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Star Wolf Squadron #1

The Log of the Gray Wolf

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The Log of the Gray Wolf - (revised editing 11/22/22) Novel Description - Humanity needs every man and every ship! Cut off from Earth by a surprise alien advance, a newly commissioned midshipman must, with help of a crew of retired veterans, repair a damaged star cruiser and somehow escape to rejoin the fight. “The Log of the Gray Wolf" is a self-published science fiction novel. Readers have found it to be fast-paced and packed with action. This is a story crafted around a young man becoming a man, an officer, and a hero. It is a story set against incredible odds, where this underdog crew of gray wolves and young pups must somehow escape their world, steal a damaged ship and fight their way through enemy forces while raining pain down on the enemies of mankind. The adventure begins in a future time when Earth has colonized new worlds and has also found new enemies. The Karduans are a race of blue-skinned humanoids ruled by a matriarchal society. The Blues, as they are nicknamed - are aggressive and militant, with their female rulers possessing telepathy to control their subservient male population. Most human worlds are ruled by the United Confederation of Earth, which had evolved from the old United Nations format after the Apocalypse War. At this time period, Earth has been at war for several years. Our hero, Mike Collins, a former midshipman, now an Ensign, finds himself trapped on a breakaway world that has made a deal with the Karduans. This leads him and his classmates along with a group of retired veterans to plan an escape to rejoin Earth's forces. Join the fight! Note from This book has been revised and re-edited since first self-published. Ratings and comments from early readers about editing are from before latest edits. Please look at reader ratings talking about content as editing has been pretty much fixed. I hope you enjoy it.

532 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 4, 2011

126 people are currently reading
28 people want to read

About the author

Shane VanAulen

8 books29 followers
Hi, I'm Shane Van Aulen and I have to admit that I'm not good at the whole social media thing, even though I'm a writer.

As an independent author, I have found the road difficult to get my voice out in a traditional way. I've written eight novels to date; two epic fantasy, four military science fiction, a mystery/action/detective science fiction thriller and one apocalypse survival novel (I wanted to prove you could have a zombie story without your main character being an idiot and dropping his gun on every other page).

In my youth, I was an avid reader of fantasy and sci-fi though sometimes I would find a book and throw it at the corner of my room declaring that I could write a better story. I believe that declaration stuck with me as I created ideas for more novels than I could ever write.

I won't bore you with the details of my life, some of which are on the last page of my books. Instead, I'd like to say that I'm a writer who enjoys a good story. I try to do my best to make novels that will draw my readers in and make them glad they took the time to read my books.

My books are action filled and fast paced with heroes who are likable if sometimes flawed. As my heroes are flawed so am I. I'm a self-published author who spends countless hours writing, editing and proofing my novels. I also fail sometimes to find every error or typo and for that, I apologize in advance.

For those who just want to ask a question or would like to be alerted when a new novel comes out, you can contact me at graywolf.clan@gmail.com. I always write back to emails from readers. Also, you can leave comments, questions, and discussions on my Goodreads Author's site.

I also want to thank those fans that have contacted me over the years and who have encouraged me to keep writing. You are the best!

Thanks and I hope you enjoy my books.

Shane Van Aulen

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5 stars
198 (50%)
4 stars
126 (32%)
3 stars
52 (13%)
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9 (2%)
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Profile Image for Dan.
1,480 reviews77 followers
December 15, 2016
Surprisingly good, despite rather a few minor flaws, and rather a few more spelling errors. I really enjoyed this.
Profile Image for M.L..
283 reviews
November 13, 2016
This is a fairly entertaining but low-quality sci-fi novel about a group of sailors operating behind enemy lines. While the overall story and setting peaks my interest, the execution is less than optimal. Even with this 'revised' version I've encountered plenty of sloppy spelling errors. The narrative flow also features several beginner errors and things that just go too smoothly. I hope the next installment of the series has better polish.
113 reviews
August 31, 2014
Decent story ruined by poor editing

