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Sci-Fi

New Audiobook Alert: The Thermopylae Protocol (Gordian Division #6) is Here! šŸŽ§šŸš€

May 8, 2025 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Hey, y’all! šŸ˜„ H.P. here!

The multiverse just got a little louder, because The Thermopylae Protocol is now available in audiobook form, once again narrated by Gabriel Vaughan and released by Recorded Books!

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if the cast of The Gordian Protocol got tossed into the same mission as the heroes from The Janus File … well, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for.

It’s got šŸš€šŸ’„ exploding spaceships, šŸ•°ļøšŸŒŒ time travel, šŸ§ØšŸ•µļøā€ā™‚ļø sabotage, šŸ§ØšŸ•°ļøā›” sabotage of time travel, šŸ¤–šŸ”®šŸ§  philosophical debates about AI personalities, and … Flunky Underling. (You’ll know him when you meet him.)

What’s this one about?

Welp, as usual, someone has been very naughty with time.

When an industrial ship explodes en route to Mercury, it’s initially written off as a malfunction. But things don’t quite add up. The black box claims the ship is 40 years older than it should be. Chronometric dissonance suggests it’s been to another universe. And somebody faked the logs so well only a hardware timestamp gave them away.

Which is bad.

Then there’s the part where someone may have used the ship to bootstrap an entire timeline.

Which is worse.

And now Raibert Kaminski and his team are back in action, teaming up with Isaac Cho and Susan Cantrell, trying to find a newly branched universe, stop whatever’s been built there, and (hopefully) not destroy reality in the process.

Again.

šŸš€ Ready to listen? Grab your copy now!

LISTEN TO THE THERMOPYLAE PROTOCOL HERE

Have you read The Thermopylae Protocol already? Excited to experience it in audio form? Let us know in the comments! šŸ‘‡

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: David Weber, gordian division, Jacob Holo, Mystery, Sci Fi Mystery, Sci-Fi, The Thermopylae Protocol

New Audiobook Alert: The Dyson File (Gordian Division #5) is Here! šŸŽ§šŸš€

March 11, 2025 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Hey, y’all! šŸ˜„ H.P. here!

It’s a good day to be an audiobook listener, especially if you’re a fan of the Gordian Division!

The audiobook for The Dyson File (Gordian Division #5) has officially landed, and it’s ready to infiltrate your eardrums with high-stakes intrigue, futuristic detective work, and corporate espionage on a MEGA-megastructure scale.

Once again narrated by Gabriel Vaughan and released by Recorded Books, this thing brings The Dyson File to life with gripping tension, sharp dialogue, and an immersive sci-fi atmosphere that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.

What’s in store?
  • A macabre techno-mystery. It starts with a supposed suicide, but nothing is what it seems. 😮
  • Detectives in space! Themis Division’s Isaac Cho and his Admin partner Susan Cantrell take the case, uncovering a deadly conspiracy that could reshape humanity’s future. šŸ”
  • Self-replicating swarms gone rogue. Because what’s a good sci-fi thriller without a few out-of-control AI-driven machines? šŸ¤–
  • A race against the clock. Lies, backstabbing, and political maneuvering are just another day at the office when entire planets are at stake. ā°

(Also, beware the fuzzle menace. That is all.)

šŸš€ Ready to listen? Grab your copy now!

LISTEN TO THE DYSON FILE HERE

Have you read The Dyson File already? Excited to experience it in audio form? Let us know in the comments! šŸ‘‡

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: David Weber, gordian division, Jacob Holo, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Sci-Fi Mystery, The Dyson File

Horizon Zero Dawn – Video Game Review

March 13, 2022 by hpholo 1 Comment

This month in my gaming life was an achievement, as I finally – years behind everyone else – finished Horizon Zero Dawn. I’m not nearly as fast a gamer as Jacob is; if I like a game, I tend to draw out the experience as long as I can, which is easy to do with a game as exploration and side-quest heavy as Horizon Zero Dawn. Thus why I have been playing it for … *checks PS4* … 3 years. 😁

Horizon Zero Dawn Image

Long review short, Horizon Zero Dawn is one of my favorite games. I picked it up largely because of all its accolades and the non-traditional female main character it had in Aloy (at least as typical female designs in video games go), and I was not disappointed by any of it.

