42 Days of 666 - Day 11 with Cody Goodfellow

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 Cody Goodfellow. I've known Cody since 2004, I think, when the vivacious Eunice Magill pimped him to the community. Cody didn't need any pimping. He's damn good his own self, but I suppose it never hurts to have a pretty woman show you around. His most recent work is All Monster Action.

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

I love a lot of the same ones everybody else does... One of my favorite books in any genre is Life During Wartime by Lucius Shepard, but my favorite military novel that nobody else seems to have read is Dream baby by Bruce McAllister. 

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

So many war novels follow the format of the memoirs and do one soldier's experience, which loses the sheer, inconceivable scope of modern warfare. Dream Baby is a massive oral history with journals and debriefing transcripts and memos that crackle with authenticity and convey the reality of the war as this insane imbalanced stage for an equally insane mission. McAllister spent ten years researching this book and yet it never feels like a history dump. When he's done with you, it seems utterly plausible that our government tried to exploit soldiers with apparent psychic abilities to win the war in the dirtiest possible way.

It can be elevator-pitched as Apocalypse Now meets Scanners, but you'd lose a lot of what makes this book so damn great. 

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

There's so many that do the audience and the military a disservice, but the one that bugs me is the Rambo stereotype. The tormented lone ex-Green Beret who shies from violence but becomes a cyclone of spontaneous defenestration when provoked. Audiences have to be sold on the moral rectitude of anything the protagonist does... a hero can be a hit man if he's forced out of retirement for one more job, etc... So the good guy has to go through a lot of redneck kabuki ("Hey John, they kidnaped your wife!") before we can get our gun porn on. 

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Thanks, Cody!

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 - World Premier of SEAL Team 666

SEAL Team 666 is not due out for another 15 days. No one on earth that's not part of the publishing house has the book for sale... except for Mysterious Galaxy Books for a period of the three days of TusCon 39. Maryelizabeth Hart was able to get an event exemption to sell the books ahead of time, which made the flavor of the convention even more special. Long time convention organizer, Joe Palmer, said, "getting to pre-release SEAL Team 666 is one of the great moments of TusCon." And this for a convention that's had the entire pantheon of science fiction and fantasy greats as Guest of Honors.

Speaking with Mysterious Galaxy, the unofficial sales number for the convention was 39 copies sold of the hardback of SEAL Team 666. This not only shattered the record of a single book sold at the convention, but those records that were all shattered were those of Guests of Honor. I wasn't the Guest of Honor. S.M. Stirling was. That said, even though not one of his novels sold more than SEAL Team 666, they were selling all of his novels, so I have no doubt his books far outsold mine. Hell, I bought some of his books. I love his books. Still, the sales numbers of Triple Six were thrilling.

Credit for the first book being signed goes to long time friend, fan, and fellow veteran, Jim Webbert. In fact, the copy I signed for him was the first copy of the hardback I'd ever touched.  So nice.

Then came the onslaught.

Please, I can deal with more onslaughts like this. People wanting books signed, people coming up and talking to me about Triple Six, still others wanting to talk about writing military supernatural thrillers.

Then on Saturday at 11 AM, the convention held the official release party. We had about thirty people in attendance. Mysterious Galaxy mounded a box's worth of books on the table, and stood by to let people buy copies. I explained about the making of SEAL Team 666, cover design, logo design, the editing process, some of the problems we had-- basically, a behind the scenes look at a book everyone has been eager to get their hands on. It went over very well. People laughed at my jokes, which is always good. Then afterward, they queued up and I began signing.

Please, more onslaught.

The weekend ended as it had to on Sunday afternoon. I was sad to say goodbye to all the people. But on the way out the door, an older gentleman passed me with a copy of 666 in a bag.

"Excuse me, sir?"

He turned.

"Do you want me to sign it?"

He stared at me.

"The book," I said, pointing at his bag.

Then he looked at my name tag and broke into a huge smile. "I thought you were gone. They said you'd left."

"Almost. Not yet."

He handed the book and I saw in his eyes a pleasure that turned his sixty-plus years into that of a child. Once I finished and handed it back, he chuckled, shook his head and left.

To engender that feeling in someone is beyond cool.

More onslaught.

Much more onslaught.

42 Days with SEAL Team 666 - VETERAN'S DAY

Happy Veteran's Day to all of you who have served, had loved one's who served, or have benefited from someone's service. Which means Happy Veteran's Day to everyone in America. I'm not going to wax on about this day. Instead, I'll let the immortal Walt Whitman speak for me:

Dirge for Two Veterans

Walt Whitman (from Leaves of Grass, 

first published in the 1867 edition)

         1

   The last sunbeam

Lightly falls from the finish’d Sabbath,

On the pavement here—and there beyond, it is looking,

   Down a new-made double grave.

         2

   Lo! the moon ascending!

Up from the east, the silvery round moon;

Beautiful over the house tops, ghastly phantom moon;

   Immense and silent moon.

         3

   I see a sad procession,

And I hear the sound of coming full-key’d bugles;

All the channels of the city streets they’re flooding,

   As with voices and with tears.

         4

   I hear the great drums pounding,

And the small drums steady whirring;

And every blow of the great convulsive drums,

   Strikes me through and through.

         5

   For the son is brought with the father;

In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell;

Two veterans, son and father, dropt together,

   And the double grave awaits them.

