Surviving combat requires a great many things: the right equipment, good leadership, a lot of luck. But soldiers also rely on their compatriots.
In the new military science fiction novel Beyond Enemies (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), writer Marisa Wolf introduces us to two soldiers who couldn’t be any closer. And no, I don’t mean that in a romantic way.
In the following email interview, Wolf discusses what inspired and influences this story, as well as why she chose to give it a snarky tone.
In fiction, it’s fun to think about “What If…?” scenarios, especially where history is concerned.
For instance, what if the first human on the moon was Russian? Y’know, like in the TV show For All Mankind. Or what if the Nazis won World War II? Like they do in Philip K. Dick’s novel The Man In The High Castle and the recent Wolfenstein games.
It’s this kind of questioning that sets the stage for Nir Yaniv’s satirical military science fiction novel The Good Soldier (paperback, Kindle); a stage in which neither the first World War, nor the second, ever happened, but Europe still kneeled before Germany after the other nations split…for space.
In the following email interview, Yaniv discusses what inspired and influenced this novel, including why he made the main character so Gomer Pyle-esque.
Apologies for spoiling a movie you should’ve seen 31 years ago, but one of the big shocks of 1992’s Alien3 came when Bishop from Aliens showed up, only it wasn’t that Bishop, it was Michael Bishop Weyland, the creator of the Bishop android. And while he wants the queen growing inside Ripley, he also wants his ‘droid back.
Which is where the story begins for T.R. Napper’s cyberpunk-infused military science fiction thriller Aliens: Bishop (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook).
In the following email interview, Napper discusses how he came to write this book, as well as whether the real Bishop, iconic actor Lance Henriksen, has gotten his copy yet.
Though I’ve never felt the inclination myself, I understand why some people want a simpler life, away from the hustle and bustle. It’s also what I want for Talia Merritt, the main character in Monalisa Foster’s military sci-fi / space Western novel Threading The Needle (paperback, Kindle). Though after reading the following email interview (with Foster, not Merritt), I have doubts it will actually happen.
With Through The Storm (hardcover, Kindle), writers John Ringo and Lydia Sherrer are continuing the military sci-fi gamelit adventure series TransDimensional Hunters that they launched in 2022 with Into The Real. In the following email interview, John and Lydia discuss what influenced this second installment, how it ties in to the first book, and how their plans for this series have changed.
Writers of science fiction often set their stories in the near future or the far future. Or in the future of a parallel reality. But in the following email interview with author Dwain Worrell about his military sci-fi and then some novel Androne (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), the first installment of a duology, he says it’s set in the “here-future.”
With The Silent Hand (paperback, Kindle), writer Michael Mersault is continuing the military sci-fi space opera series he started last year with The Deep Man. In the following email interview, Mersault discusses what inspired and influenced this second story, as well as his plans moving forward for his series.
Having read nearly all of the novels based on the Halo games, and having interviewed many of the people who’ve written them, I’ve always thought of these books (and the games, and the comics…) as sci-fi space opera stories. But in the following email interview with Troy Denning, the author of seven Halo novels — including the newest, Halo: Outcasts (paperback, Kindle, audiobook) — he explains why these books (and games, and comics…) are more hard science fiction and space marine stories than anything operatic.
While some people think we need a military force in space, other recognize the more pressing need to have something akin to the Coast Guard.
Now, I don’t know if writer K.B. Wagers is one of those people, or not, but they’ve certainly been more interested in it lately, if their recent novels about the Near-Earth Orbital Guard are any indication.
In the following email interview, Wagers talks about the third NeoG novel, The Ghosts Of Trappist (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), as well as their plans for this series going forward.