Liz Williams’ BLOODMIND (TOR, 2007) continues the story set up in DARKLAND. Williams reminds me of a juggler as she launches three separate plots in motion. The main one involves the assassin, Vali, on the war-torn planet of Muspell. In the second plotline, Sedra, a dying woman on the planet of Mondhile holds the key to a super weapon. And the third plotline, on the misogynist planet Nhem, women flee the male dominated cities and join a secret camp. The ending is open-ended so expect additional books in this series in the years ahead.

I think Thomas E. Ricks is the only one who knows what’s really going on in Iraq. His brilliant analysis, THE GAMBLE, shows how the military finally abandoned their bankrupt “capture and kill” strategy and converted to a counterinsurgency approach with the Surge. Ricks believes we’re only halfway through our involvement in Iraq. We have at least six more years of counterinsurgency warfare ahead of us. Ricks shows us how the Army works and how a change in leadership to General David Petraeus avoided complete failure in Iraq. However, as a result of the Surge, we are now committed to fighting a “Long War” in Iraq that might last for decades. If you doubt that, just look at our military involvement in Korea: 50 years and counting. If you want to understand the Iraq War, Ricks will enlighten you.

An interesting perspective on the largest single factor that changed Israeli foreign policy. A good insight into why the Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Israel act the way they do. Anwar Sadat is a really interesting man. I wish I knew more about him. It’s also too bad he was assassinated.

This isn’t quite as good as The Road, but for the creepiest experience of realization of an author’s work ever read this and then immediately see the Coen Brothers film.

Or just read this because I enjoyed it. McCarthy’s graphic landscapes and sharp, concise, nearly trivial (which is what makes it realistic – i believe) conversation fragments fit both post-apocalyptic England and the cowboys of the south/west quite well.

Start with a goofy kid who drinks too much and decides to legally change his name to “Johnny Rico”—the lead character in STARSHIP TROOPERS. Have Johnny enlist in the Army and get stationed in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban. You would think this is the setup for an anti-war novel, but you would be wrong. This is a brutally honest look at life in today’s military.

Johnny Rico wants to leave Afghanistan and the Army to pursue his doctorate. But he discovers the contract he signed with the Army allows them to extend his “three-year” commitment to EIGHT YEARS!

The battle scenes have a surreal quality. Life in the military is boredom punctuated by stark terror. Rico captures the day-to-day routine and mixes in his own sexual obsessions.

If you’re interested in the nature of modern war and the people who fight in it, this is the book for you.