Introducing: The Two Wars of Lieutenant Hannigan

wanttaja

wanttaja

Final Approach
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Ron Wanttaja
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Well, my newest book is out, on Kindle. "The Two Wars of Lieutenant Hannigan" is a near-term SF novel (set barely 20 years in the future), where Space Force operates small manned reconnaissance spacecraft. Don't be put off by the science fiction aspect...this is basically a flying story.
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I enjoy military science fiction, but most of it is basically a space version of World War II in the Pacific...carriers, protected by destroyers and cruisers, small one or two-man fighters.

Nothing wrong with that, mind you. I've enjoyed them tremendously. But in reality, the first war in space is going to be closer to 1914 than 1944. The equipment won't be designed for combat, the tactics haven't been thought out yet, and the upper ranks think it's just a sideshow. This book is basically a science fiction version of the British Royal Flying Corps in 1914, with a bit of the Billy Mitchell story mixed in.

I went for technical accuracy, but tried to ensure the material was understandable to the non-specialist. The book has numerous illustrations.

If you're enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, you can read the book for free. Otherwise, it's just a paltry $3.99.

You can just search for "Wanttaja" on Amazon.com, or see if this rather clumsy link works.


Ron Wanttaja
 
Nice. I was just looking for my next few Kindle reads.
 
wanttaja said:
Well, my newest book is out, on Kindle. "The Two Wars of Lieutenant Hannigan" is a near-term SF novel (set barely 20 years in the future), where Space Force operates small manned reconnaissance spacecraft. Don't be put off by the science fiction aspect...this is basically a flying story.
View attachment 151207
I enjoy military science fiction, but most of it is basically a space version of World War II in the Pacific...carriers, protected by destroyers and cruisers, small one or two-man fighters.

Nothing wrong with that, mind you. I've enjoyed them tremendously. But in reality, the first war in space is going to be closer to 1914 than 1944. The equipment won't be designed for combat, the tactics haven't been thought out yet, and the upper ranks think it's just a sideshow. This book is basically a science fiction version of the British Royal Flying Corps in 1914, with a bit of the Billy Mitchell story mixed in.

I went for technical accuracy, but tried to ensure the material was understandable to the non-specialist. The book has numerous illustrations.

If you're enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, you can read the book for free. Otherwise, it's just a paltry $3.99.

You can just search for "Wanttaja" on Amazon.com, or see if this rather clumsy link works.


Ron Wanttaja
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I have Nook. Is it there?
 
luvflyin said:
I have Nook. Is it there?
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It's not, but there are a couple of online articles with conversion information. The book itself is in epub format, which is compatible with the nook.

Also, check your PMs.

Ron Wanttaja
 
So pistols and half bricks?

I appreciate the premise. So much space warfare fiction is rewarmed WW2 either naval/submarine warfare or airwar. (Again, I enjoy it, but is it realistic?)
 
jsstevens said:
So pistols and half bricks?

I appreciate the premise. So much space warfare fiction is rewarmed WW2 either naval/submarine warfare or airwar. (Again, I enjoy it, but is it realistic?)
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I enjoy the "traditional" space combat books, but the RFC experience in 1914 called to me. When the first war in space happens, it WON'T involve carriers and swift destroyers. It will be closer to the pistols and half-bricks you mentioned. One of the more outrageous aspects is the finale of the book, which involves a rather interesting weapon. The thing is, I actually was involved in a study that included looking at that kind of weapon....

I tried to be meticulous for realism. All the orbital maneuvers included came from extensive calculation, and several of my fellow retirees checked my work. But I know most people reading won't be space specialists, so I've tried to explain things in a simple fashion, and included diagrams when needed.
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The spacecraft designation is the "SR-1B Pave Diamond". The "SR-1" designation is a nod to an earlier reconnaissance platform. The US military restarted the numbering of aircraft back in the late '60s, which is why we had F-86s in Korea but F-15s now. Hence, the SR-71 in the '60s, and the SR-1 here.....
AvNavCom said:
I'll be reading for the jodhpurs and silk scarves. If there aren't any of those, there will be hell to pay, Ron. ;)
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No jodhpurs or silk scarves, but there IS an open-cockpit space ship at one point... :)

Ron Wanttaja
 
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wanttaja said:
I enjoy the "traditional" space combat books, but the RFC experience in 1914 called to me. When the first war in space happens, it WON'T involve carriers and swift destroyers. It will be closer to the pistols and half-bricks you mentioned. One of the more outrageous aspects is the finale of the book, which involves a rather interesting weapon. The thing is, I actually was involved in a study that included looking at that kind of weapon....

I tried to be meticulous for realism. All the orbital maneuvers included came from extensive calculation, and several of my fellow retirees checked my work. But I know most people reading won't be space specialists, so I've tried to explain things in a simple fashion, and included diagrams when needed.
View attachment 151213
The spacecraft designation is the "SR-1B Pave Diamond". The "SR-1" designation is a nod to an earlier reconnaissance platform. The US military restarted the numbering of aircraft back in the late '60s, which is why we had F-86s in Korea but F-15s now. Hence, the SR-71 in the '60s, and the SR-1 here.....

No jodhpurs or silk scarves, but there IS an open-cockpit space ship at one point... :)

Ron Wanttaja
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So no yanking and banking in space? :) I've always been (at least subconciously) annoyed at the lack of physics understanding. Why are all the ships "upright" in the same plane? If you have artificial gravity to offset the accelerations from manuvering, why do you lean?

Anyway, I'll add this to my Kindle Ron. Looks like fun. (for a geek like me)
 
jsstevens said:
So no yanking and banking in space? :) I've always been (at least subconciously) annoyed at the lack of physics understanding. Why are all the ships "upright" in the same plane? If you have artificial gravity to offset the accelerations from manuvering, why do you lean?
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That's kinda where the second "war" in the title comes from. Most people think operating in space is like a airplane, that if you're passing over North America you can just turn to the right and fly to Brazil. You can't, unless your orbit was already taking your there....it's pure ballistics. You can't develop tactics unless you understand that.

The "all ships upright" issue reminds me of the recent animated series, "Star Trek: Lower Decks." There was a LOT of in-jokes in that series. My favorite was when some crewmen were exploring a cave and one thought it was great that every cave then went into had a nice flat floor......

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
That's kinda where the second "war" in the title comes from. Most people think operating in space is like a airplane, that if you're passing over North America you can just turn to the right and fly to Brazil. You can't, unless your orbit was already taking your there....it's pure ballistics. You can't develop tactics unless you understand that.

The "all ships upright" issue reminds me of the recent animated series, "Star Trek: Lower Decks." There was a LOT of in-jokes in that series. My favorite was when some crewmen were exploring a cave and one thought it was great that every cave then went into had a nice flat floor......

Ron Wanttaja
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I suppose ultimately it's the answer John Ford gave when asked why the indians didn't just shoot the horses in Stage Coach: "Then we wouldn't have a movie."
 
I'd be obliged if any folks who read the book would post a review on Amazon....good, bad, or indifferent.

Ron Wanttaja
 
@wanttaja that is super super awesome. I'm going to have to dust off my kindle but I'm stoked for you. Congratulations sir!
 
wanttaja said:
I'd be obliged if any folks who read the book would post a review on Amazon....good, bad, or indifferent.

Ron Wanttaja
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I’ll do that. I finished reading it yesterday. Enjoyed it. I sent a couple of corrections for very minor typos… I think both were punctuation related.
 
DaleB said:
I’ll do that. I finished reading it yesterday. Enjoyed it. I sent a couple of corrections for very minor typos… I think both were punctuation related.
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One of my favorite writing quotes is, "No matter how many editing passes you do, there's always one word that could be removed, plus one word that's misspelled. The ultimate condition for any document, therefore, is just one word, spelled wrong."

I zipped through the sample on the Kindle page, and saw an error or two. Also caught me that, later on, I refer to microsats as "1X" in size, when it should be "1U".....

I'm sure everyone here would have caught that one. :-)


Ron Wanttaja
 
I'm enjoying it so far. Just a good story without having to suspend disbelief to read...
 
pfarber said:
Can you post a chapter?
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If you look at the Amazon listing, there's a "Read Sample" button under the cover image...
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I generated a PDF version of the first chapter, but using the "Print as PDF" function to get only the first chapter generated a 10Meg file...three times larger than the full PDF (?).

I used a tool called Atticus to convert from the original Word document to the Epub format for the digital book. There was a learning curve, but it actually works pretty well. Unfortunately, while Atticus *does* have a "convert back to Word" function, it doesn't restore it to the same format as the original Word document. It loses a lot of the formatting.

Ron Wanttaja
 
DaleB said:
I do like the absence of magical "We found a way around physics" kind of stuff.
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Almost everything in the book is something we *could* do, if we had the will. The missions are backed up by real orbitology and spreadsheets that verify the delta-Vs and maneuvering. My assumption was that the Kerbal Space Program folks would be checking up on the physics.

What's more, I roped in some of my fellow retirees to cross-check my work. One, for instance, I needed a rocket fuel with high particulate content in the exhaust, and my rocket specialist mentioned the work in Alumizine from decades ago. Another buddy double-checked my orbit calculations. Both ended up in the book, in camouflaged (or not so camouflaged) form.

