J.R. Handley is a pseudonym for a family writing team. He is a veteran infantry sergeant with the 101st Airborne Division and the 28th Infantry Division. His family is the kind of crazy that interprets his insanity into cogent English. He writes the sci-fi while they proofread it. The sergeant is a two-time combat veteran of the late unpleasantness in Mesopotamia where he was wounded, likely doing something stupid. He started writing military science fiction as part of a therapy program suggested by his doctor, and hopes to entertain you while he attempts to excise his demons through these creative endeavors. In addition to being just another dysfunctional veteran, he is a stay-at-home parent, avid reader and all-around nerd. Luckily for him, his family joins him in his fandom nerdalitry.
Hey Space Cadets, how’re you doing today? I’m sucking wind, trying not to self-destruct from a Daylight Savings Time gone horribly wrong. Tell me again why this is necessary? Sigh, back to other more pleasant things. I’ve finished the developmental edits of No Marine Left Behind with my editor, Corey. Now the piece of literary excellence is off to Thomas and his Red Pen of Doom for a final copy edit. I hope to have more information about that one to you soon. My editing team’s also deep into their edits for Operation Breakout, and I should be publishing it next month. More updates and publishing news to come soon.
You can still get the prequel novella, The Demons of Kor-Lir, by signing up for my newsletter. Also, Boss Man has a new short story coming out for free if you sign up for his newsletter and I recommend it! I’ll be sending out a newsletter soon with more information, but until then let’s move on to today’s Marine Monday. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the journey!
Today I was leaked, by our friendly neighborhood LegionLeak source, the official vehicle stats of the Stork Class Shuttle. Enjoy the read, but please remember to destroy this message after reading it so the anonymous source can live long enough to continually feed us excellent intelligence! Without further ado, here is the leaked document!
Stork Class Shuttle
Stork Configurations
Hopefully you enjoyed this sneak peek into one of the most prolific classes of shuttles in the Human Legion. If you did, stay tuned for next week as we anxiously wait for the latest documents smuggled our way!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen grabs taken by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
I’m not one to wish that every day was Christmas or my birthday, but I wouldn’t mind reliving the 6 March 2017 a few times. Well, 7 March, actually, because even though my BookBub promo was international, in Australia the email didn’t go out until 1am on 7 March. I spent the entire prior day checking the stats and telling myself to just calm the hell down, while worrying that something went wrong. I didn’t need to worry – when I woke up the next morning, I could see that long-awaited spike. Over 2,000 copies were already downloaded in those first six or so hours, and the green line keeps moving since. It has completely dwarfed my prior stats, which were in 5-10 per day range (without advertising). Isn’t it beautiful?
That’s a total of an amazing 5,094 downloads over the first three days. The breakdown per country is as…
Hey Space Cadets, here is the next installment in my series of book reviews. I’m currently reading one of the greats of military science fiction, David Weber. I want to read his novels, and mine them for useful skills. He created one of the largest fan bases, so he is clearly doing something right. Nothing has really changed on my end, so I won’t bore your ear holes with gibberish. Instead, let’s jump right into the nuts and bolts of the story.
This book shares the story of Commander Honor Harrington of the Royal Manticoran Navy. She commands the HMS Fearless, having assumed command after some new weapons are added. These changes have the rank and file upset, but Honor is determined to give it the old college try when she participates in the navy’s war games. After a sneak attack ends with her ship scoring a direct ‘kill’ against the flagship of one of the Lords of the Admiralty. She ends up banished to picket duty on Basilisk Station, essentially an assignment to Siberia in her universe. There is the usual tension, as she has some issues with her command, the drama of ground combat with the Medusa locals a smattering of intrigue and political shenanigans. And lest we forget, since this IS a novel about the Royal Manticoran Navy, there is space ships knocking it out to the bitter end.
Characters:
The main character in this novel is Honor Harrington, a naval commander who is given command of the HMS Fearless at the beginning of the novel. I found myself very much drawn to her, she was a well-developed character, who had enough depth to make her believable. Having grown up a Navy Brat and taken Navy JROTC in high school, I felt like she fit with the upstanding naval officers I’ve known. Admittedly, I went on to an Army college and then enlisted into the infantry so otherwise my exposure to the Navy is almost nil, but I felt like she fit with what I’ve known in real life. She’s a no-nonsense kind of woman, who gets the job done and overcomes, no matter the cost. Honor does all this without sacrificing her troops needlessly, but isn’t afraid to risk all and pull the trigger when the need arises.
