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!