Robert says:

An easy thing to tell you about Orphan’s Alliance is that Jason Wander – high school dropout, accidental Major General, terminal wise ass and reluctant hero – returns, and so do the Slugs. But Alliance shows you things military SF usually doesn’t, like Paleozoic swamps and monsters, and Parisian sidewalk cafés. Alliance also shows you things military SF often does, like gravity-bending fighters, vast battles for galactic crossroads, and trench warfare.

A hard thing to tell you is that Jason is growing up, and growth hurts.

C.S. Lewis, gravely wounded in World War I, wrote about soldiers who write about war that “We know how much of the reality the romantic view left out. But we also know that heroism is a real thing, that all the plumes and flags and trumpets … were not there for nothing [but] to honour … what is truly honourable … precisely because everyone knew how horrible war is.”

Orphan’s Alliance is out now from Orbit US and will be published in January 2009 by Orbit UK and Orbit Australia. Orphan’s Alliance is the fourth of Robert’s Jason Wander novels, the first of which was Orphanage [UK | US | AUS].

You can find out more about Robert Buettner and Jason Wander at his website, www.robertbuettner.com and read his blog at robertbuettner.wordpress.com for all his latest news and developments.