Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Doug Wojtowicz was the man who taught me how to write. Those who have read his contributions to the Mack Bolan series of novels and that have read my own work can tell that there are several stylistic differences between the two of us, but a good pupil branches out from what the instructor has given them as a baseline. By no means does this mean that my work is superior to his, nor does it mean that it is inferior, merely that it is different. But I digress.

The original point I was going for here is that having known Doug for a number of years now, I know a little something regarding the constraints that Gold Eagle--the distributor of the Mack Bolan series of novels--places on its ghostwriters. (For the uninitiated--on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and Amazon, it will mark all Mack Bolan affiliated novels as being penned by Don Pendleton, but he ceased writing the Bolan books in the late seventies, and passed away in the 1990s. His legacy is carried on through a team of ghostwriters. To find which author penned which book, flip to the fourth page and look for a passage similar to this: "Special thanks and acknowledgment to Doug Wojtowicz for his contribution to this work.") The books can only be so long. Older SuperBolan and Stony Man novels used to be rather thick, but in recent years, they have tightened word limits for reasons unknown to me. They also place character constraints, which I will be touching on momentarily.

EXTERMINATION deals with a terrorist group known only as Greenwar, which has delivered a staggering ultimatum to the world's superpowers--bid to eliminate a percentage of the population to be spared from a plague that causes insane fury and tricks the body into thinking that it is starving. The bidding begins at 20% of a country's population, and demonstrations across the world let the world leaders know that Greenwar's leader, a shadowy figure named Bezoar, is indeed serious. The Department of Justice's Sensitive Operations Group--known to insiders as Stony Man--races into action, with Able Team investigating the attacks in the heartland of America and Phoenix Force chasing down leads from Europe to India.

My only problem with Wojtowicz's work is that he is too good. I read his work, I see characters or plot points I would have personally brought up, and I know Doug would have done the same, but his hands are tied by the publishers. Regardless, he manages to work wonders within the confines of his work. EXTERMINATION is pulp action at its finest, down to the weapons details, tactics, character quirks and wisecracks, and plot twists and grisly action by the pound. Most other Bolan writers, I see that writing Bolans is a perfect fit for them, but as I read Doug's work, it screams to me that he merits his own novel, with his own characters, and his own constraints.

One issue I will bring up, and this is aimed at the publishers--this threat contained within the plot was something that threatened to kill the entire world. Why wasn't Mack Bolan brought in to assist? There was a perfect plot point where Bolan could have reunited with his former Death Squad teammates, Herman Schwarz and Rosario Blancanales. And with something of this magnitude, wouldn't you want the deadliest weapon in your arsenal fighting side-by-side with you?

As far as the plot itself--at first, I thought it was a more grisly version of a certain Tom Clancy novel, but the more I read into it, it actually reminded me of a certain critically acclaimed superhero movie from a few years back. Whether this parallel was intentional or not is not to my knowledge, but the plot works masterfully, and all ends are tied up loosely at the novel's conclusion.

Bottom line, pound for pound, nobody delivers pulp action like Doug Wojtowicz, and EXTERMINATION is no exception.

You can purchase Extermination (Stony Man #115)Ìýfrom AmazonÌý

Nate Granzow makes a very strong debut with THE SCORPION'S NEST. The novel tells the story of a group of young German-Americans who were mistreated and discriminated against during the Second World War, and out of anger, elect to assist the Nazis in a sleeper cell operation designed to bring the United States to its knees. The mission fails, and only one of the boys survives, thinking that the horrors of Operation: SCORPION NEST are to remained buried in the past.

Fast forward sixty years. Scott Kretschmer, an Air Force veteran and down-on-his-luck mechanic, is caught up in a bank robbery. During the robbery, he meets a woman named Melanie, who seems like another bystander caught up in the events at first. She rapidly develops into far more than what meets the eye, and ensnares Kretschmer in a desperate attempt to halt a madman from digging up the past to forward his doomsday agenda. They race from California, to Las Vegas, to Arizona, and finally end up in Austria, dodging bullets from mercenaries every step of the way and never knowing who they can trust.

In terms of sheer readability, Granzow delivers in spades. I had only intended to read a page here or a page there, and rapidly found myself engulfed in the plot, spending more and more time in racing towards the plot's conclusion. The scenes alternating between the present day and the full unveiling of the events behind Operation: SCORPION NEST have a good dynamic between them, and he unveils the plot just fast enough to keep the reader going, but just slow enough to make them crave more.

As far as characters go, Scott Kretschmer is an everyman that survives on sheer determination, which conjures memories of John McClane and many of the pulp action heroes of the 1950s. Melanie is the classic well-intentioned femme fatale, a woman whose beauty is matched by her intellect and lethality. These characters give the book a feel of one part spy thriller and one part hardboiled detective novel, and the scenes revolving around the young Karl Lassen and the plot revolving around the failed Nazi operation add one part historical thriller, which all meshes into a very effective combination.

On the downside--the side plot with Detective Sander could have been further expanded upon, but it seemed as if once the plot went international, he was all but forgotten until the very end. There were minor grammatical errors throughout, but nothing that an editor couldn't fix. Also, I felt that the ending could have been drawn out a little more, but the epilogue was written nicely. None of the aforementioned flaws should discourage readers from picking up this eBook.

All in all, Granzow is an author that knows his craft, and given the strength of his debut work, I can only predict that future installments will further establish his obvious credibility in the trade.

You can purchaseÌýThe Scorpion's NestÌýfor the Amazon KindleÌý

Pete Blaber served in the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, more popularly known as Delta Force, and his leadership experiences while with that particular organization make him uniquely qualified to impart wisdom in regards to leadership in combat. His book, THE MISSION, THE MEN, AND ME, does exactly that, with a few key points: don't get treed by a chihuahua; when in doubt, develop the situation; imagine the unimaginable, humor your imagination; always listen to the man on the ground; and it is not reality unless it is shared.

Blaber's experiences take us from the opening stages of the war in Iraq, to hunting war criminals in the Balkans, to an aborted mission to infiltrate Afghanistan to eliminate Osama bin Laden pre-9/11, and finally, to the opening stages of the war in Afghanistan and Operation: ANACONDA. Here, he exposes where his lesson come into play by demonstrating where he made mistakes and where others he has worked with made mistakes, ranging from fellow Delta operators to those in the highest annals of power. At the level that Blaber operated, mistakes cost people their lives, which is strongly demonstrated in the closing chapters of the book.

Writing-wise, Blaber's prose is solid. He does not self-aggrandize, he does not exaggerate. He simply tells the facts as he saw them, being the man on the ground. It's not ground-breaking prose, but it is skilled and calculated, as one would expect from a man who spent his career honing his skills and calculating risks. Researchers of other books regarding Operation: ANACONDA--particularly, NOT A GOOD DAY TO DIE, by Sean Naylor--will see cross-references to and excerpts from other accounts.

Video gamers might find passages that served as inspiration to the game MEDAL OF HONOR (particularly, the parts about Advanced Force Operations, and Blaber's call sign, "Panther"), which should add incentive for those gamers to research the men behind the story that drives the game. Military service members and veterans will find combat lessons to apply to their own craft. Civilians will find lessons they can apply in their every day lives. This latter point has been a point of contest with some in the military community who feel that Blaber's book was possibly edited from a book about war to a "self-help" book…while this may certainly be the case, the war stories are still there, and the lessons--while perhaps unnecessarily spot-lighted--are still there, as well, and it does not read like the self-help books one would expect from, say, Anthony Robbins.

All in all, THE MISSION, THE MEN, AND ME delivers insights in spades through amusing and interesting stories, as well as by way of the modern battlefield from a commander's perspective. It is definitely recommended reading for military enthusiasts from all walks of life.

You can purchaseÌýThe Mission, The Men, and MeÌý

Richard Weston's The YoungÌýinitially comes off as a post-apocalyptic drama, with its bleak visuals and black-and-white coloring. Indeed, to the casual viewer, that's exactly what it may come off as, but if one were to look deeper, they would find the sort of themes one would expect from such a genre, but also motifs from another genre they wouldn't expect--the revisionist Western.