(Jacob, meanwhile, didn’t make it very far in. He found the game’s massive to-do lists unengaging and the combat uninteresting. It probably didn’t help matters that the very first side quest he worked on featured annoying repetitive dialogue. He also found the core design direction of primitive humans taking down robots to be too much of a stretch for someone who knows how powerful and dangerous even a modern six-axis industrial robot can be.)

For those who are unfamiliar with the game: In the far future, after some sort of technological apocalypse, the people of earth have descended into tribal existences, sharing the earth with biomechanical monsters that process organic material, including humans, for fuel. Among these humans is Aloy. She’s been cast out from her matriarchal tribe for being mysteriously motherless – but unbeknownst to all of them, she’s also the key to unlocking the secrets about their post-apocalyptic world … and what led to it.

The thing that stood out most to me, at first, was the grand, epic scale not only of the story, but of the world itself. The lands you explore as Aloy are so vivid and well-rendered that every nook and cranny looks meaningful, like they all hide something of value, and I wanted to explore them all. Thus, why it took me so long to finish. šŸ˜„

Well, that and hunting all the random biomechanical monsters just for the fun of it. 😁 A combat system can make or break a game for me – I don’t have the patience to wade through games with bad combat systems – and Horizon Zero Dawn hits that sweet spot of being simple to learn but complex enough that you can get really crazy with your strategies if you want to. There’s also more to hunting than just killing monsters; some will drop pieces of armor and other materials as you fight them, which can change the course of a hunt if knocked off at the right time. (I admit another of the reasons it took me so long to finish was because I spent a stupid amount of time figuring out how best to hunt the creatures, Monster Hunter-style.)

Finally, I don’t play most video games for story so much as I do gameplay and role-playing/character interactions, and admittedly, despite its epic, high-stakes premise, there’s no real sense of urgency in Horizon Zero Dawn’s story. (This isn’t because of the story itself, but rather because the player can opt to fill the space between main story beats with as many side quests as their little completionist heart desires. Which I did. 😁)

Viewed as a whole, though, the story is a spectacular one, and in my opinion, stands on its own as a piece of hard sci-fi, video game or not. Even once The Big Reveal about the setting’s mysterious history is made, the player finds that there are dramas within dramas that spiraled behind the scenes in the setting’s past, to contribute to what became the setting’s present, and though we only meet the contributing characters through audio logs and hologram recordings, they’re easily as interesting and well-realized as the more interesting NPCs. I could nitpick some aspects of the plot – namely that the most pivotal, destructive part of the history comes down to one guy being an idiot. But honestly, given the past few years, I’ve learned to never discount the incredible power of One Guy Being an Idiot, so now, in 2022, it doesn’t seem so unrealistic to me.

Overall, though, it still remains one of the best games I’ve played in years, and I look forward to playing it again, even after I’ve played the sequel, Horizon: Forbidden West.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Action RPG, Aloy, Favorite Video Games, Game Review, Horizon Zero Dawn, HZD, RPG, Sci-Fi, Sci-fi RPG, Video Game Review, Video Game Reviews, Video Games

Welcome to the New Website!

October 11, 2021 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Hey, Holo fans! Things are looking a little different over here – in a good way!

After 7 years publishing (Has it really been that long? 😲) we decided our website was in need of an upgrade, and now, thanks to ModFarm Design, we’d like to welcome you to this glorious, shiny, new hub for all things Holo Writing.

Here you’ll find complete details on all our books and series – from summaries to audio samples to review snippets – as well as our blog, newsletter signup, swag shop, and an easy-to-use contact page if you just want to say hi. 😊

Also, author pals: If you’re in the market for a website or website glow-up, Rob at ModFarm is amazing. He’s attentive to what authors want from their sites and determined to make it happen, customer service is near-instant, and site-building in general was pretty quick. The whole design experience gets a big thumbs-up from us! šŸ‘

All that said, welcome to the new website! šŸ˜„ Drop in and explore a while!

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Author Site, Author Website, Authors, Comedy, Fantasy, GameLit, LitRPG, Modfarm Design, New Website, Sci Fi, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Steampunk, time travel, Website

The Valkyrie Protocol is now available in audio!

