This Corner of the Universe

One of the best qualities of my favorite authors is their dedication to realism and accountability.  Whether it’s an author who pays close attention to the time lag inherent in the enormous distances of a space battle or his/her attention to detail in a particular battle, the feeling that the battle I am reading is firmly anchored to accurate numbers and whatever “science” the author has created adds realism and believability for me.  There have been some battle scenes in books I have read that have just blown me away.

When I set out to write military sci-fi, I wanted the same accountability I enjoyed from those authors.  In TCOTU, every missile, every mass driver round, every railgun bullet was tracked and accounted for.  Although I didn’t always bother the reader by mentioning every munition expended in the book, they were always tracked in the background as I wrote the battle scenes.  In many ways, this made the story write itself.

I was astounded at how just following the numbers of the battle created some amazing coincidences, not all of them good for little Ana.  Continue reading →