Exclusive Interview: “Men Of Bretton” Author Richard Fox

 

Science fiction has often served as a vehicle to explore aspects of the human condition. Including ones that are not comfortable to look at.

Which is where we find Iraq War veteran turned author Richard Fox, who, in the following email interview about his military sci-fi space opera novel Men Of Bretton (hardcover, Kindle), says he, “…wanted to write a series that shows how soldiers change during the course of a war and how hard it can be to get home.”

To start, what is Men Of Bretton about, and when and where does it take place?

Men Of Bretton takes place in a future where humanity has colonized the stars and remained divided into many different polities. Some more stable than others.

This story takes place almost entirely on the planet Dahrien which is part of the Hegemony, though the people of Dahrien are in violent disagreement with this situation.

Where did you get the idea for Men Of Bretton?

I am a war veteran, and the road home from conflict isn’t as simple as getting off a plane, hugging family and going straight back to normal. I wanted to write a series that shows how soldiers change during the course of a war and how hard it can be to get home.

Is there a reason why Mason is joined on this mission by his brother and not his sister? Or, conversely, why Mason isn’t a woman, and is joined by her brother or sister?

Bretton does not send its women to war.

It sounds like Men Of Bretton is a military sci-fi space opera story…

It is. It’s Homer’s The Odyssey meets David Drake’s Hammers Slammers series, if I may be so bold with the comparisons. Though with a lot less affronts to the gods than in the former.

Men Of Bretton is not your first novel. Heck, it’s not your first novel this year. Are there any writers, or specific stories, that had a big influence on Bretton but not on anything else you’ve written?

Men Of Bretton is in the same universe as a book I co-wrote with Jonathan Brazee named Hell’s Horizon. That book was set during a war earlier in the Bretton timeline, and that conflict had some implications for the Hegemony that couldn’t be addressed in that book. Jonathan and I talked at length about the backgrounds of the POVs we wrote individually, and the more I expanded on the Hegemony the more of a beautiful disaster it became. I envisioned the Hegemony as Yugoslavia in the final days of the Cold War, and we all know what happened next.

The Gaunt’s Ghosts series by Dan Abnett also had an influence. Though the Bretton 2nd Battalion, 89th Infantry has a home to fight for, whereas the Tanith First and Only fights on only for the Emperor. During the Gaunt’s Ghost series the Tanith mash up against a lot of different cultures and battlefields and I wanted to capture that sort of a journey for the men of Bretton.

What about non-literary influences? Was Men Of Bretton influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?

The eponymous Violet Evergarden in the anime of the same name (don’t judge, the show is beautiful) has a journey back to humanity after a war and that shines through with one character.

That and a bit of officer Trudy Wiegel from Reno 911.

As you mentioned, you were a soldier before you were a writer. Specifically, you served as a member of the Army, and did two combat tours in Iraq. You said earlier that, “…the road home from conflict isn’t as simple as getting off a plane, hugging family and going straight back to normal.” Can you please expand upon this a little as it relates to writing Men Of Bretton?

During my first deployment to Iraq, my unit hit the one year mark in country and was about to redeploy home. We’d handed over our barracks and mission and were set to convoy down to Kuwait when this guy named Maqtada al Sadr decided to launch a revolt throughout central Iraq. Instead of being home in three days, my squadron was extended in Iraq and we had to go and fight a whole new insurgency in our mostly light skinned vehicles.

It was not a good time.

But when that “oh no” moment of realization hit, every soldier had to depend on everyone else to get home. My squadron earned the Presidential Unit Citation for putting down the revolt (for a time). So I wanted to capture that trust and brotherhood of that time for this series.

When writing Men Of Bretton, did you ever have to chose between being militarily accurate and having the story be good?

Most people don’t know this, but it’s entirely possible to have a conversation of nothing but acronyms, numbers, and expletives in the military. This doesn’t read well for people that didn’t serve in that exact niche of the military.

When writing military science fiction, its too easy to invent whatever technology helps advance the plot. I set out the technology levels so there’s still new tech for readers’ imaginations but keeping things so that conflict is possible and not immediately one sided.

The verisimilitude needed for military science fiction is the comradery between characters and that military structure the characters move around in. I think so long as there aren’t clip / magazine errors and the military tech doesn’t go beyond the pale, then any military science fiction story will work.