The YoungÌýis set roughly forty years in the future, where a war has devastated England. Factions have eventually coalesced into two main forces: The Front, led by a man named Sears, that wishes to impose dictatorial rule over what remains of England; and a resistance group led by a deadly and charismatic man named Cael. The film opens up with Cael's capture. After four years of brutal torture at the hands of The Front, Sears imposes a psychologically devastating punishment upon Cael: find and destroy the resistance movement that he built. Cael is placed on a team with Sanders, a Front sergeant from London who is immediately promoted to captain; Bryant, a menacing, sadistic sort with a sketchy past and the man who captured Cael; Bryant's number two man; a couple of privates; and Sophie Green, an attractive young private that has caught the eyes of Sanders and has yet to learn the ins and outs of being a soldier.

While their mission starts off well enough, it rapidly falls apart. Desertion, enemy contact, double-crossing, and the heinous realities of the post-apocalyptic world rapidly tear the Front soldiers apart. All the while, Cael's former colleagues, led by his successor, Blake, continue to fight the power and await the return of their mentor and brother, all while enduring disease, starvation, and betrayal within their own ranks.

I'd prefer to lead off with my one gripe with the film so that I can sing praises all the way to the end. My one gripe is this--the sound editing. It becomes incredibly hard to hear in some part, but I can only imagine that is not due to any part of the editors or producers and more due to technical limitation, as this is a first time independent film. But I was able to follow the relative gist of the plot, even if it became somewhat confusing due to the inability to hear the characters from time to time.

Having said that, this is an independent film, but one that has the style and plot line that beats many mainstream Hollywood productions. The lead actor, Richard Weston--who is also the writer and director--has the rugged good looks of a younger and British Clint Eastwood with the voice of Clive Owen, and is a natural-born actor. In the role of Cael, he is a stoic and near-broken man of few words, but Weston's words are expertly delivered. The rest of the cast also delivers solid performances, particularly the main antagonist, Bryant, portrayed by Darren Pritchard.

The plot, as mentioned before, comes off as gritty and post-apocalyptic on first impression, and it is set in such an environment, but it is that same desolation that allows Weston to explore Western motifs in an English setting. Its allusions to the genre are subtle at first, but masterfully transition in crescendo to direct, culminating in an end scene where Weston and Bryant stare each other down in a homage to the genre, down to the music, which leads me to the final portion of the review.

The music! I love the music in this film. This is not something the average viewer usually pays attention to, but I've always been the kind of person that will pick up on the type of music a film has. Most often, it's nothing to write home about, but The Young's musical production, like its script and acting, are on par with and beyond many Hollywood productions. It transitions from pulse-pounding beats to somber tones and right back again in key with the plot.

All in all, a veryÌýstrong debut for Mr. Weston, whose passion and talent obviously lies in film-making. It won't surprise me if I turn on my television some day and find a familiar face, wearing a tuxedo and holding a golden award in a triumphant fist.


You can purchase The YoungÌýfor digital downloadÌý

All right, ladies and gentlemen, my Facebook page is back online!

A short explanation--I had to go back and revise some characters out of fear of possible legal repercussions, so I ended up making an opportunity out of it to go back and revise my entire canon. I have enough characters now to relaunch the website and begin my reworking of THE FIRST BAYONET.

On the topic of THE FIRST BAYONET, I am removing it from Lulu, the iBookstore, and Barnes & Noble. As I mentioned in my self-publishing blurb, I have had problems with Lulu and, given that I am revising THE FIRST BAYONET entirely, I shall republish it as a brand new book under the same name on CreateSpace.

If the novella reaches full-sized novel length, then I will re-release THE FIRST BAYONET as both a print book and as a Kindle book. If it remains novella length, it will be rereleased to the public, free of charge, on Amazon's Kindle Store.

Thank you to everybody who has shown me support from the start of this writing adventure, and I hope y'all will stay around for the rest of the ride.

Let's get to it!

