If you’ve ever wanted to hear Jacob wax geeky about Star Wars, giant robots, bowties, gaming, and, oh, maybe his new solo novel The Dyson File š, go check out this week’s episode of Blasters and Blades! š
time travel
Join us for the Time Troopers Virtual Launch Party!
Saturday, April 9th @ 8pm EST
Hey, y’all! š To celebrate the release of Time Troopers, Jacob and I will be hostingĀ a virtual launch partyĀ this Saturday at 8pm EST, wherein we’ll be chatting with co-editor Christopher Ruocchio and alsoĀ giving away signed copies!
If you’d like to learn more and maybe win some books, join us on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch!
UPDATE! Here’s the YouTube archive:
Time Troopers is out today!
Today’s the day! ā If you’re a fan of time travel stories both classic and new,Ā Baen BooksĀ has an anthology for you –Ā Time Troopers, edited by Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio.Ā
My entry,Ā “Doctor Quiet,”Ā provides an action-packed first look at some new characters you’ll meet in the upcomingĀ The Janus File, but it sits alongside stories from such classic names asĀ Robert Heinlein,Ā H. Beam Piper, and many more.
Publishers WeeklyĀ has already had good things to say about it –Ā “Fans of literate speculative fiction will hope for more from these experts”Ā – and we hope you’ll enjoy it just as much. š
Time Troopers
Anthology Edited by Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio
ā¢ ā¢ ā¢
NEW AND CLASSIC STORIES OF TIME TRAVEL MILITARY SF
BATTLEZONE: ETERNITY
Once, military actions were entirely two dimensional, confined to the surface of land and sea, but then submarines and aircraft added a third dimension, vastly extended by spaceflight.
Now, consider that if time travel is possible, the fourth dimension of time opens up new possibilities for combat, necessitating new defenses, new strategies and tactics. A battle that was once decisively won might be refought, or a narrow victory might be subtly tilted to the other side.
Never mind the history books, theyāre only works in progress.
There might be even more than four dimensions involved, if parallel universes and alternate realities exist and can be accessed.
Imagine a universe where Rome never fell and its troops want to do something about our universe, where it did fall. Or another where more recent wars turned out very differently. Battle is a recurrent motif in the Earth of this universe, and would alternate realities be different or all too similar, with the tune the same, but different lyrics?
Supplying the lyrics for spacetime combat in these pages is an all-star general staff including Robert Silverberg, Poul Anderson, Fritz Leiber, John C. Wright, H. Beam Piper and more.
Itās zero hour, in whatever time stream, so grab your time-appropriate weapon, be it sword or ray blaster, buckle on your general issue timeporter belt, and follow the Time Troopers into action across strange aeons!
Adventures in Co-Authoring with a Sci-Fi Legend: Origins – Act III: Collaborations
Catch up on Act II here!
Act III: Collaborations
Naturally, being an author (a nobody indie author, but an author nonetheless), the concept of writing a novel with David Weber had crossed my mind. David is, after all, not only a prolific author, but a prolific collaborator as well.
I had given David some of my books at that first lunch, more out of courtesy than anything else, fully expecting them not to ever be read.
But he did read them.
Between those reads and our general discussions about writing, sci-fi, and science in general, David must have been impressed by somethingābecause one day he asked me if Iād like to write a short story in an upcoming anthology set in one of his universes.
Ultimately, that anthology never came to fruition, but I still wrote the story, and in the process worked closely with David on both the details of the setting and how to improve my own writing. It was a very short piece, but David is an author who gets into granular detail both in the content and the execution, and the lessons about craft that I learned from this short piece and short interaction alone were priceless.
But, in retrospect, the experience also showed David what I was like to work with on a writing project, which ended up being more relevant than I ever expected.
As mentioned before, the first thing you learn about David when you meet him is that heās intensely personableāhe loves to talk and interact with people, whether theyāre fans or not, and he likes to pay his tremendous success forward when he can. One way he does this is to find promising new authors to take under his wingāto teach them the intricacies of the writing craft that one can only get from someone whoās been writing for over thirty years. Part of the reason for this is practicalāit brings new blood into sci-fi publishing and gives those authors a valuable chance to refine their skillsābut most of the reason is that David enjoys doing it. Moreover, he enjoys playing to his co-authorsā strengths, too; he chooses co-authors who bring something to the project that he canāt (or at the very least, is less qualified than the co-author to do).
I occasionally see it said that Davidās just slapping his name on new authorsā work to help it sell, and while thatās definitely true for some authors, it couldnāt be further from the truth for David. For new authors, writing with David is akin to an apprenticeship, and Davidās fingerprints are all over those books whether itās obvious or not.
All this to say, when David worked with me on that one short story, whether either of us were conscious of it at the time or not, certain mental seeds had been planted.
These seeds would not come to fruition until 2016. Around that time, Iād submitted a manuscript to Baen Books (the same one Iād been working on back when H.P. was recovering from cancer). It had been well-received, but was rejected with a list of fixes that would make it more appealing upon re-submission.
One night, all four of us went out for H.P.ās birthday, and I asked David if heād mind reading my manuscript and providing more detailed feedback than what Iād received from the publisher.
David considered the idea ā¦ but then his eyes gleamed with what I could only think of at the time as gleeful mischief.
Thatās when he hit me with it: āWhy donāt we write a book together?ā
I skipped dessert that night, in part because I was so excited I thought I might throw up.
