The Chaplain's War, by Brad R. Torgersen
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The Chaplain's War, by Brad R. Torgersen
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A chaplain serving in Earth's space fleet is trapped behind enemy lines where he struggles for both personal survival and humanity's future.The mantis cyborgs: insectlike, cruel, and determined to wipe humanity from the face of the galaxy. The Fleet is humanity’s last chance: a multi-world, multi-national task force assembled to hold the line against the aliens’ overwhelming technology and firepower. Enter Harrison Barlow, who like so many young men of wars past, simply wants to serve his people and partake of the grand adventure of military life. Only, Harrison is not a hot pilot, nor a crack shot with a rifle. What good is a Chaplain’s Assistant in the interstellar battles which will decide the fate of all? More than he thinks. Because while the mantis insectoids are determined to eliminate the human threat to mantis supremacy, they remember the errors of their past. Is there the slightest chance that humans might have value? Especially since humans seem to have the one thing the mantes explicitly do not: an innate ability to believe in what cannot be proven nor seen. God. Captured and stranded behind enemy lines, Barlow must come to grips with the fact that he is not only bargaining for his own life, but the lives of everyone he knows and loves. And so he embarks upon an improbable gambit, determined to alter the course of the entire war.About Chaplain's War:"Torgersen mixes the spiritual aspects of the book with subtlety, integrating questions about God and faith into the story organically. The result is thought provoking questions arising as part of an entertaining story . . . Torgersen [also] doesn't shy away from conflict, violence, or space battles."—Futures Past and Present"Solid hard SF with the frisson of well thought through action. Much to enjoy!"—Gregory Benford, multiple Nebula award-winning creator of the Galactic Center sagaAbout Brad Torgersen:"Brad Torgersen can write something technical and complex, yet still give it real emotional depth. He's one of the most talented authors I've ever read."—Larry Correia"Brad R. Torgersen shows why he's going to be a power in this field for years to come."—Mike Resnick"Brad Torgersen is a writer who's done a lot and come up the hard way... and the depth of his writing shows it, especially in understanding the nuts and bolts of technology and the souls of those who use it." —L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
The Chaplain's War, by Brad R. Torgersen - Amazon Sales Rank: #1650993 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-27
- Released on: 2015-10-27
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.75" h x 1.10" w x 4.13" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 496 pages
The Chaplain's War, by Brad R. Torgersen Review "The book is wartime SF with a unique slant, offering moral and ethical complexities, adroit characterization, and plenty of firepower thrills as well. Definitely a promising start for any career." -- Paul Di Fillip, Locus magazine"I was extremely satisfied at the end of The Chaplain's War, which doesn't often happen. How the issues and conflicts were resolved left me wanting more because I cared about the characters and found the world they inhabited to be fascinating. Torgersen is going to be an author to watch in the coming years." -- MySF Short Short Reviews"If the 'Superversive' or 'Human Wave' movements appeal to you, you need to read this book. If you've been following the historical conversation in the science fiction genre in re: "battling the bugs," you need to read this book. If you're just looking for a good, positive read, you need to read this book. Hell -- if you like traditional science fiction, you need to read this book. I promise you won't be disappointed. -- Stephanie Souders, Right Fans Sci-Fi
About the Author Brad R. Torgersen is the author of numerous stories, novelettes, and novellas which have appeared in the pages of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show webzine, Mike Resnick’s Galaxy’s Edge magazine, and beyond. He’s the 2011 winner of the Analog AnLab Reader’s Choice Award for best novelette, and also won a place in the 26th annual Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contest. For 2012 he was the field’s single triple-nominee for the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Campbell awards. A full-time healthcare computer geek, Torgersen also holds the rank of Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. He lives in Utah with his wife and daughter. The Chaplain’s War is his first novel, preceded by his short fiction collections Lights in the Deep and Racers of the Night.
