So Larry Correia has had Joe Buckley posting the first two chapters of Monster Hunter Vendetta over at the Fifth Imperium. After reading the first two chapters, I am hopeful to say that MHV looks to be as thrilling as MHI. It has “Big Z” battling zombies and one bad mama jamma in the opening chapters and for Owen, only goes downhil after that. Go check it out.

John Ringo has been posting snippets of his sequel to Live Free or Die, titled Citadel, over at his fan page on Facebook. Citadel looks more promising that LFoD, which I really didn’t enjoy after the first part of the book. A lot of people disagree with me, but I’ve had the feeling lately that the first book of a new Ringo series is usually the weakest and they get better as he has more opportunity to flesh out the characters. I mean, look at Ghost. Atrocious book, but then compare it to A Deeper Blue and you’ll think “Huh… this is pretty good.”

Hmm… now that I think about it, that would be one heck of a marketing ploy. You announce you’re going to start a new series, and then come up with a horrible, horrible book. But then you have the sequel come out nine months later, and it’s not so horrible, and so by the time they get to the fifth book they’re thinking you’re series is solid plated gold. I need to talk to an agent about this…

Finally, I’ve placed D Minus X by Tom Kratman on my Christmas wish list this year. I read the description of it over at Amazon and am hoping that it is reminiscent of Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. If you haven’t read Old Man’s War, I suggest you do so. It’s one of the best first books I’ve ever read.