My little Space Kablooie novel is finally up on Amazon. People are buying it, which makes me happy. People are liking it, which makes me even happier.
If you’ve read Terms of Enlistment, please consider leaving a review on whatever site you purchased the book. The reviews are not for me (although I can’t deny that I enjoy reading the good ones), they’re for the next person browsing for something decent to read. To those of you who have already left reviews: thank you, thank you. You are wonderful people and quite handsome/beautiful.
Terms of Enlistment will be available on iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and the Sony store very soon. I’ll post links when they are. In the meantime, you can get it from Amazon, Smashwords, or directly from me in whatever DRM-free format suits you best.
For those who asked about when the next one will be out: the second book is already written, and it’ll hit the same outlets probably before you put your first outdoor burgers on the grill this year.
(The second book will be called Lines of Departure.)
Btw an amazon search for marko kloos finds your book, but also elicits this funny response:
“marko kloos”
Did you mean: mario loot
I absolutely loved the book. Very impressive and I’m already looking forward to the next book in the series. Very well thought out and very well written.
This was my first venture into this genre but as an avid reader of your blog I knew I’d be reading some fine prose. “Dude can write” indeed! My review will go up on Amazon by tomorrow. I looked for a page on Goodreads and it appears that I’ll be able to post a review although your author page is rather bare. I don’t know if you’re interested in putting up your photo, bio and cover, but I think it would be useful.
None of my business, but did you query agents with this book? The writing is taut and terrific, the combat scenes are compelling reading. I would have thought someone would have nibbled. And if I am being too nosy, just tell me so. One last question: where can I get my hands on an M-66? Do want.
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I queried agents. MANY, MANY agents.
Larry Corriea got a bump from Uncle Hugo and Uncle Edward’s Books in Minneapolis when they told the head honcho over at Baen that they needed to sign him. I think they might get a similar phone call if you shipped a copy digital or otherwise to the Uncles. I’m a bit past half way and liking it a lot, you need to write faster please. Put the kids in a barrel and leave ’em there till they are eighteen so you can keep us in reading material.
Based on a recent post from Larry Correia, with fire support from Tom Kratman and Michael Z Wiliamson, and also recent comments by Bill Quick at Daily Pundit, I think it would take a lot for the average publishing house to accept works by Marko. Baen is unusual in publishing works based on saleability, with no regard for the politics of the author, but even there you have to get an agent first.
I haven’t read it. But i would like to say i enjoyed your recent writing in Blue Press. Congrats!
CIII
Good timing, I was just looking for a new book.
Please let us know when it’s up on Barnes & Noble…
I would love to see a novel from that lucky thirteen short story you put out a while ago; that short story really stuck with me. I’ll take a chance for $3 on this though..
Is it better for you if one buys the .epub version direct from you or via the Sony Bookstore? I have a Sony reader, and if adding a sale to the “official” totals helps you in any way, I’ll wait for it to appear there. Otherwise, I’ll see about direct purchase via PayPal.
It won’t be on the Sony store for a few days yet, and I do get to keep more from the direct sales, so if you want to buy it from me, I’ll certainly sell it to you gladly.
A review at The Clue Meter: “Terms of Enlistment”.
My basic training company at Fort Lost In The Woods, Misery, was co-ed in 1980. I served with female soldiers my entire 20 year career, most of which was spent in Infantry Divisions. (Granted, I was in MI or Aviation battalions, but still…)
And, in case you hadn’t heard, combat MOSs have been opened to women in both the US Army and USMC. (Whether they’ll be able to fill more than a few slots without diluting the physical requirements is another question.)
A better question, Fred, might be “How could they fill Light Infantry billets with women?” And, yes, a hundred years from now they might have some kind of dietary supplement that enhances the ability of females to perform heavy labor for long periods of time — while the average male in good physical condition is stronger than the average female ditto, the biggest difference is actually in stamina, that is, the ability to perform hard physical labor over a long period. It’s just the way we’re built.
OTOH, it takes no “Lysenko-quality physiological/psychological absurdities” to justify the MOS selection process only selecting those women who can hack it for the Infantry. We used to joke about how you really enlisted for “The Needs Of The Army”; in this world, it’s true.
