Earth Interstellar was given a new review recently (see below) that I want to share.  I can't say how important reviews are for a self-published author.  They are the life blood for getting the word out about our books and I appreciate everyone one readers can provide.

Amazon.com  5-Stars
ByPatrick G.on January 1, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition

A Must Read
The setting is amazing; humans still feel special even as the pawns in interstellar politics (but not too special and overcoming tens of thousands of years of technology and experience through grit and willpower like other books do). Aliens also feel unique and special, although they get less screen time (I would happily read another book in this setting focused on the non-humans, with the Rool in particular having excellent potential for offshoot works). Characters are very believable and well done, and combat sequences are as well, which is typically a weak-point in so many novels, with even the best of authors sometimes falling short (and as an avid fan of Warhammer 40k literature, among others, I like to think I have a high bar set for combat sequences). In particular, the right balance between too much and too little detail was struck. This is also true for technology; it’s not explained so much that you can start to see science nonsense, but it is described in detail to give a clear (and very interesting) picture, and a lot of thought was definitely put into it. All in all, this has very quickly made its way to near the top of my sequels list, if not the top, and I can’t say I’ve ever been so eager for more despite having read hundreds of books and novels. This is the easiest 5/5 I’ve ever given a book, and I’d give a 6/5 if I could.

There was also one typo I noticed, though, which if I recall correctly was of the word “soul(s)” mistyped as “sould” midway through the book.

Disclaimer: This was read via amazon kindle unlimited at no direct cost to me, although I’d have happily bought it in hindsight, and quite honestly it’s a steal at its normal selling price.Earth Interstellar was recently given a new review on Amazon.com that I wanted to share.  I am very grateful for any reviews for my books - they are the life blood for getting the word out for a self-published author.


Thank you to Patrick G for his great review.
-- Scott Olen Reid

Hi all - a little reveal and a little update.

Here is the new cover for the Sequel to Nova Academy, Heroes & Villains.  The clue to Book 2 is in the title.  It is shaping up to take NA to the next level as Theo and Carly - and don't forget Maria, start another year at the Academy.

Now for the update - NA2 is going to be delayed a few months.  I've had a lot of personal things going on that has set me back as it has been very hard to concentrate on writing.  I'm trying to get back to it and will get it out as soon as possible!

Here are the last four reviews on Amazon.co.uk for Earth Interstellar: Proxy War and I could not be more grateful.

                  I recently read a review of Earth Interstellar and the reviewer’s criticism was about the “unchecked US nationalism” contained in the book (the rest of the review was quite stellar, by the way).  I will be the last one to say the book is not US centered, however, I would like to explain how I came to that point as I believe there is a reason for this to be the case that I call “reality.”

“What reality are you speaking about?” might be a reasonable question to ask.  And, you will be right to have some skepticism of a legitimate reason for the book being slanted toward the US other than the author is slanted toward the US.  Well, I am slanted toward the US.  I’m an American - it comes with the territory.  But, the reason does go beyond that.

In the story, humanity was first visited by aliens around the current time (2018-ish).  In the current political climate around the world, the major powers are highly competitive and do a very poor job of cooperating honestly (as in without trying to gain advantage over each other) about anything.

With that political situation, I had to envision how an alien race who does not give a <insert alien expletive> about the political climate in the US.  The only thing they care about is getting humanity to do what they want and provide them tribute (and in an unspoken want, to develop humanity’s own space program so they can advance enough to defend themselves and become a buffer between the alien race and their enemies).

So, how would an alien race do that?  Would they wade into human politics, or would they “pick a winner” nation either outright or through some competition to see what country has the ability to manage a space program.
I went with the aliens setting up a competition between all nations to do something like deliver ship hulls (tribute) to the Moon within a given time period. (This was actually an idea for another book that I did not feel at the time I could do a good job on and set it aside to consider some other time.)

So, with my being an American able to write about how Americans would do things be better than I can other nations, I chose to Americans as the winners of the competition.

But, then comes a question of how the other nations would react to it.  They do not really have a choice since the aliens are backing the “winner.”  But, for them to roll over and allow America to effective become the rulers of a new “interstellar” government does not seem plausible.  The natural result would be a power sharing government between major nations with the US having the dominant position from their stronger bargaining position. I purposefully left out smaller nations being a part of the power sharing as they have little ability to force the issue and because anyone who has looked at the United Nations and its corruption, incompetence, and petty agendas knows how stupid it would be for the major powers to try to make another UN situation a second time.

Now advance 320 years into the future and you still have national interests in the United Earth Government and you still have distrust and you still have one nation (the US) that “knows better” than the others and is willing to keep secrets from the others.

I have no regret that I used a touch of the ugly reality of national interests in my world rather than the unrealistic utopia model that I cannot see happening in even a thousand years (no matter how much people in the US attempt to create it unilaterally).  I can just tell you I have no desire to write political correctness into my stories. 

Below is a copy of the review I am referring to:

“All in all this is a good book. I fully enjoyed the universe the author has built and everything from the tactics, weapons, ships to the characters works really well. He even managed to introduce some new concepts with the use of VR in the operation of the star ships which was really cool and a new concept to me.

What puts this book off too me was the unchecked US nationalism in the book. The author is clearly a proud US American, but his belief in US superiority is to the point that any character from other Earth nationalities are portrayed with massiv machiavellian character flaws, as apposed to the US characters who are almost all portrayed as the classic hero types. It unfortunately leaves the reader with a bad taste, that nearly made me put the book down.

I hope the author will be able to address this in coming books since I really would want to see the story progress, but without this flaw.”  -- Amazon Customer

Updated:

Earth Interstellar: Proxy War is the #1 Best Seller in the United Kingdom on Amazon.co.uk. Immense thank you to all my readers across the pond! #Humbled #Scifi #Books

EI is having a good start and my first reviews are in on Amazon.com (note: I do NOT pay for reviews - I'm too cheap to want to pay for them).  I am especially appreciative of a review from Steven L. Fritz.  In it  he says, "This book got off to a good start with the Prologue, not always a good approach but it works well here. The stakes of the story are laid out here, not fully understandable until the end. The author has used his Cost (sic) Guard experience to create a very believable world of interstellar ship combat. Few writers bring the verisimilitude he brings to shipboard life, but it always serves the story.

Humanity is a minor civilization in an interstellar war. Their value to the overall galactic civilization is minimal except as proxy warriors. The weaponry described is innovative and believable and the battles between humans and another proxy species are well described. The characters are an ensemble but a few main characters come to life in interesting ways. Overall, a fascinating read."

That's a great review as he has hit the nail on the head of what I was trying to accomplish in Earth Interstellar.  Thank you Steven!