Box Press, my second Smithtown Unit ebook, has been released by Sea Lion Press. While the first installment aimed to pay homage to the “men’s adventure” genre in all its forms, this one has a narrower and more obscure foundation. That would be the weirder books in the 1970s that tried to move beyond just shooting mobsters and brought in stranger antagonists as a result.
Enjoy the next adventure of Bill Morgan.
My newest post on the Sea Lion Press blog is up, talking about the Draka series as a whole.
I’m delighted to announce that The Smithtown Unit, my debut book on Sea Lion Press, is now out on Amazon.
The book is an alternate history action-adventure novel in the style of the classic “Men’s adventure” books. If I had to list the closest inspiration, it would be MIA Hunter or Cody’s Army.
A fresh Sea Lion Press Release and the first book in an intended series, Drake’s Drum: The Peace Of Amiens is classic “crunchy” alternate history. Starting with flaws in British naval shells being fixed in World War I and a more decisive British victory at Jutland, the “butterflies” spiral off until a bankrupt Britain throws in the towel in World War II, the Caucasus is overrun and the Soviet economy collapses, and the stage is set for a German-American confrontation (the cover depicts Amerika Bombers striking New York, with the book ending on a cliffhanger).
The book cuts between character vignettes and “pseduo-history”. I didn’t get the most out of the character scenes, as well intended as they were, save for one chilling scene depicting the Madagascar Plan in “action”. Thus like a lot of alternate history, it leans a lot on plausibility.
And here, it does better than many others. I’ll also admit to not being the biggest fan of this kind of genre, but this is how to do it right. First, there’s very clearly a lot of research being done, and it being done in a good way. Second, there’s a sense that a lot of it feels right. There are handwaves like the war outcomes and stumbles like my pet peeve of the pool of American political candidates being too small. But there’s more things that sound right and plausible, especially compared to other alternate histories.
For people who like detailed alternate history, The Peace of Amiens is a treat.
In my latest “Boom Boom Goes The Tank” column on Sea Lion Press, I talk about some of the differences between technothrillers and World War III fiction. To support my case, I delved into the Steel Panthers scenario list and looked at just how many were “World War III” and how many of those WWIII scenarios took place in Germany. That was strangely fun.
I’m proud to say that my first “Boom Boom Goes The Tank” column has been published on Sea Lion Press. The debut column is a “brief, opinionated chronology of the [technothriller] genre”.