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31 of 38 people found the following review helpful. Science Fiction as the Best Social Fiction of Our Time By Daniel B. Author Doris Lessing once noted that "That function of a writer is to raise questions not find answers."A Nobel Prize winner, Lessing famously responded to a critic of her Canopus in Argos series-a work of science fiction, in contrast to what critics considered her more serious literature-by saying: "What they didn't realize was that in science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time."That was thirty years ago. Today, Brad Torgersen (a triple nominee for the Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell award in 2012 and twice nominated for the Hugo in 2014) carries on that tradition, raising and addressing questions in his science fiction. His first novel, The Chaplain's War, is as much an examination of society, belief, and technology as it is of aliens, spaceships, and interstellar war. Whether you're looking for military sci-fi or existential introspection, you'll find it here. And, because Torgersen is a military man himself, his description of life in a boot camp in a near future war against alien species feels authentic and accurate.Torgerson's The Chaplain's War began as the short story "The Chaplain's Assistant," which he later expanded into the novella "The Chaplain's Legacy" before filling it out into a full novel. I discovered him for the first time at the 2013 Salt Lake Comic Con, where he was sitting on several panels on writing and science fiction.The Chaplain's War follows Harrison Barlow, a young soldier who is to become the pivotal figure in humanity's war against a fearsome half cyborg, half insect alien race that is bent on humanity's eradication from the universe. Alternating between the present-where Barlow is sequestered with other humans as POWs-and the past, Barlow is a Chaplain's Assistant, becoming so almost by accident. It's a story of the path less traveled making all the difference, and Torgersen executes it with a deft and sensitive touch.It makes for a tale that is both exciting and thought-provoking, fresh even while harking back to a time when science fiction was less about the political agendas and more about the fantastic possibility and wonder that the future holds. He aims for broad appeal, not the narrow "diversity" crowd of science fiction literati struggling to find readers among the average Joes just looking for a good story.This isn't to say that Torgersen shies away from the controversial. Indeed, his story-that one man for peace can be as powerful as a whole armada of space going warships-may be controversial in itself. This is especially notable when you consider that movie audiences are flocking to see superhumans and lovable scoundrels (think Man of Steel, Thor, Captain America, or Guardians of the Galaxy) duke it out with the enemies of liberty, justice, and the American way, saving humanity by violence and destruction writ large.Torgersen's implicit question, never directly addressed, but clearly central to the solution, is whether violence is necessary.But he doesn't leave it at that. Torgersen weaves in themes on faith and technology, using the cyborg-insect alien menace to raise questions about the existence of deity, providence, and a divine guiding hand, both in the universe and in the individual lives of all sentient beings. At the same time, it's impossible to miss Torgersen's reticence to fully embrace technological innovation without thought for the consequences. Could acceptance and use of technology with humanity come at the cost of our humanity and our ability to connect to the natural and transcendent?Even though his title character is a chaplain, he is by no means a believer. Belief in God is a bridge too far for him, and yet, it is his role as the chaplain's assistant that thrusts him into his place as a mediator between two enemy races. There are scenes that seem reminiscent of Enemy Mine (take your pick: the novella by Barry Longyear or the movie starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr.), but Torgersen takes a more existential and transcendent approach and walks his readers through the process of how an unbeliever might begin to believe, even while trying to survive to live through another day.Meanwhile, the bullets are flying and the action is intense. It's cliché to say that there are no atheists in foxholes, and Torgersen seems willing to test that proposition.And yet, his message-if there is one-is not a heavy-handed paean to religion. Rather, his approach seems to be a new spin on an oft addressed question: are we alone in the universe?Torgersen's perspective may just be that perhaps our existence alone, as that of any sentient race, is evidence that we are not alone, but that there is in nature a force greater than us with an interest in our happiness and progress. But it is a journey that every man, or woman, must walk on their own terms.As I finished The Chaplain's War, it was clear to me that Torgersen had raised as many questions as he had intimated answers. Rather than sewing confusion with his inquiries, though, his aim is towards hope and possibility, encouraging the reader to look out from himself rather than in.I've often heard Torgersen note-at cons, on his blog, and in social media-that his aim is to entertain, reach a broad audience, and regain some of the footing that the science fiction genre lost when it became obsessed with pet ideological projects. The Chaplain's War is a step in that direction (and one is tempted to make comparisons to Heinlein), entertaining and thoughtful at the same time, without forgetting what made science fiction great during its golden age. It bodes well for Torgersen's career, and I look forward to what he crafts next.
