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Exodus: Perfects by James Kemp
book cover for Exodus 2: Perfects by James Kemp Exodus: Perfects, Part 2 of my NaNoWriMo 2012 novel, has been released on amazon for kindle. It takes a different tack from Exodus part 1, which followed a US Space Command Colonel and his part on the trigger event that will lead to (some) people leaving the Earth because either they personally aren't welcome there any more (as is the case for the 'Perfects' in part 2) or what they want to do isn't tolerated. Who are the Perfects? So the 'Perfects' of the title are a group of people that are the result of some unauthorised, and unethical, experiments conducted by a genetic therapy company in the 2030s. The embryos were supposed to have been destroyed, but Haephestus Genetics had them implanted into surrogate mothers instead. In the meantime the…
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For Fuhrer and Fatherland: SS Murder and Mayhem in Wartime Britain
This was the first time I have read a prisoner of war story involving Germans as the POWs, apart from having read the official history of British Intelligence in WW2 (which only dealt with the captured German spies). I have, however read lots about the prisoners of the Germans. It was interesting that security in British camps seems to have been quite lax. Despite many apparently successful German breakouts there is only one well known instance of a German POW making a home run. This book comes across as having been well researched where it comes to its primary subject matter, although there is quite a lot of preamble with a summary of how WW2 went which is not as well researched as the main subject. This lets it down for those well versed in WW2 history. Once the preamble…
Scottish Independence – Stick to the Facts
In summary I believe that Independence may well be good for Scotland, but it will most definitely be bad for the rest of the UK as a whole. So what are the facts? Can we find any without spin? (more…)
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Book Review – Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
If you have to read about strategy this is a very good place to start your understanding of strategy. I've got several years of experience in government doing strategy and I've studied it academically as well. So I'm applying a wide evidence base, and this is a good book about strategy. This is the first book that I've seriously highlighted, mainly because it struck a chord with me and seemed to be full of sensible advice about the characteristics of both good and bad strategy. I can see myself using some of the content at work to help me and my colleagues develop better strategies and avoid some of the pitfalls. Unlike a lot of the strategy books I have read this one is intended for a wide audience and has very readable language (some of the academic works disappear…
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Review – The Red: First Light by Linda Nagata
I was recommended this from reading Charlie Stross's blog as the Linda Nagata is guest blogging while Charlie is down under. Military Sci-Fi is something that I tend to enjoy, so much so that I've written some of it and regularly wargame in that genre. This one was a very compelling near future story, told in a first person narrative by a not entirely volunteer US Army Lieutenant. The protagonist is the leader of a 'linked combat squad' who are a sort of specialised infantry with an exo-skeleton controlled by an external skull cap that can read (and affect) their brain states. From what I know of current and proposed military capabilities this is an entirely believable future, just a little into future from now (perhaps a decade or two, but happily non-specific so that we don’t fall into the…