Way too many grammar errors that distract from the story.
Far too many irrelevant historical digressions that sometimes went for half a chapter and in my view too much USA vs the galaxy, the king of America becomes the emperor of earth by acclamation, no chance.
1,420 reviews1 follower
October 21, 2018
Bad writing, boring story

I stopped at the 20% point. It was supposed to be an exciting escape but instead, it was boring. I didn't see anything interesting in the premise and I've read this story at least twice by other writers in the last two weeks. The writing suffered from a lack of editing, among other failings. The characters became interchangeable, the emphasis on pistols rather than ship weapons was weirdly tedious, the background universe was briefly mentioned with bizarre underpinnings and the alien enemies were arrogant, unreasonable, mysterious humanlike women who had enslaved their males.

The U.S. is a kingdom and the King of the U.S. is also the Emperor of the Confederation and there is an imperial Senate. That's the entire background for this universe. I would love to see how the writer imagines that the U.S. conquers the planet and creates and holds an interstellar empire. Does the U.S. dislodge the previous invaders by itself and then declare itself a kingdom or what? Is there a fascist coup in the U.S. followed by creation of a monarchy (see: Spanish Civil War and restoration of the monarchy) and then the U.S. throws out the alien invaders. After which a grateful planet hails the U.S. king as Emperor of the world. It's the writer's fantasy, which is fine but there are so many questions unanswered about this universe.

The cadets are focused on pistols, rifles and swords but have almost no interest in ship mounted weapons. Weird for naval officers in training, planning to sail behind enemy lines in a heavy cruiser. I read the blurb about the writer and he is an NRA instructor. That explains a lot, not that there's anything too terribly wrong with that, except maybe admitting it publicly.

There are no women in this very traditionally U.S. navy (though for now, there are in fact, female sailors) but if you set out to subjugate the rest of humanity, wouldn't you want to utilize all your citizens. Maybe women aren't citizens. You would still need the numbers, I think. Are non-whites still allowed in the U.S. and has the U.S. gone full Handmaid's Tale? These are reasonable questions, since the background is so skimpy and somewhat implausible.

A patriarchy can sell female children, mutilate them, murder and jail women on a whim but that's not labeled slavery in anything that I've read, ever (though it should be). Assuming that the human empire or whatever it is hasn't suddenly embraced a massive change in how women are perceived and there's no evidence of that in the book, why does the writer introduce enslaved males? I wonder about that because this future society seems like the present human society on steroids. The proud centuries long tradition of slavery in the U.S., starting with Irish slaves is not even referenced. Why then does the matriarchal alien empire need have their human-like males described as slaves. This is especially confusing to me since matriarchy and slavery are not usually associated. Patriarchy on the other hand very much is.

As far as I got the synopsis is as follows. Naval cadets help repair damaged cruiser stuck in a neutral port. They escape from their academy with friends. They and their friends together with old former sailors capture alien big wig, accompanied by her male slave.

Not much of a story but the writer is an NRA instructor, so there's that.
488 reviews25 followers
December 27, 2016
Low Brow, Corny Space Saga, Riddled With Flaws

"The Log of the Gray Wolf," authored by Mr. VanAulen, attempts to be an action-oriented, military-themed, space saga. Unfortunately, the author's lack of writing skills, outright laziness regarding editing/proofreading, low brow, corny plots, and insistent "needy" obsession to attach his sometimes inaccurate historical "factoids," to EVERY (caps intentional) name, place or item, used as narrative devices associated with real history, he has taken a decent story concept and badly mangled it.

The storyline takes place centuries in the future. Humanity, having survived both intra- and interstellar warfare, has colonized throughout the galaxy, governed by an Earth-based, pseudo-constitutional monarchy "Confederation." A new war, with a matriarchal, brutal, humanoid race has unfolded, with the Confederation fighting on its heels. At a Fleet Academy, on a faraway planet, midshipmen, leavened with retired NCO's and a few ranking officers, embark on an intrepid course to seize a raider cruiser, "Star Wolf," and engage the enemy.

