My 2019

I had a good 2019, all things considered, and had several major accomplishments.

1. Completing the CMO manual. This was the biggest task and it’s my proudest accomplishment this year. In 2013, I was just someone watching a stream of Command: Modern/Air Naval Operations. In 2019, I’d completed three official DLCs and had the honor of writing the manual for the sequel, Command: Modern Operations.
2. Getting my first Sea Lion Press book published. The Smithtown Unit, an alternate history homage to “men’s adventure” novels, was written in the summer of 2019 and published in late September.
3. Revving up Fuldapocalypse. Now, I read incredibly fast, so I didn’t lack for books to review. Still, Fuldapocalypse really got going this year. I ditched the clunky format meant for differentiating very similar books and made all my reviews “unstructured”, enabling me to write a lot of of them very quickly.

The Smithtown Unit is Now Out

I’m delighted to announce that my authorial debut at Sea Lion Press, The Smithtown Unit, is now out on Amazon.

It’s a short action-adventure[1] novella set in an alternate world where, among other things, the USSR still exists, there’s a “Republic of Oran” in North Africa, and (most importantly), weapons and vehicles that were only concepts/prototypes or limited in actual history end up being used en masse here.

[1]The biggest direct inspirations were the MIA Hunter and Cody’s Army series, although the intro is more based on the classic vigilante novels.

Northern Fury reviewed on Sea Lion Press

This is considerably after the fact, but I figured I’d point it out anyway: Northern Fury: H Hour got an excellent review on Sea Lion Press.

As a partial aside, I’ve said it elsewhere but I’ll say it here-I have a renewed willingness to read and review “traditional” World War III stories. Part of that is quality books in the genre like Team Yankee, Red Army, and yes, Northern Fury: H Hour.

My new review at SLP

I reviewed Chris Nuttall’s “Storm Front” (wish the title could have been a bit less awkward, oh well) on the Sea Lion Press blog.

Sea Lion Press: Sam Bowie

My newest Sea Lion Press piece is on Sam Bowie, the player the Trail Blazers picked ahead of Michael Jordan in the 1984 NBA draft. Because of this, Bowie has been unfairly considered “the ultimate draft bust”, when his actual playing stats have put him nowhere near that category.

 

Boom Boom Goes The Tank: Plotnukes

In my latest Sea Lion Press column, I finally have the opportunity to talk about one of my favorite technothriller pet peeves-“Plotnukes”.

Plotnukes are a kind of “I know it when I see it” term for the use of nuclear weapons in a highly contrived way. The Birmingham-for-Minsk “trade” in Hackett’s The Third World War and similar events in imitators is what I consider the poster child of such a thing.

Boom Boom Goes The Tank: Circle Trigons

My latest Sea Lion Press blog article is on one of my favorite Cold War footnotes, the Circle Trigon Aggressors.

BBGTT: Time Periods of World War III

Over at SLP, I have a new column about the various decades where a hypothetical World War III occurs.

Boom Boom Goes The Tank: A New Series At Sea Lion Press

I’m happy to announce that the first installment in a series on World War III and technothrillers I’m writing for Sea Lion Press has been published. Sea Lion Press’ blog/magazine as a whole has recently revved up with many diverse and interesting articles posted, and I’m delighted to be a part of it.

My First Post On Sea Lion Press

I’m delighted to now be a contributor to the Sea Lion Press blog. My first article is a review of an alternate history WWIII thriller, Harvey Black’s The Red Effect. Regrettably, it contained both of my big pet peeves for the genre: Too much perspective hopping and too long of an intro to a foregone event.

The post can be seen here.