Steven Hildreth, Jr.Tucson, AZJune 29th, 2012

Excellence matters.

Brandon Webb's experiences as a SEAL are masterfully recounted in his memoir, THE RED CIRCLE. From page one, he grips you with a tale of stumbling upon enemy contact during the opening days of Operation Enduring Freedom and it becomes nigh impossible to put down from there.

I personally cannot find a flaw with the book. It begins with background on his childhood (which is important--it provides an idea of what shapes the kind of men who become SEALs), goes into his days in search and rescue (and details the pitfalls of the conventional navy, which can be found in all of the services), then transitions to his days as a SEAL, starting with BUD/S and ending with his end of active service and transition into the private sector.

I read most of the book during a long bus ride out to a job, and found myself looking for every opportunity to read it after work. THE RED CIRCLE is a must-read for military enthusiasts and those looking for a glimpse into the world of special operations and snipers.


You can purchase The Red CircleÌý

Sean Deckard had found a home in Rhodesia, and he had found purpose, battling the communist threats that aimed to bring the government down. But, much like in Vietnam, the Rhodesian government won the battles but lost the war. Rather than work for the enemies that he had fought for years, Deckard and others like him defected to South Africa, where they became members of the Reconnaissance Commando, or Recces for short, and continued the fight against communist forces.

PROMIS: Rhodesia was a hard act to follow, and PROMIS: South Africa does a great job. The plot is basically two-tier: half of the novella shows Deckard's missions while with the Recces, while the other half shows Deckard and two of his Rhodie companions from the previous novella working to stop a war between two black townships. The former plotline brings back a key character from the past and gives Deckard the idea that things are brewing from behind the scenes.

The grammatical errors that appeared in the previous installment are far lessened here, narrowed down to the occasional slip here or there. The action is as crisp as ever. However, like the past installment, I believe it suffers from the novella's confines. The war's conclusion could have been expanded upon, as could the final scene. However, like the previous installment, the prose--especially the action--outshines these downfalls.

PROMIS: South Africa also serves as an educational read--I personally did not know that the soldiers within the South African Defense Forces were more focused on fighting communists than the racially-charged apartheid policies. It really shows the reader that the soldiers described within are between a rock and a hard place, with communists making incursions (backed by the Soviet Union), world opinion turned against their country due to the government's social policies, and the government enacting said social policies. To paraphrase the author in a private conversation, the situation in South Africa back then was confusing, to say the least.

This installment of the PROMIS series serves as a bridge between Deckard's days as a Rhodesian operator and what is bound to be his inevitable confrontation with the shadow forces that control the near-clairvoyant algorithm known only as PROMIS.


You can purchase PROMIS: South Africa for the Amazon Kindle

Sean Deckard is back and with a vengeance.

After we last saw him in Vietnam, clashing with the brass over sensitive information that could end the war, he went searching for purpose, including a stint with the Spanish Foreign Legion and POW hunting in Southeast Asia, before he found his way to Rhodesia and wound up with the Rhodie SAS. It is his adventures here that truly start to shape the course that Deckard will take, even more so than his time with MACV-SOG.

As always, Jack Murphy spins an excellent tale, laced with realism and authenticity, with a voice one can only gain from having walked the walk. One particular scene comes to mind where Deckard recalls his first ambush and the emotions (or lack thereof) that came to mind, the changing point where he stopped being a civilian with a uniform and a rifle and became a soldier. As a veteran and infantryman, I found myself reflecting on my own experience and found how eerily similar it was to what I was reading.

There were some minor grammatical errors throughout that could have easily been solved with an editor or beta reader. The worst thing about PROMIS: Rhodesia is that it is a novel confined to the parameters of a novella. I also felt that some of the scenes of Deckard outside the office, so to speak, could have been expanded upon to give us a look at that man outside of combat, but I suspect Murphy did this on purpose because he wanted the focus to be Deckard, the man in combat. Regardless, none of these factors were enough to tarnish the shine that is Murphy's storytelling prowess.

All in all, PROMIS: Rhodesia is an excellent, well-researched story, and is a must-read for any fan of the military adventure genre.




