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Military Science Fiction

Book Blast: Mountain of Fire (Black Tide Rising #13) by Jason Cordova

August 15, 2024 by hpholo Leave a Comment

HEY, Y’ALL! Jason Cordova gave us a kickass blurb for Freelancers of Neptune, so he gets โœจ SPECIAL PROMO SPACE โœจ today, and WHOA. CHECK THIS OUT.

1) DAT COVER!

2) It’s his first solo novel from Baen Books!

3) It’s in John Ringo’s Black Tide Rising series!

4) It’s about Catholic schoolgirls kicking zombie ass!

Seriously, if you don’t pre-order this thing, what even are you doing with your life? ๐Ÿ˜œ

Mountain of Fire

Black Tide Rising #13

by Jason Cordova

***

New Entry in the Best-Selling Black Tide Rising Series

FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN

When the lights went out, humanity died. But from darkness came hope.

The surviving students at St. Dominicโ€™s Preparatory School for Girls have had it rough since the H7D3 virus virtually wiped out human civilization. Between rampaging hordes of zombies and wannabe tinpot dictators, the only thing holding them together is the iron will of the schoolโ€™s lone surviving nun, Sister Ann. They know how to survive, but rebuilding isnโ€™t only about survivingโ€”itโ€™s about rising up.

As more survivors start to seek asylum at the isolated school, it becomes readily apparent that the school can be the anvil from which humanity is reforged. To achieve this, though, the survivors must rely on one another to rebuild. The flames of life will be fanned, and the sparks from every strike of the hammer will provide light in the darkness.

But it will not be easy.

From atop the mountain of fire, this beacon of hope must spreadโ€”or humanity will die quietly in the long, final night.

pre-order Mountain of fire here!

***

Also, the blurb Jason blessed us with:

โญโญโญโญโญ โ€œ๐—ฅ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ.

So I finally got off my butt and started reading ๐™๐™ง๐™š๐™š๐™ก๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™š by Jacob Holo. I’d read his stuff with David Weber and was impressed, so I’ve been really looking forward to diving into his own universe and creation to see what he can do.

๐—›๐—ผ๐—น๐˜†. ๐—ฆ๐—ต*๐˜. ๐—ง๐—›๐—”๐—ง ๐—ช๐—”๐—ฆ ๐—”๐—ช๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ข๐— ๐—˜!!!

๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐—ฎ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐˜†๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—บ ๐˜€๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ด๐˜† ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜’๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป, ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—น๐˜€, ๐—ฐ๐˜†๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐˜€ … ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—น๐˜†.

So if you haven’t pre-ordered ๐™๐™ง๐™š๐™š๐™ก๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™š yet, get on it while the going is good. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€.โ€

โ€”๐—๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ, ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฐ๐—ผ-๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐™ˆ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ƒ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ˆ๐™š๐™ข๐™ค๐™ž๐™ง๐™จ: ๐™๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฎ

Freelancers of Neptune Book Cover

PRE-ORDER Signed copies of FReelancers of neptune here
Pre-OrDER FREELANCERS OF NEPTUNE ON AMAZON

Filed Under: Book Blasts Tagged With: Black Tide Rising, catholic schoolgirls, Freelancers of Neptune, Jason Cordova, military sci fi, Military Science Fiction, Military SF, Mountain of Fire, Science Fiction, Zombies

Book Blast: Forlorn Hope (Blood and Armor #4) by Casey Moores and Melissa Olthoff

August 4, 2024 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Y’ALLLLLL Melissa Olthoff let me use one of our Facebook chats as a blurb, so she gets โœจ SPECIAL PROMO SPACE โœจ today. ๐Ÿฅฐ

Which is to say, she’s got a new book out with Casey Moores and it’s got POWER ARMOR in it and you should totes check it out.

Forlorn Hope

Blood and Armor #4

by Casey Moores and Melissa Olthoff

***

After Nisti Khanโ€™s return from her No Fail mission in Iran, she is celebrated as a savior of the young Kurdish Republic. However, their country has many enemies, and within weeks, they are on the brink of yet another war. When Syria invades, Nisti finds herself on the front lines of the most critical battleโ€”defending the beating heart of their country, the capital city of Kirkuk.

After a judgement call goes wrong, Nisti finds herself banished from the battlefield and relegated to a staff job. To regain her place on the frontlines, sheโ€™ll have to prove herself once again.

A successful deep strike by the Second GOG Division should have ended the war, but the Syrian onslaught continues. As losses mount, Nisti must learn the source and take the battle to the enemy. But can she figure out who the real enemy is before her country falls?

Read Forlorn hope here!