Plot:
I felt like the plot moved along at a steady pace, a bit slow in places but not enough to draw you out of the universe David Weber was creating. The plot was enough that I kept turning the pages for more, which is all we can really ask for! He went a little heavier on the science of his space flight than I like, but I was able to skim over those pages easily enough and enjoy an otherwise good space opera. The parts where David Weber described the combat on the ground was entirely believable, given the way he set up the primitive natives. It fit with what I knew from my own training as a historian and my time as a grunt. The only real issue I had was that the changes in POV felt jarring and were hard to follow. I read this novel as an eBook, and it was published as a trade paperback in 1993. I’m guessing that the novel was simply poorly converted, and the indications of the swapping POVs weren’t carried over, though I haven’t verified this. Either way, it was an issue for me.
World Building:
I felt like the world building in this novel was solid, there was just enough to understand everything. The setting was cogently written, believable and fun to imagine yourself joining. Probably a bad idea, as lots of people die in these fights, but such are the dangers of SciFy fandom. Admittedly, I came into these novels after being seduced to the dark side by the TRMN Fan Club at RavenCon last year so I knew a lot about the universe going in. I think it would’ve still stood alone on the laurels of the world David Weber created, but felt the need for full disclosure.
Description:
I felt like this one is hard, my visualizations were colored by the outside representations I’ve seen from the TRMN. These fans are dedicated and cosplay his universe, so when I read these books they were what I pictured. I think it was well done, but it’s possible my affiliation with his rabid fans colored my readings of things.
Overall:
Aside from my issues with the jarring switches from one POV to another, I really enjoyed this novel. It kept me hooked, and gave me an idea of how to make the hard science fiction approach to space combat more enjoyable. It was a bit heavy on the math, which I’m in no way qualified to judge the veracity of, but was otherwise enjoyable. I did like it enough to buy book two and will be reading that next. When the author is such an iconic master like David Weber, us noobs need to read and learn. It wasn’t a WOWZER five grenade novel, but it was good. Despite my issues with it, this is a book I would happily recommend. Heck, I would even recommend that you buy the novel! Some novel’s I’ve only liked enough to check out from the library, but this one you’ll want to buy for your reading pleasure and keep on your bookshelves.
If this book sounds like it’s right up your alley, check it out! You won’t regret it! Well, unless it keeps you up all night and you’re late to work… and then your boss fires you, because you became a book addict and a rabid David Webber fan. And then, because you’re unemployed and need a job, you enlist into the Royal Manticoran Navy. As a spacer, you are then deployed to the front lines. This shock to your sensibilities then forces you to desert, so that you might live. And then you track him down, the man who ruined your life, and climb into his window in your skivvies. And he shoots you with grapeshot. Okay, the fanboy/fangirl syndrome MIGHT kill you. Be warned, but enjoy the high!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are used on the Fair Use Doctrine.
Hey Space Cadets, just wanted to share Boss Man’s latest blog post since it involves a free short story! And my blog post for today hit a snafu and will post tomorrow. I just finished On Basilisk Station by David Weber and am writing a book review of this novel.
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen grabs taken by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
The next Legion Bulletin going out very soon to signed up Legionaries will have download links to a new Human Legion short story. Actually, it isn’t new because it’s a slightly revised version of the story I sold to the Crises & Conflicts anthology by Newcon Press a while back, but since that hasn’t sold much, […]
Hey Space Cadets, how are you doing today? Things are good here, the interview with The Dead Robots Society Podcast went well. As soon as I know when it’s going to go live, I’ll spread the word. I tried not to sound like too much of an idiot, but you’ll have to be the judge of that. And on the writing front, I’m half way done with my short story for the Four Horsemen Anthology. I’ve also started the outline process for book four, which we’re tentatively titling Maternal Vengeance. I don’t know the date book three, Operation Breakout, will go live but I’ll keep everyone posted.
Now, on to today’s World Builder Wednesday! Today we talk about cover designs! I’m no expert, and I’m actually colorblind, so this is a hard one for me. My friends Corey and MLS Weech are actually much better at this part, so you should check them out if you want an expert opinion on the topic! To my way of thinking, there are several steps you have in picking the cover for your next best seller, and I’m sure I’m missing a few. So rather than tell you this is the way, let me just say that this was my way. That’s right, the Burger King of cover designs.
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The first step in picking out a cover was to figure out my genre, since I know each genre and subgenre have their own idiosyncrasies. Once I knew where my book would fall in the pantheon of fictional greatness, it was a simple matter of looking at other well received covers in that genre. I found out what expectations they created, trying to get a general feel for my own design. This step is the most dangerous, as you could spend hours drooling over art and lose yourself so completely that your wife and kids send out the hounds and form a search party. Be warned, never browse covers alone! Seriously, that’s my PSA for the day!! Don’t do it, you’ve been warned!
