Ghost Dog Available in Paperback

 

Paperback copies of Ghost Dog have arrived.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Reading

 

Being a bit under the weather I've taken to reading to cheer me up, a mixture of old and new. The re-reads are read with half-my-mind on how the author is doing what they do. The new stories are just read for enjoyment, and with half-an-eye on whether they are worth going back to re-read.

First up was a re-read. Ian Douglas aka William J. Keith's Heritage Trilogy. It's unashamedly a favourite of mine. I first came across Bill's work via FASA's Traveller RPG supplements and then the BattleTech novels, starting with Decision at Thunder Rift. Bill has an impressive bibliography, and you can find out more here.

What's even better is that I wrote him a fan letter, and he replied.

What I like about the Heritage trilogy, and the two sequels the Legacy and Inheritance trilogies, is the way he weaves a story across multiple generations of people and their descendants. Semper Mars starts with a mission to Mars to support a xenoarchaeology expedition that becomes a desperate journey across Mars.

Luna Marine and Europa Strike take the story out to the edge of the solar system. It was while re-reading these that I realised how much Bill influenced my own work. Well recommended.

 

I recently watched Ready Player One, which is a great movie, and I should probably buy the novel. However, looking around I found Nick Cole's Soda Pop Soldier, and bought it instead, because I was intrigued by his YouTube channel. I think there's a lesson to be learnt about discoverability from that chain of events.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by the direction the story went in. A different take on conflict that made me think about how one tells stories.  Definitely on my pile to be re-read. Lots I can learn from him.

 

I then re-read another old favourite John Ringo's Aldenata Legacy series. The first book is A Hymn Before Battle, which kicks off the series with a bang, followed by Gust Front. The series was meant to be a trilogy, but it grew into a tetralogy when the third book, When the Devil Dances, had to be split into two books, the second part being called Hell's Faire.

Again, this was a re-read to study how he did... what he did. I noticed some interesting techniques that I hope to be able to use myself for my next The World of Drei novelette.

I also read another of the Harry Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Proven Guilty. While this is not a re-read for me, I was acutely aware of my writer brain taking note of how Jim tells a story. It left me much to think on.

 

Finally, I'm about to start A Fistful of Elven Gold by my friend Alex Stewart. Delayed because my beloved grabbed it first. All I can say is that Susan enjoyed the story. I will comment more when I've finished reading it.

That's it for now, catch you all on the bounce.

Fickle Fame

 

I caught this from David Langford of Ansible fame.

Paul Cornell, whose connections with Doctor Who include many tie-in novels since 1991 and scripts for three broadcast episodes, dared to tweet that Jodie Whittaker was "A great new Doctor'." He was swiftly put in his place by Twitter twit Jr Hunter with 'Yea... I could tell you never seen previous doctor who's'. (7 October) Another such pundit dealt with Neil Gaiman, also a long-time Who enthusiast and scriptwriter: "ahh so your a new fan because the doctor is a woman not a real fan of the show since the 60's then." Truly all knowledge is contained in Twitter.

Which I think just about goes to show that no matter how famous you are, or well known in a particular area that someone will not have heard of you.

Ghost Dog Print Pre-Order

Print editions available next week.

Amazon US isn't showing the ebook link, I don't know why, but I've queried them so hopefully this should be fixed soon. If US readers go to my author page the ebook link does appear there when you click on Ghost Dog.

RollaBot

All Terrain Surveillance Robot - Guardbot. This version is a little bit, a lot, larger than the RollaBot I describe in my novels, but it gives one the general concept. Though if you go to their site they say it will come in a range of sizes, so that's good.

The problem is that when I started writing my trilogy back in 2012 the descriptions of the androids, RollaBots, and SnakeBots looked science fictional. Now it seems that will be sold on Amazon in the next few years.

Ghost Dog – Now Available

Story Summary

Newly promoted, Captain Tachikoma nows lead her team to another world. Now they must through a portal that only opens once every six months.

Her mission. Retrieve unimaginably advanced alien technology that could change the world. Keep her team alive with only one chance to return.

Nothing could prepare her for what waits on an alien planet.

This gripping addition to the Gate Walker series, humanity expands its exploration of the galaxy to reveal more secrets, in "Ghost Dog" Tachikoma needs all of her combat armor skills to get home.

“This story is great, with a very firm grasp of the Marine Corps lifestyle.”


– Sgt D. Barrow, USMC

"High concept, high calibre character-driven Mil-SF. Compulsively readable."

– Alex Stewart aka Sandy Mitchell author of the Ciaphas Cain series

More About The Author

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Ghost Dog Cover Reveal

At last I'm getting to the point where the end is in sight. I've been doing the final copy edits on Ghost Dog and here's the cover sans typography. As you can see it's another great piece of artwork from Elartwyne Estole.

Meanwhile, I've been watching USMC shooting videos on YouTube. One of my Beta readers pointed out some procedural mistakes in how my main character was teaching another character to shoot. Since there's the right way, the wrong way, and the Marine Corps way, I'm revising the scene.

Hopefully, the electronic version of Ghost Dog will be up on Amazon by end of next week.