Author of the Fierce Girls at War series

Tell us a little about yourself

I'm a retired naval officer, originally from New York but living in California since 1987. I've been an avid reader of science fiction and history since I was a middle schooler. I wanted to write books for a long time but there was never enough time (that's my excuse) until my kids were out of the house. I've lived in Europe (Austria) for a while in college, traveled all over Europe and all over the world while in the navy. My experiences in other countries including with members of other militaries are reflected in my books.

What prompted you to write your upcoming or latest release?

Forward Recon, Book 23, is the latest in the Fierce Girls At War series and sets the stage for the penultimate volume and the finale of the story. It’s been a long process, over nine years of writing, and re-writing, editing, and polishing to bring all of the various storylines to a satisfactory conclusion. Originally, I thought I would be able to wrap things up sooner but to do it right without leaving loose ends or disrespecting the characters and my readers necessitated several additional installments.

What genre and tropes are in your upcoming or latest release? Why these?

‘Forward Recon’ and the Fierce Girls At War series is a military science fiction/adventure story and I’ve tried to up-end or put a different twist on a number of typical tropes used in this genre. I’ve read and seen enough sci-fi over the years to know what the common cliches area and I wanted to do something different.

Aliens - The aliens who invade the human colony had to hire primitive mercenaries of another species because they have very little experience with warfare themselves and end up bringing ‘knives to a gunfight’ (another trope!) The aliens are not comic-strip aliens, they are inexperienced with war but can learn from their mistakes. Theirs is an economically-driven culture that had never met another advanced species before and at the beginning assumes that the humans think about things like property and life the same way that they do.

Teenaged Warriors – the students from the New Hope Academy who were aboard a transport shot down by the aliens have just a handful of adults to train them to fight and survive. They are all females between the ages of 14 and 19. They are not sidekicks or minor characters or some boys’ love interests and they don’t need to be protected.

Damsel in Distress/ My Hero – within a few seconds of their first meeting while under fire the main male character (Rick) asks the female character (Molly) to follow him into a probably suicidal gambit to defeat the bad guys. They survive and while they form a close bond, they don’t become a ‘couple’, more like an occasionally incestuous brother and sister who both have multiple partners.

Human colony on another planet – Whenever a human colony is part of the story it is usually described as being settled long ago and therefore is as technologically advanced, if not more so than Earth, or, a group of intrepid settlers, often from some religious or political sub-group is dropped off in the alien wilderness and some years someone drops by to see if any of them are still alive, or competing factions or nations are setting up their own colonies on the planet often resulting in conflict between. This is Earth’s first colony and it takes the united and combined efforts and treasure of many nations to build the starships and develop the infrastructure of this world.

If your main character had a day off, how would they spend it?

Both the main male and female characters would sleep in, spend the day at the beach, have a nice dinner then find and break the fingers of some sexual harasser. If the offender complained they would have witnesses who would say they were elsewhere at the time.