Tag: Anthologies

My friend Doug Irvin had a brainstorm not too long ago. When President Trump announced the formation of the United States Space Force as the newest branch of the U.S. Military, Doug thought it would be a great idea to write so speculative fiction about the first 100 years of the new service.

He had the general theme and he wanted it to be a collection of short stories. But what he didn’t have was a working knowledge of how to get the completed collection published. Which is where I entered the picture.

Tuscany Bay Books is swamped as far as its production schedule for 2020 what with the Planetary Anthology Series cranking out a new title every six weeks until February 2, 2021. So TBB couldn’t publish it.

But, with Doug doing the heavy lifting of putting out the submission call, sifting through the subs and selecting those he felt were best suited for the anthology, I could handle the publishing side of it for him.

Thus, under the Midlands Scribes Publishing banner, Space Force: Building The Legacy was given the green light. As you can see from the link, the book is up on Amazon for a May 25, 2020 release and you can pre-order your e-book copy right now. There’s even a cool book trailer for it too.

Doug has done an excellent job assembling 11 talented authors from around the globe. Yes, it isn’t just American authors who wanted in on the action. Three different countries and two continents are represented in this collection. We even had one sub from Italy.

Which left it to me to get the manuscript formatted for print and e-book, get the covers for both formats ready, get the book trailer together and all of the other little details that goes with putting a book up on Amazon these days.

I’m happy to say that I couldn’t be more happier with the final product. And I am sure that you will enjoy reading these stories too.

When we first decided to launch this project, I hadn’t intended to submit a story to it. I’ve never written anything close to Military Sci-Fi in my life. But one thing I have noticed over the past few years is I haven’t been afraid to try writing in a genre that I’ve never written in before. Okay, I sincerely doubt you’ll ever catch me writing romance or erotica (Hey, I’m a guy, so…) but who knows?

Still, one fine day, when I found myself with nothing to do for all of three minutes, I had an idea pop into my head that I thought would fit the parameters of what Doug was looking for and decided to give it a go. Even if he said no, at least I had tried my hand at MilSciFi.

As an aside, Doug had the clear option to airlock my story if he didn’t like it. This was also made clear to the editors of the Planetary Series. Just because my name is attached to the publishing house, doesn’t mean I get a free pass. If its a no, its a no and I’ll have no issue with that.

In this case, Doug liked the story and included it. The title is simple: CAG. Military folk will know who the main character is from the title. Doug’s reaction after he read it was: “You went full Heinlein!” I’ll take that compliment and run, especially on my first attempt in the master’s genre.

The other ten stories? I’ve read them all and they are incredibly well done. After you have read them, I think you’ll agree.

My only disappointment is that I had intended the print edition to be the old pocketbook paperback size of the pulp days of Heinlein. A 4″ by 6″ book that could easily slip into the back pocket of your blue jeans or the jacket pocket of one of our servicemen and women. Sadly, the smallest size Amazon allows is 5″ by 8″. So we’ll roll with that size and pray everyone has big pockets.

So, in the meantime, check out the trailer at the link above and pre-order your copy. Doug’s already hinting at a second Space Force anthology. Hmmm, I have a story idea that might work for that one too…