War is hell, even when you are winning. Captain Ben Gibson of the 5th Ranger Regiment, Bravo Company 1st Battalion, knows that all too well despite currently being frustrated with his computer as their LTV rumbles through the forest. There is no way that his entire regiment has been recalled to the Forward Operating Base (FOB). He and his own team should also remain out for two more days, beating the bushes to engage with and destroy the enemy, rather than be returning to base.
The enemy in this case are the Va’Shen. A race very much like the kitsune or fox spirits of Japan in appearance, the Va’Shen have fox ears and tails. They also utilize a mixture of hard light weapons and more primitive equipment, such as bows and arrows, in their war against humanity. Male Va’Shen are known as “tods,” a term for a male or dog fox, while the women are called “vixens.” Ben and his men should be out looking for Tod but command has for some reason called them back.
Dismounting from his vehicle after they pull into the base, Ben finds no one to greet him, so he heads inside to his desk. He picks up his tablet and finds a series of messages asking if he’s all right, as well as one that reads: “Have you heard from Jessie?” Before he can reach the meeting his regiment has been summoned to attend, his superior, Major Donnelly, pulls him aside to tell him: “Persephone is gone.”
Persephone was the planet from which most of the 5th Ranger Regiment hailed. Tod pulled a few asteroids out of orbit and dropped them on the colony. The city, the U.S. base, and everyone on it is dead, including Donnelly’s steady girlfriend and two children.
Ben’s wife, Jessie, was also on Persephone. She is dead, too.
The Story
Fast forward six months and six nuked Va’Shen cities later, and the war with the Va’Shen is finally finished. Now comes the hard part – establishing and keeping the peace. Along with what remains of the 5th Rangers, Ben is set to take part in the pacification of Va’Sh, the homeworld of their enemy. Since Earth has no single world government, this is a Coalition effort among countries, with the U.S. leading the way. Ben and his men will be stationed near the small town of Pelle, where they will make nice with the locals to prevent another war from breaking out. At the same time they do this, they will conveniently be guarding the route used by convoys that carry fuel and supplies from Jamieson, the main base, to the Va’Shen capitol. They will be stationed in Sector 13 in the south, where it should be relatively quiet. Up north where the nukes were dropped, Tod is a little less inclined to leave the occupying forces alone despite their Emperor’s command, as the Koreans, Slovenians, and other Americans can attest.
Ben brings his unit, a mashup of remaining 5th Rangers and other groups, plus one young interpreter, to their new home outside Pelle. FOB Leonard’s not quite finished yet because the SeaBees need maps to complete it, so Ben heads into town with said young interpreter, Lt. Patricia Kim, to talk the mayor into handing over those desired maps. There are just a couple of problems with that: One, the mayor is stalling. Two, poor Kim’s facility with the Va’Shen language is at the level of a five-year-old.
This is not her fault; the Va’Shen have spoken very little to their enemies, and when the mayor speaks he uses an older form of the language. Human translators got a Va’Shen captive’s name only three months after they started interrogating him. Kim can’t speak better Va’Shen than she does precisely because the aliens refuse to talk to her or the humans properly.
Worse, Pelle is a veritable ghost town. Aside from the mayor and a few old folks, there is no one here. Not until a young, disheveled vixen named Alacea storms into the mayor’s office. She berates the mayor in front of Ben, Kim, and the Rangers, then offers herself to them and claims responsibility for all the war crimes that the Va’Shen perpetrated – including the destruction of Persephone. Except the longer Kim interrogates her, the more certain she becomes that the girl has no idea what she is confessing to and that she’s just desperate to keep her people safe.
Can Ben find the missing Va’Shen from Pelle? Can Alacea trust him not to massacre her people? Will anyone get out of this disaster alive? Peace is so much harder to hold than it looks….
The Characters
Captain Ben Gibson is a man trying to find peace once the shooting stops. His marriage to Jessie was a matter of convenience, but they were still best friends; now he is responsible for not eradicating the people who murdered her and thousands of other innocents. Add in a healthy dose of Post-Traumatic Stress courtesy of Tod, and Ben is hanging on by his fingernails to humanity, sanity, and his orders. Getting that through to people he cannot even communicate with properly is proving more complicated than he would like, especially when the desperate young vixen bites him in a ritualistic manner.
Alacea is the high priestess of Pelle and the protector of her people, bargaining with the gods on their behalf. The Great Ones who delivered the Va’Shen from the Dark Ones four thousand years ago promised to return to help them when the Dark Ones came back. Now, however, the “Dark Ones” hold Va’Sh...but the Great Ones are nowhere to be found. Furthermore, the “Dark Ones” are not acting like those monsters of history and fairy tale. Can she really trust them to be different than those nightmares? Especially the captain who demanded her submission and whom she subsequently marked?
Lieutenant Patricia Kim is a spunky young lady trying her hardest to facilitate communication with a people that does not want to talk. Her best efforts miss a lot of nuances, frustrating her as she tries to make sure that everyone gets through this alive and intact. She doesn’t want to step on toes or cause another war, but her poor linguistics end up putting a lot of people in trouble – namely her commanding officer and Alacea!
The World
Earth has no one-world government, there is a planet that is also a U.S. state, and the occupying forces on Va’Sh operate like the Coalition forces in Iraq did during the Global War on Terror. The Va’Sh fight like Vietnamese guerrillas even though their society is much closer to Imperial Japan during and after World War II, but with a primitive twist since their technology seems to be either borrowed or stolen, with their natural level of tech remaining pre-industrial at best. How they travel space and wield hardlight weapons is a mystery, one of many that the Rangers begin to realize they need to solve if they don’t want to fight with these people ever again. And after this war, they would really rather not go for Round Two!
Politics
None.
Content Warning
There is some cursing and there are a few swears, as well as the Va’Shen recalling the atrocities committed by the Dark Ones against them in the past. Likewise, Ben has serious night terrors and flashbacks to the war, where he watched his friends be killed or where he survived vicious battles with Tod. These occur every night and sometimes during the day. The descriptions are all at a PG-13 level and so readable for teenagers, but there is a lot of “flowing” from one character’s point-of-view to another. While this facilitates the plot and explains how the miscommunications occur, it may annoy some readers more than the aforementioned items. There are no harems or harem elements within the story.
Who is it for?
Anyone who has ever looked at James Cameron’s Avatar and wanted it to make sense would be wise to grab The Vixen War Bride and start reading, as the book has exactly what they have wished was in the films. Fans of Stargate SG-1 will also love the story, which gives due consideration to just how difficult a culture clash can be when neither side understands the other’s language. Those who want fun sci-fi with a twist or who giggle madly at the idea of a planet becoming a U.S. state need to read this novel, as the worldbuilding alone will intrigue them. History buffs who want to get their teens interested in military history will find the story perfect for encouraging their interest, as will Global War on Terror veterans who want to spark conversations with family members or friends. The novel will also appeal to Mil-SF fans who want something new but are not sure quite what that is yet.
Why buy it?
The Vixen War Bride is pure American “comedy of errors” fun in a sci-fi package. It has laughter, pain, honor, courage, and common sense – all rare qualities in modern fiction. Buy it today and enjoy!
OK BOUGHT THE AUDIO BOOK VERSION
Yup, read the whole series, great world building, loved it.