         6

   Now nearer blow the bugles,

And the drums strike more convulsive;

And the day-light o’er the pavement quite has faded,

   And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

         7

   In the eastern sky up-buoying,

The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin’d;

(’Tis some mother’s large, transparent face,

   In heaven brighter growing.)

         8

   O strong dead-march, you please me!

O moon immense, with your silvery face you soothe me!

O my soldiers twain! O my veterans, passing to burial!

   What I have I also give you.

         9

   The moon gives you light,

And the bugles and the drums give you music;

And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,

   My heart gives you love.

Please thank a veteran. It doesn't have to be veteran's day. For a veteran, every day is a veteran's day.

42 Days of 666 - Day 18 with Michael Huyck

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.

R-L: Mikey Huyck, Brian Keene, Mike Oliver, GAK (2002)

Today we have Michael T. Huyck, Jr., or Mikey to me. I've know Mikey for as long as I've been writing. An original member of the cabal, we used to pass nights in the Horror-Net chatroom, waiting for F. Paul Wilson, Doug Clegg, Ray Garton, or Tom Picirilli to stop by and lay upon us their great and grand wisdom for the genre. In addition to being a fantastic writer, Mikey was also a fiction editor for Carpe Noctem magazine (one of the five magazines I have managed to kill). A veteran like me, and much smarter than I am, I looked forward to Mikey's answer to my questions.

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

For me choosing between a favorite movie, television show, and book is like choosing between a banana, a tennis shoe, and the theory of relativity. Each of these ain't like the other, so I need an approach option. Choose one of each? Nope, that violates the rules. Everyone knows I'm a sheep and don't violate the rules. Variation on a theme - how about I write a narrative where I weave one of each into a homogeneous answer? That sounds like mucho work. Nope. So fine, by default I'm going to invoke the "books are always better" rule and just not think about movies or television.

In the book category the nominees are FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS by Ernest Hemingway, WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy, THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE by Stephen Crane, THE CAINE MUTINY by Herman Wouk, FAIL-SAFE by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, and my eventual winner: ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute.

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

 If you're not familiar with the novel, please become so. It's Nevil's best (IMO, of course.) If you are, you might be crying foul right now. For those not in the know, ON THE BEACH is, on its face, more a post-apocalyptic novel than anything. I say "on its face" because ON THE BEACH avoids all the cold war-centric apocalyptic themes except for the USA and USSR largely being responsible for the end of the world. That part's consistent. For the record, two European countries start the war. Bulgaria and Italy, if I remember (I'm in a plane right now and can't look it up.)  Egypt bombs the USA and we blame the USSR and the USSR retaliates and decides to toss in some other attacks as well. The world's now a zombie, still grinding away and not aware it's already dead. Of course that's one of the military angles. The other is that a good portion of the story is told from the perspective of the USS Scorpion (SSN-589) and some of its crew. They undertake a mission from Australia to Washington (the state, not the district) to look for survivors inferred by a regular Morse signal. A few disparate details have always made this navy sinking more interesting to me than others - 1) I was a US Navy submariner in the nuclear power program, (2) I used to work for a guy who went to sea on the USS Snook (the Scorpion's sister boat) for sea trials at the same time the Scorpion went on its last mission, and 3) the Scorpion sank on my 4th birthday. No, I don't remember it, I just find it...interesting. The Scorpion is one of only two US nuclear submarines (trivia: we sub sailors call submarines "boats" and surface ships "targets") lost at sea, with the other being the USS Thresher (SSN-593.)

I digress, but it's an informative digression. Something about this history helped me connect to ON THE BEACH in a way lacking in similar books from the era (such as Mordecai Roshwald's LEVEL 7.)

Was that all it took to make this beat out THE CAINE MUTINY (a fantastic story) or FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS (one of the best books written - ever)? No. What made it best was Nevil Shute's writing. Clean and clear and pointed. He develops his work like a wicker basket, its plots and devices set inside and its characters woven to carry them. While not all that emotional, they are true to the common motivations of man: survival, love, duty, sympathy, pride, all the things that separate us a few degrees from the crocodiles and dust bunnies. The story has legs, alternately on land in two different continents (that I remember, don't hold me to that) and, of course, at sea. It's stark, really. And sad. Sad isn't one of my favorite threads in fiction. In fact, it's the principle reason I don't care for drama in television or movies. There's enough real life in life for me to regularly avoid the fair in my fiction. For reasons I really don't understand myself, it works in ON THE BEACH. Perhaps because of the writing, perhaps because of the story, or perhaps because of where I was at mentally when I read it. I really don't know. But I do know that I'll never forget it.


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


A consistent failure of the era's fiction regarding the cold war was the beating of the "what we're doing is insanity" drumbeat. Yes, that's true, what we did during the era was insanity. It was two of the school's largest bullies in a staring contest and everyone's ass would be beat when someone blinked. Thematics such as this work as a thesis, but they're not adequate for good story. In ON THE BEACH the cold war and nuclear Armageddon aren't the story, they're a pretext for the essential human story. Unlike much fiction of the era, Shute doesn't come across as heavy or preachy either. I found it had what a novel needs to work, specifically to reveal the human condition imbued. We all need our war stories pregnant with tension, sure, and we need our loves and losses. But the most important thing is that the human beings in the novel do the things that human beings do. This is what makes ON THE BEACH work, regardless whether you call it a post-Armageddon or military work.

+   +   +

Thanks, Mikey!

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 - 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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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