Hey Space Cadets, time for another article in my Marketing series. Today I wanted to tackle Mailing Lists, yet another aspect of marketing. Now, quit your groaning – you might learn something. Even better, someone may make a comment that will teach me something! I am always learning new things. Anyway, I digress, on to today’s subject. Remember, I’m no expert so this is just what I’m doing and it seems to be working for the moment. As things change, I’ll adapt which is a major key to success in many of life’s adventures.
Marine Monday: Magnetizer
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Hey Space Cadets, how’s everyone doing on this fine Marine Monday? For my weekly plug – check out my Sleeping Legion Series if you haven’t already read the books. I had 
some trouble meeting up with my source – it was touch and go finding a place that was secure. Fortunately we found one.
So on to our bio from our friendly neighborhood LegionLeak source, this week we have the official bio of Magentizer. 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!
Marketing: Social Media
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Hey Space Cadets, yet another blog about marketing. I can hear your collective groans and mutters of not more from here, but hear me out. Let’s jump into the deep end and learn to swim together. Remember, I’m no expert so this is just what I’m doing and it seems to be working for the moment. As things change, I’ll adapt which is a major key to success in many of life’s adventures.
Book Review: The Dark Star War (Codex Regius Book 3)
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Hey Space Cadets, here is the next installment in my series of book reviews. As I’ve mentioned earlier, I’m a member of the TRMN. It’s a fan club for the Honor Harrington Universe by David Weber, and they do contests for their members all the time. There is a reading contest going on recently, and we get bonus points for reading authors who are on the TRMN Author List. And, if those authors will be at the 2017 Honor Con, we get even more points! So, you’ll see my next several reviews on books by Chris Kennedy, Marko Kloos and David Weber before I get back to Richard Fox’s Ember Wars stories. I’m also working on book four of The Sleeping Legion Series. Finally, if you haven’t read it, Operation Breakout is live!
But enough about me, onto this specific review. Now let’s get to it! Continue reading
Marine Monday: Petra ip Daiyna of the Dark Gorge Clan
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Hey Space Cadets, how’s everyone doing today? Check out my Sleeping Legion Series if you haven’t already read the books. My family is getting ready to celebrate tomorrow with family. I hope you all have a great 4th of July.
Overview of the Writing Retreat
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Hey Space Cadets! I just got back from my Writer’s Retreat – had to get away so I could get a handle on getting Book Four done. It has been an interesting experience – five days with no children asking me questions or screaming in the background. No wife with a honey do list. It was almost to quiet – wait, is there a to quiet? Well let’s get to it.
DAY ONE: This was a very rough day, only 1,394 words written. The trip to getting here was long, and the traffic was horrendous. It made the drive to the hotel 
somewhat more stressful than it should’ve been. The hotel room wasn’t the nicest, so I had to wait an hour for the maintenance people to fix the AC and turn the hotbox into a hotel room. It didn’t stop me from writing, but it slowed me down. Finally, to fix parts of the strategy I had to research HALO and HAHO drops by the US Army so I knew what we were capable of now. I tend to use modern tech as the base line from which I extrapolate my future tech. Also, I compiled a document for Boss Man on what assets would be joining the main body of the Human Legion on the final battle for Earth. The close of the Sleeping Legion story will link back up with his last book in the Human Legion Series. I love it when a plan comes together! Continue reading
WARRIOR WEEKEND: Rick Partlow
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Hello Space Cadets! Today, I wanted to introduce you to another author from my WARRIOR WEEKEND INTERVIEW SERIES.
Rick Partlow is that rarest of species, a native Floridian. He was born in Tampa in 1966, the son of a Baptist preacher. His dad was in his early 40s when he was born and had been the nose gunner on a B24 bomber in WWII—he had been shot down over the Ploesti Oil F
Needless to say, his father’s stories had quite the effect on Rick as a child, as did the tales of Robert Heinlein, whose “juvenile” novels shaped his adolescence. He fell in love with science fiction early, giving his library card a workout from age 8 on.
He attended Florida Southern College on an ROTC scholarship and graduated with a BA in History and a commission in the Army. He served as an Infantry platoon leader with the 25th ID in Hawaii before getting out and bouncing around from one job to another for a while before settling on teaching.
