Traditional genre categories very often fail to identify a book's truth wealth. 

UNBREAKABLE is classified as a Science Fiction or Military SF novel, maybe a Marine or adventure story, or a space opera. But it's more. 

You may not care for science fiction, or military adventure. But what about tales of living through and overcoming loss? Or stories about Mother/daughter relationships? Or frontier adventures? Or political intrigue? 

UNBREAKABLE is far more than just science fiction. 

Here are a few tags to illustrate the point:

#StrongFemaleProtagonist 

#WomenInCombat

 #PTSD

#CopingWithLoss

#OrphanStory

#MotherDaughterStory(perhaps my favorite tag)

#Western

#GreatGame 

#PoliticalIntrigue 

#OvercomingFear

Is it time to #TagYourBook? I believe so. Here's a great post on the subject.

I'll be at MileHiCon 2015, October 23rd - 25th. 

Please stop by and sell hello. You can catch a number of great panels on just about every subject in the 'verse. I'm on four panels and moderating a fifth. 

I'll be at the author's co-op table during Friday, 4:00pm - 6:00pm, signing books too.  

A new friend of mine and fellow military SF author Jason Kent will also be there. Be sure to stop by his booth and check out his work.  


Panels I'm On: 

Friday, October 23 
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• 2:00pm - Let Your Ears Do the Reading (all about audio books)
• 10:30pm - Total Recall (2012) vs Total Recall (1990) Discussion

 
Saturday, October 24

• 4:00pm - Creator, Content, Consumer, Community: The 4 Cs of 21st Century Pros & Fans

 


Sunday, October 25

• 10:00am - Pow! Bam! Writing Good Fight Scenes

Sessions I'm Moderating: 

Friday, October 23

• 6:00pm - Honor Harrington Fan Forum

I hope to see you there!

Today, my late grandfather, CPO William Coates, has been on my mind.

Grandpa was a typical man for his generation. He rarely talked about himself. He fought in two great wars - WWII and Korea - and retired a Chief Petty Officer, E-7, in the Navy. The fowled anchor proved prescient. Cancer forced retirement upon him. Otherwise he might have made Senior Chief. The good Lord spared his life from end-stage lymphoma. The docs sent him home to die, every organ ripe with malignancy. The docs called his recovery a medical oddity, an anomaly. My grandmother called it what it was - a miracle. My grandfather said he was saved, twice. 

Grandpa didn't wear his service like chevrons on his sleeve. You almost had to pry the information out of him. Oh, he loved the Navy and the USA, he'd sing the songs like "Gee, Mom I Want to Go Home" and reminisce about the war, but always at a carefully metered distance from its harsh realities. 

He, like those of his generation, bore the hardship of war in quiet isolation. Only in retrospect has the family begun to appreciate the depth of his emotional wounds. 

Today, I gathered my boys in our living room and reminisced about my grandpa, about the true meaning of Memorial Day. About the greatness of our country and why it's unique in the world as a beacon of liberty, as the chief exporter of freedom across the globe, because of men like William Coates. 

My first book was dedicated to grandpa. I, quite literally, owe my entire being to the man. And though my guys will never meet him this side of the veil, they will hear his story. 

Here's to CPO William Coates: father, husband, grandfather, warfighter, Christ-follower, and friend.

Hail to the Chief

What are your thoughts on a mandatory military service requirement, also called the Draft? 

Periodically, this subject surfaces, often in connection with Israel. I saw it surface again last week. Israel has a mandatory service requirement for women and men. Should we?  

I'm opposed to the draft for two principle reasons. 

1. Forcing people to go to war seems to me to be an intrinsically bad idea. The all-volunteer military is the obvious alternative, and my personal preference.

2. I'm for freedom. If the state has the power to force you into harm's way, or possibly order you to surrender your life for the greater good, then you aren't truly free. 

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Mr. Spock said as much in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. To an extent he's right. The fate of a ship or a nation is more important that that of any single crew member or citizen. But, remember, Spock made the choice to sacrifice himself for his crew. He wasn't forced or compelled to do it. The needs of the many - in our case the state - might outweigh the needs of the few. But, in the course of defending its interests abroad and even its homeland, the state should never strip away the rights of the people it's sworn to protect and serve.  

Philosopher and noted author Ayn Rand [and others] have argued - and rightly so - that all other rights hinge upon personal property rights and, I would add, are given to us by our creator. See the Declaration of Independence for more on that. My body, my property. I lose that then I've lost everything. My rights don't come from the state, they come from God. I am not a ward of the state; the state doesn't own me. My life is a gift from God. The state may not cash it like common currency.  

Note: For this post, I'm specifically thinking of wars fought upon foreign soil. If America was invaded, I'm confident that, without being asked, tens of millions of the body politic would open their closets, take out their Remington bolt-actions and AR-15s, and refresh the tree of liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants. 

Okay...let me know what you think. And thanks for reading.