On Seas So Crimson
by James
Young
GENRE: Alternate
History
BLURB:
Adolf
Hitler is dead. Great Britain has
fallen. The Royal Family has fled to
Canada, and the United States stands alone against the Axis.
On Seas So Crimson
collects both novels of the Usurper's War into a single package. Acts of War (Amazon Bestseller in alternate
history) begins this universe with London on fire, while Collisions of the
Damned (recommended by Alternate History Weekly) continues it with the
desperate defense of the Dutch East Indies.
It’s never a good day when you become commander of a vessel
simply because no one else was left. From what he understood, Keir had started the
day as chief of Hood’s Navigation Division.
That had been before the vessel took at least three 15-inch shells to
the bridge area, as well as two more that had wiped out her gunnery directory
and the secondary bridge.
Captain Gordon was right—she was a very powerful
warship. Unfortunately that tends to
make you a target.
“Commander, you are certain that…”
Gordon started, then collected himself.
“You are certain His Majesty is dead.”
“Yes sir,” Keir said. “His Majesty was in the conning tower with
Admiral Pound when it was hit. The Royal
Surgeon positively identified His Majesty’s body in the aid station before that
was hit in turn. We cannot get to the
aid station due to the spreading fire.”
“Understood. His Majesty would not have wanted any of you
to risk his life for his body,” Gordon said.
“I just…” Keir started, then
stopped, overcome with emotion.
“It is not your fault lad,” Gordon
said. “Her Majesty will understand.”
Gordon turned and looked at the
Exeter’s clock.
“Very well, we are out of time. Stand by to fire torpedoes.”
“Torpedoes report they are ready.”
“Sir, you may want to tell your
torpedo officer to have his weapons set to run deep,” Keir said. “She’s drawing…”
There was a large explosion aboard Hood
as the flames reached a secondary turret’s ready ammunition. Eric saw a fiery object arc slowly across,
descending towards the Exeter as hundreds of helpless eyes watched it. The flaming debris’ lazy parabola terminated
barely fifty yards off of Exeter’s side with a large, audible splash.
“I think we do not have time for
that discussion,” Gordon said grimly.
“Fire torpedoes!”
The three weapons from Exeter’s
starboard tubes sprang from their launchers into the water. Set as a narrow spread, the three tracks
seemed to take forever to impact from Eric’s perspective. Exeter’s torpedo officer, observing Hood’s
state, had taken into account the battlecruiser’s lower draught without having
to be told. Indeed, he had almost set
the weapons for too deep a run, but was saved by the flooding that had occurred
in the previous few minutes. In addition
to breaking the battlecruiser’s keel, the triple blow opened the entire aft
third of her port side to the ocean.
With the audible sound of twisting metal, Hood started to roll onto her
beam ends. She never completed the
evolution before slipping beneath the waves.
Interview
with James Young
What inspired you to write An Unproven Concept?
When
I sell the book in person, I tell people it’s a mix of Battlestar Galactica, Robotech,
and Halo. These are several of the influences and
inspirations for my sci-fi works. Mainly
I also wanted a military sci-fi series without “hero shields,” i.e., true peril
for all characters involved.
Can you tell us a little bit about the next books in the Vergassy Series or what you have planned for the future?
Can you tell us a little bit about the next books in the Vergassy Series or what you have planned for the future?
The
next book out will be Though Our Hulls
Burn…, which is chronologically a prequel.
One of the criticisms that I got the most from readers in response to An Unproven Concept was that a lot of
“big picture” things were referenced by not fully explained. So going to go back 15 years to 3035 and
explain what happened.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in An Unproven Concept?
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in An Unproven Concept?
Without
giving away spoilers, I take a “large cast so I can whack some of them”
approach to casting decisions. I also
believe that characters, like real people, should come into a story with a
past. For instance, Mr. Marcus Martin is
a former Confederation Marine officer who lost his entire platoon in an
incident prior to the start of An
Unproven Concept. This has led to
him having mental trauma and feelings of worthlessness that play a role in his
decisions as the starliner Titanic’s
chief security officer.
You know I think we all have a favorite author. Who is your favorite author and why?
My favorite author of all time is Jack McKinney (pseudonym), the author of the Robotech series. The two men who actually wrote under the singular name did an excellent job of taking the rather thin background of the anime series and expanding it into something deeper.
As
to actual singular authors versus collaborations—I’m a fan of early Harold
Coyle and David Drake. In both cases,
it’s how visceral they make their combat scenes and characters.
If you could time-travel would you travel to the future or the past? Where would you like to go and why would you like to visit this particular time period?
I
always think this one is a loaded question.
I mean, the last thing someone wants to do is time travel to, say, “Up
Then” in the Terminator
universe. With regards to going
backwards—well, let’s just say if I show up on an Antebellum Plantation things
are not going to end well.
But…if
I had a choice where I could just observe without being scene or interacted
with? I’d like to go backwards to the Titanic, as I’ve always been a student
of the wreck. Forward? I’d go forward 100 years to see if we
actually get our flying cars.
Do you have any little fuzzy friends? Like a dog or a cat? Or any pets?
Yes. My wife, fellow author Anita C. Young, and I have five pets. Our two dogs are a Newfoundland-Labrador mix and a Blue Heeler / Shepherd of some sort. As to the three cats-we have one senior cat and two kittens. The kittens were what happened when we went to “pick up an older cat that was familiar with dogs.” Whoops!
Do you have any little fuzzy friends? Like a dog or a cat? Or any pets?
Yes. My wife, fellow author Anita C. Young, and I have five pets. Our two dogs are a Newfoundland-Labrador mix and a Blue Heeler / Shepherd of some sort. As to the three cats-we have one senior cat and two kittens. The kittens were what happened when we went to “pick up an older cat that was familiar with dogs.” Whoops!
Thanks for taking
time out of your busy schedule to visit with us today.
Thanks for having me! Hope you enjoyed the interview.
Thanks for having me! Hope you enjoyed the interview.
AUTHOR BIO:
James
Young is a Missouri native who escaped small town life via an appointment to
the United States Military Academy.
After completing his service in the Army, Mr. Young moved to Kansas to
pursue his doctorate in U.S. History.
Fiction is his first love, and he is currently the author of the
Usurper’s War (alternate history), Vergassy Chronicles (space opera), and Scythefall
(apocalyptic fiction) series, all of which are available via Amazon or
Createspace. Currently living in the
Midwest with his loving, kind, and beautiful spouse, Mr. Young spends his time
completing his dissertation while plotting new, interesting ways to torment
characters and readers alike. As a
non-fiction author, Mr. Young has won
the 2016 United States Naval Institute’s Cyberwarfare Essay contest and the
U.S. Armor Center’s Draper Award for a battle analysis of the Golan
Heights. He has also placed in the James
A. Adams Cold War History contest held by the Virginia Military Institute and
been published in the Journal of Military History (“The Heights of
Ineptitude”).
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Giveaway:
9 x 12 print of the cover painting, "Death of Kongo" signed by the author and the artist Wayne Scarpaci (US ONLY)
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