Full title: Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield

Ashley’s War, by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, is a nonfiction account of the first wave of women in the US Army who volunteered to be part of the “cultural support teams” that accompanied Army Rangers and Green Berets on missions in Afghanistan.

These teams were developed beginning in 2011 because it was felt that women soldiers could interact more effectively with Afghan women, most of whom are forbidden from interacting with men who are not immediate relatives. The program proved successful. Women soldiers came to be seen as a “third gender,” one whose presence didn’t threaten the social status of Afghan men.

But Ashley’s War isn’t about Afghan culture or the politics of war. Instead it’s firmly focused on the stories of the American soldiers who volunteered for this program, and who survived the brief but rigorous training. These women came from diverse backgrounds. Some were regular army, some were National Guard. Some were on their own from a very young age, some came from strong families. Some were from families with traditional military backgrounds, and some were from civilian families. All were athletic and determined, and most joined the military because they wanted to be soldiers, and to experience combat.

As the story develops, it’s fascinating to see these women coming to terms with what it means to be a “strong woman character,” as we so frequently discuss in fiction:

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For those readers in the United Kingdom, the ebook edition of Going Dark is now available from Amazon UK. Find it here.

As I’ve mentioned before, when I sold The Red Trilogy to Saga Press, I was able to retain the right to publish the books separately in the United Kingdom, and I’m doing so under my own publishing imprint, Mythic Island Press LLC, though I’m only publishing the ebook edition, at least for now.

You’ll find the United Kingdom editions of The Red and The Trials at Kobo Books as well at Amazon. Right now Going Dark is only at Amazon UK, but it will eventually be available at Kobo too.

Amazon links:
The Red: First Light
The Trials

Kobo links:
The Red: First Light
(9781937197193)
The Trials
(9781937197186)

Two interviews are just out this week:

Over at SF Signal I answer questions posed by book reviewer and writer Anthony Vicino. Topics covered include the contrasts between indie and traditional publishing, military science fiction, and Going Dark. I think this is one of my better interviews. I hope you check it out!

And at the B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog you’ll find the Don’t-Mess-With-Texas interview, titled “Mission Complete: Discussing The Red Trilogy with Linda Nagata”. Here Andrew Liptak asks questions about all three books in the series, and what I’m doing next.

The Functional Nerds is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with science fiction and fantasy authors, artists, and more. I had the privilege of being a guest of the show back in May 2014. Patrick Hester and John Anealio are looking to expand their offerings, lacking only the funding to make it happen. So if you’re into SFF podcasts, do consider a contribution to The Functional Nerds Patreon project.

It’s launch day plus one for Going Dark.

Yesterday afternoon, instead of annoying my Twitter stream with “Hey, my book is out!” messages, I decided to go hiking on Haleakala’s Skyline Trail. This is an amazing route that starts at the summit and descends along the southwest rift zone into the forest at Polipoli State Park.

The complication with this hike is that you need someone to drop you off at the top and pick you up at the bottom. Luckily, my son had his day off, so we drafted him for that purpose. It turned into a fun afternoon, as well as a successful distraction from the stress of book launch.

Below: I call this “the road on the edge of the world.” This old road, which runs past the observatories and communications facilities at Haleakala’s summit, is the beginning of Skyline Trail:

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ALL THREE BOOKS IN THE RED TRILOGY ARE NOW OUT

GOING DARK:

“No Real Allies, No Fixed Enemies, No Certain Battlefields”

Presumed dead by those closest to him and with no intention of setting the record straight, former army Lt. James Shelley is recruited by a black ops outfit devoted to two things: guarding the Earth from existential threats, and the Red.

Operating for almost two years among soldiers who are enhanced, and controlled, just as he is, Shelley believes he’s learned a proper caution in working with the mysterious artificial intelligence—until the Red’s increasingly erratic behavior ignites an accidental war, and launches Shelley on a collision course with his old life.

In the final book of The Red Trilogy, Shelley must choose who—or what—to trust, while struggling to contain an escalating conflict that threatens to plunge the world into chaos, and destroy those he loves.

Some online booksellers (USA):
☆ Amazon
☆ Barnes & Noble
☆ Powell’s Books
☆ Mysterious Galaxy
☆ Tattered Cover

Or get the audio book, narrated by Kevin T. Collins, and available worldwide from Audible:
☆ Audible

Information on the United Kingdom ebook edition is here.

Back in May I was thrilled when The Red was named to the Publishers Weekly list “Best Summer Books 2015 — SF/ Fantasy/ Horror.”

I’m even more astonished now, because today the Publishers Weekly reviewers have posted their “Best Books of 2015.” Only six books are on the science fiction, fantasy, and horror list, and The Red is one of them. This is certainly a once-in-a-lifetime honor!

Other books on PW’s SFF best of the year list are the collection Ghost Summer: Stories by Tananarive Due, The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, Uprooted by Naomi Novik (I just started listening to this one on audio book), The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley, and The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson. Congratulations to all!

Scroll through the list here.

This past week I’d been hoping to finally get back to work on the new novel, but we were also having all the windows on our house replaced, and I somehow miscalculated just how much time that project would consume. Yes, we have a contractor doing the work, but we needed to clear everything in front of the windows and remove the blinds, and of course once that was done, I needed to clean all those places that only get cleaned when a room is painted, or re-carpeted, or when the windows get replaced….

Anyway, with luck, I’ll get back to work on the novel this weekend.

In the meantime, two bits of news… I’m on the latest Coode Street Podcast, along with Eleanor Arnason. With hosts Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, we talk about women in science fiction, as well as our own careers.

And over at io9.com, Annalee Newitz has posted a column called Two Science Fiction Novels You Must Read to Deal with Election Season:

The US presidential debates are eroding our souls, and the partisan mudslinging has only just begun. That’s why it’s time to escape into the world of the future, or alternate history, to see how truly twisted politics can get. Two new novels will take you there.

One of those two novels is Crooked, by Austin Grossman. The other is The Red. Visit io9.com to read Annalee’s review.

Kobo is a multinational ebook vendor and for the next few days they’re offering indie-published ebooks at 50% off. Be aware that Kobo ebooks are in EPUB format only, so you’ll need a compatible e-reader or app. But all ebooks published in the USA, Canada, and Australia under my imprint, Mythic Island Press LLC, are included in the sale. And if you are in the United Kingdom or New Zealand, the first two books in The Red Trilogy should also be available at the discounted price.

Here’s a link to my ebooks. Because of the way the search works, the list also includes issues of Lightspeed Magazine with stories by me.

The discount is not automatic and it’s not open to all regions. Here are the specifics, direct from Kobo:

Customers will be able to redeem 50% off of any title published by KWL using the promo codes below an unlimited number of times […] the sale runs in different dates by territory, and each territory has it’s own promo code. See below for the full details.

Canada
October 28th – October 31st
Promo Code: CA50SALE

United States/Australia/New Zealand
October 27th – October 30th
Promo Code: GET50SALE

United Kingdom
October 30th – November 2nd
Promo Code: UK50SALE

Yes, I’m a bit behind the curve on this one, and no, I haven’t seen the movie (though I plan to).

All The President’s Men is the nonfiction memoir of Washington Post journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, originally published in 1974. It recounts their investigation of the 1972 Watergate Hotel break-in, and the gradual revelation of scandal surrounding the 1972 presidential election, that ultimately led to the resignation of President Nixon.

These events took place when I was a child, too young to follow the slowly breaking story in detail, but old enough that nearly all the names in the book are still very familiar to me. I picked up the ebook of the 40th anniversary edition, which happened to be on sale for a ridiculously low price — and I found it fascinating. Read the rest of this entry »