New Military Novel - FLASHPOINT QUEBEC

[Mike Bobbitt]

Hi Philip,

Thanks for your review. I've read it as well, and thought it was entertaining and well written. There were a few bits of Canadiana that were off (we don't have 1st Lt's) but once you get past those it's good reading. There's not a lot of time "setting up the intrigue" which is fine by me. It jumps in the action quickly, and then follows several units through their run of battle luck, good and bad. It's also a pretty light read, so no huge time commitment is required.


Cheers
Mike

 

[karpovage]

Thank you Mr. Hunter for the great book review and thank you for purchasing it off of Army.ca. Mike Bobbit and I both appreciate the support. I do appreciate the feedback on the subtle details too - especially coming from someone in my target audience of readers - a military person. They will help me in a next novel that I am tossing ideas about. Always needing to improve and be realistic as possible is what I'm striving for.  As a civilian some of the military accuracies are tough to come by though but with constructive criticism I hope to only get better.

I've also been in contact with another reader who just finished it and he was a CW3 Target Acquisition officer of the 10th Mountain - now with another unit and back in Iraq - and he liked the combat intensity too - especially the sniper scene. Said it was very close to the real thing as he's been in it both in Afghanistan and Iraq. What I did in my research was draw off of real life combat portrayals from battlefield stories (mainly Mogadishu, Somalia) to try and capture the emotions a soldier might feel in a choatic firefight so it's good to hear from soldiers like yourself who've been there and felt that so at least I know I've done my homework well.

Please pass on the book recommendation to everyone you know and feel free to contact me personally anytime.

I really do appreciate what you professional soldiers do and in fact by writing this novel on this subject matter, wanted the public to know as well what you guys go through on a battlefield.

Stay safe,

Michael Karpovage

 

[Infanteer]

Here's an idea for your next book that will really excite the troops.  Write one about the CF getting decent funding and surprisingly being sent off into combat operations with our allies; amazingly, lets throw in the support of a majority of Canadians as well.....

All jokes aside, I plan on checking out your novel in return for supporting our little corner of cyberspace here.

Thanks
Infanteer

 

[SFontaine]

I went down to Bolen Books the other day to look for a copy and they said they'd order one. I'll prolly get it then.

 

[karpovage]

Thanks to you both for checking out my book. I hope you enjoy a bit of an escape to an urban battlefield in Trois Rivieres. With the novel being set in 2005 I actually wrote in a hardnosed conservative hawk as the Canadian Prime Minister - too bad Harper lost, eh? Anyways, it's Canada calling on the U.S. for military support in what is called Operation Joint Suppression precisely for the fact that your military has been stripped of major fighting capabilities due to liberal cutbacks - I lay out some of the statistics in a NATO press conference in the first chapter. Anyways, this is clearly a combat novel - I don't dwell on the politics of Quebec secession - I simply have Quebec seceeding in the very first chapter. From then on its a military operation following a 10th Mountain unit as well as the Quebec Defense Force Colonel (a former CF officer demoted for his role in the Somalia Affair). The QDf colonel leads a rogue M1Abrams tank force until the two powers clash - then it gets hairy. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

 

[Sh4d0w]

Hello, i have been trying to find your book at Chapters for a while.  I assume its only availble online?

 

[karpovage]

Sh4d0w, It is available at Borders books in Watertown, NY (home of the 10th Mountain Div) and Barnes and Nobles in Ithaca, NY (my hometown). I've been trying to get shelf copies in Chapters but it's in bureaucratic mumbo jombo right now. YOur best bet is to call Chapters as they should be able to order it online for you. Usually arrives in a couple of weeks. Or just DIY at Amazon.com or directly from my publisher for a little less. Go to my website and click on Buy Book and it takes you directly to my Publisher,:

http://www.publishedauthors.net/MichaelKarpovage/index.html

Let me know if you have any problems and of course once you read it your review - good I hope!

Cheers

 

[basxav]

Michael:
I found the thread a little late. Since you're looking for plot suggestions for your next bookhow about a story on humanitarian assistance with a military component. Basically it's the Dafur situation fictionalized of course. You could write an interesting plot about a similar disaster with threads touching on humanitarian entities/NGOs and their agenda, the victims, the bad guys, the media, alliance politics (NATO, UN, Europe vs America, the Arab league) and of course how an ordinary soldier sees and is effected by these threads.

xavier

 

[karpovage]

Thanks for the suggestion. That is an interesting topic.

 

[basxav]

Michael:
You're welcome
xavier

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

What about a naval scenario?

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

What about a naval scenario?

No, it has to be military!

....ok, ex-tanker now naval drops everything to go on a crusade to find and punch out ex-arty now guard.... ;D

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Heresy! Burn the witch...ummm I mean guard!!!  ;D

 

[Spr.Earl]

How about the separation if B.C.,Ab.,Sask.,Man.,Yukon,Washington,Alaska, and Oregon?
Creating a new Nation.What would Washington and Ottawa do?

They have nearly all the natural resources of North America!!
Under the subject of Alienation from our respective Fed.Capital's.

Would it take the whole of the U.S. Military to subdue and bring back these Territories and if so what would happen world wide when the U.S. brought back these Forces to subdue this revolt in N.America?

 

[Danjanou]

Hmm a couple of years ago you could have tossed in the Dakotas to that group and the new country would have been the second largest nuclear power in the world.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

How about the separation if B.C.,Ab.,Sask.,Man.,Yukon,Washington,Alaska, and Oregon?
Creating a new Nation.What would Washington and Ottawa do?

They have nearly all the natural resources of North America!!
Under the subject of Alienation from our respective Fed.Capital's.

Would it take the whole of the U.S. Military to subdue and bring back these Territories and if so what would happen world wide when the U.S. brought back these Forces to subdue this revolt in N.America?

Doesn't Ian Slater have a series along those lines?

 

[karpovage]

Now you're talking - a western North American secession. That is a killer idea. Say, Quebec seceeds which starts the ball rolling for BC, Alberta, etc. and you've got some realistic political conflicts to play off of. Toss China into the mix as the world's second most formidable superpower too.  Recruit Joe had mentioned a Northern shipping lane through the Artic Circle truly linking Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and with the natural resources all up in this area now you are talking another World War in the making with definite naval and ground combat scenarios. Talk about terrrain variety, damn, I'm just getting stressed thinking how I'd start researching this scenario. Tom Clancy, Larry Bond, Ralph Peters - where are you??

 

[George Wallace]

Are we talking about "CASCADIA" again?

GW

 

[George Wallace]

Finally found the book I was looking for, as this thread sounded so familiar; "KILLING GROUND The Canadian Civil War" by BRUCE POWE.  Copyright 1968.  I have the PaperJacks edition published in 1977.

ISBN  0-7701-0052-X

This is a very good book on the possibility of Quebec seccession and fractures in the Cdn Military and society of the day.  It ends with Canada being reunited in a common cause when 10 Mtn crosses the Quebec/New York border.

I believe Gen Richard Romner(SP), an author in his own right, also wrote a book in that timeframe about Quebec seccession, but I don't have it handy at the moment.

GW

 

[OLD F of S]

    It is not far off the mark, I am sure it would suprise most Canadians of the American
involvment in 1970 Dec to be accurate. They assisted at the request of our government
headed by Trudeau. They provided tech support and equipment from Fort Hood.
    So its not all fiction.