You can purchase PROMIS: Rhodesia for the Amazon Kindle

Thanks toÌýÌýfor the crash course in sonnets.




A stone castle resides within my chestÌýIts walls formidable, it guards my soulÌýIt keeps the urge to love unbound suppressedÌýAnd keeps my heart secure, safe from pain's tollÌý
But then you made your way inside with easeÌýYou tricked the soul's keeper to rest, retireÌýAnd with your charm, your grace, and expertiseÌýYou gripped my heart and set the fort on fireÌý
The fact I missed: you gave advanced warningÌýYou told me straight: your heart did hold deceitÌýYour lies, believed; and with every morningÌýI fell harder, past faults I would repeatÌý
And then I pulled the thread, killed the charadeÌýThen to my knees—for your salvation, prayed.

I started writing at the age of eleven. Shortly thereafter, I just knewÌýthat to have a published work was my destiny, that to have my name on a book was my calling. By the age of thirteen, I had grabbed hold of a book that my dad had been looking at that listed several markets to which aspiring authors should pitch their books. When I would need inspiration to write, I would look at that book and think of being able to finally submit a finished manuscript, and surely, they would read what I offered and know like I did that Steven Hildreth was serious business and that every second I wasn't published was an affront to everything that was holy and just.

Then I got older and started to get the impression that perhaps the established publishing industry wouldn't be as receptive as I initially thought. The first step was back before I joined the Army, when I was cruising my old stomping grounds, a ÌýLinda Pendleton, widow of Mack Bolan creator Don Pendleton, was promoting the website iUniverse as a means to publish one self. The concept was completely new to me, and I was intrigued. It cost a pretty penny, but surely I could save up and get it done. I even sought out the man who made the covers for the Mack Bolan series and solicited a quote ($2,000 for a cover). That seemed like the route to take.

Next cameÌýwhen I returned from Iraq and was going through the post-deployment briefings. One of the guys I talked to during that process had wanted to publish, and even carried a manuscript with him everywhere he went to show it off. It was some sort of space drama that wasn't very well written, but I will never forget that man because of something he showed me (which we'll get to in a moment). He told me not to go with iUniverse when I mentioned it, which is advice I am veryÌýglad he gave me, as he saved me several hundred dollars.

The final steps came shortly before I finished writing The First Bayonet. Firstly, I saw a colleague of mine, Josh Howell, attempting to publish his own novel traditionally, and I watched him get shot down from all angles by the establishment, which was a prospect I did not look forward to facing. In turn, I turned to self-publishing. I was exploring publishing avenues for my now shelved novel, The African Catalyst, and I stumbled acrossÌý. I verified that it was a legitimate website, saw what they had as far as both print and eBooks, and ran with it. However, after The First Bayonet's publication, I learned so much more that I wish I'd known back then.

Recently, I was asked by a reader about my experiences in self publishing on behalf of her mother, who is looking to write and publish a work. Instead of responding directly, I thought that this would be a good blog topic, since my blog not only covers my work, but blurbs about writing in general.

Traditionally, as mentioned before, one had to publish through a company, and one's chances were increased if they had an agent. However, as time has moved on, breaking into traditional publishing has become something of a catch-22: you can't get published without having been published before, and the traditional publishing companies frown upon self published authors. With the genesis of the internet has come the genesis of self-publishing, which has granted unparalleled access to aspiring authors to publish their works. This has also granted the author an autonomy in their work not unlike that of an independent musician or filmmaker in that there is no corporate interest that curbs their creativity in the name of profits.

But this leads to the downside--anyone can publish now. You have no idea how many sub-par works I have found on self publishing markets. There's no editor, there's no standard to be met. It's literary anarchy--anything goes. This leads to the negative reputation that self publishing has in the eyes of the traditional industry and in the eyes of many readers, myself included. You have to wade through a sea of garbage to find quality work, much likeÌý, a website I used to post on regularly. Thankfully, most of these "authors" aren't encouraged as they are on FP. They publish one work, manage to sell maybe two or three copies, and then hang it up for good in a classic example of capitalism at work.

