Today is the offical release date for Dead Six. It will be in stores everywhere. So head down to your local bookmongery and pick it up.  This was my first foray into writing a military thriller, but it came out epic.

So please tell your friends!

The only autographed copies available are from Uncle Hugos (it is hard to do booksignings when your coauthor is in Afghanistan). Otherwise it should be available at most major bookstores, Amazon, or B&N.

So if you’re going to buy it, buy it this week. The more people who buy it the week it comes out, the better the stat boost. And as you guys know, I’m all about gaming the system.  If you like it, please post reviews. If you don’t like it… Well, nobody wants to hear your negativity. 🙂

I’ve read a lot of thrillers, but I don’t enjoy very many thrillers. The main character (Rick Slabarm or Dirk Hardcheese) is usually a former Navy SEAL-Astronaut-Secret Service Agent-Ninja, who kicks unbelievable butt, gets the hot chick(s), defeats the Belgian terrorists, and saves the president right from being fed into a vat of laser-sharks. Normally, most thrillers tend to tick me off for various reasons. If it is technically competant or realistic the characters are sometimes made of wood. If it is really technically competant, it can be like reading a physics lecture. If the characters are interesting, then it is usually less realistic than what I would put into a fantasy novel.

There are some notable exceptions. There are a few Stephen Hunter novels that I rank up there in the best books I’ve ever read.  

Mike and I wanted to have fun with Dead Six. The characters have flaws (other than the typical, I’m such a bad ass loner kung fu expert who is tormented because of the loss of my wife/children who were conveniently murdered by the same Belgian terrorists I get to fight in this novel). They aren’t perfect. They have to work with part of a team. But they are completely ruthless and they get the job done.

The plot is big. The action is big, but we kept it plausible. The tactics/equipment stuff is solid. One of my proof readers is a guy that Jack Bauer would hang out with. We did our homework. Considering that we wrote this years ago and put in the Arab Spring, a narcotrafficante revolution in Mexico, and stealth helicopters, none of which (we knew) existed at the time, I’d say we were at least semi-plausible in our brainstorming process. We took some liberties with reality, all authors do, but we tried not to make them stupid liberties. 🙂

So I hope you guys like it. Dead Six is pretty awesome.

And don’t take my word for it. Here are some reviews:

http://elitistbookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/09/dead-six.html

http://gunnuts.net/2011/08/05/gun-nuts-book-review-dead-six-by-larry-correia-and-mike-kupari/

http://zacharyhill.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/dead-six-book-review/

Staff Sergeant Diego Santos

Behavioral Health Department, Main Clinic, Marine Corps Base Quantico

In two years, fifty-six days, fourteen hours, and ten minutes I will be brutally killed by a demon.

I’ve watched my own death in my dreams nearly every night since I was eight. I’m used to waking up because of teeth breaking my skin.

You might think that sounds like a tough break, but don’t shed any tears on my behalf. The rest of you poor saps have to live with doubt and worry and fear. You have to think about finding a career, marrying the right woman, raising kids, working hard, planning your retirement, getting cancer, and shit like that. Me? I know the exact minute when I’ll be ripped to bits.

Just lucky, I guess.

There’s only one downside to knowing the exact moment when your life will end horribly.

I hate when people waste my fucking time.

The psychologist had been asking me questions for fifty-two precious minutes. I’d finished telling him about kicking doors and fighting house to house in Fallujah, and one particular story where I’d shot a guy in the neck right when he was about to light me up with an AK, when the doctor asked, “And so how did that make you feel?”

How was it supposed to feel? How should a normal person answer? I did my job. How’s it supposed to feel when you do a good job? I am a United States Marine and I have been trained to close with, engage, and utterly destroy the enemy, and I am extremely good at my job. I’ve deployed to Iraq three times, Afghanistan twice. As soon as I get home I volunteer for the next open billet. Better me than anyone else, I’ve got nothing better to do to prepare myself until the appointed time, and mostly because I can’t die until I’ve fulfilled the holy mission assigned to me by Almighty God.

But that wasn’t the answer this man was looking for. He wasn’t worthy enough to understand the truth. I needed him to think that I wasn’t crazy. I had to keep the demons secret. It wasn’t time for the apocalypse yet.

“It was very frightening, sir.”

I watched the doctor’s face as he glanced down to scribble a note on his legal pad. Just write that I’m normal and quit screwing around. I’d always assumed that a psychologist’s office would have a couch for the patient to lay down on, but I just had a stuffed chair and he sat behind a desk.  He looked up at me and it was obvious he knew I was full of it. I’ve always hated lying. It’s easier to just not say anything at all than to make shit up. “I’ve read your file.”

They say that if a shrink declared a Marine sane, he’d be unfit for duty, but I had a reputation for crazy even by our standards. My last CO had decided that I must have a death wish, and that was how I’d ended up here, off to see the wizard. Mandatory Evaluation Time. “I would expect so, sir.”

“An impressive list of commendations and fitness reports, but these After Action Reports . . . A complete disregard for personal safety, placing yourself in harm’s way, not just volunteering for every dangerous assignment possible but making up new ones. There are serious worries about your stability. Did I even read that last one right? Attempting to draw sniper fire?”

“It makes them easier to spot and neutralize, sir.”

“And the most recent incident?”

I scowled. It would have been certain death for anyone else . . . I couldn’t tell him that one of the Afghans had been possessed. “An opportunity presented itself. I acted.”

“You acted alone against an entrenched, numerically superior foe, after your rifle platoon had been ordered to wait for reinforcements.” He looked me right in the eyes. “Are you trying to get yourself killed, Staff Sergeant?”

“No, sir.” My answer was completely truthful this time. I’d accepted the hour of my death. It would be blasphemous, not to mention impossible, to thwart His will.

The doctor’s Blackberry buzzed. He picked it up and read the display. Our time was up. “That’s it for today, but I want to schedule another session for tomorrow. Same time. We’ll pick up where we left off.”

More wasted time. But I was stuck here, spinning my wheels until it was decided that I wasn’t a danger to myself or the Corps. “Of course, sir.”

#

That is the intro to the story I have in this year’s Crimson Pact anthology. Want to read the rest?  http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B005LXST8G  And while you are there, Dead Six is out this week.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dungeoncrawlersradio/2011/09/20/dungeon-crawlers-radio  We had a lot of fun. These guys do a lot of gaming stuff, so I was able to bring out my inner geek. 🙂

Heh… Remember when Bush used to get torn apart by the comedy writers and punditry for every tiny gaffe?

I just posted a whole bunch more patches for the contest:  http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/monster-hunter-international-patch-contest-ii-the-patchening/  And I still have a ton more, but I’m running behind.

And also, I’m all caught up on patch/book orders, with a big box of stuff going to the post office today. So if you’ve been waiting, your stuff should be on the way shortly.