Browse Authors:
Choose

Tom Kratman books in order

Tom Kratman is a retired American Army officer and author of military science fiction novels, best known for the Desert Called Peace Series.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1956, he joined the Army at age 17, serving two years with the 101st Airborne and one and a half with the 193rd Infantry Brigade in Panama.

Kratman attended Boston College thanks to an Army scholarship, and graduated cum laude before returning to the Army as an infantry officer.

He earned a Combat Infantry Badge and the Ranger Tab before proceeding to law school.

Although he continued serving in the Reserves, Kratman retired from the Army in 2006 and did everything he could to avoid practicing law.

Now a full-time writer, Kratman–who is married to a stunning woman from rural western Panama–has three children and three grandchildren.

He lives with his wife Yolanda in Blacksburg, Virginia.

More about Tom Kratman

Genres: Fantasy / SF, Fiction, Military

Born: 1956

United States

Website: https://tomkratman.com/

Non Series

  • A State of Disobedience (2003)
  • Caliphate (2008)
  • The Romanov Rescue (2021)

Anthologies

  1. Riding the Red Horse (Edited by Vox Day and Tom Kratman) (2014)
  2. Terra Nova: The Wars of Liberation (Edited by Tom Kratman) (2019)

Countdown

  1. The Liberators (2011)
  2. M Day (2011)
  3. H Hour (2012)

Desert Called Peace / Carerra

  1. A Desert Called Peace (2007)
  2. Carnifex (2007)
  3. The Lotus Eaters (2010)
  4. The Amazon Legion (2011)
  5. Come and Take Them (2013)
  6. The Rods and the Axe (2014)
  7. A Pillar of Fire by Night (2018)
  8. Days of Burning, Days of Wrath (2020)
  9. Notes on the Carreraverse: A Concordance, More or Less (2021)

Legacy of the Aldenata (with John Ringo)

  1. Watch on the Rhine (Book Seven) (2005)
  2. Yellow Eyes (Book Eight) (2007)
  3. The Tuloriad (Book Twelve) (2009)

Non-fiction

  1. Training for War: An Essay (2014)
  2. Principles of Organization for War and Organizing for War in the Carreraverse (2019)

Novellas

  1. Big Boys Don't Cry (2014)

Detailed book overview

Non Series

A State of Disobedience

It's Time to Remember the Alamo All Over Again!

In the long war against terrorism, the US Government had taken on extraordinary powers. And now that the war was won, powerful forces in the government had no intention of relinquishing those powers. 

As in 1860, the country was on the verge of civil war. And as in 1860, a leader arose to save the country—but it was not the President this time. 

Instead, the Governor of Texas was the woman of destiny. And, though the Federal Government had more guns and troops, David was about to give Goliath a run for his money...

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2003
Ebook: B00AP9CO4G
Publisher: Baen Books
Caliphate

"Slavery is a part of Islam...Slavery is part of jihad, and jihad will remain as long there is Islam." —Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan, author of the religious textbook At-Tawhid ("Monotheism") and senior Saudi cleric.

Demography is destiny. In the 22nd century European deathbed demographics have turned the continent over to the more fertile Moslems. Atheism in Europe has been exterminated. Homosexuals are hanged, stoned or crucified. 

Such Christians as remain are relegated to dhimmitude, a form of second class citizenship. They are denied arms, denied civil rights, denied a voice, and specially taxed via the Koranic yizya. Their sons are taken as conscripted soldiers while their daughters are subject to the depredations of the continent's new masters.

In that world, