Alex Rath

Best-selling Military SciFi and Post Apoc Author

Author

Wrapping up 2019

by

What a year it has been! I know, it’s been a while since my last update (again), but that’s something I plan to get better about in the new year. But as a quick wrap-up, I wanted to review the highlights for me in 2019.

  • March 2019 – Appeared at FantaSci in Durham, N.C. as an “about to be published” author.
  • April 2019 – “With Your Shield” is published.
  • July 2019 – Appeared on my first panel as a published author at ConGregate in High Point, N.C..
  • July 2019 – “Mr. Smith Goes to Toronto” published in the anthology “From the Ashes: Stories from The Fallen World“
  • August 2019 – “Spartan’s Specialists,” my first solo novel is published.
  • August 2019 – Attended and appeared on a panel at DragonCon (that’s a check off of the bucket list) on the release day of “Spartan’s Specialists”
  • October 2019 – “Death of a Traitor” short story is published in the “Salvage Conquest: Tales from the Salvage Universe” anthology.
  • November 2019 – “Call Me Mr. Smith” my solo novel in Christpher Woods’ Fallen World unviverse is published.

Let me tell you, that’s way more than I thought I’d ever accomplish. I still have to remind myself now and then that it’s actually happening.

What’s coming in 2020? Oh BOY!


Coming January 17th, “The Scales of Justice,” a novel that follows on “Death of a Traitor” in the Salvage Universe will be published!


Just a week later (two books in two weeks???) “Between Two Worlds” in the Four Horsemen Universe, with co-author Chris Kennedy, will be published!

In the works right now, I have a fantasy novel in a universe of my own creation. That should see publication early in 2020.

After that…who knows? More Four Horsemen? More Fallen World? More Salvage Universe? Something completely new? Follow my page on Facebook, and let me know what YOU think!

New Release! New character! New Universe!

by

Yesterday, August 2nd, “From the Ashes” released! It’s a great anthology with 16 amazing authors, set in Christopher Woods’ The Fallen World universe. My story, titled “Mr. Smith Goes to Toronto” is one of the stories in the book, and I’m very proud of it!

It was a new writing experience for me, because it was my first first-person aspect writing experience, and my first foray into post-apocalyptic science fiction. You can pick it up here!

Spartan’s Specialists Cover Reveal and Release Date!

My first solo novel, “Spartan’s Specialists” has a cover, and a date!! I’m thrilled with the cover art, as it captures my vision perfectly. On the cover is, once again Markus ‘Spartan’ Nicolos, in his CASPer, taking on some MinSha in the Four Horsemen Universe. The book will be released on August 30th!

This book is a direct sequel to “With Your Shield” and starts the day after that book ends. It’s an effort I’m very proud of, and hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Upcoming Convention Appearance

As a reminder, I have my first convention appearance coming up in October! I will be appearing as a guest at Fayetteville ComicCon October 19 – 20. Chris Kennedy will also be there representing Chris Kennedy Publishing, so it’s going to be a great time!

ConGregate 6 After Action Report

by

ConGregate 6 is in the books, and it was a great convention and opportunity for me. I won’t even talk about the drive up and back, which is always one of the worst parts of the convention experience. We all know that.

First, I want to give praise to the con chairs and volunteers. They did a great job putting on a small convention that really felt good to attend. Even the Thursday before the con officially started, I was flagged down by Tera, who had earlier recognized my Hoplite CASPer shirt (available in the store here on my web site), to join the pre-con gathering. So I found myself sitting around with some of the guests, volunteers, the con chairs, and Michael Stackpole. Talk about a great experience to start the convention!

Friday, the first day at 2:00pm, turned out to be a surprise, because suddenly I was ON the panel! Unfortunately, Eric Flint is dealing with some medical issues, and was unable to get to the convention, I’m sure we’re all wishing him a speedy recovery. Due to that, though, my publisher, Chris Kennedy, offered to have me fill the spot on the panel he was moderating on Writing Believable Military Science Fiction, which, I’ve grown to know a little bit about. It was, in fact, my first EVER panel, and I think I held my own pretty well, and had a great time! It was specifically good to meet Jim Beall, who I may be reaching out to as I work on my next full-length novel for consulting.

Left to Right: Chris Kennedy, Mark Wandrey, Chris Jackson, myself, and Jim Beall
Photo thanks to Jim Beall

Through the rest of the convention, I spent time networking, plotting, planning, and grinning a lot as plans were developed. As will happen when authors get together, plans were made. I’m very excited about some upcoming projects with fellow Chris Kennedy Publishing authors. Before I went to the convention, I found myself considering what I would be writing after my next short story. I don’t have to consider anymore. I now have likely three more novels to plot out, and I have little doubt there are more that will develop before those are done.

Now, to what’s coming up! August 2nd, “From the Ashes,” an anthology set in the Fallen World universe edited by Christopher Woods and Chris Kennedy will be released, and you’ll get a look at lots of great stories! Among them, will be my own story about “Mr. Smith.” I hope you like it!

It was great to spend time with all my CKP family while I was there. I’m not going to try to list names, because I’ll certainly leave someone out. I will say that Scott and Cindy Kuntzelman are now the only people (so far) who have a copy of “With Your Shield” signed by both Chris, and myself. Thanks for bringing your copy for me to sign!

Sometime hopefully in October, the sequel to “With Your Shield” titled “Spartan’s Specialists” will be released. It picks up the day after the end of Shield, and carries Spartan through the entirety of the Omega Wars. I’ve handed it over to CKP for review and editing as of Saturday night (I worked every night of the convention to edit and get it ready to submit).

The next, and only other convention I have slated for 2019 is Fayetteville Comic Con, October 19-20 in Fayetteville, N.C.. For this convention, I will be a guest, and will be set up with books, and excited to meet and chat with fans both existing, and new.

Other than that, I’m writing, working, enjoying time with my family, and starting to plot out my convention schedule for 2020! Have an idea for a convention you think I should look into, or where you’d like to see me closer to you? Just let me know!

One Month until “With Your Shield”

by Leave a Comment

I have to pinch myself sometimes when I remember that I actually have a book coming out in just over a month! I have to be honest, when Chris sent me the image of the book cover, with my name on the cover, I almost cried. It’s been a dream for a long time, and it’s finally coming true.

As I prepare for FantaSci next week, the first convention I’ll attend as an author, I’m thinking about it more and more. Just a few weeks ago, I had professional head-shots done, which is now the picture you see here, and all across my social media presence. I won’t be on any panels or anything like that, but I’ll certainly be wandering around, talking to fans and fellow 4HU authors. I’ll likely also spend some time in the gaming room around the Hull Breach, Henchmen, and (oh my!) a demo of the upcoming 4HU card game!

It’s funny the little things I think about. A big one for me was, what am I going to wear to the convention?! In the past, when I went to conventions, I was there as a part of a fan organization, so what I wore was easy, clothes for that organization. Now, I’m going for my OWN work, and to support the Four Horsemen Universe, which my first book is written in.

Now, many are actually doing uniforms for cosplay for the convention, and I cannot wait to see them! For me though, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. So what do I do instead? Well, I advertise!! As an independent author writing for a relatively small publisher (no offense, Chris!) we have to market ourselves, and our work, to get the word out. What better way to do it than to wear it?

So, I present to you, my “uniform” for FantaSci!

tshirt-1828124025-1552750680388.jpg

Early Writing

by Leave a Comment

Today I decided to take a look back at my early writing. While I’ve never been ‘published’ I’ve definitely done a lot of writing. I suppose the first bit that was seen by more than a few people was in 1991 for an in-game newsletter for a game called Gemstone III. It was run on a dial-up service called GEnie, and back then, cost about $7.00/hour to play. That’s right, per HOUR. It was a hardcore, RolePlay enforced MUD, and due to being on an ARIES IV mainframe, could only support 50 players at a time. It was a tight community, and the newsletter was always fully player written. You got rewarded in free playing hours for writing and having an article chosen, so it was pretty attractive. I wrote several articles under my character name of “Jhembryn Durrock” (a name I used to use everywhere, but had to stop once one of my accounts was hacked, and my name was pretty much ruined because of their actions).

After that, for almost every game I played, I searched out the “Role Play” community, whether it was other MUDs, or graphical MMOs like Everquest, World of Warcraft, EVE Online, The Secret World, or countless other games. Also, every time, I’d write out a detailed biography for my character(s). It always just made the game feel more “right” to me. I’d spend days reading the lore of the game, and more days writing up a backstory for the character. For me, it was fun!

Now I’m playing in someone else’s sandbox, and writing a story for the Golden Horde, with Chris Kennedy. Once that’s done, I’ll probably take a stab at creating my own world.