21 of 26 people found the following review helpful. Yes! Buy it! By M. Maxwell Brad R. Torgerson has taken some standard science fiction tropes (Earthlings under threat from insectoid aliens, young people signing up for war) and made them fresh through an unusual viewpoint—that of a military chaplain, or more accurately, a chaplain’s assistant—an accidental chaplain’s assistant, at that. Harrison Barlow is just a regular guy who likes to help people, and ends up assigned to the Chaplain’s Corps, even though he’s a nonbeliever who never had religious training of any kind. Faith and religion are often touched upon in fantasy, but not often in science fiction, and this insider/outsider perspective serves very well as Harry moves into adulthood surrounded by the questions of life and death, duty and fellowship, and humanity and personhood that accompany the folks at the front lines of armed conflict.Never fear, there is no preaching here. The book is a novel full of action, not a philosophical treatise, so the reader is engaged by flashbacks to boot camp and enemy action and all the things that led to Harry’s current position as a man who brokers an alien peace. As always, peace is threatened. Is it a miracle when governments act beyond self-interest for the good of all? Is the sum of the law and the prophets to help people? Can a non-believer inspire others to faith? If you are doing the works, is faith necessary? These are some of the questions never asked directly in the book, but certainly occurring throughout the action. I read a review by a humanist who was satisfied, and as a believer I am satisfied, with the answers and questions I took away from the novel—the hallmark of a great story, like a great teacher, that leads you to the door of your own understanding and lets you go. Like David Drake’s Redliners, this is a book that goes beyond the standard military sci-fi.Highly recommended.(I received an egalley from Baen and Netgalley for review.)
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful. A story that aims for something more than bang-zoom. By Fred L. Warren Chaplains don’t come up much in classic military space opera—sometimes they’re a side character, a Jiminy Cricket-ish conscience for the commander or somebody to deliver the requisite toss-off prayer before battle: "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!" Being a retired military guy myself, and having known a few chaplains in my time, I found it refreshing to read a story that not only takes the chaplain’s role seriously, but ponders how it works in practice and what it means in the context of military community, present or future.Torgerson also does something you don’t see much in conventional military space opera…he opens by presenting us an utterly defeated member of an utterly defeated Earth fleet, going through the motions of a passive task that seems meaningless at first glance—a man marking time as he waits for death. Where’s the space battle? Where’s the power-suited infantry? Where’s the Earth-shattering kaboom?It does arrive eventually, and it’s worth the wait, because this is a story that aims for something more than bang-zoom. Yes, it’s a tale about how a war might be resolved by means other than force of arms, but it’s mostly about that man in the little handmade chapel, lighting lamps and dusting pews in the service of a God he can’t comprehend, on behalf of people who are clinging to their last shred of hope. He’s not a chrome-plated hero, or a spiritual paragon. He cares about the people around him and is trying his best to do the right thing as he sees it, moment to moment.As it turns out, that’s enough.The Chaplain’s War pulled me in immediately, and it held my interest well enough to motivate me to chew through it in a couple of sessions of steady reading, which is always a good sign. It didn’t quite hit all the right notes with me—by way of plumbing Harry Barlow’s character and backstory, Torgerson intersperses flashbacks from a familiar basic training program, in agonizing** detail, complete with a bullying nemesis and a couple of insightful mentors who immediately recognize Barlow’s potential and help him find his military vocation. Torgerson is a Warrant Officer in the US Army Reserve, so he hits the experience and the jargon spot-on, but I found myself wishing for less time in backstory and more focus on Barlow’s immediate crisis. The aliens, while interesting, seemed to grasp humanity a little too easily, and considering the amount of planetary-scale carnage leading up to the final resolution, I would have expected it to be more difficult for the two sides to come to terms. Still, it’s a good story, and an absorbing read, and I liked it very much.What I found most interesting were the faith issues Barlow wrestles with. In short, though I wasn’t entirely satisfied with that element of the story, it’s remarkable to find it playing such an important role in this sub-genre of science fiction. and I thought Torgerson handled it with sensitivity and intelligence.Battlefield violence, coarse language (military guys swear a lot—it is what it is), and a couple of non-explicit sexual situations (which actually display a high moral standard in situations where it would be easy to take the low road). Older teens and up.**Maybe it only seemed agonizing because it brought back so many lovely memories of my own time in basic training. Ouch.
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