42 Days of 666 - THE NEXT BIG THING

 Last Wednesday, my favorite Welshman after Tom Jones, the majestic Tim Lebbon, tagged me in The Next Big Thing.  Here are my answers.

1)    What is the working title of your next book?

SEAL Team 666

2)    Where did the idea come from for the book?

The capture and killing of Geronimo by SEAL Team 6 on May 2nd, 2011.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

Military Supernatural Thriller.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

My main character is SEAL Cadet Jack Walker. I've always imagined him as Ryan Phillipi.

Tim Laws is the deputy commander and I thought of him as Matthew Lillard.

These are the only two I've already imagined as an actor. And you know what? I hope these two read this. They might get their chance. The movie has already been optioned by MGM. If their agent contacts MGM, they might be starring in it sooner than you think. In fact, if their agents contact me, I'll make sure they get a copy of the book.

 5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Ryan Phillippi

An even more special SEAL Team charged with protecting America from supernatural attack, uncovers a threat to not only the country, but our very existence.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

SEAL Team 666 was represented by The Fleck Agency.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Three Months.


8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Books by Jon Merz, Joseph Nassise and Jonathan Maberry.


9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

See question one.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

I've just signed a contract to do a sequel. This one is titled SEAL Team 666: Age of Blood, and will be set in Mexico.

+    +    +

Okay. now it's my turn to tag five people. They are:

SHANE McKenzie
ED Erderlac
ED Kurtz
JOE  McKinney
SIMON McCaffery

Expect their responses next Wednesday!

42 Days of 666: Day 20 - GO VOTE

“Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual--or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.”— Samuel Adams (1722–1803) Father of the American Revolution, Patriot and Statesman

42 Days of 666: Day 21 with Tim Lebbon

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today we have Tim Lebbon. We've been friends for as long as I've been writing. From being part of the legendary Man Sandwich at World Horror 2000 in Denver, to us playing for the glory of our countries at the NECON dart tournament, to hanging out in a bar and discoursing on the state of writing. Like me, Tim also doesn't want to be pigeon holed. He writes what he wants, slipping easily through horror, thriller, dark fantasy, epic fantasy, and science fiction. Then of course he's also a fellow Welshman. It's just too damn sad he lives so far away. I'd love to have him over at least once a week, just for the fun of it.

Author bio:  TIM LEBBON is a New York Times-bestselling writer from South Wales. He’s had almost thirty novels published to date, as well as dozens of novellas and hundreds of short stories. His most recent releases include Coldbrook from Arrow/Hammer, London Eye (book one of the Toxic City trilogy) from Pyr in the USA, Nothing as it Seems from PS Publishing, and The Heretic Land from Orbit, as well as The Secret Journeys of Jack London series (co-authored with Christopher Golden), Echo City, and the Cabin in the Woods novelization.  Future novels include Into the Void: Dawn of the Jedi (Star Wars) from Del Rey/Star Wars Books. He has won four British Fantasy Awards, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Scribe Award, and has been a finalist for International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, and World Fantasy Awards. 20th Century Fox acquired film rights to The Secret Journeys of Jack London series, and he and Golden wrote the first draft of the screenplay. He has a TV series in development in the USA, and he's also working on new screenplays, both solo and in collaboration with Stephen Volk. Find out more about Tim at his website www.timlebbon.net

Here are the usual questions:

1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?

As a kid I used to watch loads of war movies, and I still watch them now.  Some favourites include A Bridge Too Far, The Eagle Has Landed, The Longest Day, The Dam Busters ... the list goes on.  But the reasons I watch them have changed drastically.  As a kid I think it's all action and excitement, but now the feeling is very different ... I now appreciate the sacrifice, get caught up in the emotion and turmoil and terror, and as I have a wild imagination I also imagine myself in those situations.  I find myself despairing at the waste of life.  One of the  most effective scenes in any war movie is the knife fight scene in Saving Private Ryan.  It's two men from different sides doing whatever they can to kill each other.  It's brutal.  And in the final moments the guy about to get stabbed pleads to the other's humanity, perhaps suddenly realizing that they're both human: "Wait ...wait..." Just chilling.

As opposed to entertaining, I now find war movies traumatic and difficult to watch.  A lot of this also stems from my family's involvement in the military.  

