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Babylon Smiles
An Iraqi War Heist Novel
Kelly's Heroes meets Three Kings
It’s the end of 2003. Billions of American dollars have been given to Iraq to refund their economy. Flown into Bagdad Airport, this money is transported by anonymous military trucks to banks in all the major cities. This money is unaccounted for. No one really knows all the details. So it only makes sense that someone might have a better idea about where the money should go. Enter the men and women of the 399th Transportation Company who must eventually choose between capturing Saddam Hussein or living lives of luxury. That is if they survive.
Praise for Weston Ochse:
“Weston Ochse is one of the best authors of our generation.” - Brian Keene, Author of Ghoul and The Rising
“Weston Ochse is a mercurial writer, one of those depressingly talented people who are good at whatever they turn their hand to”-Conrad Williams, August Derleth and International Horror Guild Award Winner
“Weston Ochse is perhaps the fiercest and most direct of the latest generation of dark fiction writers.” Rocky Wood , author of Stephen King: A Literary Companion.
“Weston Ochse is to horror what Bradbury is to science fiction -- an artist whose craft, stories and voice are so distinct and mesmerizing that you can't help but be enthralled.” - Dani Kollin, Prometheus Award-winning author of The Unincorporated Man
“Brilliantly rendered. What was so impressive about the piece was that I did not doubt the incredible heroism of the protagonist... nor his motivation. - Andrew Vachss on “Family Man”
“Ochse succeeds in creating a complex plot that casts a brutal overwhelming spell.” - International Thriller Award winner Tom Piccirilli on Scarecrow Gods
Raves for SEAL Team 666:
"SEAL TEAM 666 is like X-Files written by Tom Clancy: ingenious, creepy, and entertaining." -- Kevin J. Anderson, #1 international bestselling author of DEATH WARMED OVER
"SEAL TEAM 666 is a wild blend of nail-biting thriller action and out-of-the shadows horror. This is the supernatural thriller at its most dynamic. Perfect!" -Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of DEAD OF NIGHT and THE KING OF PLAGUES
Kelly's Heroes meets Three Kings
It’s the end of 2003. Billions of American dollars have been given to Iraq to refund their economy. Flown into Bagdad Airport, this money is transported by anonymous military trucks to banks in all the major cities. This money is unaccounted for. No one really knows all the details. So it only makes sense that someone might have a better idea about where the money should go. Enter the men and women of the 399th Transportation Company who must eventually choose between capturing Saddam Hussein or living lives of luxury. That is if they survive.
Praise for Weston Ochse:
“Weston Ochse is one of the best authors of our generation.” - Brian Keene, Author of Ghoul and The Rising
“Weston Ochse is a mercurial writer, one of those depressingly talented people who are good at whatever they turn their hand to”-Conrad Williams, August Derleth and International Horror Guild Award Winner
“Weston Ochse is perhaps the fiercest and most direct of the latest generation of dark fiction writers.” Rocky Wood , author of Stephen King: A Literary Companion.
“Weston Ochse is to horror what Bradbury is to science fiction -- an artist whose craft, stories and voice are so distinct and mesmerizing that you can't help but be enthralled.” - Dani Kollin, Prometheus Award-winning author of The Unincorporated Man
“Brilliantly rendered. What was so impressive about the piece was that I did not doubt the incredible heroism of the protagonist... nor his motivation. - Andrew Vachss on “Family Man”
“Ochse succeeds in creating a complex plot that casts a brutal overwhelming spell.” - International Thriller Award winner Tom Piccirilli on Scarecrow Gods
Raves for SEAL Team 666:
"SEAL TEAM 666 is like X-Files written by Tom Clancy: ingenious, creepy, and entertaining." -- Kevin J. Anderson, #1 international bestselling author of DEATH WARMED OVER
"SEAL TEAM 666 is a wild blend of nail-biting thriller action and out-of-the shadows horror. This is the supernatural thriller at its most dynamic. Perfect!" -Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of DEAD OF NIGHT and THE KING OF PLAGUES
334 pages, ebook
First published April 22, 2013
About the author
Weston Ochse
128 books296 followersThe American Library Association calls Weston Ochse “one of the major horror authors of the 21 st Century.” He has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, Publishers Weekly, Peter Straub, Joe Lansdale, Jon Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, David Gerrold, William C. Dietz, Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden, and many more of the world’s best-selling authors. His work has won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico Arizona Book Awards.
A writer of nearly thirty books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and his military sci fi trilogy, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war.
Weston has also published literary fiction, poetry, comics, and non-fiction articles.
His shorter work has appeared in DC Comics, IDW Comics, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, Cemetery Dance, and peered literary journals. His franchise work includes the X-Files, Predator, Aliens, Hellboy, Clive Barker’s Midian, and V-Wars. Weston holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and teaches at Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in Arizona with his wife, and fellow author, Yvonne Navarro and their Great Danes.
A writer of nearly thirty books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and his military sci fi trilogy, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war.
Weston has also published literary fiction, poetry, comics, and non-fiction articles.
