the Human Cost of War The battle rages on in book two of the awardwinning Defending the Future series.
Witness sixteen accounts of hardcore military science fiction, from planetside combat to fleet actions up among the.
Featuring the works of David Sherman, Charles E, Gannon, John C. Wright, James Daniel Ross, Jonathan Maberry, James Chambers, Patrick Thomas, Andy Remic, Danielle AckleyMcPhail, Jeffrey Lyman, Jack Campbell, Mike McPhail, Bud Sparhawk, Tony Ruggiero, and C.
J. Henderson. Praise for Breach The Hull, Book One in the Defending the Future series Winner of theDream Realm Award "There is more than enough great SF in Breach the Hull for any true fan of the genre, military or not.
" Will McDermott, author of Lasgun Wedding "I enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it, " Sam Tomaino, Space and Time Magazine "Pick up Breach the Hull, You're sure to find stories that you like, " David Sherman, author of the DemonTech series and coauthor of the Starfist series " Breach the Hull kicks down the doors in a way that allows anyone access to the genre.
. . it read like a bunch of soldiers sitting around swapping stories of the wars, Fun, fastpaced, and packed with action, I give it a thumbs up, " Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Awardwinning author " Breach the Hull is worth the purchase, I normally don't partake of anthologies as a general rule, . . but Mike McPhail has done a great job in making me rethink this position, " Peter Hodges, er "Breach the Hull is full of excellent stories, no two of which are the same.
While similar themes crop up throughout, each writer has managed to take the subgenre and make it his own.
" John Ottinger III, Grasping for the Wind s "A collection of military science fiction from a well mixed group of authors, both new and established.
Found it a good source for some new authors to investigate, " Tony Finan, Philly Geeks An excellent collection of themed short stories, particularly Jack Campbell's 'Grendel', which adds depth to his Lost Fleet series.
"This collection would kick ass and take names, but if it brought a pencil it would end up stuck in your eye!"
Seriously good collection.
As with any collection there were those I really liked and those I thought weren't as stong but overall I really enjoyed it.
"The Nature of Mercy" by James Daniel Ross stands out as my favorite from the collection, but if you like military scifi you should get this book.
The second in the "Defending the Future" sciencefiction war anthologies has some standout and some standatattention, but no standinthecorner stories.
Every story is at least a threestar, A total of fourteen stories and some additional content in the Kickstarter addition the additional content is not reviewed here.
The theme of the anthology, other than sciencefiction war, focused on "So It Begins", How do these conflict start, when did the first gun get fired, what philosophical difference destroys worlds
Short Stories
Recidivism by Charles E.
Gannon Living in peace comes at a price,
The Last Report on Unitby John C, Wright You can take the mind out of the body, but not the body out of the mind.
The Nature of Mercy by James Daniel Ross also available as a standalone Programming quality control always test before release!
War Movies by James Chambers Brings new meaning to "Clone War Movies".
The Battle for Knob Lick by Patrick Thomas One for the category of "It seemed like a good idea at the time.
" Really, really! Zombies! A good idea in whose definition of good or idea Also rebellion, petty revenge, and promises to children and so many other ways for a "good idea" to go "hold my beer" wrong.
One of the strongest stories in the anthology,
Junked by Andy Remic Getting to where you need to be is most of the battle.
First Line by Danielle AckleyMcPhail The military hates to let go of any resource, especially welltrained soldiers.
Spend them, sure. Give them up, not so much, Recycle, that is a bonus,
To Spec by Charles E, Gannon Field tests are the worst,
Gunnery Sergeant by Jeffrey Lyman Speaking of resource utilization need more room on a ship, make the soldiers smaller.
Holy freak! If only for the solution presented to cramming in as many sailors as possible on a ship, this story is a mustread.
Grendel by Jack Campbell How do you know when to start a war
Cling Peaches by Mike McPhail Things can go a bit buggie when returning a damaged ship back for repairs through hyperspace.
The Glass Box by Bud Sparhawk Not all weapons look or feel like weapons, but a bomb is still a bomb.
Looking for a Good Time by Tony Ruggiero Orders are orders for a reason, and youth in military break them as youth are want to do, especially looking for a Good Time.
Everything is Better with Monkeys by C, J. Henderson The song and dance of diplomacy, as seen through C, J. Henderson's signature kaleidoscope of humor,
Received as part of the Defending the Future anthology Kickstarter from eSpec Books, This is worth reading for Jack Campbell's story 'grendal' which is the prequel to his lost fleet series.
The other stories while ok aren't as memorable, Mike McPhail is the award winning Author and Anthologist of the military science fiction series Defending The Future, published by Dark Quest Books, and editor of the publishers DTF Publications imprint.
He is a member of the Military Writers Society of America MWSA, and the creator of the Alliance Archives AllArc series and its related Martial Role Playing Game MRPG, a manual based, percentile system, that realistically portrays the consequences of warfare.
Born into a military / engineering family, his lifelong dream was to join NASA and become a mission specialist to that end, he attended the Academy of Aeronautics in New York, as well as enlisting in the Air National Guard.
While working towards his goal, a sudden illness brough Mike McPhail is the award winning
Author and Anthologist of the military science fiction series Defending The Future, published by Dark Quest Books, and editor of the publisher's DTF Publications imprint.
He is a member of the Military Writers Society of America MWSA, and the creator of the Alliance Archives All'Arc series and its related Martial Role Playing Game MRPG, a manual based, percentile system, that realistically portrays the consequences of warfare.
Born into a military / engineering family, his lifelong dream was to join NASA and become a mission specialist to that end, he attended the Academy of Aeronautics in New York, as well as enlisting in the Air National Guard.
While working towards his goal, a sudden illness brought a halt to these dreams, After recovering, he came to grips with his new reality so he chose to put his hard earned technical skills and imagination to use as a graphic artist, writer/editor and game designer.
To learn about his work visit: sitelink www, mcp concepts. com sitelink www. defendingthefuture. com sitelink www. milscifi. com sitelink.