I Made Tangent Online 2015 Recommended Readling List with American Golem

So it looks like I made Tangent Online 2015 Recommended reading list. This is super important to me because when I first started writing in the late 1990s Tangent Online was one of my GO TO places to get inspiration, look for markets, and learn the craft of writing. So to be mentioned there is seriously very special.

There were 416 stories on this year's list: 353 short stories, 47 novelettes, and 16 novellas.

Here's how they were graded:

"As is our custom, there are four sections to each length category. Those making the list in the short story, novelette, and novella lengths but having no stars, and those with either one, two, or three stars, according to how well the reviewer or reviewers valued a particular story."

My short story American Golem received three stars. Very cool. I was so pleased to be in John Joseph Adam's anthology Operation Arcana with so many talented authors. This was one of those rare times I was asked to be in the anthology and was terrified that I'd mess it up. Fans of the story will be pleased to know it will be available in Audio soon. More on that later.

I also wanted to give a shout out to fellow Operation Arcana author Genevieve Valentine for her story "Blood, Ash, Braids." Very well done!

You can view the full list here.

Grunt Life Chosen As Top 5 Books for 2015

The end of the year tends to be a time for reviewers and readers to reflect on what they

thought was he best things they read the previous year. I'm sure you've seen a lot of things posted about it. You might have written your own list. I know I still plan on doing it, but I'm a little behind.

On the heels of Sci Fi Gazette choosing Grunt Traitor as one of their Top 3 Sci Fi novels of 2015, comes this. The review site Shattered Ravings just listed Grunt Life as one of the Top 5 Books they read in 2015. This is very timely and apropos since I've just finished the third book in the series that Grunt Life began. And to think that the publisher and I were worried that Grunt Life and the ensuing books which dealt in great detail about PTSD and its deleterious effects wouldn't be read and would be panned. I'm honestly glad I was able to pull it off.

Thank you Matthew Scott Baker and thanks Shattered Ravings. And congrats to the others who were on the list.

For the full review, go to Shattered Ravings.

Sci Fi Gazette Selected Grunt Traitor as One of Their Best Novels of 2015

In this season of awards and recognition, it's super nice that such a hallowed site as Sci Fi Gazette would take the time to not only read Grunt Traitor but select it as one of their Top 3 Science Fiction Novels of 2015. Mentioned along with Fallout 4 and The Expanse, this is truly a top honor!

Both Grunt Life and Grunt Traitor have received rave reviews from fans, but it's another thing to get a critical reception by reviewers whose job it is to not necessarily enjoy a book, but to break it down and look at its components for concrete and existential value and THEN enjoy it. It's also difficult sometimes for Military Sci Books to get reviews because well... they're military focused and have guns and blood and guts and stuff that not every sci fi fan wants. But I've always thought that the best Military Sci Fi has a lot of heart as well. With my characters suffering from PTSD in an end of the world alien invasion scenario, I took care to try and pull this off. It seems that it worked.  Whew!

Here's a snappy of the page.

For the full article about Sci Fi Gazette's Best of 2015, you can find it here.

Thank you, Sci Fi Gazette!