And through that whole time, he was writing. He wrote his first novel in 10th grade and his second as a senior in high school. They were both written longhand on notebook paper and he held his nose as he threw them in the trash can sometime while he was in college.
It was in college that he began writing his first science fiction novel. He began writing a story I called Rituals, which later, after many, many years and many revisions became Duty, Honor, Planet. At the same time he came up with a plot for a book that would later be the basis for the characters of Glory Boy and the Birthright trilogy.
Without further ado, let’s get this interview cranking!
Tell me a little about your military service?
I was in college Army ROTC and also served as an enlisted man in the National Guard while I was in 
college. After I graduated, I was active duty for a couple years in the Infantry, serving as a platoon leader in the 25th ID in Schofield Barracks, HI. I got out early due to the post-Gulf War drawdown and was in the reserves for a few more years to serve out my obligation.
How do you feel that your military service has influenced your writing?
It definitely gave me the background and familiarity with tactics and mindset I needed to write military science fiction.
Do you think your military service, and more specifically your training, adds to the realism in your books? If so, how?
Infantry small unit tactics have made my military SF more realistic since they apply whether you’re using M16s and artillery or Gauss rifles and orbital kinetic kill strikes.
When did you start pursuing your writing more seriously?
I’ve done that twice. First, back in the late 1990s I buckled down and finished two SF novels: Duty, Honor, Planet and Birthright. I signed with a literary agent and we tried our best to find a publisher but after a couple years we both gave up.
Then when I discovered self-publishing on Amazon for Kindle in 2011 and those two books sold 10,000 copies the first year, I got serious about writing again. I was still writing seat of the pants style and it took me a year each to write the two sequels to Duty, Honor, Planet, and then a bit under a year each for the two sequels to Birthright. After that, I began taking outlining more seriously and finished Glory Boy in three months. The first Recon novel took two months, the second a month, and the third also two months. I hope I can keep up this schedule for the fourth book.
Of all your work, which was your favorite to write?
I think that has to be Honor Bound, the second book in the Duty, Honor, Planet trilogy. That book more than any seemed to write itself, and it honestly surprised me how it wound up ending. That whole series was a lot of fun to write, mostly because it was all done seat-of-the-pants, not outlined much.
How many of your characters were inspired by your military service?
Most of them were created during college, so most were inspired by friends from college and the cadre at my college ROTC unit. Several of the NCOs there were Vietnam veterans and the Professor of Military Science was former Special Forces.
How many of the specific scenes you wrote were inspired from your service?
Not specifically from my service, but some were taken from the experience of other soldiers I talked to.
Do you feel like your writing has served any therapeutic value for you? Has it helped you process your military experiences?
I didn’t see combat, since I got out in the early 90s, so the most traumatic thing that ever happened to me was getting my ass chewed by a full Colonel promotable.
If you could serve with any of your characters, who would it be and why?
Definitely Jason McKay. He’s solicitous of his people, not a by-the-book martinet and he’s also very
lucky.
If you would want to avoid serving with any of your characters, who would it be and why?
Probably Cal Mitchell, since he’s very hard to kill and tends to get into situations where the conventional troops around him get killed and he survives because of his augmentation. Imagine a Navy SEAL with superpowers…
If you could serve in any of the worlds you created, which one would it be, and why?
During wartime, it would have to be the Republic of Duty, Honor, Planet since they have better leadership.
What are you currently working on and when do you expect it to be ready for publication?
I’m currently outlining the fourth book in my Recon series. I just released the third book, A Battle for the Gods, less than a week ago and I expect the fourth book to be out my sometime in September.
How can people find you?
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- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rick-Partlow/e/B00B1GNL4E
- E-Mail: dutyhonorplanet487@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DutyHonorPlanet/
- Twitter: @RickPartlow66
- Website: www.rickpartlow.wordpress.com
If this convinced you to find out more, look up Rick Partlow. I hope you all had a great time getting to know about Rick. Don’t be afraid to say hello here or on https://www.facebook.com/DutyHonorPlanet/. If s/he doesn’t respond quick enough, glitter bomb them! Mwahahaha!!