June 6, 2021 by hpholo Leave a Comment

It’s turning out to be a good summer for audiobooks – especially for our Gordian Division fans. šŸ˜€

This one came as a surprise to even us! 😮 But after a long wait, the audiobook version ofĀ The Valkyrie ProtocolĀ (Gordian Division #2)Ā (once again published by Baen Books and narrated by the excellentĀ Gabriel Vaughan) is finally out and ready to entertain your eager ears.Ā šŸ˜„

We’re excited to finally tell you about it, and hope you find it worth the wait! 😊

You can currently find it on:

AUDIBLE
AMAZON AUDIO

Also, if you haven’t yet started yourĀ adventures through time and alternate history,Ā The Gordian ProtocolĀ (Gordian Division #1)Ā is out and ready for the listening on:

AUDIBLE
AMAZON AUDIO

Enjoy! šŸ˜„

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Alternate History, Alternative History, Amazon Audio, Audible, audible exclusive, audiobook, audiobooks, baen books, David Weber, Hard Sci Fi, Hard Science Fiction, Jacob Holo, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Gordian Protocol, The Valkyrie Protocol, time travel, time travelers

Men Hunting Things – Book Review

February 6, 2021 by hpholo Leave a Comment

I picked up David Drake’s Men Hunting Things anthology for its amusingly frank title and, as has been a trend as of late, ended up finding a new favorite anthology. šŸ˜€Ā 

Its straightforward title belies a book of unexpected variety and complexity.

While some of the stories are simple and hilarious (Wilson Tucker’s “Gentlemen, The Queen!”), others offer a deep and often unsettling look at the psychologies of hunter and hunted, and frequently question which is actually the animal (or monster) in the story – the literal target, or the one hunting that target (or commissioning the hunt, in the case ofĀ Robert Silverberg’s “The Day The Monsters Broke Loose.”)Ā Ā 

There’s a great diversity of story types, too, from the hard sci-fi of Clifford D. Simak’s “Good Night, Mr. James” and Eric Frank Russell’s “Mechanical Mice” to the moody Victorian-style horror of Alister McAllister’s “The Hunting on the Doonagh Bog” to the downright dystopia of Henry Kuttner’s “Home is the Hunter.”

I name these as standouts, but honestly there’s not a bad story in the bunch. If you’re looking for an anthology that balances the fun with the deep and hard sci-fi with the light, give it a try!

***

Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: aliens, alister mcasllister, anthology, clifford d simak, david drake, eric frank russell, henry kuttner, Horror, hunter, hunting, men hunting things, Monsters, psychological thriller, robert silverberg, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, wilson tucker

David Weber and Jacob talk The Valkyrie Protocol on the Weberverse!

September 22, 2020 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Here’s even more from The Weberverse! This time, David and Jacob chat The Valkyrie Protocol together, from how the whole adventure started to the details of the writing process.

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Baen, baen books, Collaboration, David Weber, Jacob Holo, military sci fi, multiverse, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Gordian Protocol, The Valkyrie Protocol, time machine, time machines, time travel, time travelers

Xenotech Rising – Book Review

August 24, 2020 by hpholo Leave a Comment

If The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets The Office is a phrase that makes you want to fling all your money at whatever inspired it – well, grab your wallet. šŸ˜€

In Dave Schroeder’s Xenotech Rising (Xenotech Support #1), first contact has been made in the form of aliens teleporting straight into the office of JP Morgan Chase and offering Earth a space in the Galactic Free Trade Association. Now, fifteen years later, Earth is bonkers with hyper-advanced alien technology, and when that tech breaks (or, more likely, when the user does something stupid to it), someone’s gotta fix it.Ā 

Enter Jack Buckston. As the head of Xenotech Support Corporation, he’s the guy to call when alien tech goes weird. Little does he know that what starts as a simple fix-it might tangle him in a plot that threatens Earth’s new place in the universe…

Okay, there are two things you need to know about this book going in: 1) Xenotech Rising is a sci-fi comedy, and 2) a lot of that comedy hinges on puns, dad joke humor, and geek references. Jack’s very first job in the book involves fixing an issue with ā€œrabbotā€ lawn mowers that are replicating like rabbits at an organization called Widget Tech & Fabrication (or, WT&F). If that alone made you groan, you can put your wallet away now and go read something about taxes or whatever it is humorless pun-haters like to read about. Meanwhile those of us who thrive on silly wordplay will find a smorgasbord of nourishment here.