My father, who died when i was very young, was much older than my mum, and he served in the Welsh Guards.  He was captured by the Japanese when Singapore fell (he was also at Dunkirk!), and he was a prisoner of war for three years, working on the Railway of Death.  There's so much I don't know about what happened to him.  And my grandfather was a commando, involved on the Norway raids and also saw action in North Africa.

So there's a personal aspect for me.  Picking a favourite is difficult, but I do love Ice Cold in Alex.  

2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.

Perhaps it's an unusual choice, but there's a deep humanity to that movie that really speak to me.  It's not a war movie about killing, but about surviving.  It's about the normal people in war, not the commanders and those who give orders from afar.  And the humanity comes from the willingness to put aside differences to face a common enemy ... in this case, the desert.  And it has one of the greatest last few minutes of any movie.  The look on John Mills' face as he runs his finger down that glass of beer ... the glass that represents freedom and hope as much as it does, well, a quick drink... just poetry.  

+   +   +

Thanks, Tim!

Look out for Tim's latest books, which include Coldbrook (a big scale apocalyptic zombie thriller), The Heretic Land (a dark fantasy novel with dead gods and the echo of an ancient war), London Eye (a YA novel set in the ruins of London) and Nothing as it Seems (a huge collection, my most accomplished to date).

And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music  

42 Days of 666: Day 22 with Sam Sykes

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today we have Sam Sykes. I've known Sam for a few years now. He's one of the new generation of fantasy authors who is going to own the genre in a few years. Once George RR Martin's books have been completely mined by HBO, they'll go looking for Sam and learn about the Aeon's Gate Trilogy. 

Here are the usual questions:

1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?

Man, I'm torn between Platoon and Apocalypse Now. I loved the latter's poetry, but the former had a stronger character plot, I think.

Oh shit! Does Hot Shots Part Deux count? Probably not.

2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.

 Ever since one of my best friends got back from the military (Marine Corps, two tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan), I've started to look at military movies in a different way. As a young(er) man, I used to watch for explosions, eruptions, blood, gore and the like.

It's only within the past ten years that I've come to learn the difference between action and military. What I'm interested now is how the unique situation of combat life affects a man or woman, how the small, fleeting instants can make up the majority of their experiences and how everything can change so suddenly.

Military movies are one of the few movies where sudden, sweeping plot changes are a crux. For that reason, I think Platoon is my favorite. It's a much better instance of things changing so rapidly and meaningfully, which is so far from what I usually write that it's intensely fascinating.

3. What themes are overused? And is it overused, or just truthful observation?

Overused? I think if you make a genuine movie, you can't really overuse a theme. I wonder, sometimes, if we put soldiers up to a culture of hero worship, though. We give a shit about them in we're shaking their hand, hearing that they were in the military and we're saying "thank you for serving our country."

I'm sure they appreciate it, but the vast majority of the public doesn't really seem to care about the rest of the soldier's life: what he goes through when he gets back, when he's trying to readjust to civilian life, how his interactions with people have changed forever.

Soldiers, above all else, are people. Humans. I'd like to see films that reinforce that.

+   +   +

Thanks, Sam!

And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music  

42 Days of 666: Day 23 with Yvonne Navarro

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today we have Yvonne Navarro. Not only is she the Bram Stoker-winning author of more than 22 novels, but she is a fabulous artist, a rescuer of Great Danes and old Army sergeants, and a super human bean.

1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?

It's a tie between the movies Battleship and Battle: Los Angeles.

2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.

It's not so hard to figure out-- sit with me through one of them and I'll bet you feel the red-blooded American in me before I even get vocal about rooting for the U.S. against the aliens... and I *DO* get vocal.  It's the soldiers of my country, beaten to its knees but never giving up against all odds, determined to do anything and everything to keep our freedom and save our people even when everything we do and are seems lost.  It's putting ourselves last in the face of overwhelming odds and doing what's right even when it might mean the ultimate sacrifice.

3. What themes are overused? And is it overused, or just truthful observation?

One of my favorite of her books and
only $2.99 kindle download!