His shorter work has appeared in DC Comics, IDW Comics, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, Cemetery Dance, and peered literary journals. His franchise work includes the X-Files, Predator, Aliens, Hellboy, Clive Barker’s Midian, and V-Wars. Weston holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and teaches at Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in Arizona with his wife, and fellow author, Yvonne Navarro and their Great Danes.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 30, 2013
Review Copy
When I think of Weston Ochse, I think of a well respected member of the horror writing community, but then there's this other side of him that has spent 20-plus years serving his country in the U. S. Army, many of them in Army Intelligence. Retired in 2004, he is back in Afghanistan as I write this. Why? I'll let Weston explain in his own words. From a recent Father's Day post on his website at www.westonosche.com, "I chose to come here. I could have stayed home. I had plenty of opportunities. But I wanted to serve my country. I wanted to be that man my father and grandfather showed me how to be. I miss my friends. I miss my family. I miss my wife, even though we talk every day. But I’m here for a season of duty. I’m here to serve. I’m here to build my shadow."
So, despite success in the horror genre, it's not surprising that Weston Osche would write about being in a war zone. After all, the best writers write what they know. Babylon Smiles is a work of fiction, loosely based on a series of actual headlines during the war in Iraq and the hunt for Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction.
Here's the premise..."From a Federal Reserve Bank in New York to a New Jersey Warehouse to Baghdad, electronic funds seized from the Iraqi government were being converted to actual currency and returned in C-130s. When they landed, the cash was offloaded and disguised as boxes of Meals Ready To Eat-Those high-calorie, bad tasting rations fed to GIs world-wide. Then keeping the lowest of profiles, the millions were loaded onto the back of Army Transport trucks, guarded by privates and supervised by sergeants. So far, by this method, over one billion dollars had been transported in order to refill banks that had been looted. And in the best traditions of Kelly's Heroes and Three Kings, Chief Warrant Officer Rudy Ray Moore and company had determined that they should be allowed to carve their own piece of Iraqi pie."
The 399th Transportation Company was a relatively small outfit with the job of vehicle recovery. It was their job to bring in military vehicles that had broken down or been damaged in an attack. The team is made up of a number of what some might consider misfits, but Chief Moore likes his squad just fine.
In their quest for the Big Score there are numerous obstacles thrown their way, plenty of dangerous situations, and a lot of twists along the way. Yet, somehow the story comes down to being more about relationships and survival, in a difficult reality, than about any heist.
I've said before in this blog that I'm not a fan of combat fiction, but I'm a sucker for a good story and that's what you'll get in Babylon Smiles. Look for the reveal on the meaning of Babylon Smiles, too. That's kinda cool.
Recommended.
When I think of Weston Ochse, I think of a well respected member of the horror writing community, but then there's this other side of him that has spent 20-plus years serving his country in the U. S. Army, many of them in Army Intelligence. Retired in 2004, he is back in Afghanistan as I write this. Why? I'll let Weston explain in his own words. From a recent Father's Day post on his website at www.westonosche.com, "I chose to come here. I could have stayed home. I had plenty of opportunities. But I wanted to serve my country. I wanted to be that man my father and grandfather showed me how to be. I miss my friends. I miss my family. I miss my wife, even though we talk every day. But I’m here for a season of duty. I’m here to serve. I’m here to build my shadow."
So, despite success in the horror genre, it's not surprising that Weston Osche would write about being in a war zone. After all, the best writers write what they know. Babylon Smiles is a work of fiction, loosely based on a series of actual headlines during the war in Iraq and the hunt for Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction.
Here's the premise..."From a Federal Reserve Bank in New York to a New Jersey Warehouse to Baghdad, electronic funds seized from the Iraqi government were being converted to actual currency and returned in C-130s. When they landed, the cash was offloaded and disguised as boxes of Meals Ready To Eat-Those high-calorie, bad tasting rations fed to GIs world-wide. Then keeping the lowest of profiles, the millions were loaded onto the back of Army Transport trucks, guarded by privates and supervised by sergeants. So far, by this method, over one billion dollars had been transported in order to refill banks that had been looted. And in the best traditions of Kelly's Heroes and Three Kings, Chief Warrant Officer Rudy Ray Moore and company had determined that they should be allowed to carve their own piece of Iraqi pie."
The 399th Transportation Company was a relatively small outfit with the job of vehicle recovery. It was their job to bring in military vehicles that had broken down or been damaged in an attack. The team is made up of a number of what some might consider misfits, but Chief Moore likes his squad just fine.
In their quest for the Big Score there are numerous obstacles thrown their way, plenty of dangerous situations, and a lot of twists along the way. Yet, somehow the story comes down to being more about relationships and survival, in a difficult reality, than about any heist.
I've said before in this blog that I'm not a fan of combat fiction, but I'm a sucker for a good story and that's what you'll get in Babylon Smiles. Look for the reveal on the meaning of Babylon Smiles, too. That's kinda cool.
Recommended.
July 29, 2013
It's funny, off-the-cuff, and a fantastic read.
Weston Ochse has taken the classic 'soldier ripping off a large amount of cash in a war zone' trope - think Three Kings - and added a real knowledge of how war zones feel. Easy to understand when you know about his military background.
This reads like Mash crossed with a little Chris Ryan, and has a real sense of reality thrown in.
A great read.
Weston Ochse has taken the classic 'soldier ripping off a large amount of cash in a war zone' trope - think Three Kings - and added a real knowledge of how war zones feel. Easy to understand when you know about his military background.
This reads like Mash crossed with a little Chris Ryan, and has a real sense of reality thrown in.
A great read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews