Tim C. Taylor

August 12, 2015

Human Empire — read the preview now!

Human Empire, the fourth book in the Human Legion series is a few weeks away. I promised you an early reveal of the first few chapters, and here it is available now 🙂 I’ve made it available as a Kindle or ePUB format eBook. If you ask for one in a comment to this post, I’ll send you one. Simple as that. It’s the first two sections of the novel, which would be about 100 pages in paperback. [Update: I’m going to be offline for a few days while I sit in a muddy camping field. I’ll post any more previews as soon as I get back.] It hasn’t been proofread, and it is possible (though very unlikely) that we might change some of the […]

August 12, 2015

Who is Ian Whates?

My co-writer, Ian Whates, is going to be vital to the conclusion of the Human Legion series. I’m sure fans will be curious to learn more about him, so I’ve interviewed him to reveal his darkest secrets. At the bottom are some links to his most recent novel which is Deal of the Day on Amazon. Now read on… TIM: So, Ian, I’m trying to think how long we’ve known each other. About 2008, I think. Even before we’d met in the flesh, we’d unknowingly encountered each other as aspiring SF writers because we were both getting published in the same SF magazines. In fact, it was a magazine that brought us together. I used to subscribe to Interzone, which […]

August 8, 2015

Human Legion Recruitment Poster — revisions

Added a new name to the poster. There’s a new version of the War Against the White Knights cover artwork too. The images are not painted to match the story (as I’ll explain in another post one day — that’s why I changed the War Against the White Knights image). However, I can go the other way. As you read the next book, Human Empire, hopefully as you’re reading along you’ll give a little start when you realize you are seeing the front cover image through the eyes of one of the characters.

July 29, 2015

Authors United’s letter to the Department of Justice

I don’t discuss politics, religion, or sport on this site. As for Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space 9… I won’t go there. The same goes for culture wars. I try to keep out of those topics because this site is about connecting with fans of the Human Legion series, discussing space opera and military science fiction, and giving bonus goodies and updates. Besides this is an international site. Most of my followers are American, but a substantial proportion of Human Legion fans are from Germany, Canada, Australia and the UK (and at least one from Switzerland… you know who you are!). An English author commenting on American culture wars politics isn’t going to end well, and is going to seem […]

July 14, 2015

LaveCon 2015 report

Downton Abbey. In the past few years, whenever I make new friends in America, and they realize that I’m English, they will often say: ‘Hey, I love Downton Abbey.’. Of course, we all realize the world of Downton Abbey faded away long before I was born, but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise if you had seen me last Saturday morning as I drove in my open top roadster through rolling green countryside, under perfect blue skies, on my way to… a country mansion: Sedgebrook Hall. The country mansions of the upper classes that used to be dotted throughout England still exist, except they’re now mostly training centers and hotels. Last weekend, Sedgebrook Hall was home to one wedding party, […]

July 4, 2015

Independence Day in Space

From the sun-baked Old Country I wish a happy Fourth of July to all the Human Legion readers in America. If I were a pretzel, slice of cake, or bottle of beer, then I would be in fear for my life on this day of celebration. Getting celebratory food to frontline troops is much harder, although many military organizations have gone to great length to attempt this. But imagine your front line is 20 light years away, and faster than light travel remains the stuff of fiction. How then do you supply your service personnel? With great difficulty. But there are ways around this, as you can see in this new Human Legion Infopedia entry in the Classified Military Data section that I have […]

June 30, 2015

A big announcement about the Human Legion

I love writing the Human Legion books. Even though I have the story mapped out through to book six (and beyond for possible successor series), I often can’t vividly feel what is happening in the minds and hearts of my characters until I’m writing a scene for real. Sometimes my characters surprise me. They aren’t shy about telling me if my story isn’t right, or if they have a more interesting tale to tell than the one I had planned. Consequently I often update my ‘masterplan’. To give a timely Waterloo quote, the Duke of Wellington once said of Napoleon’s marshals: “The French plans are like a splendid leather harness which is perfect when it works, but if it breaks […]

June 27, 2015

The New Ghostwriters of Science Fiction: my first six-month retrospective

I had my first Outside World review* for the Human Legion last week. A site called SciFi365.net picked up on Marine Cadet and recommended it. Said it was ‘more Haldeman than Heinlein’, which was an interesting insight, and while I’m a great lover of Heinlein, Haldeman’s The Forever War still remains in my mind as the definitive military SF novel, and the key book that turned me into an SF reader when I was a teenager. To those who don’t understand the modern world of SF publishing, having my Human Legion journey go unnoticed by the Outside World might seem strange given that today is exactly six months since the first book in the series was published, and by one […]

June 18, 2015

Waterloo and remembering our veterans

I don’t normally cross-post from my Greyhart Press site, but on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, I thought this reflection on veterans by author (and veteran himself) Bob Atkinson might interest you.

June 6, 2015

It’s D-Day for Arun McEwan. Renegade Legion is live!

Poor Arun. After running for his life for much of Indigo Squad, Arun has it even harder in the new Human Legion book, Renegade Legion. Fighting for freedom is hard, but winning freedom is far more difficult, as Arun and his comrades are about to find out. The Human Legion Book3: Renegade Legion is published today in Kindle eBook and in paperback. Click here for the eBook and here for the paperback. If you enjoy this book, or one of the earlier ones, then do please leave a good review on Amazon or Goodreads. It does make a big difference to my ability to earn a living writing books. My sincere thanks to everyone who has left a review so far. Even […]