ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Weston Ochse is a former intelligence officer and special operations soldier who has engaged enemy combatants, terrorists, narco smugglers, and human traffickers. His personal war stories include performing humanitarian operations over Bangladesh, being deployed to Afghanistan, and a near miss being cannibalized in Papua New Guinea. His fiction and non-fiction has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, and Publishers Weekly. The American Library Association labeled him one of the Major Horror Authors of the 21st Century. His work has also won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. A writer of more than 26 books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson. His military sci fi series, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war. Weston likes to be called a chaotic good paladin and challenges anyone to disagree. After all, no one can really stand a goody two-shoes lawful good character. They can be so annoying. It's so much more fun to be chaotic, even when you're striving to save the world. You can argue with him about this and other things online at Living Dangerously or on Facebook at Badasswriter. All content of this blog is copywrited by Weston Ochse.

Saturday, September 22, 2018

PK Dick, HP Lovecraft, Cosmic Horror, and Burning Sky

I've met David Agranoff, the reviewer, several times. In all honesty, when I asked him to review Burning Sky I was worried because David knows his shit. He's balls out into the genres and knows how to think and talk critically about all the best and worst books - Where I feel like a blithering idiot when I talk about others books. As it turns out, he loved the book. Fist pump!
him to

We conducted an interview, which you can see here on his podcast called Dickheads, while I was in Astoria convalescing after my return from Afghanistan. He brought up how I must have been heavily influenced by PK Dick because he could see the influences in my writing. Then I flummoxed him by stating that I hadn't read any PK Dick. None. Nada. Zip. I know, I know. My loss. I accept that. I've also never read any Lovecraft, unless you include his essay on the supernatural,  but that doesn't mean I don't understand cosmic horror. Lovecraft didn't invent cosmic horror in the same way that Dick didn't invent conflicting realities. 

Here's something David said about Burning Sky-  
 "This is also a fun novel at times, with entertaining action, monsters, ancient gods and Philip K Dick worthy time shifts and alternate realities that will remind readers in all the right ways of Jacob's Ladder. There is a What the hell is real twist that is so well executed I was shocked when Weston told me in a e-mail that he has not read much PKD. That is a round about way to say this is a mind expanding cross genre read that I can't recommend enough." 
Several reviews have said that Burning Sky is cosmic horror. I had to ask what cosmic horror was. Here are two comments from my FB page:

David Thomas Moore, Editor in Chief of Solaris says:  "It's the category of horror of which Lovecraft is the exemplar: horror in which the supernatural element is existentially threatening, supercontextual and largely - to mortal understanding - incomprehensible. "Cosmic" in scope, as it were."

Marc Weiner says: "Cosmic horror is another way I saying Lovecraftian...which Burning Skies surely was." 

Maybe according to DTM's definition it is.

But is Burning Sky Lovecraftian? I'm not so sure. I certainly never set out to write it that way. Do I have Elder Gods? Sort of. I do lean heavily on Zoroastrian mythology and real history. Are they Elder Gods? Well, they are older than any other mythology, I think, so that definitely makes them older. And being so old, they are also mysterious because we know the least about them.

Here's something else David says about Burning Sky-

"Much like his last Grunt trilogy Burning Sky is very much about PTSD, but Burning Sky takes that theme and goes beyond. This novel is about what drives war. It explores the deep trauma not just of the warriors but society. The book points to key moments covered by the news in the last few conflicts that lead to Trauma that we felt collectively. The theme is expressed so beautifully in some of this novel's most horrific moments. As a writer, reader and fan of Weston I honestly pumped my fist in the air at one of these moments."

Those key moments he's speaking of are the iconic images of the Falling Man, Napalm Girl, and the Burning Monk, which I talk about here
 
I urge you to read David's whole review.

Burning Sky will be available September 25th. Please pre-order so we can sell out the print run before publication. That will help guarantee more books in the series. You can click on one of the book links on the left, or go to the following links for your favorite stores.






Friday, September 21, 2018

First Paragraph of My New Novel 'Burning Sky'

After announcing the signing of a contract for a new mass market paperback to be published by Solaris called Burning Sky. I sat down and wrote the first 1111 words (here and unedited). I discovered that the main character, who is referred to by his team and others as Boy Scout, has an affinity for Cormac McCarthy, Herman Melville, and those books that pit man against nature.

I thought I might share the first paragraph with you.






What Booklist has to say about Burning Sky-


"This dark, twisted, and unnerving cosmic horror is framed by Middle Eastern mythology, with a sense of unease that increases with the relentless pace of the action." - Booklist on Burning Sky


"Without slowing down, Ochse also offers a thoughtful commentary on the human cost of war. This is an excellent example of the emerging genre of military horror, combining details of army life and technical jargon with a well-constructed supernatural thriller." - Booklist on Burning Sky


"Ochse's writing finds the beauty in the language of brutality, which will appeal to fans of Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (1985)." - Booklist on Burning Sky

Burning Sky will be available September 25th. Please pre-order so we can sell out the print run before publication. That will help guarantee more books in the series. You can click on one of the book links on the left, or go to the following links for your favorite stores.



