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Book Description
About the Author
Besides his academic accomplishments, he is a gun-maker and forensic ballistic archeologist, having collaborated with numerous museums as well as the National Parks Service and the U.S. Army. He is a technical and dialogue consultant for movies and documentaries and has even done some acting. A list of productions in which he has been involved is available, but it is safe to say he has played at least an advisory role in many of the movies made in the last 15 years that involved 19th and early 20th Century combat.
He is a member of the National Historical Honor Society and the United States Field Artillery Association — from which he was awarded the Honorable Order of St. Barbara. He owns a collection of 18th and 19th century artillery pieces and fires them with live rounds for movie sound, documentaries, competition and fun. His cannons have also appeared in many films. He knows precisely what they are capable of and that is reflected in his writing.
As a sailor, he is conversant in the capricious vagaries of the weather and the sea and as a historian, he is trained to research what he is unable to experience first-hand. Careful research was essential to writing Destroyermen because one of the main characters is, after all, USS Walker. Over 270 "four-stacker" destroyers were built during and after WW I, but none remain today. Anderson spent thousands of hours researching the class and volunteering to work on the restoration of a similar type ship.
He also wanted the "alternate Earth" he created for the story to seem as though it could realistically have evolved the way it did. That required studying the most recent theories regarding prehistoric life and scientifically extrapolating evolutionary trends based on millions of years of environmental fluctuations. The result is a novel that is far more unusual and thought provoking than the basic "alternate history/universe" premise might imply.
He was moved to write Destroyermen because he has long been inspired by the sacrifice made by the men (and women) of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet at the outbreak of WW II. Long neglected by historians, the stand they made truly ranks with Thermopylae, The Alamo, Bastogne and Wake Island. He hopes to keep alive, at least peripherally, their memory. The alternate history/fantasy angle finds an opening because some of the ships of the Asiatic Fleet really did disappear without a trace.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great page Turner.,
By
This review is from: Crusade: Destroyermen, Book II (Mass Market Paperback)
As stated in the reviews of the other books in this series, these are good. The writer is a sure hand that brings you into the pages or turns the pages so that the words appear to be alive in front of you.Well crafted but don't start this book out of sequence. make sure you start with the first one and then follow along the intervening challenges and battles of the small knot of people in whom you are soon a valued member, or so you think when reading it. Enjoy.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (49 customer reviews) 12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
You won't be disappointed!,
By Kurt A. Johnson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Crusade: Destroyermen, Book II (Hardcover)
In this sequel to Into The Storm, we return to the parallel Earth, where the World War 2-era American destroyers Mahon and Walker were pulled. The captain of the USS Walker is trying to organize the Lemurians so that they can survive the coming onslaught of the ferocious Grik, and he has lots of ideas. What he doesn't have, unfortunately, is time. The Grik Grand Swarm is gathering, and the Lemurians will have to unify if they are to have a chance of survival. To make matters worse, it appears that one other ship was pulled through The Squall to this other Earth, the fearsome Japanese battle cruiser Amagi. The Destroyermen and Lemurians are going to need a lot of luck and courage if they are to survive the coming ordeal...a LOT of luck and courage!Overall, I must say that I really enjoyed this book. The author did a really good job of keeping the suspense and the tension ratcheted up, as the good guys go from triumph to tragedy and back again. I really enjoyed this alternate Earth that the author created, and I think that he did a great job of making it very different and yet totally believable. I enjoyed this book, and I really do think that you will too. So, if you read Into The Storm, hurry up and get Crusade. You won't be disappointed! 7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worthy Series,
By G. Styles - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Crusade: Destroyermen, Book II (Hardcover)
I normally shy away from series, because few hold my attention long enough to reach the third or fourth volume. I picked up "Into the Storm" at the library when I couldn't find anything else that caught my interest, and now I'm hooked. Just pre-ordered the third volume from Amazon.Anderson shines by keeping his characters realistic and representative of the Greatest Generation types who would have crewed such vessels at the start of WWII. He hasn't turned them all into sophisticated, culturally-sensitive college grads, nor has he provided them with unlikely skills in martial arts or advanced technology--though I must say the Australian engineer who just happens to have the maps to all the Indonesian oil fields on his person is a bit too convenient. At times I was reminded of a different Anderson, Poul, not in the writing style, but in the cultural extrapolation of the Lemurian and Grik species. There are also occasional reminders of "Sand Pebbles", another novel about US Asiatic Fleet sailors by Richard McKenna, who was one and who also wrote some SF. If Destroyermen isn't quite classic science fiction or great literature, it's extremely entertaining. I eagerly await the next installment. 8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unique and Highly Entertaining,
By Paul W. Jones Jr. - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Crusade: Destroyermen, Book II (Hardcover)
Not being particularly interested in the science fiction genre, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Mr. Anderson's first book in this series, Into the Storm.It was with anticipation, therefore, that I sought out this the second volume in the Destroyermen series. And I was not disappointed in any respect. It is a fast paced story, with an extraordinarily unique plot, and characters, good and bad (make that cold-bloodedly evil for most), that keep you both interested and thinking about aspects of their "history" or back-story that Anderson suggests or that logically might apply. Any book that fully entertains on its own, and yet which also has the reader expanding the "story" because one has become interested enough to puzzle out even more story lines, is a credit to the author. Anderson raises serious questions about honor, heroism, venal motivation, and raw terror, and uniquely, not only from the perspective of the humans alone, but also the "evolved" lemurs, and the cold-blooded Grik raptors --- a terrified Grik, in the hands of Anderson, is a sight to behold and relish. The combat, realistic in every respect, is riveting. And when the equipment (antiquated, in the main, World War I destroyers, and small arms) are not sufficient in quantity, the characters manufacture historically correct alternatives that are familiar to any amateur historian, and perfectly capable of being reproduced in the setting of this story. The alternative dimensional aspects of Anderson's tale, the characters in it and their reactions to the stresses they face, "play well" and make for a superior read. I want more, and to that end, have pre-ordered the third volume due out next February, Maelstrom. Perhaps Anderson will neatly wrap up this story, but I suspect that there is much more that can be written about these characters, and hope that he will continue or expand the "destroyermen" universe with more stories in the future. |
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