The author in his own "blurb," states "...editing is a pain in the a--." Really? Not making any attempt at editing or proofreading, shows the writer's laziness, unprofessionalism, and contempt for readers. This level of immaturity, combined with hubris, in a commercially offered product, clearly indicates the author's failure.

Everyone in the narrative is smiling, grinning or chuckling-"land of the lotus eaters," or mentally defective. Words are just plain wrong. Passages, information are needlessly repeated, for either "page-fill/word count," or lack of author reading comprehension. Every action by the hero succeeds, with little negative consequence. Every obstacle encountered is overcome. An infatuation with swords (an ever increasing malady among SciFi eBook authors) appears throughout. Spaceships "...list...," are "...upside down...," in micro- or zero gravity space. Has the author ever read a science book or taken a course?

"The Log of the Gray Wolf," is more a poorly written and executed, juvenile fairy tale, wrapped in a threadbare SciFi covering. It was fully read via Kindle Unlimited and is not recommended.
23 reviews
April 24, 2019
The author himself writes in the introduction: "The author doesn’t have an editor or formal publisher and apologizes for any errors he may have missed while editing his books."
I think he would have been closer to the truth writing that no editing was done whatsoever. The style is terrible, the text is full of misspelled words, or of words used in place of others. For example, helium takes several spellings, none of which is the correct one. The grammar is that of a child.
What saves this book is the interesting story, along with its pace.
Profile Image for Glenn W. Russell.
46 reviews
August 24, 2017
Same Problems

This is a very good book hampered by the same problems as the second book on the series. The author depends far too much on spell checking and ends up distracting the reader with with with wildly inappropriate sometimes hilariously misused words. Suggest he actually read the work after spell checking it.
Profile Image for Ken Weinert.
251 reviews
April 24, 2018
Not quite good enough

I found the constant little asides into history to explain every ship name annoying.

And an apology at the end for poor editing just doesn't cut it. The numerous incorrect words and structure errors made this difficult to read. I won't be finishing this series.
Profile Image for David  Rencher.
24 reviews4 followers
April 16, 2018
Good story but a flawed telling.


A great story but a flawed telling

I want to like this book. It’s a very good story, a fun plot with a well developed enemy and strong characters. But there are two major issues and a number of lesser issues that hold me back.

The first issue is the simple fact that this book clearly and desperately needs and editor. There are so many grammatical errors and typos that it is more than just noticeable but highly distracting. Run-on sentences, half edited paragraphs, wrong word choices, misplaced punctuation and other mistakes are found multiple times on nearly every page. Happily enough these are issues that can be fixed.

The other issue, one that is easily solved is that the author has a penchant for military history and spends a fair amount of time discussing it. The ships in this book are mostly named after war ships from about the American Revolutionary War through the American Civil War. Which, if you think that this book has to be set far into the future, makes next to no sense. But the real issue lies with the author’s need to tell you the history behind those names.

A ship will get named and then the reader will be presented with somewhere between a paragraph and a page or two of details about the origins of that ships name. As a reader of a space opera I really don’t care about the history of the names in the book. It’s not relevant to the story, it’s distracting and it dramatically slows the book down. To be honest, I just started skipping these blurbs.

Other issues that struck me were the, sometimes, unbelievable nature of the events in the book. A drug called “Heal-X” can pretty much repair any injury, in just minutes as long as it’s not immediately fatal. Get stabbed in the liver? Take a shot of this, you’ll be just fine in minutes! Because of this, nobody dies. It seems as if the main characters risk nothing because they never die. Serious injury? Big deal, he’ll be back on the next page because of the magic medicine.

Basically it came down to the old sophomoric trope of “Good guys will ALWAYS triumph over the bad guys.” Here the humans are, quite clearly, the good guys and the “Blues” are the baddies. No quibbling, no arguing… Humans were just happy and peaceful when the baddies attacked and now the humans are fighting back. It’s just seems to be too neat and tidy. No gray areas, just good vs bad and the good NEVER lose.