Some people might think that touch of romance is passe, (accent there?)  but I do, indeed, think its truthful observation.  It gives those who have little to fight for the added impetus to keep going, the drive to win so that they can be with those they love once more.  I've said it about writing, and I believe the same thing in a good movie, no matter the genre: If your character doesn't or can't care about someone other than himself, why should you care about him?

+   +   +

Thanks, Von!

And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music  

42 Days of 666: Day 30 and My Favorite Military Movie

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today you have me to talk about my favorite military movie.

You know, it could be argued that I have been forged by movies and television. From my earliest memory, I can see John Wayne as an American Cowboy or a Green Beret or a PT Boat driver. He always played the same sort of reluctant patriot, who is forced into a bad situation. 

Then I saw another movie, the Boys of Company C and it confused me. And a few years later, I saw Platoon, which confused me more. Weren't military movies supposed to be patriotic? They weren't supposed to openly be against the war or against fighting, were they? It took me a long time to figure this out, but in the end, I determined that yes they are okay. Patriotism is not a simple red, white and blue construct. Creating a movie that at once show the heroism of a soldier and argues against fighting is patriotic as anything John Wayne ever produced.

Many of my friends have mentioned movies such as Apocalypse Now, Kelly's Heroes, Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, etc. I agree with everything they've said. These are all magnificent movies. They cover the gamut of human feeling and notions about patriotism and what men and women will go to prove themselves.

But my favorite military movie is The Deer Hunter. Starring Robert Deniro, Christopher Walken, and Merryl Streep. It tells the awful tale of what war can do to a human soul and how impossibly unforgiving it can be. The Russian Roulette scenes have stayed with me since I first saw the movie  at a drive in in 1978. How could I have watched this and still wanted to become the hero I've tried to be ever since I joined the military in 1984? Did I somehow understand it on a cellular level, because I got to tell you, this movie has some deeply moving subplots.

This is a movie about the effects of war on people and a community. It has been argued that The Deer Hunter is not a way movie. Of course it is. War movies can be about people, especially when people are forced into wars.

And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music  

42 Days of 666: Day 31 with Sean O'Bannon

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today we have Sean O'Bannon, screenwriter, actor, kilt-wearing pirate. I first met him back in 2003? I wrote about it in an essay that appears along with the novel Blaze of Glory. Reggie Bannister of Phantasm fame had invited a bunch of us up to his place in the town of Crestline, California, near Lake Arrowhead. Myself, Reggie, Sean (a screenwriter), Angus Scrimm (The Tall Man), Doug Bradley (Pinhead), Robert Englund (Freddy), and a few others were present to promote a haunted house Reggie and his wife Gigi were running. That is until the Old Fire merged with the Grand Prix Fire and threatened to turn all of us to ashes. The cloud of smoke was the size of Nebraska. We literally escaped down the mountain with flames licking at our tires. By the time I got home to my apartment in San Pedro three hours and forty miles later, ashes were falling on my balcony. That was the year it felt like L.A. was surrounded by a ring of fire.

Back to Sean, he and I hit it off like we were old friends. We've maintained that friendship since then, sharing our works, commenting on each others life choices, and just being two great guys. And all this despite his fetish for wearing Zardoz Zed's pajamas and constantly speaking with a Scottish brogue... not just any brogue, mind you, but the brogue of non other than Sean Connory. Sean. I love this guy.

1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?

THE WILD GEESE. 

2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.

L-R: Brinke Stevens, Robert Evans, Sean O'Bannon (at a dinner at famous
movie producer Robert Evan's home in Southern California)

It stars Richard Burton and Richard Harris as hard-drinking mercenaries best friends.  (When you consider that both of whom played King Arthur, it makes one wonder if they both whipped out their “Excaliburs” backstage.)  Roger Moore as the womanizing antihero pilot who was the cause of the best line in the flick:  “Leftenant Finn, you are jumping from an aeroplane, not a whorehouse window.  Get up there and do it again.”  Loved the fact that each man has taken this suicide mission – rescuing a thinly-disguised Nelson Mandela from an African prison – for his own reasons.  Burton:  at first it’s for the money, but events change him from a cold-hearted bastard to a merely chilly-hearted bastard.  Harris:  he’s originally out of the game, but takes the job because of principles.  Moore:  for the challenge and the need to get out of London before the Mob blows his scoundrel head off.  Every soldier puts on the uniform for his own reasons and this flick shows that well, even with the secondary and tertiary characters. 

