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Defending the Future #7
Man and Machine
The plan had been to un-man the battlespace, replacing flesh and blood with steel and carbon fiber. Machines, both remote-controlled and autonomous A.I.s, would fight and be destroyed in the name of freedom; sparing the troops at the cost of the nation's treasure.
However, as with any arms race, the opposing side's technology eventually catches ups to yours, resulting in the need to put lives back in harm's way on the frontline; to deal with, and adapt to the unknown, as only humans can.
With stories by Brenda Cooper, Bud Sparhawk, Jennifer Brozek, Ronald T. Garner, Aaron Rosenberg, James Chambers, Nancy Jane Moore, Patrick Thomas, Jeff Young, Eric V. Hardenbrook, Robert E. Waters, Anton Kukal, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and an afterword by the late CJ Henderson.
However, as with any arms race, the opposing side's technology eventually catches ups to yours, resulting in the need to put lives back in harm's way on the frontline; to deal with, and adapt to the unknown, as only humans can.
With stories by Brenda Cooper, Bud Sparhawk, Jennifer Brozek, Ronald T. Garner, Aaron Rosenberg, James Chambers, Nancy Jane Moore, Patrick Thomas, Jeff Young, Eric V. Hardenbrook, Robert E. Waters, Anton Kukal, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and an afterword by the late CJ Henderson.
317 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 19, 2016
169 people want to read
About the author
Mike McPhail
23 books25 followersMike McPhail is the award winning Author and Anthologist of the military science fiction series Defending The Future, published by Dark Quest Books, and editor of the publisher's DTF Publications imprint. He is a member of the Military Writers Society of America (MWSA), and the creator of the Alliance Archives (All'Arc) series and its related Martial Role-Playing Game (MRPG), a manual-based, percentile system, that realistically portrays the consequences of warfare.
Born into a military / engineering family, his lifelong dream was to join NASA and become a mission specialist; to that end, he attended the Academy of Aeronautics in New York, as well as enlisting in the Air National Guard. While working towards his goal, a sudden illness brought a halt to these dreams.
After recovering, he came to grips with his new reality; so he chose to put his hard-earned technical skills and imagination to use as a graphic artist, writer/editor and game designer.
To learn more about his work visit:
www.mcp-concepts.com
www.defendingthefuture.com
www.milscifi.com
Born into a military / engineering family, his lifelong dream was to join NASA and become a mission specialist; to that end, he attended the Academy of Aeronautics in New York, as well as enlisting in the Air National Guard. While working towards his goal, a sudden illness brought a halt to these dreams.
After recovering, he came to grips with his new reality; so he chose to put his hard-earned technical skills and imagination to use as a graphic artist, writer/editor and game designer.
To learn more about his work visit:
www.mcp-concepts.com
www.defendingthefuture.com
www.milscifi.com
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 3, 2017
It's difficult to write a review for an anthology like a novel. What can I say that's true for all of the stories? Should I single out a few that I liked best?
So let's start with the obvious. The McPhails put together a great collection in honor of their great friend, C.J. Henderson. Each one of these is a story of humans interacting with the intelligences that they ultimately create, with a strong flavor of military service involved. In each one, moral and social questions are raised, and the author attempts to answer.
There is a romantic (transhumanist) bent to Turtle and Bird, by Bud Sparhawk. When your mind has been turned into an AI, waiting for the right girl can be… a long time. Instead, in Trudy, a couple find out their time is very short, and have to face what it means for a machine to die.
I also really liked the sharply Shadowrun twist of Inky, Blinky, and Me. This is no surprise, since Jennifer Brozek is also the author of one of my favorite Shadowrun books. That team doesn't work nearly as well in Armistice, with unfortunate consequences that left me shouting at the point-of-view character .
And of course, no military tale (fiction or otherwise) would be complete without some bittersweet tear-jerkers, like in We Are All Marines Today and Along the Northern Border. I'll not go too far into those two, and leave them as discoveries for the readers.
I also won't mention the one or two stories that left me a little flat. In any collection, there has to be a mix, and not everything will appeal to everyone. However, for the seventh book in the series, Man and Machine kept on trucking, making for a very enjoyable read.
If you like the genre, read the book. I estimate a high probability of success in finding something that will appeal.
So let's start with the obvious. The McPhails put together a great collection in honor of their great friend, C.J. Henderson. Each one of these is a story of humans interacting with the intelligences that they ultimately create, with a strong flavor of military service involved. In each one, moral and social questions are raised, and the author attempts to answer.
There is a romantic (transhumanist) bent to Turtle and Bird, by Bud Sparhawk. When your mind has been turned into an AI, waiting for the right girl can be… a long time. Instead, in Trudy, a couple find out their time is very short, and have to face what it means for a machine to die.
I also really liked the sharply Shadowrun twist of Inky, Blinky, and Me. This is no surprise, since Jennifer Brozek is also the author of one of my favorite Shadowrun books. That team doesn't work nearly as well in Armistice, with unfortunate consequences that left me shouting at the point-of-view character .
And of course, no military tale (fiction or otherwise) would be complete without some bittersweet tear-jerkers, like in We Are All Marines Today and Along the Northern Border. I'll not go too far into those two, and leave them as discoveries for the readers.
I also won't mention the one or two stories that left me a little flat. In any collection, there has to be a mix, and not everything will appeal to everyone. However, for the seventh book in the series, Man and Machine kept on trucking, making for a very enjoyable read.
If you like the genre, read the book. I estimate a high probability of success in finding something that will appeal.
April 5, 2017
Right up front - one of my stories is in here. I *might* be biased in my rating.
I really did enjoy the stories in this book. There are some really good stories and very talented writers in there and I'm very happy to have the chance to share the pages with them.
I won't give any spoilers, but there is a punch to the feelings at the end.
Go, get a copy!
I really did enjoy the stories in this book. There are some really good stories and very talented writers in there and I'm very happy to have the chance to share the pages with them.
I won't give any spoilers, but there is a punch to the feelings at the end.
Go, get a copy!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews