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Brain Leakage Profile picture
@BrainLeakage03
May 31, 2023 • 10 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
200 new followers since yesterday. Folks asking where to find my other writing, so I'm making a pinned 🧵.

My first published story, "The God Whisperer," appeared in Writers of the Future Volume 31.

You can read it free on my website: brainleakage.com/blog/the-god-w……

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"The God Emperor of Lassie Point" is a MilSF/Space Opera satire, about a Laundryman 3rd Class who accidentally becomes a messianic leader.

You can find it in the anthology ALIEN ARTIFACTS:

amazon.com/Alien-Artifact…

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"Mistaken Identity" is a satire on the superhero genre, particularly Batman.

An Assistant DA becomes the unfortunate target of an unhinged vigilante called The Night Mallard.

You can find it in Unidentified Funny Objects 5: a.co/d/0gJjE4F

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"Pilot Program" is a dark comedy about a future veteran struggling against soulless bureaucracy of the Department of Interstellar Veteran's Affairs.

My second pro fiction sale.

You can find it in Galaxy's Edge Magazine Issue 29: a.co/d/gXZwUpU

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"Pax Mechanica" is an alt-history SF tale, about a steam-powered Roman war machine in Celtic Britain.

My first straight adventure piece. Also, I got to appear in a cool-looking hardcover alongside Robert E. Howard.

You can find it in Swords & Steam: a.co/d/j9R7mzo

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"Antares Needs Actors" is a tribute to the classic Sword & Planet pulps, especially Edmond Hamilton's "Kaldar, World of Antares."

You can find it in Galaxy's Edge Magazine, Issue 61 a.co/d/dYjL9Eg

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ELF HARD is a Christmas story about a misfit human raised by elves. He can't do anything right. His supervisor at the toy factory hates him. Life couldn't get worse.

Then the terrorists attack.

Short novel. You can find it here: a.co/d/58GvCw2

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"The Isekai Detective" is a serial about a Private Eye who specializes in cross-world investigations.

If they go missing, you call the cops. If they disappear into another world, you call Dillon Cross.

You can read it free here: royalroad.com/fiction/57445/…

8/
"The Dungeon Mucker" is a serial about a lovesick orc, and his attempts to win the filthy, blackened heart of the Dark Lord's head torturer.

You can read it for free here: royalroad.com/fiction/61176/…

9/
"The Meat Shields" is a serial about a band of mercenaries in a #DnD-like game world. Contains both isekai and #GameLit elements.

Inspired by Glenn Cook's BLACK COMPANY, Xenophon's ANABASIS, and a bunch of shitty anime.

You can read it free here: royalroad.com/fiction/65442/…

10/

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More from @BrainLeakage03

Brain Leakage Profile picture
Nov 14
@myth_pilot My one-and-only Joint Service mission was my sole exposure to women in combat. It was primarily Air Force, but each team had an Army Infantry guy as tactical advisor.

One of the teams had a female Linguist who traveled everywhere with her teddy bear attached to her pack.

1/
@myth_pilot It was embarrassing in training, but she kept it up on deployment. Her team’s advisor never corrected her, because he was busy trying to get in her pants.

So we get to Kuwait. We’re on the flight line, boarding planes to Baghdad.

And I notice her flak doesn’t look right.

2/
@myth_pilot I call her over so I can inspect it.

The reason it looks so fucked up is it’s just the shell and the SAPI plates. It doesn’t have any of the Kevlar inserts.

I lose it.

I tell her to open her pack, and get those inserts fucking NOW.

I tell her to pay the fuck attention.

3/
Read 10 tweets
Brain Leakage Profile picture
Oct 29
Time for another Military SF live react & analysis thread.

Today’s subject: HG Wells’ 1903 short, “The Land Ironclads.”

Before Hammer’s Slammers, before BOLOs, and before the real life invention of the tank, Wells gives us a vision of armored warfare.

Let’s dive in.

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The story opens with a war correspondent and an officer staring across no-man’s land.

One of the enemy fires a token, ineffectual shot, and the two men discuss the crushing stalemate the war has devolved into.

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Wells is exceptionally spare on the details here. He doesn’t tell us which countries are fighting, what they’re fighting over, or give us the names of his two characters.

We only know the other side are the invaders, and the young officer is one of the defenders.

3/
Read 31 tweets
Brain Leakage Profile picture
Apr 27
Time for another short MilSF story review.

Today I’m taking on another mostly forgotten gem, George H. Smith’s “The Last Crusade.”

Originally appearing in IF magazine in 1955, it features an early, pre-STARSHIP TROOPERS depiction of powered armor in combat.

Let’s dive in.

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The story opens in media res, in the bombed-out ruins of Paris.

The POV character is a mechano-armor soldier named Ward.

His squad is shooting the shit to pass the time, while weathering an enemy bombardment.

Not the most exciting opening, but it has a ring of realism.

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We get our first description of the mechano-armor on page two.

In the anthology’s introduction, Joe Haldeman speculates that Heinlein might have read this story before penning STARSHIP TROOPERS.

Compare Smith’s passage to Heinlein’s later description of the Marauder suit.

3/
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Read 18 tweets
Brain Leakage Profile picture
Mar 9
There’s an excellent point here about the thematic difference of a fantasy story vs an SF story.

In SF, the weapons used to fight the enemy are “new.” You fight the bug aliens with the most advanced, cutting edge tech. Mech suits armed with nukes, orbital strikes, etc.

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In a fantasy, the weapons used to fight the enemy are ancient. They carry the power of Ages.

You fight the nameless Evil with the sword of your father.

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There’s something invigorating about the idea of going into battle with the weapons of your forefathers.

3/
Read 5 tweets
Brain Leakage Profile picture
Mar 7
ONE

“There’s an old tradition in the Corps. At least there was back when us old farts were first on active duty. If the company is deploying to a place you’ve never been, then you shave your head.

Dumb, I know. But it allows for fun team-building exercises. Like the brawl—
“—currently underway in the barracks. Four of us old timers had Ruiz pinned by the arms & legs. It took that many to hold him down.

‘F*ck no, you guys! F*ck no! I’m not a boot! You get away from me with that f*ckin thing!’

That ‘f*ckin thing’ was a pair of hair clippers, and—
“—it was edging closer to his perfectly-trimmed low reg. Or it was trying to. He kept thrashing his head back and forth like his life depended on it.

I didn’t want to risk hurting him—not really—so I let go of his arm to hold hush head still. I ate a punch to the mouth for my—
Read 9 tweets
Brain Leakage Profile picture
Dec 14, 2023
With Christmas approaching, I don’t have time for more full-length #MilSF reviews. I’ll resume in January.

But before I go dark for the year, I wanted to highlight an underrated classic of the genre: Keith Bennett’s all-but-forgotten short, “The Rocketeers Have Shaggy Ears.”

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Say what you want about the pulps. Editors understood how to get your attention.

Love the WWII vibe of the illustration. You could easily swap out those lizard-men for Japs.

And that tagline?

We’re in for some good shit, and we haven’t even started yet.

2/
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The narrative opens with Hague, a gunnery officer in the Rocket Corps, waking up in a daze.

Patrol Rocket One has crashed in the Venusian jungle, and the survivors must walk through 500 miles of hostile territory to reach friendly lines again.

It’s a classic set-up.

3/


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Read 36 tweets

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