Okay, so maybe I was 4 days into 2013 when I did it, but it counts as ’12.
Today, I turned in To Do or Die (aka The Hounds of War). This is the fourth novel of the Ray Longknife books and will come out January 2014 after the first three books are reprinted next year.
This book brings the gang from The Price of Peace and They Also Serve to a badly misnamed planet, Savannah. The peace following the end of the Unity War is not blessing the poor place and it’s up to Ray Longknife, Trouble and Mrs. Trouble to cure the problems with a little peace making.
They do it, with a lot of shit getting blown up and Trouble taking his Marines up Black Mountain with the Ladies from Hell on his left flank. And you won’t believe what Mrs. Trouble is up to while he’s out on the town, I mean mountain.
Anyway, there have been hints about this story in Kris’s books and come January, 2014, you will have a chance to read the whole thing.
I’ve suggested the cover have Mrs. Trouble with a big honking gun and an armored bustier. Well see what Ace thinks.
Oh, and the Iteeche show up in the last chapter. This would, of course, been a whole lot nastier ending had it come out in 2000 when initially planned and not been leaked in Kris’s books, but still.
Congratulations, Mike. You’re a true pro. I’m looking fwd to this new one already. I just bought the Ray trilogy (used) for a friend I turned on to Kris this fall. He and his wife are rapidly catching up with us, so the prospect of a 4th Ray book in a year will help them pace themselves.
BTW, I thought FURIOUS was terrific. Loved the planetary change(s) of pace, as well as the intriguing developments with Al and Nelly. Am especially taken with the expanding, far-flung team of smart people Kris has attracted. And Honovi finally got to do something. You’re creating an irresistible saga here, sir.
Finally, I began the LOST MILLENNIUM books this morning. 5 chapters in, I’m hooked! Andre Norton’s TIME TRADERS books were among those that sold me on science fiction 50+ years ago. Thank you for some very nice echoes.
I had to buy all the Kris Longknife books. So I could read the series in the proper order. Ten books in ten days. I’m glad my wife is low maintenance!
Hi, Dan,
Thank heaven’s my wife is wonderfully low maintenance or I couldn’t write three books a year.
I’m glad you enjoyed all ten. Now go back and read them slowly and enjoy them again. And don’t forget the novellas that are only available as e-books. Oh, and the three Ray Longknife books will be out this year, starting with First Casualty in February 26th.
Well, that IS the plan.
I’m a bit obsessive in that I prefer to read books in series order.
I found ‘They Also Serve’ and ‘The Price of Peace’ at my local used book store, and have ordered the other four.
In the meantime, I’m slogging through the mud on an alien planet of my own devising. If y’all can’t write any faster, I’ll damned well just have to write ‘em my own self!
Mike,
I’m excited to learn that you are publishing a fourth book in the Unity War timeline. I just reread my dog-eared copies of the trilogy in November-December while recovering from surgery. Then I started rereading the Kris Longknife novels, too (all of which I also own).
I frequently check Amazon to see if you have a new publication that I can purchase for my Kindle app, and preorder all of your releases.
Thank you for your writing skill and imagination. I enjoy your creativity.
I have finished reading the Kris Longknife series and its 2 ebooks (well they were all ebooks for me) and found them great reads. All I can say after reading Furious is … poor Ray. I don’t know if spoilers are allowed so I won’t comment further, but that was my thought at the end of the book.
BTW… I sort of got the gist of your idea for stringing the Smart Metal through the jump holes, but perhaps not fully. On the far side of the hole can the smart metal slough off new nanobots? Sort of like a stream of water where the nanobots flow through the hole and then spawn nanobots on the other side? If I was in charge of strategy I would keep a buoy on one side with a smart metal linkage through the gate that would spy on incoming ships. Each buoy would be rigged with a neutron bomb. This tactic would work limited times because they would start sending smaller, expendable ships through but you might hit a few big guys.
Also, you could seed each jump hole with nanos and infest any scouts that come through it. As they go back to the motherships they could transfer over. This way you could have the nanos squawk as they entered systems you have put listening devices in. You could have a buoy network with Smart Metal linkages set up like a spiders web. If something gets caught in it then the signal is sent back to the spider at the center of the web.
Keep writing your books and I will keep reading them. They help shed light on what it means to serve.