A short, but intriguing review of Tom Kratman’s Big Boys Don’t Cry:

The whole work is a little surprising coming from Kratman, who knows and conveys that war is hell but has never before shown much inclination to question its ethical dimension at this level. At the end, he comes off almost like the hippies and peaceniks he normally despises.

There is one important difference, however. Kratman was combat career military who has put his own life on the line to defend his country; he understands that as ugly as war is, defeat and surrender can be even worse.

This comment from one of esr’s readers was interesting: “No surprise that it’s published by Castalia House; stories like this are why that publisher exists.” That’s true, to a point, but many people are likely going to be very surprised by some of the books we will be publishing in the next six months. Consider: how many people anticipated something like Astronomy & Astrophysics?

Leading the charge for Blue SF/F is absolutely Castalia House’s primary goal. We have a number of very good novels and novellas in the pipeline. But that is only one of our goals. Another important one, which our name suggests, is to become the intellectually dominant force in SF/F. And that simply cannot be done by putting out propagandistic dogma that is the mirror image of that being published by the traditional gatekeepers.