Even so, there’s more to the humor than puns. Xenotech’s is a setting in which one of Earth’s biggest exports is government session broadcasts repackaged as reality TV shows, and they’re so profitable that the most…erm…entertaining congresses have added extra chambers and extended sessions to maximize their on-screen time and profits. And even though Delta American Air-Space is first introduced as ā€œthe D’Am Company,ā€ that introduction is immediately followed by a look at how airline travel even managed to remain A Thing in a universe where teleportation is also A Thing – and it all comes down to economics. Though it’s certainly a source of humor, the galactic economy is an elaborately imagined and genuinely intelligent part of this world.

Of course, with alien tech comes alien civilization, and the aliens in this novel are equally imaginative. They range from the Murm, which are tiny intelligent beetles with even tinier wormholes in their heads that allow their hivemind to communicate across galaxies (whew!), to the Dauushans, which are six-legged elephantine centaurs with three trunks that have three more trunks, which grant them the mobility they need to be one of the most high tech civilizations in the setting, despite their clumsy bulk (whewwww!). These don’t even scratch the tip of the iceberg as Xenotech’s alien races are concerned, and the unique characteristics of these races often shape the story in such a way that they’re inseparable from it.

The cast of characters is infinitely likeable, too. Jack is a regular guy who just wants to finish his jobs without some idiot getting in the way (so, relatable for anyone who works with the public). He’s also a perfect, if awkward gentleman to Poly, his tech- and disaster-savvy maybe-hopefully-girlfriend. Most notable to me, though, is Terrhi, a young Dauushan who, despite being one of the least human-looking and potentially least relatable of the alien species, ends up being one of the single most adorable characters I’ve ever read – and plays more of a role in the story than one would initially expect.

Most criticism that I have comes down to personal taste: 

Its opening is slow-paced enough that it took several chapters for me to realize where the story was even going – but once the threads began to come together, I realized that everything had actually been set up from the very first chapter, which made the eventual ā€œAha!ā€ moment that much more fun. šŸ˜€ Similarly, part of the climax goes long and seems to amount to ā€œWell, it would be a waste to have an immersive virtual reality company in this book and not have an extended virtual reality video game battle, so…here’s some of that.ā€ Still, even though it doesn’t contribute a whole lot to the plot, it’s still fun to read (even if some of its puns are shoehorned in way too hard, even for a book defined by puns).Ā 

The closest thing I have to a real complaint is that Poly’s insistent romantic advances on Jack become a little tiring. On the one hand, it’s refreshing to read a relationship in which the woman is the initiator. On the other, there was more than one scene in which I went, ā€œDang girl, he said no! How much clearer can he be?ā€ 😐 It’s played mostly for humor, though, to accentuate the gentleman that Jack is, and ultimately the positives in their relationship outweigh this one small negative.

All this to say, if you’re in the mood for self-consciously dorky humor and unexpectedly complex sci-fi comedy, you’d do well to pick up Xenotech Rising. šŸ˜„

***

Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: aliens, Comedy, Dave Schroeder, First Contact, Indie, Indie Publishing, sci fi comedy, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, science fiction comedy, workplace comedy, Xenotech Rising, Xenotech Support

David Weber talks The Valkyrie Protocol!

July 17, 2020 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Valkyrie Facebook Cover Photo
Here’s more from The Weberverse! This time David talks the process of collaborating with Jacob, creating time travel rules, creating (and destroying) entire parallel universes, and other such fun whatnot in The Valkyrie Protocol. šŸ˜„ Check it out below or watch it on YouTube!

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Antioch, baen books, Belisarius, Byzantine, Byzantium, child universe, Collaboration, Constantinople, David Weber, Jacob Holo, Library of Alexandria, Parallel Universes, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Valkyrie Protocol, time machine, time machines, time travel, time travel rules

David Weber reads from The Valkyrie Protocol!