***

BTW, if this sounds familiar, it’s because I interviewed them about it last month! ๐Ÿ˜ƒ In case you missed it:

WATCH ON YOUTUBE
WATCH ON FACEBOOK
WATCH ON TWITTER/X

***

Also, the blurb Melissa blessed us with:

โญโญโญโญโญ “I am all of 40 pages into the book and I’m FREAKING LOVING THE HECK outta it!”

โ€”Melissa Olthoff, author of Companions in Chains and 2023 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award Finalist

Freelancers of Neptune Book Cover

And if you’re curious about those 40 pages, we’ve got links for you ๐Ÿ˜‰ …

PRE-ORDER Signed copies of FReelancers of neptune here
Pre-OrDER FREELANCERS OF NEPTUNE ON AMAZON

Filed Under: Book Blasts Tagged With: Author Q&A, Bill Fawcett, Blood and Armor, Casey Moores, Freelancers of Neptune, military sci fi, Military Science Fiction, Military SF, Power Armor, Q&A, Science Fiction

Q&A (& PRIZES!) with CASEY MOORES, MELISSA OLTHOFF, and BILL FAWCETT, co-authors of FORLORN HOPE (Blood and Armor #4)

July 25, 2024 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Q&A (& PRIZES!) with CASEY MOORES, MELISSA OLTHOFF, and BILL FAWCETT, co-authors of FORLORN HOPE (Blood and Armor #4)

Saturday, July 27th @ 8pm EST

H.P. Holo chats with authors Casey Moores, Melissa Olthoff, and Bill Fawcett about FORLORN HOPE, Book 4 in Fawcett’s Blood and Armor series. (โ€ฆAnd gives away a signed book!)

Read the BLOOD AND ARMOR series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW18N86G

Find Casey’s Books Here: https://www.caseymoores.net/
Find Melissa’s Books Here: https://www.melissaolthoff.net
Find Bill’s Books Here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Bill-Fawcett/author/B00JFNCROU


Support the podcast (and/or buy Dazzle treats) at โ€ฆ
Buy Me A Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/holowriting
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/holowriting

WATCH ON YOUTUBE
WATCH ON FACEBOOK
WATCH ON TWITTER/X

***

***

Pre-Order Link Coming Soon!

Filed Under: Interviews and Podcasts, Q&A Tagged With: Author Q&A, Bill Fawcett, Blood and Armor, Casey Moores, Military Sci-Fi, Military Science Fiction, Military SF, Power Armor, Q&A, Science Fiction

Wraithkin – Book Review

July 30, 2022 by holojacob Leave a Comment

Now that I’ve reached a little slow point in my writing schedule, I’ve been able to use that time to read a little more.

One of my most recent reads was Wraithkin, a military sci-fi novel by Jason Cordova and the first book in his ongoing Kin Wars Saga. The book starts out on the slow side, but the action and drama both ramp up steadily before ending in a satisfying bang.

Well, numerous bangs, because this is mil sci-fi after all.

Wraithkin Book Cover

One of the things Cordova gets right is how much misfortune he heaps onto his main character, Gabriel Espinoza. Gabriel (who is given the hilarious nickname of โ€œOmeletโ€ during what is essentially space trooper boot camp) is the kind of person the universe will kick in the groin when he least expects it, and then kick him again while heโ€™s down just for the chuckles. Repeatedly. Seriously, the poor guy is put through more than enough to break lesser men. But heโ€™s someone who can take it, who will rise to face any challenge head on no matter how daunting or demoralizing, and that makes him a great character to follow and root for.

When interstellar war hits close to home, Gabriel enlists to join the Wraiths, an elite group of power-armored soldiers who do not mess around! That much is made clear when one Wraith recruit mouths off to their drill sergeant, and the sergeant kills the cadet by breaking his neck! Yikes! And then, because Gabriel is the misery magnet that he is, heโ€™s given the task of carting the trash (a.k.a. the body of his fellow recruit) to the incinerator.

The novel does have a few rough edges. Thereโ€™s the previously mentioned slow buildup at the beginning, and a few uneven patches in the prose. Wraithkin is one of Cordovaโ€™s earlier works, and I think it shows here and there, but that said, his strong instincts as a storyteller shine through the minor bumps in the novelโ€™s execution, successfully pulling me into the story and investing me in Gabrielโ€™s fate.

Speaking of which, Gabriel gets knocked down, both physically and emotionally, and the good guys donโ€™t always win. Donโ€™t go into this novel expecting sunshine and rainbows at the end of the road, but if you like your military sci-fi grim, gritty, and intense, then I think youโ€™ll enjoy your time with Wraithkin. I did.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, book reviews, Jason Cordova, military sci fi, Military Science Fiction, The Kin Wars Saga, Wraithkin

Aries’ Red Sky – Book Review

June 24, 2022 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Ok, Iโ€™ve gotta thank James Young for his patience, โ€˜cause he sent me an audio code for this book years ago and Iโ€™ve spent all that time and multiple listens trying to articulate a review for this thing.

