DaddyBear About To Publish Another Neat Novel

DaddyBear of DaddyBear's Den and author of Tales of the Minivandians is going to have a new book coming out soon.

As you can tell by checking out a snippet he's posted on his blog, Via Serica is going to be a great read and well worth forking over some of your reading denarii to get it home to a place in your library, as will the likely sequels that will continue the tale.

Having had the honor of being one of his beta readers, I can say that the snippets he's posted, unlike a movie trailer, are not representative of the best parts of the entire book. They're really good mind you, but there's some even finer scenes in the book that await. You'll have to wait until it comes out to read it to get those. You're going to enjoy it, especially if you like well written historical fiction with a few twists. You're going to enjoy it a lot.

No spoilers will be given here, so you'll just have to buy the book and go read and enjoy it in its entirety when it comes out.

The book features solid storytelling, an excellent eye for detail of the period, good believable dialogue, lots of taunt action, some hilarious asides, and plenty of Romans roamin' around.

Once he's got a preorder link ready to go on Amazon, I'll throw a link to it here.

Update (September 8, 2015): Via Serica is now avaialble for order at Amazon! Sweet.

Some Fun Reading: Tom Kratman's Countdown: H Hour

The third in the Countdown series, Countdown: H Hour is an excellent read that's hard to put down.

Set in the disutopian not-too-distant-future, it continues the story of the Regiment begun in the first Countdown book.

Instead of regimental level battles and strategy, the focus of the book is on a small unit and then a composite combined arms team level force of about battalion strength. The action takes place simultaneously as that in the second book, Countdown: M Day, with interesting consequences.

As usual for Col. Kratman, the military organization and action scenes are tightly narrated and highly believable, with lots of things that go boom. He has no hesitation killing off characters, even very likable characters, should the plot demand. He also has no difficulty having the antagonists think and act in realistic ways that cause real trouble for his protagonists, and things never go quite as planned.

Self-depreciating and self-referential at times, Col. Kratman brings in the occasional references to himself as a "hack science fiction author", and his prior mil/sci-fi book, A Desert Called Peace features in quite an interesting way.

Col. Kratman has a solid knowledge of history, military operations, and current world affairs, along with very little tolerance for today's empty-headed "tranzis" - progressive transnationals, and it shows throughout the book.

As always it is the little details he throws in are what make the book a joy to read:

For example, just as an aside, we learn in dialogue that a certain tranzi finds her theory of human relations doesn't match reality and is killed in the Greater Chicago Ipad-9 riots. Think about it, a fuzzy minded intellectual dying in the Greater Chicago Ipad-9 riots.....

Not to mention the appearance of the Emperor Mongo, and characters with quips and actions that suit the moment very well, as well as the handiness of having a functional sociopath on hand.

Col. Kratman, as usual, ends with an afterword that almost makes you wish he had a regular column somewhere - He combines erudite political analysis and opinion that certainly makes you think.

Oh, and anti-Americans should remember this cautionary notice from the book:

"Americans. We will cross a frozen river to kill you. In your sleep. On Christmas."

Yeah, it is that kind of book.

In short, Countdown: H Hour is a definite recommended read and a worthy continuation of the Countdown series. Expect lots of quality dialogue, interesting situations and lots of shooty and stuff-that-go-boom goodness. Be sure to read the preceding books first to gain the highest enjoyment from the tale.

Luckily for us readers, the last few pages leave open the probability that another book in the series will come out, and that there will be more of the well-thought out scenarios we've come to enjoy from the series.

Fiction Review - Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst

Spies of the Balkans: A Novel is a great fiction read.

The book is wonderfully written, and the story is richly told, breathing life into pre- and early-World War 2 Thessalonika.

The book revolves around Costa Zannis, a senior Salonika police official who handles sensitive (i.e. political) matters for the police force. Without giving any spoilers away the novel begins as a spy novel and then becomes much more. The Walther PPK does feature prominently throughout.

Well worth reading not only for the suspense, it chronicles every-day life and history in the city and Greece itself before and during the Italian invasion of Greece and then the German invasion.

The book is a very readable work of fiction set in a well described historical setting of Greece and the Balkans before and during World War 2. The Balkans and Grece is an area that hasn't received a lot of attention for that time period in fiction.

Spies of the Balkans is well worth your time should the desire for well written historical fiction strike.

Books to read if you're in the mood for some well written military science fiction and fantasy

If you haven't read anything by The Incomparable John Ringo and you like military science fiction and fantasy, you should.

Ringo really knows how to write, and thankfully for fans he writes prolifically, with multiple series with different themes, settings and levels of violence. For his thrillers think of what would happen if you crossed Tom Clancy at his prime with Richard Marcinko added some of the style and philosophy of Robert A. Heinlein and then gave the gestalt 12 cups of coffee and 12 doughnuts -- yeah, that fast paced and that good.

For a well written sci-fi nasty alien invasion of earth meets the military with lots of intrigue in addition to action try his Posleen War series, starting with A Hymn Before Battle (Posleen War Series #1)




For a non-sci-fi straight shoot-em-up red blooded patriotic American kill terrorists techno-thriller book try his Paladin of Shadows series, starting with Ghost (Paladin of Shadows Book 1)



For a fantasy/sci-fi future society disaster / military series with Roman legionary tactics, try his Council Wars series starting with There Will Be Dragons



Or if you want a stand-alone book about a post-apocalyptic America complete with conservative commentary on global warming, health care and emergency management along with a modern military homage to Xenophon's Anabasis: The March Up Country (The Ten Thousand) in a neat narrative format , try The Last Centurion


If you're in the mood for fast paced action with black humor, interesting plots and fun character development you really can't go wrong with any of John Ringo's books.