For the purposes of this analysis, I have selected two websites I am familiar with: CreateSpace and Lulu. But for a moment, let's backtrack to the man at the post-deployment center. The website he told me about is calledÌý. This website has a fairly comprehensive list of publishers, and has made a bit of a name for itself by putting publishers who screw writers over on blast. Regardless of who you choose to publish through, I would recommend running their name against their list. P&E will note recommended and highly recommended editors, but so long as there is nothing next to the publisher's name, they're acceptable. When you see the red words "Not recommended" next to a publisher's name, then steer clear--these people will screw you over.

Now, forÌý. This came recommended to me by way of P&E. How Lulu works is that it prints on demand. It does not cost you a dime to publish books and eBooks through Lulu initially. How they make their money is off of sales. They get a percentage of every book sold. You select your cover and paper type, and Lulu sets a minimum price at which the book must be sold to cover production costs. They also offer eBook publication. Lulu will distribute your book or eBook through their own bookstore. For eBooks, they'll distribute it through Barnes & Noble, the Apple iBookstore, and their own website for free. For print books, it costs additional money to distribute it through other channels (off the top of my head, it's $70 to secure publishing through Amazon, which is the largest online book website). They'll also provide you with a free ISBN for your book, though this limits who you can publish the manuscript with.

The downside to Lulu is that for the cheap route, all of the heavy lifting is on you--the editing, cover creation, and marketing. They offer services for that, but they range from a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars for the package. Also--their customer service is horrendous.ÌýI attempted to contact them to make an inquiry about distributing The First BayonetÌýon Amazon, and they basically told me to bugger off and figure it out myself. Your experience with them may be different from mine, but that particular incident drove me away from Lulu and to the website I will be publishing The Rocinha SyndicateÌýthrough, and the second website in this analysis.

Ìýis a company owned by Amazon. This immediately gives them an edge over Lulu in that your book will be published on Amazon for free.ÌýThis means more exposure and more accessibility. They will also make a Kindle version of your book, which guarantees the eBook market, as well, asÌýÌýWhile I have not published through them yet and have yet to deal with their customer service, their publishing interface is easy to navigate. My friend and literary colleagueÌýÌýpublished his work, Reflexive Fire, through CreateSpace, which is what turned me onto it, and after plenty of sales, he has no major complaints. They also assign an ISBN to your book, which allows bookstores to order your book, but like Lulu, it also limits your publication options unless you buy and use your own ISBN. For another $25, there are additional avenues to distribute the book, which adds to an already large distribution channel.

From my standpoint, CreateSpace seems like the much better option, which is why I am leaning to them. However, something to keep in mind--while I have not been able to find the source I heard it from, I had heard that Amazon can change the price of your book at any time, for any reason, without consulting you. This would be one area where Lulu comes out on top, as you set the price and it stays at that price unless you deign to change it yourself. If I come across the link for that, I shall post it here, but that is something to keep in mind.

One last point to touch on. Self publishing has forced traditional publishers to adapt, particularly with the rise of the eBook. If you have been paying attention to business news, then you might have heard thatÌýÌýover colluding with some major publishers to fix eBook prices. This is a sign that the traditional publishing entities are threatened by self publishing. This brings up the final point--if you self publish, be prepared to commit to it for the long haul, as no publishing company will pick you up unless your book becomes a national bestselling phenomenon. By self publishing, you are telling the establishment that you do not need to be a member of the good old boy network to share your work, and that is the last thing they want to hear.

In conclusion, self publishing is a bit of a labor of love. You have to write the book (obviously), edit it yourself, and market it yourself. In this way, it's sort of weeding out those who are not truly meant to write. The aspiring author should be wary, though, as there are those out there who would seek to exploit their desire to be published for their own means. CreateSpace and Lulu, with their strengths and flaws, are two reputable publishers, but if you're an aspiring author reading this, you don't have to take my word for it. Do some research and find the publisher that works for youÌýas a writer, and then run with it.

Keep fighting the good fight and let your words flow!