Thursday, September 20, 2018

"Burning Sky is the beginning of something remarkable... prepare to be astonished."

Mass Movement Magazine recently reviewed Burning Sky and blew the roof off the world.

The review begins with-

"Few authors are capable of successfully combining the established tenets of genre fiction, moulding them and reshaping them and then seamlessly welding them together to create something new, inspiring and unique. Weston Ochse is one of that all too rare breed. Having first become aware of his work via his outstanding Seal Team 666 trilogy and having them moved on to his engrossing Task Force Ombra series, I slowly, but surely, became aware of the fact that Ochse had rapidly become one  of my favourite authors. So it was with great anticipation and much nervous excitement that I began Burning Sky, the first of Ochse’s T.S.T. novels. Six hours later, my mind spent and my imagination locked in overdrive, I read the final line, closed the cover, put Burning Sky  down, made a pot of the strongest Java I had to hand and then started reading Burning Sky again."

I'm always honored when people read my books. After all, I'm a kid from a broken home who didn't have a lot to show for it, joined the army, and puttered away a future that had been pretty bright. That I was able to ressurect it amazes me still. And to have someone re-read by books just blows my mind.

The voice behind Mass Movement Magazine and the reviewer, Tim Cundle, concluded the review saying this-

"If Clive Cussler had a PHD in creative writing and literature and used it to tell tales based around, and upon, the ideas of Phillip Pullman and Richard Morgan, then he’d come close to being half the story-teller and writer that Weston Ochse is. Burning Sky is the beginning of something remarkable. Prepare to be astonished."
Again, blown away.
If you want to read the entire interview, which I urge you to do, please go here.

Burning Sky will be available September 25th. Please pre-order so we can sell out the print run before publication. That will help guarantee more books in the series. You can click on one of the book links on the left, or go to the following links for your favorite stores.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Trigger Warning - Iconic Imagery in Burning Sky

I was recently interviewed by My Life My Book My Escape where I talk about Cormac McCarthy and how iconic images change us. I specifically talk about The Falling Man, Napalm Girl, and the Burning Monk, who are all part of Burning Sky and the idea of them intrinsic to the plot.

We all know how seeing something can change our lives. Many things we've seen we can't unsee. I remember when the video of the poor man being beheaded was being passed around. There were those who would eagerly see it and those like me who wouldn't. My imagination filled in the blanks. I didn't need to see the real thing.

Because I knew it would affect me.

When I was a child I saw both the pictures of the Burning Monk and Napalm Girl in a big Time Life book and they haunted me to this day. Then after 911, the image of the Falling Man came to light. All these images are touchstones to history, mnemonics of how terrible we can be to each other.



Excerpt from Interview:

DJ: What were some of your influences for Burning Sky?

Weston: Cormac McCarthy was a huge influence in the book. His continuing theme of man vs nature and man’s inability to overcome nature is the fulcrum in the novel which the plot circles. I especially mined his masterpiece Blood Meridian, using some of the motifs like how he never names any major character but instead uses titles for them. In Burning Sky, the members of the team are never referred to by their names while in Afghanistan. I also loved the way McCarthy landscaped Blood Meridian and tried to use some of the landscape in Burning Sky as a dark mirror to the McCarthy’s terra damnata. I also mined several cultural icons that when seen, can’t help but bring us memories and stir our thinking. Images such as The Falling Man from the Twin Towers during 9/11, or the Burning Monk and the Napalm Girl from black and white photos from Vietnam. Each one of the images is shorthand to something terrible and I used them as interactive touch points for readers.

If you want to read the entire interview, which I urge you to do, please go here.

Burning Sky will be available September 25th. Please pre-order so we can sell out the print run before publication. That will help guarantee more books in the series. You can click on one of the book links on the left, or go to the following links for your favorite stores.

Monday, September 17, 2018

Dark, Twisted, and Unverving Cosmic Horror - Booklist on Burning Sky

The review has been published so I can share it now. Booklist loved my new book, which means librarians will love it, which means that readers will as well. I feel like I hit the trifecta.


Burning Sky. By Weston Ochse 
Sept. 2018. 420p. 
Solaris, paper, $14.99 (9781781085295)
The members of the Tactical Support Team (TST), army veterans turned private contractors, sawhorrifying and improbable things on their last assignment in Afghanistan. Now, six months later, these men and women are experiencing things too eerily similar to be classified as PTSD. Ochse (Reign of Evil, 2014), a veteran himself, begins his new military-horror series by unveiling the diverse and complex backstories of the TST before sending them back for the ultimate mission: a fight for their souls. This dark, twisted, and unnerving cosmic horror is framed by Middle Eastern mythology, with a sense of unease that increases with the relentless pace of the action. Without slowing down, Ochse also offers a thoughtful commentary on the human cost of war. This is an excellent example of the emerging genre of military horror, combining details of army life and technical jargon with a well-constructed supernatural thriller. Perfect for readers of Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, and Ochse's writing finds the beauty in the language of brutality, which will appeal to fans of Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (1985).  — Becky Spratford for Booklist


Here are some gems that I urge FOWs to share with their own people.

