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Brain Leakage Profile picture
Brain Leakage
@BrainLeakage03
Former grunt. GWOT vet. Unrepentant nerd. I write spec-fic and humor.
Apr 27 • 18 tweets • 9 min read
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.

1/ Image 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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Mar 9 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
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.

1/
Image 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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Mar 7 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
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—
Dec 14, 2023 • 36 tweets • 14 min read
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.”

1/ Image 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.

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Dec 7, 2023 • 25 tweets • 9 min read
Time for the Crash Course in #MilSF wrap-up.

To recap, I reread and live-tweeted my responses to four classics of the genre, along with a brief analysis of each.

The goal was to examine one of the foundational works of the genre, and three major responses to it.

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Image If you’ve missed out on any of the previous threads, they can all be found here:

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Nov 27, 2023 • 46 tweets • 15 min read
The read-through of John Steakley’s ARMOR continues. Creating a new thread to avoid Xwitter’s long-thread issues.

If you need to catch up, part 1 is right here:

50/ With all the time Steakley takes to set up the subplots, players, and conflicts of the “Jack Crow” section of the book, it takes him a while—about 120 pages or so—to get to the the point of it all, and connect the business on Sanction with Felix’s story.

51/
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Nov 18, 2023 • 50 tweets • 14 min read
We’re into the final volume of the Crash Course in MilSF, John Steakley’s classic bug-war blowout, ARMOR.

Of the three major responses to Heinlein’s STARSHIP TROOPERS, this is the only one not written by a veteran.

How does it stack up? Let’s find out.

1/
Image Okay.

As much as I love the iconic opening of Heinlein’s novel, I’m forced to admit this is probably the most infantry sentence ever written.

Bravo, sir.

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Nov 17, 2023 • 16 tweets • 5 min read
Before I finish this series with Steakley’s ARMOR, I want to take a brief side-trip.

Joe Haldeman’s FOREVER WAR isn’t his only MilSF story. In 1970, he wrote a short called “Time Piece,” which features many of the same themes and ideas as his classic novel.

Let’s dive in.

1/
Image The opening line here is much closer to Heinlein’s classic from STARSHIP TROOPERS. Our narrator is just a space trooper making a laconic and somewhat self-deprecating observation about life as a grunt.

It’s good. But Haldeman does better a few years later in FOREVER WAR.

2/

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Oct 20, 2023 • 47 tweets • 15 min read
Part 2 of my review of THE FOREVER WAR. Starting a new thread to avoid the usual broken-thread BS.

If you need to get caught up, the first part can be found here:



48/
Image Before they’re allowed to return to Earth, Mandella & co have to sit through a debriefing.

Turns out the rumors were true. The Elite Conscription Act HAS been extended, requiring 5 years’ subjective service instead of 2.

But the UNEF brass won’t hold them to the new rule.

49/
Oct 16, 2023 • 50 tweets • 16 min read
The crash course in Military SF continues.

When you bring up stories in dialogue with Heinlein’s STARSHIP TROOPERS, there’s one book that immediately leaps to mind:

Joe Haldeman’s utterly fantastic novel THE FOREVER WAR.

1/
Image I skipped the foreword.

I don’t give a shit what John Scalzi has to say.

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Oct 10, 2023 • 43 tweets • 16 min read
The read-through of BILL, THE GALACTIC HERO continues. Starting a new thread to avoid broken-thread shenanigans.

If you need to get caught up, the first part is linked below.

47/ Book Two begins with Bill enroute to Helior, the capital planet, to be honored by the Emperor.

Sharing his shuttle transport are two other veterans, also scheduled to be honored: a wounded gunner, whose body is mostly cyber-prosthetics, and a disgruntled infantry sergeant.

48/
Oct 2, 2023 • 47 tweets • 19 min read
The crash course in Military SF continues with one of the first responses to Heinlein’s STARSHIP TROOPERS: Harry Harrison’s wickedly funny BILL, THE GALACTIC HERO.

1/
Image As far as opening lines go, this one is good.

Maybe not as iconic as the stone-cold classic from Heinlein, but it does the same kind of heavy lifting: it establishes the tone and character.

Bill is a simple farm boy, mainly concerned with *ahem* sowing his oats.

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Sep 27, 2023 • 22 tweets • 5 min read
The STARSHIP TROOPERS read through continues.

Since I’m already up to 50 posts, I’m doing the second half as a separate thread, to avoid any broken-thread shenanigans.

Here’s the first half, in case you need to get caught up:

/50 Chapter 11 brings us back full circle to the beginning of Rico’s story, and the aftermath of the raid on the Skinnies detailed in Chapter 1.

In short, Rico gets promoted to sergeant, his section leader billet becomes permanent, and he decides to go career. Which means OCS.

51/
Sep 19, 2023 • 52 tweets • 14 min read
Starting the Crash Course in Mil SF today.

Up first: Heinlein’s STARSHIP TROOPERS.

(Excuse the movie tie-in cover. My original copy is long gone. The used bookstore had this one for about $4).

1/
Image This opening paragraph is close to perfect.

It establishes Rico’s casual voice, paints him as a regular guy doing his job, and gives him a relatable characteristic: pre-drop nerves.

But he stoically does his job anyway.

If you served, you knew a dozen guys like him.

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Jun 2, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Taking a break from Barsoom and it’s environs to reread GLORY ROAD.

This passage is subtle as a brick, but it captures the point I’m always making re: Pulp protagonists vs. modern Isekai heroes.

Gordon lost his desire for the safe, secure American Dream (TM) in Vietnam.

1/ ImageImage Nothing will satisfy him any more, except the kind of adventure he believes exists only in fiction.

Returning to Vietnam itself isn’t the answer. It’s an unWar, unworthy of his bravery.

He needs more than he can ever find in this world.

2/
May 31, 2023 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
Without question, my favorite “Call to Adventure” trope is the guy who wants money/action, so he answers an ad promising them.

Mostly because it’s realistic, and in line with my own IRL experiences.

1/ ImageImageImageImage Whether it was going Viking, joining Shackleton’s crew, signing up with the Rhodies, or riding for the Pony Express, men with adventuresome personalities have historically jumped at the chance to prove themselves.

This has been true even—or especially—in peaceful societies.

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May 31, 2023 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
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……

1/ Image "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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May 30, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Talking to another Fallujah vet last night, one of our old Platoon Corpsmen. We discussed the number of us who never fully “came home.”

High number of brothers fell into criminality, drugs, or alcoholism after we got out. A couple joined gangs.

1/ The flip side of that coin is the guys who deliberately sought out dangerous work. Lot of guys ended up in PMCs. A bunch more either returned to the Corps within a year or so of getting out, or joined the Army.

A common thread was deliberately seeking more time overseas.

2/
May 17, 2023 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
I want to expand on this a second.

The Refusal of the Call has become such an entrenched storytelling trope that people (Hollywood writers) CANNOT imagine a hero taking action without first going through some personal wishy-wash about their feelings.

1/ In his first appearance, Solomon Kane comes across a dying girl in the forest. Read this passage, and you’ll know all you ever need to know about him:

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May 15, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
GM Barsoom is a real place and the Mars Curiosity rover is a psyop to convince you otherwise. L: The alleged“last image” taken by the Mars Curiosity Rover.

R: The actual last image taken by the Mars Curiosity Rover. ImageImage
Feb 18, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
One thing that separates modern Isekai from pulp Sword & Planet/Portal Fantasy is the heroes’ drive to escape postwar ennui.

John Carter, Michael Kane, Oscar Gordon, and John Kenton are all combat vets dissatisfied with civilian life.

1/ ImageImageImageImage They were only ever at home in combat, among their fellow warriors. When it was over, they all returned to societies that either did not understand them or did not appreciate them.

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