Liked the first chapter so much I bought the book. You write as good prose as anybody in the field now, that I’m aware of. I’m bracing myself for some Lysenko-quality physiological/psychological absurdities to justify all the women among the recruits, but I can hack it. I’ve put up with worse, for good writing.
Fred,
“I’m bracing myself for some Lysenko-quality physiological/psychological absurdities to justify all the women among the recruits…”
Dude, it was Basic, attended by everybody from future file clerks to future force recon, not BUD/S. The big difference between Marko’s fictional boot camp and MCRD PI is that there’s no separate 4th Battalion (which doesn’t require any special Lysenko-esque reason to exist, I’ll note…)
Tam, fair point about BUDS, and let me say it’s an honor to be flamed by you, but it goes well beyond the gender breakdown among the recruits. I’m still reading and I guessed right. Did you get to the dining hall fight scene yet? Or any of the other bits where very nearly *all* of the toughest and most efficient soldiers are the women? Not some or half. Nearly all. Except the marines; they’re all just hulking male punching bags who stand there looking stupid while the army girls 2/3 their weight beat up two of them at a time.
Otoh, the one recruit who makes pilot training is a girl but that’s a coin flip, and it’s a non physical specialty too. Also because Juan Rico’s friend Carmen, duh. And i can’t complain if the author wants to put a thumb on the scales a bit to make a point; authors have that privilege^Wobligation. And sure, maybe we’ll evolve real quick real soon; women on welfare are already showing startling changes in their physiques. But the point’s been made to death. He just set aside the trowel he was laying it on with and picked up a firehose. The female characters, so far, have no flaws at all. I got enough of that growing up catholic.
Interesting characters aren’t perfect. The men get to have personalities. The men in Grayson’s squad are described in terms of quirks or imperfections; the women, each gets one point of truly jaw-dropping excellence to break up their monotonous superiority.
Btw my girlfriend says Marko’s a sexist pig for calling them “girls”, ha ha ha.
Also btw, I’m still reading the thing, because the female superhero deal is the only thing I don’t love about it. Dude can write. Just would enjoy it more without the blinking AUTHOR’S MESSAGE sign on every other page. Well… Jeez… I did mention Starship Troopers, speaking of messages… But you can skip that chapter.
On the other hand, it’s probably good marketing. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and all that (but Lisbeth Salander is complicated and flawed). It sells, and I can’t fault a guy for making a living. I seem to be in the minority; let the market speak.
…
Oh, also one thing that’s not opinion: First combat scene, the ship turns tight left and the guy on the left side facing inward is pressed back against the left wall. Angular momentum would pull him outward, on a tangent. He’d be hanging on the straps. Try it in your car. I assumed it’s a misprint, left for right.
That wasn’t a flame. You’ll know when you’ve been flamed, trust. 🙂
“Did you get to the dining hall fight scene yet?”
I was a beta reader, so this store-bought copy is actually my third time through the book. Since this time ’round, I actually read the fight scene in the chow hall after reading your comment, I did pay special attention to the fact that in the middle of the brawl of dudes hitting dudes, chicks hitting dudes, and (presumably) dudes hitting chicks, one of the three female troops in the platoon hauled off and kicked a dude in the junk, which is obviously an authorial fantasy, since that has never happened in real life, ever.
I hadn’t noticed the author’s subtle propaganda up ’til now, not having the finely-honed sense of gender-based outrage that an increasing number of males these days seem to share with Dworkin and MacKinnon. 😉
(Note: This is also not a flame, and should be read with a drily amused, sardonic tone. I will gladly buy you a beer to make amends for any offense taken.)
Well, Marko *is* married to a superhero grade woman, so he may have put a bit of her in those girl characters…
I would have read it in one sitting other than the need for sleep. Very much looking forward to “Lines of Departure”. (Which, in true military tradition, we should arrive at, cocked and locked, tomorrow morning in time for the actual release.)
Well, for those of us in CenTex…the first outdoor burgers were last month…better give Doc Brown a call…
“…before those who don’t live in UNNATURALLY HOT CLIMATES put their first outdoor burgers on the grill.”
It’s not unnaturally hot. The heat down here is 100% all natural.