3. What themes are overused? And is it overused, or just truthful observation?

Written by Sean O'Bannon

The idea of “Brothers to the End” is used a lot.  Is it overused?  That’s up to the individual.  Personally, I dig it.  It illustrates the bond between soldiers, forged not only on the field but in the downtime between shit storms.  These are people with whom we share experiences that no one else will understand.  When films show this, they depict the warrior soul at its most eloquent and at its basic element.  Regardless of backgrounds, these soldiers are a family dedicated to a cause higher than themselves and are prepared to sacrifice everything if need be in its name.  Nothing wrong with repeated use – or overuse – when it shines light on the best that we can become.

+   +   +

Here's the promo for the event I mentioned above.  I'm represented
by the Catfish... Catfish Gods was in production then.

Thanks, Sean!

And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music  

42 Days of 666: Day 32 with Dani Kollin

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today we have Dani Kollin. I first met Dani at COPPERCON in Phoenix a few years ago. Me and Steven R. Donaldson were the Guests of Honor and it was a treat to see Dani and his brother Eytan showing up with their uber-cool mass market science fiction book. They were like Penn and Teller, only they were both Penn and they were fabulous to watch. Since then I've come to know Dani better and count on him to keep me on the right track. If you haven't read any of his Unincorporated books, then I have to ask why not? They're truly fabulous and original, beginning with the Prometheus Award-winning The Unincorporated Man.

1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?

Favorite tv show is the Galactica reboot. Favorite movie is Das Boot and favorite book is Clancy's, Red Storm Rising.

2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.

Galactica because it's not specifically military. Because it has to struggle with the need to maintain order while acknowledging the importance of retaining freedom. Das Boot because short of smelling the sweat of the sailors themselves, it was one of the most visceral movie-going experiences of my life and Red Storm Rising because it grabbed me by the jugular and didn't let go.

3. What themes are overused? And is it overused, or just truthful observation?
 

The angry, disaffected soldier who goes rogue (for good or bad). And yes, it's overused. Disaffection? Sure. Change the world as a result? Not very realistic. Though I understand why it's so often used. No Protagonist, no story.

For more of Dani Kollin's work, check out his short story,  Day by Day.

+   +   +

Thanks, Dani!

And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music  

42 Days of 666: Day 33 with Steven Spruill

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today we have Steven Spruill. I first met Steve at NECON about ten years ago. I was in awe when I met him for sure. He's going to hate me for saying this, but I remember reading The Paradox Planet when I was a kid. Well, Steve has been on top of the heap since then and is one of my personal luminaries. His most recent novel-length work is one of my top five books on the Korean War, ICE MEN. Also, since his wife is of general officer rank (civilian equivalent), she's the only wife of a fellow writer that I think by regulation I have to salute.

Regardless, here are  Steve's answers.

 

1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?

My favorite military movie is Gladiator.  While the entire movie is not, strictly-speaking, military it is all about fighting and combat and has a great opening battle scene.

2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.

Gladiator, with excellent cgi and great production values, starts off with some awesome fight scenes demonstrating the differences in military tactics between the Romans and their barbarian enemies.  General Maximus, having lost everything because of the betrayal of the emperor's son, embarks on a long road to revenge, always an involving trope, which in the movie serves the nobler purpose of saving Rome from a dangerous despot.  The movie features lots of great gladiatorial fight scenes.  An earlier big movie from roughly the same era, "Spartacus," points up the irony of Rome having trained gladiators who later used their military skills to organize a rebellion against Rome.  Spartacus was a stirring movie with a bitter ending, but I had more trouble getting into it than I did for Gladiator, perhaps because I've always been fascinated by Rome.  I view that era as a good one for the advance of civilization until near the end of the empire, at which point it deserved to fall.  This may explain why I liked the story line of Gladiator better.  It was purely fictional, whereas Spartacus was not, but hey, we're talking fiction, here.

3. What themes are overused? And is it overused, or just truthful observation?
 

In modern military movies, it has been my sense that the theme of the evil general who is leading his troops in some unconstitutional venture or the other has been overused.  It was handled well in the book and movie "Seven Days in May."  That story was probably inspired by General MacArthur, even though MacArthur accepted his exile by Truman and did not try the overthrow imagined for the character played by Burt Lancaster in the movie.  "Seven Days in May" may have been a rough prototype for later movies in which the military is portrayed as villainous in some way or other.  From the fifties through the seventies, a number of mediocre to good, dramatic movies were made on the Korean War and WWII, even as Vietnam began to change the way war movies were made, with Deer Hunter being the best example of a dysphoric war movie.  "The Battle of the Bulge," with Robert Shaw as the German tank corps commander, was stirring and excellent, as was "The Longest Day."  But more recent movies, it seems to me (with the exception of movies featuring "special forces") have mined the trope that the military could be easily corrupted and perverted from its constitutional mission.  It might be possible that a disaffected colonel, passed over for promotion to general, could cause some mischief if he were beloved enough by his men.  But men and women don't make it to the general staff by harboring disloyal impulses, and the main body of enlisted men and women would, I'm sure, balk at following any orders aimed at the overthrow of constitutional authority.  As the husband of a top Pentagon official, I've sat down to dinner with many generals and admirals and I've also had plenty of exposure to the excellent cadre of non-commissioned officers (sergeants and petty officers) who keep offices running in the Pentagon.  I have never met a general or a non-com yet who would not shrink in horror from any suggestion of violating the constitutional chain of command which puts the President at the top as commander-in-chief, and that goes for the rank-and-file soldier as well.  So movies about the evil American military leave me shaking my head.

This is in my top five books about the Korean War!

+   +   +

Thanks, Steve!

And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music  

42 Days of 666: Day 34 with Joe McKinney

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today we have Joe McKinney.I've known Joe since he rolled  rolled me up for soliciting back in the '90s. I was in a suit, he was in a dress, it was love at first sight until I discovered he was undercover. Who knew he'd look so good in polka dots.

 Just kidding. I count Joe one of my good friends in the industry. There's probably nothing I wouldn't do for him. We first met, when was it, 2004? 2006? Does time fly that quickly? Anyway, Joe's responsible for the Deadworld Series-- smart, procedural, character-driving zombie novels. He also wrote one hell of a ghost story in Inheritance, which I called 'an artful haunting with the gloomy quality of a Terrance Malick crime drama.' For those who don't get the Malick reference, I'm specifically referring to Badlands, the loosely based on the real life murder spree of Charles Starkweather. His book holds the same erstwhile gloom that frames the movie.

 

1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?

Narrowing down to one is almost impossible, especially when you open the field to books, movies and TV.  On the small screen I loved Pacific and the Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War.  I even have a soft spot for Hogan’s Heroes, which I used to watch everyday after school.  My favorite books would probably be Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and Shelby Foote’s three volume masterpiece, The Civil War.  But since I have to pick a favorite I’m going to have to go with Alfred Hitchcock’s under-appreciated 1944 classic, Lifeboat.

2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.

Well, I could have named half a dozen war movies that are better than Lifeboat.  Saving Private Ryan, for instance.  Or The Great Escape.  Or Patton.  Or Full Metal Jacket.  Even some of the second tier war movies are better, like Breaker Morant and Victory and The Big Red One.  But none of them excited me the way Lifeboat did.  It was the first of Hitchcock’s closed space films, a style that he went on to perfect in Rope and Rear Window, and I think the sense of claustrophobia that limited setting created is a big part of the picture’s appeal for me.  It creates a natural pressure cooker for the characters as they slip into desperation and mutual distrust.  Lifeboat also benefits from a script by John Steinbeck (a good part of it, at any rate).  The characterization is strong, creating complex portraits of Germans that aren’t really all that bad and Allies that aren’t really all that good.  And of course the final production carries Hitchcock’s stylistic fingerprints all over it, which is never a bad thing.  Sure it’s not the grand scope of films like Saving Private Ryan or Toro Toro Toro, but it’s big drama on a small stage, and it’s a film I keep coming back to year after year.

3. What themes are overused? And is it overused, or just truthful observation?

Probably the whole “band of brothers” thing.  And I’m not just talking about our modern films like Saving Private Ryan and all the others.  Look at the Shakespeare play from which that phrase comes, Henry V.  On the surface the play reads like a patriotic pep rally, but it’s actually layered with irony condemning many of the big hero attributes we’ve heaped on Henry.  It was clear the “band of brothers” theme was tired even then, in the 1590s.  I don’t think it’s gotten any fresher since then. 

+   +   +

Thanks, Joe!

And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music  

Another SEAL Team 666 Book Cometh

Looky what I just saw on Publisher's Marketplace: 

'Weston Ochse's SEAL TEAM 666: AGE OF BLOOD, featuring the return of the elite team known as "Triple Six," who leap back into action when a Senator's daughter is kidnapped by a mysterious group, only to discover an occult conspiracy deep in the heart of Mexico to return the world to the Age of Blood, again to Brendan Deneen and Peter Joseph at Thomas Dunne Books, for publication in Fall 2013, by Robert Fleck at Professional Media Services (World). '

Big. Horking. Deal.

Love it.

42 Days of 666 - Day 35 with Lincoln Crisler

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today we have Lincoln Crisler. I've known Lincoln since he exploded onto the scene at three years ago. He's gone from unknown to one of the rising names in the genre. Interestingly enough, he's still a soldier. Stationed in Georgia, he continues his service to the military.

1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?

I'm sure in 42 days you're going to hear this a few times, but if I had to pick just one, Full Metal Jacket would be it. Others include Top Gun, The Hunt for Red October and The Rock, for those who'd like some variety.

2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.

It's pretty visceral, especially when viewed by an 18-year old kid fresh out of boot camp in 2001, eight months before 9/11 even happened. Not only did Kubrick's movie show a vastly different basic training experience from the one I had just finished, I came of age in the 90s, when Vietnam and its aftermath was well past us. Full Metal Jacket portrayed an otherwordly realm to me as much as the science fiction and fantasy I grew up reading, to be completely honest. 

Having said that, my life has been a patchwork of visceral experiences, something I'd like to think is reflected in my choice of entertainment and, more importantly, my writing. I watch and read less military-related material than you might imagine, since I am a soldier and like my entertainment to provide an escape. For a similar reason, the military has yet to figure into my fiction work. I do, however, enjoy shows like Dexter, Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead and brutal books by guys like Jack Ketchum, Brian Keene and Wrath James White. 

I also produce what I hope is some pretty raw and entertaining reading material, most recently my CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY? anthology of dark superhero fiction (featuring Wes and a plethora of other fine wordsmiths, I should point out) and FOUR IN THE MORNING, featuring my mid-life crisis novella with a dark science fiction bent alongside novellas by Tim Marquitz, Ed Erdelac and Malon Edwards. I love wizards, ghosts, monsters and The Goddamn Batman, but give it to me raw and with as much logic and realism as can be applied to such creatures--just like Kubrick did--and I'll love you long time. Which is, of course, the same relationship I try to build with my readers. 

3. What themes are overused? And is it overused, or just truthful observation?

Speaking as a genre author as well as a soldier, the most overused military theme in genre fiction might be its frequent negative portrayal. I guess this is perhaps most prevalent in post-apocalyptic fiction. It might be because the stories are written by people unfamiliar with the service. Perhaps it's an extension of the mistrust of the government that also features prominently in those sort of stories (where a secret lab is typically believed to be responsible for the outbreak). I've read more than one horror story where the soldiers featured therein were rape-happy mercenaries, drunk on the last vestiges of real power available in a world gone to hell. The fairest portrayals in my memory have been written by servicemen--Wes' EMPIRE OF SALT and Bryon Morrigan's THE DESERT and ACHERON spring to mind, along with John Hornor Jacobs' THIS DARK EARTH, to which I lent my expertise as a consultant.

In reality, you'd probably end up with a lot of that--the military just might be America's most diverse workforce, and I've served with patriotic workhorses, college kids looking to pay off loans, wimps who've obviously bitten off more than they could chew, tiny lesbians who could still beat the brakes off some of the guys I've worked with and more than one redneck who ran his mouth about the wrong social topics until being threatened with a cigarette in the eye. So, in the kind of stories I enjoy reading, some soldiers would absolutely turn mercenary, use their talents for bad, etc. but many others would do the right thing. Similar to any other cross-section of humanity, I'd imagine.

+   +   +

Thanks, Lincoln!

Don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's  ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music