Aries' Red Sky Audiobook Cover

Ariesโ€™ Red Sky is a grand, galaxy-spanning take of interstellar politics, war, and the humans that are tossed about in the resulting maelstrom. On one side is the Spartan Republic, which emerged after fleeing the earth in the wake of an oppressive empire. That empire has since been lost to the ages, but some of its spirit remains in The Confederation of Man, which is Earth-centric in manners beyond the mere location:

It holds that all people deriving from Earth belong to Earthโ€”i.e. under the Confederationโ€™s thumb.

And the Spartan Republic has no interest in belonging to anything but itself.

One of the things that made Ariesโ€™ Red Sky so difficult to review is, simply, how complex it is. This is not a pew-pew special effects vomit space opera. This is a โ€œYou meet characters from both the Spartan Republic and the Confederation and get to like them on a personal level before realizing, โ€˜Oh, sh*t โ€ฆ theyโ€™re gonna war, arenโ€™t theyโ€™?โ€ space opera. Itโ€™s also a โ€œYes, the Spartan Republic is generally more sympathetic because of its willingness to fight for its freedom, but there are some real scumbags among its political leaders, too, and hereโ€™s a look at how theyโ€™re willing to stab the rare competent politicians to benefit themselves, even if itโ€™ll literally result in interstellar warโ€ space opera.

There is tension in every single corner of this novel, and if youโ€™re familiar with Youngโ€™s writing, you know heโ€™s going to milk that for all the drama itโ€™s worth. He has a talent for writing heart-wrenching heroic sacrifice and death scenes, and he knows it, and I imagine he allows himself a little devilish grin every time his readers notice.

The strength of this book, though, is that the drama is never restricted to one โ€œgood guyโ€ side. Even if the reader is more inclined to root for the Spartans on a philosophical scale, the very human sufferings of both its and the Confederationโ€™s individual characters bring a very realistic and wrenching perspective to the conflictโ€”especially since the ultimate point of the bookโ€™s conflict isnโ€™t to win a war, but to stop a war from happening. The amount of sacrifice that goes into merely avoiding galaxy-spanning war is much of the tragedy of this book, especially when one considers that some of the tension is derived from simple misunderstandings and conflicts of military standards. (One side, for example, has a stricter definition of how surrender works, especially with regards to how captured enemies are expected to behave, and when the other fights back without knowing that โ€ฆ unintended trouble ensues.)

Even though the charactersโ€™ goal is to prevent a war, the book carries a heavy theme of โ€œWar is hell, and itโ€™s especially hellish in vacuum.โ€

All that said, itโ€™s not a book you read at night for fun while nodding off to sleep. Thereโ€™s lots to keep up with narratively, militarily, politically, and interpersonally, and the complexity of it is delicious for people who are looking for that sort of book.

But itโ€™s not even close to an easy read.

Still, Young balances the heaviness of the darker conflict with some astute, intelligent, sometimes coy worldbuilding, and some fun easter eggs. (The Lin-Manuel Miranda fan in me was delighted to meet one character attending a Lin-Manuel Miranda Day performance โ€ฆ at a theatre thousands of years in the future on the other side of the galaxy.) There are also elements of the political worldbuilding that are clearly inspired by the frustrations of modern politicsโ€”thereโ€™s a limitation on how many people from the same political family are allowed to serve, for example, and formal duels are an accepted method of resolving grievancesโ€”but itโ€™s never overbearing, and in general the political squabbles are unique to the context of the setting, rather than direct commentaries on modern politics.

Finally, Iโ€™d be remiss if I didnโ€™t lavish some praise on Jennifer Jill Arayaโ€™s audio narration. She handles a variety of accents and charactersโ€”and songsโ€”with aplomb, and while the basic text of Ariesโ€™ Red Sky is engaging, I have to say that she makes the audiobook my preferred version.

Also, a fun bit of trivia: Not only does Jacobโ€™s name have a cameo near the end, but his character sings, and itโ€™s a song about a unit called the Obstinate Otters. (Thereโ€™s a reason these two magnets are prominent on my fridge.)

Obstinate Otters Magnets

All in all, Ariesโ€™ Red Sky is a great book, and for readers of complex military space opera, itโ€™s a genuine treat.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, james young, Military Sci-Fi, Military Science Fiction, Obstinate Otters, Otters, Review, Science Fiction, Space Opera

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