"This dark, twisted, and unnerving cosmic horror is framed by Middle Eastern mythology, with a sense of unease that increases with the relentless pace of the action." - Booklist on Burning Sky

"Without slowing down, Ochse also offers a thoughtful commentary on the human cost of war. This is an excellent example of the emerging genre of military horror, combining details of army life and technical jargon with a well-constructed supernatural thriller." - Booklist on Burning Sky

"Ochse's writing finds the beauty in the language of brutality, which will appeal to fans of Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (1985)." - Booklist on Burning Sky

Burning Sky will be available September 25th. Please pre-order so we can sell out the print run before publication. That will help guarantee more books in the series. You can click on one of the book links on the left, or go to the following links for your favorite stores.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Book Review - Every Wicked Man

https://d1gbp99v447ls8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/31102437/every-wicked-man-e1535725487876.jpgOUT TODAY!!!

Every Wicked Man by Steven James is the 11th book in the Bowers Files, where a criminal mastermind’s chilling terrorist plot forces FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers to the brink. 

Approaching the second or third book in a trilogy or a book in an existing series has always been an act of trepidatious yearning. The cover snaps your head or the title intrigues, but you wonder: Will I be lost? Will I feel like the new kid in high school listening to the indecipherable shorthand of the popular kids thus multiplying my feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, or will I be embraced and feel immediately at home? Diving into Every Wicked Man and slipping across the first few pages was an organic experience in reading something that feels fresh and new and beautiful.

Every Wicked Man is the 11th book in the Patrick Bowers franchise, so you can maybe see why I was worried. But never did I feel lost or not part of the in-crowd. What connections there were to past experiences—which were few, and you will see the reason why in a moment—intrigued me.

Patrick Bowers is an FBI agent specializing in environmental criminology. I wasn’t even aware the specialization existed, but this interested me because of my own love for the environment. Why does the FBI need such a specialization? What sort of criminals does Special Agent Bowers come into contact with? As it turns out, he’s not that kind of environmental criminologist...

*     *     *
To check out the rest of the review, please pop on over to Criminal Element.  Bottom line is that it's a great book.

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Appearances and Signing Tour for Burning Sky

My publicist and I set up a few appearances for Burning Sky. If you are in the Southwestern United States and are a bookstore, library, or reading/writing group, I can make an appearance. If you want me at your fav bookstore library, help me set it up. For now, here's what I have. Mark you calendar.

29 Sep - 1400-1500 Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA
30 Sep - 1600-1700 Dark Delicacies, Burbank, CA
01 Oct - 1700-1600 Space Cowboy Books, Joshua Tree, CA
05 Oct - 1700-1800 Barnes and Nobles East Side, Tucson AZ
06 Oct - 1200-1300 Poisened Pen, Scottsdale, AZ
13 Oct - 1300-1430 Dusenberry-River Library, Tucson, AZ
09 Nov - TusCon Convention, Tucson, AZ
10 Nov - TusCon Convention, Tucson, AZ
11 Nov - TusCon Convention, Tucson, AZ
17 Nov - 1400-1530 Himmel Park Library, Tucson, AZ


I'll update this as new dates and times appear, but for now, plan on this.

And if you have tons of cash and tons of money, I will fly anywhere at anytime and appear anyplace. 

Burning Sky will be available September 25th. Please pre-order so we can sell out the print run before publication. That will help guarantee more books in the series. You can click on one of the book links on the left, or go to the following links for your favorite stores.




Saturday, September 1, 2018

Sea Lords of the Columbia and my Homage to Fritz Leiber


When I was asked to write a story for an anthology of rockabilly horror, I only said yes because I was asked by Eric Guignard, my former mentoree and now peer. I had no idea what I was going to write until I was in Astoria, Oregon last summer and saw the Desdemona - a bar made from the remains of an old frigate that was shipwrecked on the Columbia Bar. Then it came to me. And as I began writing the story, I realized that my characters had a startling resemblance to Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. Part of me said to stop and change them, but another part, a louder and more obnoxious part told me to roll with it. I not only did, but I intentionally paid attention to Fritz Leiber's creations and tried to get them to inhabit my characters of Hemmo and Doogie.

Growing up playing Dungeons and Dragons and reading any fantasy book with swords and sorcery, I was very familiar with these scourges of Lankhmar. One hulking and one small and both deadly, like a bad ass version of Gilligan and the Skipper but without the slapstick. I saw in Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser the sensibilities I needed for Hemmo and Doogie. 

Then came the story. I needed an epic sword and sorcery tale in the vein of Leiber but set in 1950s Astoria right after the Korean War. So what did I do? I have sentient talking sturgeon and prostitute mermaids and all sort of fun monsters to inhabit our real world. I think that was the most fun, and the sort of things I like to read -- magic in real life.

Here's a snap of the first page:

Sea Lords of the Columbia appears in Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror which is up for pre-order at Dark Moon Books.

This isn't the only time the Sea Lords will make an appearance. I can hear them calling. They want a new adventure. Soon, I think, I will give one to them.