Once I knew what I wanted, overall, I started to figure out designs for my own book. How could I come up with a cover for my own book that fit within this niche? You want to do two things; show your reader what type of book they’re getting, and not create false expectations of your own book. You don’t want pictures of spaceships on your novel if they’re planet bound. Nor would your cover have some half naked beefcake if you’re writing lesbian erotica. The cover HAS to show the potential reader what they’re likely to find inside. For me, this meant considering the overall theme of the book and scenes from within it. How you choose to go about it is largely dependent on the book you write, but you have to have a starting point for any potential artist you hire.
After you pick the general idea you want for this masterpiece, you begin the second most dangerous part; browsing the portfolios of cover artists. This is another phase that can suck you in, and still your soul. You could lose days, weeks, maybe even years rousing the artistic awesomeness of the various cover designers out there. Don’t be that guy, be disciplined and direct. After all, you have to get this done an expedited manner so you can write the next great American novel there’s always more books to write, so you can’t afford to get sucked into the outer trappings. I was lucky for this stage, I had another author, Chris Kennedy, lend me his cover designer. He made it easy by serving as the middleman, but I know this will always be the case and don’t need to learn to stand on my own. My advice, at least for finding good cover artists, is to start searching now so when you’re ready you just have to reach out. And find several you like, as you never know when they’ll be available.
Just to show you an example of my process for my pending short story, “No Marine Left Behind.” This story tells Sashala’s journey during Phase Guinshrike of Tim C. Taylor’s Renegade Legion, into Lance’s world in Fortress Beta City. For this story, I told the artist to give me space Marine’s in bad assed power armor. I wanted them to be in some burning woods after a shuttle dropped them off, and I wanted the dying Beta City in the background. This is the progression of the art in question. Hopefully this helps clear up my muddy explanation of the process! If not, least you get pretty pictures!!
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Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen grabs taken by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
After yet ANOTHER record breaking round, we’re down to 16 covers. I’m so glad to see such a positive response to the contest. But enough about me and my elation, let’s look at what happened after 1,467 votes!
Let’s go over some numbers:
The Closest Contest:
We have a few ties here. The Winter Over vs War Factory and Ringing in a New Year vs An Impossible War were both decided by just four votes! War and Winter were the victors in those close contests. Over earns the tiebreaker in because it’s narrow 52% margin of victory.
The Largest Victor: Bentz Deyo is back people! He brought his following for his cover to The Unleashed to defeat A Gathering of Shadows by 41 votes! The Elven Tales had the largest margin of victory over Death’s Mistress with 71% of the votes. Those are some pretty…
Look at my face. Seriously. Take a good long look at this face. It’s blue. And why is that? Why is my face the colour of childish summer skies, frozen computer screens, and musical moons?
It’s because I’m BLUE IN THE FACE telling you that 5-star reviews do not sell books. Stand-alone 5* reviews (rather than bunched together in aggregate, which I admit wield pens of power and therefore refuse to deal with here) are as much of an incentive to readers to buy a book as broccoli yoghurt is to naughty children to behave. They are meaningless: often vapid: frequently regarded as fake, and I have blogged about them so many times that my fingers are weary and my face is blue.
You know what can sell your books, though? A bad review, that’s what. And why is that? Because bad reviews contain 97.5% more useful information than good reviews, that’s why.
Hey Space Cadets, how’re you doing today? I’m doing good, coming down from my editing high. Corey and I just spent four hours reading through the first 14 chapters of Operation Breakout, with another longer session planned for tomorrow to get through to chapter 30. Tomorrow I also have an interview with The Listeners of the Dead Robot Society, one of my favorite podcasts! I’ll share before it goes live, though I won’t know the exact date right away. And I’ll try not to look too much like an idiot, I promise!! Finally, I’ve made good progress on my submission for the Four Horsemen Anthology.
Now, on to today’s Marine Monday! For today’s chat let’s talk about what was leaked to me by our friendly neighborhood LegionLeak source! We have the official bio of Field Marshal Tirunesh Nhlappo. Now the important parts! Remember, destroy this message after reading it so the anonymous source can live long enough to continually feed us excellent intelligence! Without further ado, here is the leaked document!
Hopefully you enjoyed this sneak peek into our favorite bad assess official dossier. If you did, stay tuned for next week as we anxiously wait for the latest documents smuggled our way! And if you wanna drop a little into the LegionLeaks tip jar, they wouldn’t mind one bit!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen grabs taken by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Hey Space Cadets, how’s everyone doing today? I’m doing amazing, yesterday I had to rewrite some chapters in Operation Breakout because the developmental editor caught a glaring error. Yeah, I had one character in two places at once! Oops!! But, I think the resulting chapter was even better than it was before which is always the goal. I’m 1k words into the “Luck of the Draw” short story for the Four Horsemen Anthology which has been fun to play with. It’s a tale of a bounty hunter, think Judge Dredd meets Barney Fife with a touch of Don Quixote mixed in for good measure and you’ll get a hint of the shenanigans to come!
Now, let’s get right to the point of my latest blog posting! Yes, I’ve gotten bit by the interview bug! I’ve started the Warrior Weekend Series, the Family Friday Series, and now the ‘SciFy Shenanigans’ series that only serves to talk with other authors of science fiction! If they write in any of the science fiction subgenres, then I’ll interview them, so here goes nothing!
The plan here is to create a template to talk to authors about their latest books and their process. They’ll be able to pitch the other stuff too, of course, but when authors have deep back catalogues it’s hard to get into the weeds with them. Those weeds have grown too high, so I took a weed whacker to the mess. Here’s the final results! Now grab your popcorn and enjoy the ride! Today, we have science fiction author Felix R. Savage under the big top!
Just a taste of his prolific portfolio!
He keeps some mighty fine company!
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of All Ages,……
First, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
Hello JR, it’s great to be here! I cannot reveal too much about myself as it might compromise my operational security. See here. However, my fiction is more of a reaction to my background than a reflection of it. Example, I majored in history and now I write about the future! Go figure.
What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
I enjoy roller-skating.
I’ll go out on a limb and assume that if you write books you also enjoy reading them. What other genres do you enjoy reading, and how have they affected your writing?
Everything I read feeds into my writing and I’m omnibibliovoracious. I made that word up just now. I read every genre under the sun with the exception of romance (sorry). In the last week I have read two thrillers (by Gregg Hurwitz and Cate Holahan), a new economics book (Tyler Cowen’s The Complacent Class), and a time travel sci-fi book (Extracted, which was a Kindle First selection and one of the only GOOD Kindle Firsts I’ve found yet).
Who are your biggest writing influences?
Other authors. I read something great and think “I want MORE of this,” but there isn’t more to be had, so I have to write it myself, and in the process it turns into something completely different. But still moreish, one hopes.
Who are your favorite authors and books?
How long can this blog post be? Kidding. Some of my all-time favorite authors are Iain M. Banks, Tolkien (of course), C.S. Lewis (of course), Peter F. Hamilton, Robert Harris, George Macdonald Fraser, Douglas Adams, Evelyn Waugh … Hmm there is a pattern here. All Brits and nearly all dead. Peter, stay healthy and keep writing!! Oh and my favorite NEW author is Gavin G. Smith (another Brit), whose space opera series you should go and pick up RIGHT NOW.
What is your preferred writing style?
All day every day. Sadly I have a 9 to 5 job so this is a dream rather than the reality at present.
How did that lead you deep into the weeds of the writing life?
You mean there’s any other way to live? *tries to see out of weeds* Nah. I’m happy right here!
When did you get serious about your writing?
At the age of 11.
What is your current novel? Tell us a little bit about the premise?
I just wrapped Shiplord, Book 3 in the Earth’s Last Gambit Quartet. This series starts out in the present day and involves a first contact scenario like nothing you’ve ever read before. I call it “techno-realistic science fiction.” Nearly all the technology in the series either really exists, or could be developed based on stuff we have. There are a few bits of armwavium here and there. See if you can spot them!
Shiplord is obviously a series, where can we expect it to go?
Book 4 will be entitled Killshot. It will involve a stupendously thrilling battle for the future of Earth!!!
As I mentioned above, I often get inspired by other authors. In this case it was John Sandford. He co-wrote a sci-fi book called Saturn Run. I really liked the concept, but I thought the execution left something to be desired, and the less said about the ending the better. So I decided to do the same sort of thing but do it right. You judge whether I succeeded or not!
Your characters from Shiplord are sent into a gladiatorial death match. Who wins?
My money’s on Jack. There is a reason his nickname is Killer, and it isn’t entirely ironic!
What do you listen to while you write? Or do you prefer silence?
Unfortunately I have no choice in the matter. I either write to a soundtrack of my co-workers nattering, or (on weekends) kiddie shows on the iPad or noisy children’s let’s-pretend games.
What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve looked up in the name of research – or what do you think the government has maybe flagged you for?
You’re trying to catch me out here, aren’t you? *adjusts tinfoil hat*
I enjoy ALL of it except research. Thankfully I have help with that? Bill Patterson, my science consultant, is a paragon of patience and answers all my scientific questions without laughing in my face. You’re a rock star, Bill.
Which actor/actress would you like to see playing your main characters from Shiplord?
If I ever got a film deal, I wouldn’t mind if they were played by clay animation models.
Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?
Since I have a day job, every bit of free time is writing time.
Do you aim for a set number of words/pages per day?
As many as possible.
When you develop your characters, do you already have an idea of who they are before you write or do you let them develop as you go?
I start out with a clear idea of them which always turns out to be wrong.
How did writing your current novel differ from your writing your previous novels?
This one was tough. It is the story of a space voyage. The voyage takes two years. How do you write an interesting story about people cooped up aboard a spaceship for two years? It’s kind of like a country house mystery except the country house is a bunch of tin cans attached to a nuclear reactor.
Shiplord is full of many amazingly talented characters and I imagine it was really fun to create some of them, but which one was your favorite and why?
I try not to play favorites. It’s not fair to the others.
What advice do you have for writers who are just starting out?
Put your head down and write as much as you humanly can, because you will probably need to write a LOT before you start to get the hang of it. Improvement is a never-ending journey. And read a LOT, too. That is just as important as writing.
I hope you enjoy this little conversation, and if you want to find out more about Felix R. Savage then follow the rabbit trail to their warren in the internet! If they don’t like it, beat ‘em with a carrot and keep on truckin’! And watch out for those lizard people, I hear they bite!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen shots taken by JR Handley and used under the Fair Use Doctrine.
–> Some of these interview questions were inspired by my good friend TeacherofYA, and are used with her permission. If you have kids who love to read, she’s the girl who’ll make the literary introductions! You should check her out, after a lifetime of reading, your kids will thank you.
Hey Space Cadets, I hope everyone is doing great and voted in my friends Clash of the Covers contest!I’m still working on the Four Horsemen Anthology and hit a bit of a time snag.Try not to shudder, but I had to do something disgusting and unpleasant…. I filed my taxes today.I know, I cried too, there’s no shame in it!As for the next novel in the Sleeping Legion Series, well I’ll start outlining that this month and writing it as well. I will keep you posted on the progress as I try to bump up my production speeds!Pulp glory here I come!
Now, on to my World Building Wednesday topic!!Onward I say!Today we talk about how I figure out the technology of my futuristic worlds.Let’s start with your restrictions, which is especially important if you’re writing in someone else’s sandbox.In Boss Man’s universe there is no such thing as FTL because science doesn’t think it is viable at the moment.That doesn’t mean it is impossible, but because of the perceived improbability of this method, he decided against using it.Other limitations imposed on your technological development might come from your subgenre; is it space opera, military science fiction or hard science fiction.
A famous example of how this played out would be from Star Trek, where they got around the limitations of science as we know it by using warp drive.This used Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity.He speculated that the speed of light in a vacuum will be the same from any frame of reference moving at a constant speed. I won’t go all technical (Translation, I don’t know all of it), but basically it showed that FLT wasn’t possible.However, he speculated that you could instead bend space-time to traverse long distances in an expedited manner.Then Mexican physicist, and SciFy Nerd, Miquel Alcubierre theorized it might actually possible, without violating the theories of his predecessors.Way back in the dark ages of 1994!I mean, they didn’t even have Facebook back then.Or Myspace, for us old timers in attendance!If you want to know more, click the links at the bottom of this post.
When I write science fiction in my own universe I plan on running with the theory Dr. Alcubierre gave us and traveling faster than light, if not in fact, then in deed.So, now that you’ve considered your own limitations you need a starting point.I tend to look at science and technology as we know it and then postulate where it might go in the distant future.This is mostly guess work, lots of technical research and some good ole fashioned SWAG!Not that kind of swag, but a scientific wild arse guess!Okay, quasi scientific in my case but work with me here!This does require you to know your world so you can have the end points, since the starting points would be today.
How do I stay abreast, well I follow several science blogs that break it down for you Barney Style.I’ll work on collating it for you as soon as I can.Another way I use is to pick the brain of my father-in-law, a trained biologist and my dad who’s a mechanic who understands machines.Then I made friends with people way smarter than I, and let them prevent me from looking like an idiot.Well, more of an idiot than normal!
To recap, basically I do some research to know the limitations I’m starting with and then I guess where things might go in the future.But that’s how I do it, what is your process?
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen grabs taken by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
After yet ANOTHER record breaking round, we’re down to 16 covers. I’m so glad to see such a positive response to the contest. But enough about me and my elation, let’s look at what happened after 1,467 votes!
J.R. Handley's Blog 