I mentioned earlier that Men Of Bretton is not your first novel. Among your other novels are the ten in The Ember War Saga, five in The Ibarra Crusade, and six in The Exiled Fleet. Is Men Of Bretton the first book in a new series or a stand-alone story?

Men Of Bretton is the first of a series called A Dream Of Home. I think the story will resolve itself in four to five books.

You also mentioned that Men Of Bretton is in the same universe as your novel Hell’s Horizon. Would you recommend someone read Horizon before Bretton or does it not matter?

It is not necessary to read Hell’s Horizon first. Men Of Bretton takes place many decades after Hell’s Horizon, and the main take away from Horizon is that the Hegemony is not the stable nation it purports to be, as we shall see in Men Of Bretton.

But I do encourage readers to check out Hell’s Horizon, as it’s an amazing war novel that has a twist to how it’s presented that serves the story very well. And the audiobook is narrated by Giancarlo Esposito [Breaking Bad] and Eric Dane [Grey’s Anatomy].

Given that, what will someone get out Men Of Bretton if they’ve already read Hell’s Horizon?

Readers will be a bit more familiar with the tech and they’ll see the cracks in the Hegemony when it’s time to read Men Of Bretton.

As I said earlier, Men Of Bretton is not the first novel you’re putting out this year. A few weeks ago, you released Rebel, which you co-wrote with David Weber, and is the second book in your Ascent To Empire series after Governor, which came out in trade paperback the same day. You and David did an interview about Rebel and Governor a few weeks ago, but for people who didn’t read it, or those books, what are Governor and Rebel about, and when and where are they set?

The Ascent To Empire trilogy, which starts with Governor, is the prequel to David Webber’s In Fury Born. It’s a tale of a man forced to destroy what he loves to save what it needs to be. Plus giant lizard aliens.

Rebel takes place immediately after Governor and details Terrance Murphy’s realization that his government may not be worth saving.

Governor and Rebel sound like they’re military sci-fi space opera stories…

It is military sci-fi space opera. I have a type.

Given their similarities, it seems like someone who enjoys Governor and Rebel would also like Men Of Bretton, and vice versa. But what makes Bretton different from Governor and Rebel?

The scope of Men Of Bretton is far smaller than Governor. David Webber is a master of grand strategy and even grander space battles and there’s plenty of both in the Ascent To Empire series. Men Of Bretton takes place amidst the grand stage of a collapsing empire but stays focused on a small group of soldiers.

As if adding Governor, Rebel, and Men Of Bretton to the Richard Fox section of your local bookstore wasn’t enough, you also released the mass market paperback edition of Light Of The Veil, which is the first book in a trilogy called The Shattered Star Legacy. What is that series about, what is Veil about, and when and where is it set?

Light Of The Veil is a space fantasy adventure that details the return of a great evil and a gifted warrior’s battle for the light.

And do you know yet when the next book in The Shattered Star Legacy series will be out?

No word yet, but I’m ready to get started on it once the current batch of manuscripts are put in good homes.

Going back to Men Of Bretton, earlier I asked if Bretton was influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But to flip things around, do you think Bretton could work as a movie, show, or game?

I think it would make a great mini-series, Shogun style.

And if someone wanted to make a Shogun-style show based on Men Of Bretton, who would you want them to cast as the main characters?

For Tessa, Kate McKinnon [Barbie], but with a bit higher pitched voice; for Perrin, Mark Strong [the Kingsman movies]; for Felix, Steve Zahn [The White Lotus]; for Corre, John Cena [Peacemaker]; for Lambert, Patton Oswalt [Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire]; and for Mehmet, Pedro Pascal [The Mandalorian].

So, is there anything else you think people need to know about Men Of Bretton?

I listened to so much Sabaton while writing the book. If you’re not a fan of Swedish military history metal music, Sabaton will make you one. Naturally, there’s a tank in Men Of Bretton and it is awesome. In my opinion.

Finally, if someone enjoys Men Of Bretton, and it’s the first book of yours they’ve read, they’ll probably read Governor, Rebel, and Light Of The Veil. But once they’ve done that, which of your other novels would you suggest they check out?

Read The Ember War series. It’s a different military space opera series with an entirely different set of problems and different tech, but just as moving and exciting as Men Of Bretton. And if you’re a lover of long series, you’ll be well fed.