July 13, 2020 by hpholo 2 Comments

Valkyrie Facebook Cover Photo
Hey, Gordian Division fans! If you’re on YouTube and would like a sneak peek at the upcoming sequel to The Gordian Protocol, head on over to The Weberverse for David’s reading of The Valkyrie Protocol, Chapter 1! šŸ˜„
…Or you could just watch it below. 😜 (And don’t forget, it’s coming October 6th, 2020 from Baen Books!)

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Alternate History, Alternative History, Baen, baen books, David Weber, reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Valkyrie Protocol, time machine, time machines, time travel, time travelers, Weberverse, YouTube

The Valkyrie Protocol has a Release Date!

April 9, 2020 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Valkyrie Facebook Cover Photo
Hey, readers! The sequel to The Gordian Protocol now has a release date, and as you can see above, it’s coming October 6, 2020 from Baen Books! šŸ˜€ Check out this awesome cover:
thevalkyrieprotocolcover
The stakes for our heroes were pretty high in Gordian, and now, in The Valkyrie Protocol, they haven’t gotten any smaller:

UNTANGLE THE PAST TO SAVE THE FUTURE.
Agent Raibert Kaminski and the crew of the Transtemporal VehicleĀ KleioĀ have made a shocking discovery out in the unknown reaches of the multiverse. They’ve stumbled across a temporal implosion that has claimed two whole universes, and neither Raibert nor his crew can figure out what caused this calamity other than it had something to do with reckless time travel.
TheĀ KleioĀ speeds back to their home universe of SysGov with this dire report, but an audacious plan is put into effect before they arrive. Old colleagues of Raibert’s from the Antiquities Rescue Trust, together with a version of Samuel Pepys transplanted from the 17thĀ century into the 30th, have proposed an expedition into the past. Their goal? To branch the timeline by preventing the Plague of Justinian, one of the worst pandemics in human history.
Meanwhile, SysGov’s multiverse neighbor, the xenophobic Admin, is stirring. While their ambassadors put on a friendly show, the Admin isĀ amassing a fleet of advanced, heavily armed time machines with SysGov firmly inĀ the crosshairs.
Time is running out for Raibert and his team. But the crew of theĀ Kleio won’t go down without a fight, no matter where—or when—the threat to their home comes from.

If you haven’t started the Gordian series yet, now’s the perfect time to catch up. šŸ˜€
For a limited time, The Gordian Protocol is available in a discounted pack in Baen Books’ May 2020 Book Bundle, where you can snag 7 books for $18 (Scroll to the bottom of the link to find the May bundle, but go fast, because it expires the first week of May).
It’s also coming April 28th in Mass Market Paperback, and of course, is already available in eBook, Hardback, and Audiobook form.
Finally, while you wait for Valkyrie‘s book birthday, enjoy this clean art of this cover, once again illustrated by the talented Dave Seeley! 😲
valkyrie
Jacob and David had a blast writing this novel together, and we look forward to you reading it, too! 😁

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Alternate History, Alternative History, Baen, baen books, coming soon, David Weber, Fall 2020 Books, Jacob Holo, Parallel Universes, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Gordian Protocol, The Valkyrie Protocol, time travel, Upcoming Books

Join David Weber and Friends (including Jacob) for a Chat About Space Warfighting!

March 30, 2020 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Hey, readers!Ā Gadi Evron has put together a truly cool project over at Essence of Wonder, coordinating online events to give geeks, makers, hackers, and other technologically creative sorts a way to engage with exciting ideas during this isolated time of Covid-19 and social distancing – namely through panels hosted through Zoom conferences.
To that effect, on Saturday, April 11th @ 3pm EST, you should totally check out David Weber and Friends on Space Warfighting!
The panel will kick off with an interview with David, followed by a reading from one of his books, and David will then lead Christopher Weuve, Major Gen. (Res.) Professor Isaac Ben-Israel, Charles Gannon, and our very own Jacob in a discussion about space warfighting: What would it really look like? How would military and/or political strategy shift in an interstellar setting?Ā How would space affect military R&D?
Attendance requires (FREE) registration, so be sure to head on over to the page and sign up! (Scroll down about midway to find the registration link.)
We hope to see you there! šŸ˜€
***
UPDATE: Here are the recordings!


Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Charles Gannon, Christopher Weuve, David Weber, Essence of Wonder, Gadi Evron, geeks, Isaac Ben-Israel, Jacob Holo, Panels, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Space Warfighting, Zoom

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