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Exclusive Interview: “Tomorrow’s Troopers” Co-Editor David Afsharirad

 

Most of the time when someone says “suggestions welcome,” they don’t mean it; they’re just being nice.

But apparently the good people at Baen Books are open to your ideas…sort of.

You see, when someone recently suggested they reprint an out-of-print anthology of science fiction short stories about power armor, they decided to instead put together one of their own.

In the following email interview, co-editor David Afsharirad discusses Tomorrow’s Troopers (paperback, Kindle), which collects classic sci-fi and military sci-fi power armor stories by Brandon Sanderson and Ethan Skarstedt, Joe Haldeman, and Harry Harrison, among others, including how he and co-editor Hank Davis (who had to bow out of this interview because of computer problems) picked what stories to include, what subgenres are represented…and whether the person whose suggestion inspired this book got a free copy.

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Exclusive Interview: “Halo: Epitaph” Author Kelly Gay

 

With four previous novels based on the Halo games under her belt, it’s not surprising that writer Kelly Gay’s newest, Halo: Epitaph (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), would connect to the other novels she’s written about the titular sci-fi shooter series.

But as she explains in the following email interview, this installment is actually more connected to someone else’s Halo novels than her own.

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Exclusive Interview: “Beyond Enemies” Author Marisa Wolf

 

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.

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Exclusive Interview: “The Good Soldier” Nir Yaniv

 

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.

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Exclusive Interview: “Threading The Needle” Author Monalisa Foster

 

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.

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Exclusive Interview: “Androne” Author Dwain Worrell

 

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.”

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Exclusive Interview: “The Ghosts Of Trappist” Author K.B. Wagers

 

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.

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Exclusive Interview: “Alien Agendas” Ian Douglas

 

With Alien Agendas (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), writer Ian Douglas is concluding the Solar Warden trilogy he launched in 2020 with Alien Secrets and continued a year later with Alien Hostiles. In the following email interview, he discusses the end of this military sci-fi saga.

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Exclusive Interview: “Trinity’s Children” Author Dave Bara

 

With Trinity’s Children (paperback, Kindle), writer Dave Bara is concluding the cyberpunk-y military sci-fi duology he initiated in 2021 with his novel Trinity. In the following email interview, he discusses what inspired and influenced this second half of the story.