David also had a specific story in mind for our collaboration. You see, fairly early in his writing career, David had submitted ten series proposals to Baen Books. Among these was Honor Harringtonāthe one Jim Baen selectedābut down the list was an alternate history time travel story with a heavy amount of moral complexity. As time went on, other books and series took precedent, but that concept still lurked in the back of his mind, waiting for just the right circumstances.
Never mind that I once promised myself Iād neverāeverāwrite a time travel novel. Good time travel is hard to write, and thereās endless potential for messiness and inadvertent plot holes.
But when David Weber asked me to design multiple 30th century societies along with their time travel tech, I decided to ā¦ reevaluate my earlier āpromiseā to myself.
The concept that eventually became The Gordian Protocol appealed to David as a collaboration because heād wanted the novel to be not only alternate history, but for the worldbuilding to have a distinct feel from his other series. David couldāand didāhandle the historical elements effortlessly. The engineering challenges of the setting, he left almost entirely in my court.
And speaking of history, the rest is history. The Gordian Protocol came out in 2019, and its sequel, The Valkyrie Protocol, followed in 2020. And we have an exciting future planned for the series, including another four books under contract (three collaborations and one solo novel from yours truly).
The Janus File (coming later this year from Baen Books) takes the Gordian multiverse in a less ā¦ universe-exploding direction. (David decided that Iād blown up too many universes over the first two books and recommended we tone it down a bit.) Instead, we start off with a good, old fashioned murder mystery.
The exact release date is still TBA, but until then, you can enjoy the cover art, which has already been produced by the amazing Kurt Miller.
All this to say, I never expected a chance encounter at a small convention book signing to have such wild and exciting resultsāand Iām looking forward to what the future holds.
Iām also enormously grateful to David himself for taking a chance on a little no-name indie author. And Iād also be remiss if I didnāt say: Iām truly thankful to my lovely wife, for brightening my life in so many ways.
Even if I still donāt understand the whole cabin fever thing.
Welcome to the New Website!
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? š²) 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. š
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! š
All that said, welcome to the new website! š Drop in and explore a while!
The Valkyrie Protocol is now available in audio!
It’s turning out to be a good summer for audiobooks – especially for our Gordian Division fans. š
This one came as a surprise to even us!Ā š®Ā 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 š
We’re excited to finally tell you about it, and hope you find it worth the wait!Ā š
You can currently find it on:
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:
Enjoy! š
Vote for The Valkyrie Protocol in The Dragon Awards!
Hey, readers! If you’re a fan of things and like to wield your fan power in fun ways, then let me introduce you to The Dragon Awards.
Hosted by Dragon Con, The Dragon Awards are annual awards given to the year’s best in science fiction and fantasy entertainment – that’s books, movies, television, comics, the whole shebang.
What makes them stand out from other awards of their ilk? They’re entirely decided by you, the fans. šĀ You don’t even have to have a Dragon Con membership to vote!
That said, The Dragon Awards nomination period is open now and will run through July 19th, 2021, but the earlier you get your nominations in, the better.
And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that Jacob and David’s The Valkyrie Protocol is eligible this year for Best Alternate History Novel. š *wink wink*
To submit your choices, visit this page on the Dragon Con website before July 19th.
Remember, nominations need to have been released between July 1st, 2020 and June 30th, 2021, and you can only nominate a title in one category. (If you nominate it in multiple categories, then all are rejected. š§)
The Valkyrie Protocol aside š, what are you voting for this year?
David Weber and Jacob are coming up on Publishers Weekly’s Books on Tap Live!
Rejoice, Gordian Division fans, for there’s another live stream in your future! š
On Wednesday, October 7th @ 4pm EST, David and Jacob will chat The Valkyrie Protocol on Publishers Weekly‘s author event series Books on Tap Live! If you’re up for a chill evening hanging out with authors through the magic of the Internet, check it out on Facebook, YouTube, or the official Books on Tap Live page.
You can also enter to win a signed copy of The Valkyrie Protocol – and, while you’re at it, submit questions for Publishers Weekly to ask David and Jacob!
If that’s your style, click here or on the image below for more information. We hope to hear from you! š
***
UPDATE: Here’s the archived video! š
David Weber and Jacob talk The Valkyrie Protocol on the Weberverse!
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.
David Weber talks The Valkyrie Protocol!
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. š Check it out below or watch it on YouTube!
David Weber reads from The Valkyrie Protocol!
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! š
…Or you could just watch it below. š (And don’t forget, it’s coming October 6th, 2020 from Baen Books!)
The Valkyrie Protocol eARC is out!
Hey, readers! Last month, we turned in our final copyedits for Jacob and David Weber‘s next book, and as of today, we’re exactly three months away from the release of The Valkyrie Protocol. š
However, if you just can’t wait to experience the second book in the Gordian Division series, you’ll be delighted to know that the eARC is now available on Baen Books’ website!
eARCs are pre-release copies of books that haven’t undergone their final edit – They’re the copies we just finished copyediting – so they lack the refined polish of a finished book. They have the heart of it, though! š
First time hearing of this sequel? Well, read on to find out more!
UNTANGLE THE PAST TO SAVE THE FUTURE. A NEW NOVEL IN THE WORLD OF THE BEST-SELLING THE GORDIAN PROTOCOL
TIME IS RUNNING OUT
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 whereāor whenāthe threat to their home comes from.
The hardcover is already up for preorder at multiple retailers, and if you need to catch up, The Gordian Protocol (Gordian Division #1) is out in eBook, hardcover, audio, and mass market paperback.
Otherwise, don’t forget to mark your calendars for October 6th, 2020! š