an order to take out a mortar emplacement. It should be a good order. Americans are dying because they're taking shells and someone needs to take it out. He's told that there should be a company defending the mortars and that he's supposed to take them out with sixteen men while massively outnumbered. He's a soldier so he follows his orders - right up until he realizes that the enemy is in battalion strength and he has no chance of success. Once again, what we're seeing is the battle between officers in the field and their commanders . One knows what's going on and the other doesn't. As someone who has studied the Vietnam War (but has no actual combat experience) this seems to match up with what I've learned about the way things worked there. The realism here is palpable.

My only complaint about Return to Normandy is a weird one. The first chapter of the book takes place in Afghanistan. I get it on an intellectual level. It focuses on an elite airborne unit in the modern US military that would have deployed into combat zones for obvious reasons. It sets up the relationship between Spike and his platoon. Spike shows how much he cares for his men and that is key to the rest of the story. I should be okay with it, but...

It threw me. I was looking for a story in Normandy and I ended up in the rock pile. I felt lost and disoriented for a bit. It's not that it was poorly written. In actuality it was very well done and entertaining. It just wasn't what I expected. I actually went back and checked to make sure I had ordered the right book. (Yes, most of my reviews come from people who have sent me their books in exchange for a review but I didn't have anything that would have worked for a Memorial Day review so I bought one. I'm glad I did.) All in all though, this story still kicks ass. It just took a few more minutes to get through the first chapter than it would have ordinarily.

(Yes, I know that I'm a day late and a dollar short but this is my annual Memorial Day post dedicated to all of those who went off to fight for the United States of America and didn't make it home. "Home of the Free because of the Brave" is a cliche but it's true. This post is also dedicated to anyone who has lost a loved one in the service of the USA. Let's not forget that every service member who passes leaves a family behind.)

There is very little in the world as satisfying as reading a work of military science fiction written by a veteran. They can portray things in a manner that is believable and authentic because they've been there. The relationships between the characters work on a level that can't be faked. The tactics make sense. The characters are neither cowardly nor psycho gung-ho and eager to die. They are, in short, just like members of the real life military. All of this is true of John R Taylor's Return to Normandy. He nailed it. I really enjoyed this book.

The premise of the book is pretty simple: In celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the D-Day invasion, several of the nations that participated in the battles on D-Day, including the Germans, send paratroopers to drop on Normandy. This actually happened in the real world. In Taylor's version the lead plane is filled with American paratroopers who are transported back in time to June 6, 1944 and arrive before the invasion troops. They have period weapons and uniforms as part of the festivities, but no ammunition. Things get interesting quickly.

Our heroes don't know what to do at first but that makes sense. They were planning on landing in a wide open field in front of a huge crowd of spectators and instead they're getting shot at by Germans at night. I can't help but think that confusion is the only possible reaction. It's not like this was some kind of experiment intended to transport them. I mean, when they first hit the ground they don't know when or where they are. Once they figure it out they can't figure out how they got there and a few members of the platoon reject the idea. It's natural and believable.

I don't have the details of Taylor's actual military service (his bio lists him as having served in the 101st Airborne just like his characters) but I'm guessing he never made high officer rank. He seems to have a healthy dislike of those who give orders and get soldiers killed. That makes sense too. According to his Amazon bio, Taylor served in combat in Vietnam and obviously lost some buddies. I can't blame him for being bitter. High command was hated in Vietnam and for good reason: A lot of the men giving the orders behind the lines had no clue what conditions were for the troops they were issuing orders to. They understood the war they were fighting from an academic point of view but not what it was actually like since they hadn't been in those conditions. I'd hate to be the officer he patterned some of these characters on but that's neither here nor there.  It does bring up a good point though.

I'm as big a fan of stories like the Honor Harrington saga as anyone, but sometimes it can get a bit frustrating when everything is told from the top down. One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book is that it's told from the point of view of the common soldier. The main character is the lieutenant but he's still a man in the field facing the same dangers as his men. I love that. He gives the orders but he's no Dwight Eisenhower, leading from hundreds of miles away. That is, in my opinion, the best way to tell a story.

I don't do spoilers, but I'm going to this time. Taylor's men meet up with the men from Easy Company, a la Band of Brothers. Talk about a good time. They actually know who they're meeting up with since they've seen the show. It's a good time for them and for the reader as well. I found myself grinning like an idiot when it happened and it fits so well that it didn't throw me out of the story at all. I got a big kick out of it.

Getting back to the point about officers: At one point, Lieutenant "Spike" Wilson gets an order to take out a mortar emplacement. It should be a good order. Americans are dying because they're taking shells and someone needs to take it out. He's told that there should be a company defending the mortars and that he's supposed to take them out with sixteen men while massively outnumbered. He's a soldier so he follows his orders - right up until he realizes that the enemy is in battalion strength and he has no chance of success. Once again, what we're seeing is the battle between officers in the field and their commanders . One knows what's going on and the other doesn't. As someone who has studied the Vietnam War (but has no actual combat experience) this seems to match up with what I've learned about the way things worked there. The realism here is palpable.

My only complaint about Return to Normandy is a weird one. The first chapter of the book takes place in Afghanistan. I get it on an intellectual level. It focuses on an elite airborne unit in the modern US military that would have deployed into combat zones for obvious reasons. It sets up the relationship between Spike and his platoon. Spike shows how much he cares for his men and that is key to the rest of the story. I should be okay with it, but...

It threw me. I was looking for a story in Normandy and I ended up in the rock pile. I felt lost and disoriented for a bit. It's not that it was poorly written. In actuality it was very well done and entertaining. It just wasn't what I expected. I actually went back and checked to make sure I had ordered the right book. (Yes, most of my reviews come from people who have sent me their books in exchange for a review but I didn't have anything that would have worked for a Memorial Day review so I bought one. I'm glad I did.) All in all though, this story still kicks ass. It just took a few more minutes to get through the first chapter than it would have ordinarily. Heck, I've already picked up

Oh and, for the record, I'm pretty bitter. If I had read this before I did my Dragon nominations I'd have put it up for Best Alternate History. Oops. That's just plain bad timing on my part.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Missed Drops

Return to Normandy
John R Taylor
CreateSpace, 2017

Return to Normandy is available at the following link: