Category: capitalism.

books. capitalism. shameless self-promotion. writing.

Chains of Command

It’s that day again, friends and neighbors–book release day!

CHAINS OF COMMAND, the fourth novel in the Frontlines series, is now available for IMMEDIATE PURCHASENINGS in Kindle, dead tree, and unabridged audio format:

 

CoC-cover

CHAINS OF COMMAND takes place roughly a year after the events of ANGLES OF ATTACK. With humanity up against the ropes after the Lanky takeover of Mars, Andrew Grayson is asked to join a high-stakes, high-risk mission to help stack the deck in the NAC’s favor for the upcoming do-or-die assault on Mars.

CHAINS is the longest Frontlines book yet by a fair margin, and the beta and ARC readers all seem to think it’s the best one in the series yet. I think it came together pretty well, but it’s always nice to have confirmation that I didn’t just squirt ink onto a notebook for the better part of a year. If you’ve followed Master Grayson’s exploits so far, consider picking up CHAINS OF COMMAND in the format of your choice. (The audio version, from Audible/Brilliance Audio, is again read by the awesome Luke Daniels.)

Now I get to finish up Frontlines #5, FIELDS OF FIRE, which may see a release late this year if I don’t screw up. Until then, dig in and read up on what Andrew has been up to in the year since New Svalbard and the Second Battle of Detroit.

books. capitalism. shameless self-promotion. writing.

chains of command giveaway.

The clock is ticking for CHAINS OF COMMAND, the fourth book in the Frontlines series. It will be released in less than a month, on April 19th, and you can pre-order the paperback, Kindle, or Audible audiobook here:

 

Goodreads is also running a giveaway right now. You can enter to win one of 20 copies:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/178279-chains-of-command

 

So if you like free books in general and the Frontlines series in particular, you should put your name into the hat. As I type this, there are fewer than 100 requests for those 20 books, so you have better than 1-5 odds if you enter RIGHT NOW. 

I may also do a fun contest with some of these author copies I have in the office. Those will have the added bonus that I can sign and personalize them for the recipients if desired. Stay tuned while I think about what to do for my own little giveaway…

books. bullets & links. capitalism. writing.

The first issue of Frontlines: Requiem now has a product page on Amazon, where you can pre-order it if you are so inclined:

And if you’d like to preview some of the content, Fanboy Comics has one up on their page:

http://fanboycomics.net/index.php/fanboy-scoop/item/6232

I’m very excited about this project and happy with the way it turned out. I came up with the storyline, Ivan Brandon wrote the script, Gary Erskine did the artwork, and Yel Zamor did the colors. 

It’s never quite possible to fully translate a story from a written medium to a visual one and have 100% fidelity because you have various artists bringing in their own visions and ideas. But Requiem is very, very close to the way that world looks in my head. It’s a great addition to the Frontlines universe, not just because it tells a new story from a different character’s point of view and shows that every faction in the story has its own motivations and reasons for what they do, but also because it finally gives readers concrete visual references. (“What do the Lankies look like? Will there be Lankies in the graphic novels?” is a question I get frequently. Yes, there will be, and the reveal is pretty bad-ass.) You will see SI troopers in armor, NAC capital ships, Lanky seed ships…and yes, finally the big, bad Lankies.

So that’s coming out in may, which is great timing, because CHAINS OF COMMAND is coming out in April, so you’ll be able to get your hands on new Frontlines stuff two months in a row. And having seen the finished issue #1 of REQUIEM, I can tell you that you’re in for a ride.

 

books. capitalism. writing.

news about superheroes and graphic novels.

I can finally share some fun news I’ve been sitting on for a while:

I am a new member of George R.R. Martin’s WILD CARDS consortium, and will be contributing to a new batch of WILD CARDS books in the very near future.

(For those unfamiliar with the WILD CARDS books–these are shared world anthologies set in the WILD CARDS world, where an alien supervirus has killed a great deal of people and turned a small percentage of the exposed into monstrous freaks called Jokers, or turned them into superpowered humans called Aces.)

This is really fun stuff, especially because it’s slightly out of my usual ballpark, but in an area that I really enjoy: superheroes and supervillains. I don’t have specifics on the upcoming volumes yet because all of that is still getting hammered out right now, but I’ll be on the team, along with other WILD CARDS newbies Diana Rowland, Max Gladstone, and Saladin Ahmed.

In other excellent news, the first volume of the Frontlines: REQUIEM graphic novel series is now up in the Previewsworld catalog of new comics. It will be released in May, and the follow-ups will be released in a one-month cycle thereafter. Frontlines: REQUIEM will be released by Jet City Comics and features a new character, Colonel Soraya Yamin. The series takes place concurrent with some of the events in ANGLES OF ATTACK. It features a script by Ivan Brandon, artwork by Gary Erskine, and colors by Yel Zamor, all of whom are fantastically talented and a delight to work with.

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art. books. capitalism. shameless self-promotion. writing.

dispatch from the frontlines graphic novel front.

Here’s something extremely cool: the provisional cover for Issue #1 of the Frontlines: Requiem series of graphic novels, due out by Jet City Comics this spring. I just got the green light to be able to share this with you all.

Frontlines_cover_CLR_FINAL_editR2

Frontlines: Requiem will be a tie-in of sorts. It tells the story of a different character in the Frontlines universe, someone you haven’t met yet. The protagonist is Colonel Soraya Yamin, an NAC starship commander in her Forties and mother of two. The story takes place during the events in Angles of Attack, and it will provide a lot of backstory to the series. In particular, it shows what’s going on back on and around Earth while Andrew is gallivanting around in space. There will be four issues, and the artists are Ivan Brandon and Paul Erskine.

That’s all I can tell you right now, but I’ll post updates as soon as there’s a page for pre-orders via ComiXology and/or other sources.

 

art. books. capitalism. writing.

chains of command, the shocking cover reveal!

Hey, boys and girls—do you want to see the kick-ass cover for Frontlines #4, CHAINS OF COMMAND, due out on April 19th? OF COURSE YOU DO.

CoC-cover

Pretty sweet, huh?

I like all the covers, of course, but I have a particular fondness for the first one, TERMS OF ENLISTMENT. That said, this one may just be the best cover yet. It’s very dynamic in a Star Wars: battlefront sort of way. What do you think?

art. books. capitalism. shameless self-promotion. writing.

frontlines: the…graphic novel?

Frontlines #4 (Chains of Command) will be out in April, and I am hard at work to see to it that Frontlines #5 (Fields of Fire) will be out in 2016 as well. 

HOWEVER….there are other things in the works that may be of interest to you, and I hear that I am now free to share them.

First, Audible/Briliance Audio has purchased the audio rights to my Frontlines short story LUCKY THIRTEEN, and the novella, MEASURES OF ABSOLUTION. The audio versions should be out at some point next year as well, and I’ll let you know when we have a definite date of release.

The second order of the day is something pretty cool indeed:

Jet City Comics is going to release a series of graphic novels in the Frontlines universe. They will be called FRONTLINES: REQUIEM, and provide you with some interesting backstory about the events on and around Earth between ANGLES OF ATTACK and CHAINS OF COMMAND. There will be four issues and an omnibus graphic novel at the end that contains all four issues, and Jet City Comics is working to get the first issue out and into your hands by the time CHAINS OF COMMAND comes out in April. 

There will be Frontlines graphic novels! Is this cool, or what? I’m still a little beside myself over this. It’s not just a fun way to tell more stories in the Frontlines universe, but it’s also an amazing chance to show that world and some of its characters in a different, more visual medium. I can’t wait for the first issue to come out.

books. capitalism. shameless self-promotion. writing.

book deal news.

Minions! I have news for you. You will like these news if you’re the kind of person who likes good Frontlines news.

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Item the first: 47North has bought my next THREE NOVELS in one package deal. This will mean a.) two more Frontlines books after CHAINS OF COMMAND, and b.) a new book that will start a new military SF series. It also means that if I can keep the schedule, you will see two new Frontlines novels in 2016.

Item the second: CHAINS OF COMMAND is done and about to go off to the editor. I’m guessing this will mean an April release again, but do check the pre-order page on Amazon for updated publication dates. I’m very happy with the way it turned out, and I think you will like it as well.

Item the third: I’ve started work on Frontlines #5, and it will be titled FIELDS OF FIRE.

The new book deal means that I have my dance card full for the next year and a half, but it also means that I won’t have to worry about my writing income for that year and a half. All in all, it’s good news for me and good news for those of you who like the Frontlines series.

Anyway. Onward! Deadlines to be met, fictional spaceships to be blown up, and weird-ass eighty-foot aliens to be battled to the death.

capitalism. horseless carriages. technology.

happy fun car.

I used to ride motorcycles. When I met Robin back in Tennessee, I owned a Kawasaki Ninja 250, dubbed “Happy Fun Bike” because it was, well, happy and fun. Alas, when we started having kids (and I almost got cleaned off the bike twice in the span of a week by inattentive drivers), I decided to hang up the helmet and sell the bike. Kids are better off with a live daddy than one turned into road pizza by some derpy grand-aunt in a Mercury Medicare. I did keep my motorcycle license current, and in fact paid extra to transfer the endorsement to my NH license when we moved, thinking that I may want to start riding again some day.

Fast forward to the present. Lucky circumstances and some good wind in my writing sails finally put me in a position where I could think about acquiring another Happy Fun Mobile. I’ve been driving minivans for the last decade, which are eminently comfortable and practical vehicles, but while they are many things, “fun” is not really a word you use when talking about driving a two-ton box on wheels. So I voiced the idea of maybe, possibly getting another motorcycle for the sole purpose of fun transportation.

Robin wasn’t too enamored with the idea on account of preferring her husband alive and undamaged (see: road pizza; derpy grand-aunt in mercury Medicare &etc.), and cautioned against this course of action. I sympathized with her concern, but proposed a compromise solution: I would look for a four-wheeled conveyance that’s fast, fun, and equipped with a manual gearbox, and spend about as much on it as I would for a nice new motorcycle. This was an acceptable compromise solution for both of us.

Long story short, this is the new Happy Fun Mobile:

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It’s a 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX. It has a 265HP turbocharged boxer engine bolted to a permanent symmetrical AWD drivetrain and a 5-speed manual transmission. Goes fast in the summer, isn’t scared of snow in the winter, and won’t be hauling anything but ass. It’s not quite a new Corvette or Porsche, but it was within my budget and at just the price/mileage/performance intersection I wanted. Considering it’s purely a plaything for one person, it’s probably a tad excessive as a third car, but the ability to actually get up my fucking driveway in the winter was a huge selling point for the WRX over other options.

Oh, and it does 0-60 in under five seconds. OR SO I’VE HEARD.

 

books. capitalism. shameless self-promotion.

foreign frontlines editions update.

I love seeing the covers of foreign editions of my novels. Here’s the cover of the Japanese edition (published by Hayakawa), which apparently went on sale on May 25th already:

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According to a Japanese friend, the title translates to “Enlisting For A Space Soldier”, which is one heck of a lot more accurate than the translation that Google gave me at first. It has a few reviews on Amazon in Japan already, and they’re very positive, which makes me happy:

“Interesting SF novel for the first time in many years. Looking forward to the following translations”; and “Great details about the army things which we can’t know from our secretive Self-Defense Forces. And good translation!” 

And here’s the cover of the German translation of “Lines of Departure”, which is available for pre-order for a January 11, 2016 release:

 

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The “Frontlines” series has been retitled as “Alien Wars” by Heyne, and the subtitle “Planetenjagd” means “planet hunt”. I am pleased that I finally have my very own Heyne novel with laser-firing spaceships on the cover. IT’S A CHILDHOOD DREAM COME TRUE.

There are translations into Polish and Czech in the works as well, and I can’t wait to see the covers for those. It’s still a little surreal to see my name on the covers of foreign translations when the first Frontlines book went on sale only just a little over two years ago on the Kindle store in the United States.