So why did I stick with it? Because all of these complaints aside it really is a decent story. A little hokey at times but overall a fun story and worth the read. I’m hoping that most of these issues are things that just needed to be worked out in this first book and that later books in the series will be more coherent.



Profile Image for Tom.
218 reviews3 followers
July 27, 2022
Great introduction to this series

This book was a chance for me. The detail is what peaked my interest. Our hero is revealed more and more through each chapter as you learn his skills, his leadership development, his planning, etc. I did enjoy the groups that formed... the grays and the pups. I look forward to the next novel.
37 reviews
April 22, 2024
Definitely English

This is a different style than American science fiction. It took some time to get used to, but once done, it was a page turner with many different storylines begun. Some typos as the spellcheck replaced the American English words with European or Queens English. I also enjoyed learning historical trivia and if you continue reading the book, you must also.
Profile Image for Stefanos Kouzof.
133 reviews2 followers
February 10, 2022
Nice mil sci-fi. A bit repetition on info dumps, but good. Much better than the average, at least.
68 reviews
February 20, 2024
Maybe

Too much use of the f___ word. I liked the story but I don't like the use of the language.
500 reviews8 followers
February 10, 2017
Excellent Military Space Opera -HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Although this is Shane VanAulen third book, it is the first I've read, and it is superior military space opera. I am sure that his experience in martial arts and the US military are what gave him the ability to write military fiction with such authority. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to anyone who loves GOOD military fiction.

I have no real complaints about his writing style or factual information, but his history teacher identity intrudes into a couple of active scenes, as he diverts into explaining how some ships have inherited names over the centuries. Interesting, but should have been a footnote or endnotes, IMHO.
2 reviews
November 27, 2016
Good read with some nice historical features, space combat and reasonable pace.

I, like many of you reading this review, have probably read more than 80% of the available kindle unlimited space warfare books. This book is a solid read, well thought out and has enjoyable space and face to face combat sequences. I think Shane is going to develop into a really good author over the next few years and I will be badgering him release dates! If I had one criticism, it is that he main character is too damn lucky! He needs to loose a finger or two and have the on-the-run fixed ships fail regularly.
Profile Image for M. Spencer.
81 reviews
July 30, 2014
The Log of the Gray Wolf.......

Great tale! Interstellar warfare, military action, a personable young hero and a lot of suspense combined with historical anecdotes that add a sense of continuance from our
past and present. It's a lot of fun, I didn't put it down except for food and drink until I finished it.
Profile Image for Michael Ellefson.
15 reviews1 follower
September 9, 2014
Log of the Gray Wolf

An excellent military science read. The story line is very well laid out. The main characterracters are believable . He does need to delve into additional characters but overall a very good read.
164 reviews2 followers
December 22, 2016
History

This was a history book . Dates and all . As much as I love history it was not my intention to read it today .
Profile Image for Nick.
75 reviews
December 30, 2016
Excellent read

Ripping space yarn, not very deep but a good read. Do try it it is enjoyable and easy to read.
Profile Image for Tony Hisgett.
2,996 reviews36 followers
May 2, 2017
Not a bad science fiction story, if a little simplistic at times. A large part of the first half of the book was spent just repairing the Star Wolf. Even when they escaped Austro they then spent dozens and dozens of pages scavenging the pirate base and repairing the ‘Wolf”.
The second half livens up as the ’Wolf” takes the fight to the Karduans. This is good old-fashioned space opera fun and makes an enjoyable read.

However, I have several issues with the book. To begin with, the historical references were interesting, but after a while it became clear situations were contrived just so the author could make another of his favourite historical points.

I also think the author seems to have an issue with role of women. There were no women in the academy, the only woman in the crew is the retired doctor while the only other females in the first two thirds of the book were the Karduans and these are depicted as self serving, vicious, mind controlling slaver drivers. When we finally get a female main character it’s basically to provide sex for Mike.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews

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