My new partner in crime, more to come from me on the subject!
JR
Author: J.R. Handley
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.
Deadly Illnesses
Hey Space Cadets, today I missed my regularly scheduled World Building Wednesday because I’m deep in the trenches fighting the dreaded Man Flu. You, my dear comrades in arms, know how truly debilitating this can be. Many a great warrior was brought low by this grievous injury, but I shall endeavor to resist. I shall fight on in the name of Lance Scipio, Basil Terloar, Tirunesh Nhlappo and all of the other great Human Legion Marine warriors who went before us. While I’m at death’s door, I shall still honor our bond and entertain you.
Are you not entertained?
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.
Marine Monday: Sashala Kraevoi
Hey Space Cadets, how is everyone today? I’m great, I have my wife and mother just finished making their final pass through Operation Breakout before I send it out to my editors, Corey and Thomas. I’m VERY excited to get that to market and see what readers think of the book. I’m currently 6k words into a short story, which I’ve tentatively titled “No Marine Left Behind” and I’m very excited about it. It was my first attempt at a purposely written short story, and my writing progress has improved because of it. It’s been through one developmental editing pass, and if you need to know more about that you can read about it from my editor by clicking here.
After I finish, I’ll be co-writing another short story for an anthology with best-selling author Chris Kennedy. My new co-author will be Corey Truax, my current editor and fellow Mesopotamian Veteran. Yes, you are right to imagine the shenanigans which will follow! I’ll tell you more about it as we get closer but I will be finishing my Sleeping Legion Series before I jump into anything after my current two short stories. When I need a break from Maternal Vengeance, I’ll hop over onto a few short stories, but then I want to charge full bore towards the Sleeping Legion Finish Line!
Okay, so on to our regularly scheduled Marine Monday! Today I was leaked, by our friendly neighborhood LegionLeak source, the official bio of Marine Sashala Kraevoi. I’m currently working on a short story about her journey into The Sleeping Legion. It’s been hard for her, but you’ll appreciate her appearance in Fortress Beta City and later in Operation Breakout even more after this. 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 Marines official record. 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.
Indie SciFy Video #3
Hey Space Cadets, today I wanted to bring you some awesome little science fiction films. They’re indie productions, but still worth the watch! I plan on posting one every Sunday to entertain you while I’m buried deep in my bunker working on Maternal Vengeance.
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 videos used by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
If you do any of the following, you’re probably over 40 #Grammar #Justforfun #AmWriting
For the grammar fanatics among us! For the record, I’m only 35 and I was still taught these ‘old people’ rules. She needs to adjust that but otherwise it is a great article!
World Building Wednesday: Prioritizing
Hey Space Cadets, how’s everyone doing today? I’m good, I will finish Operation Breakout today and I’m super excited about it. I’m already working on where book four will go, and I’ve some fun ideas. We’ve tentatively titled book four Maternal Vengeance. For those of you who’ve read The Human Legion Series, you’ll see the culmination of a plot thread started by author Tim C. Taylor. I’ve also submitted a short story to an anthology, as I’ve previously mentioned, and was invited to another anthology. I’ll tell you more about that as the details emerge, but I promise it’ll be soon.
Now, on to today’s World Building Wednesday topic, prioritizing your writing. What do I mean by this? Well, as creative people it’s easy to get distracted by the bright shiny idea. That next story, the next series can all pull you away from your work in progress and leave you starting millions of projects without finishing anything. I try to resist this temptation, power through it, roll over it like it was the Maginot Line in the 1930’s! Why? Because I can’t send ideas and half-finished manuscripts to my editor and I certainly can’t publish them.
My solution, stolen from other authors who I’ve chatted with and writing podcasts I’ve listened too is simple. Use your motivation for the next shiny thing to push you to finish your current work in progress. Let the boredom with the current idea motivate you to be innovate and come up with ways to reinvigorate the story for your readers. If it bores you, maybe it would bore them and you don’t want to lose your readers.
What about the rest of you out there in the Handley Trenches? How do you prioritize your works in progress? Do you write one project at a time, or are you one of those special souls who can write multiple projects simultaneously? I would love to hear from you in the comments below, so don’t be afraid to sound off!
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 videos used by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
This is why we can’t have nice things!
Hey Space Cadets, I saw this video and HAD to share it with you! And to my fellow veterans, do you wanna know why we can’t have nice things? This is why we can’t have nice things!!
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 videos used by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Marine Monday: Half Compass Point Formation
Hey Space Cadets, how are you today? I’m great, and only have four chapters left in Operation Breakout. I finished my short story submission to the Roswell Anthology, which after a quick edit will be submitted to Tickety Boo Press, Ltd. tomorrow. I was invited to another anthology, which will be written with a co-author, and outlined it as well! It’s top secret for now, and we will tell you about it at some point in the future. Anyway, life is good!
Now, onto today’s topic! Today’s Marine Monday is a continuation of last week’s discussion about combat tactics in an interstellar universe. If you missed it, read about the Compass Point Formation here. You really missed out, I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, but if you do…maybe that’s the universe telling you to check in on my blog more regularly!
So, the tactics of void combat! Such tactics require fighting men and women to consider things in this spherical manner instead of on a plane. It’s not just what is above you and around you, now it’s what’s below you and around you as well. This obviously means that future warriors will have to be even more alert than their modern counterparts. Further, the cost for making mistakes escalates when you are discussing combat in the vacuum of space. The Void is a harsh and unforgiving place where only the strong survive, which necessitates the creation of new and constantly evolving tactics for the battlefield. What works today, might not work tomorrow.
How do we know all of this? Well, today we have another excerpt from one of the manuals purloined by our LegionLeaks hero! Take a peak, before they come for us and it disappears forever!
One of the afore mentioned tactics is the Half Compass Point Formation. Interested in knowing more? Well, read the excerpt from their manual, and give it a quick look over!
Hopefully this will whet your appetite for me, and if so you should pop on back next week where we look at another combat formation!
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 videos used by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Review – The Leigion Awakes by J.R.Handley
Here’s a fair and honest review from a friend who doesn’t normally read my genre. Her review reflects that, but it is interesting to see how different fan groups react to your work,
Indie SciFy Video #2
Hey Space Cadets, today I wanted to bring you some awesome little science fiction films. They’re indie productions, but still worth the watch! I plan on posting one every Sunday to entertain you while I’m buried deep in my bunker working on Operation Breakout.
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 videos used by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
J.R. Handley's Blog 