The amusing thing was, after one of them read one chapter, he said, "Can you NOT use 'X'? I worked on a classified program using that, years ago....:"

Scientific accuracy is one thing, orbit mechanics is another, but, of course, ultimately the book has to entertain those who are not specialists in either. So I tried not to let the book get bogged down in the technical minutaue.

I see it, at heart, as a flying tale. A young officer in a cockpit, trying to stay alive.

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
The amusing thing was, after one of them read one chapter, he said, "Can you NOT use 'X'? I worked on a classified program using that, years ago....:"
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I seem to recall Tom Clancy running into some similar concerns about his early novels. His speculations evidently raised some concerns about where he was getting his information.

Let us know if Space Force sends you a cease-and-desist. :D
 
AvNavCom said:
I seem to recall Tom Clancy running into some similar concerns about his early novels. His speculations evidently raised some concerns about where he was getting his information.
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I heard the other side of the coin. "The Hunt For Red October" was published by the Naval Institute Press, and they submitted the draft to a retired submariner. It came back with pages with big diagonal lines and "BS"......

After the success of Red October, though, Clancy probably had plenty of active-duty and retired types wanting to give him the real dirt. I bet the security guys were nervous about that.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Just finished it...Well done, Ron! Your experience shows in the 'science'.

Five stars and a short review...

Jim
 
Thanks Ron,

I really enjoyed the book. It was great to see orbital dynamics, thermal regulation, power generation, and military politics become an enjoyable read.
 
Late reply, but I finally got around to reading it, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's an interesting and enjoyable experience reading a novel written by somebody you already know (if only online) and have shared experiences with.
 
It’s on my Kindle, Ron, but there are about 5 books ahead of you in the queue. I’m looking forward to reading it.
 
wanttaja said:
I heard the other side of the coin. "The Hunt For Red October" was published by the Naval Institute Press, and they submitted the draft to a retired submariner. It came back with pages with big diagonal lines and "BS"......

After the success of Red October, though, Clancy probably had plenty of active-duty and retired types wanting to give him the real dirt. I bet the security guys were nervous about that.

Ron Wanttaja
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Did Clancy implement those changes or not? IIRC both the book and the movie (especially the movie) were not well liked by the submarine community.
 
FrequentPilot said:
Did Clancy implement those changes or not? IIRC both the book and the movie (especially the movie) were not well liked by the submarine community.
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I would expect he didn't. The submariner probably based his comment based on his classified experience, and it probably would have violated security to provide more details.

Reminds me of the story from the old movie, "Hellcats of the Navy" starring Ronald Reagan. They had Ronnie standing tall on the conning tower, spitting out complex orders, while the helmsman just drove the ship straight ahead.

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
I would expect he didn't. The submariner probably based his comment based on his classified experience, and it probably would have violated security to provide more details.

Reminds me of the story from the old movie, "Hellcats of the Navy" starring Ronald Reagan. They had Ronnie standing tall on the conning tower, spitting out complex orders, while the helmsman just drove the ship straight ahead.

Ron Wanttaja
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Maybe this wasn't a thing back then because the military wasn't this desperate, but the military should have not only endorse it, but help produce it as well. Movies like Act of Valor, Top Gun 2, etc., the military went all out and it shows in the finished product, regardless of their true purpose. Red October could have been that, but for submarines. Seems like a missed opportunity...
 
Just ordered it on Kindle Unlimited ...Price was right:)
 
I read it over the weekend, Ron. Excellent job. Original concept, well written. It was nice to read a sci-fi story that was plausible, instead of being filled with death rays, time machines, and spaceships that bank to turn. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

I could really tell the author was an engineer, though. Lots of illustrations of vehicle configurations and orbital dynamics, but not one illustration (or even description!) of the beach bungalow scene. You'll need to elaborate on that scene for the upcoming movie. :devil:
 
Half Fast said:
I read it over the weekend, Ron. Excellent job. Original concept, well written. It was nice to read a sci-fi story that was plausible, instead of being filled with death rays, time machines, and spaceships that bank to turn. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

I could really tell the author was an engineer, though. Lots of illustrations of vehicle configurations and orbital dynamics, but not one illustration (or even description!) of the beach bungalow scene. You'll need to elaborate on that scene for the upcoming movie. :devil:
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Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

As far as the bungalow scene, I leave that kind of detail to my wife, who's a published Harlequin Romance writer (under her maiden name, Lisa McAllister).

I always describe myself as her "Research Tool", though she normally shortens that to just "Tool". :)

Ron Wanttaja
 
Oh, and as ever...if you feel comfortable, please post a review on Amazon. It helps to get the word out there.

Ron Wanttaja
 
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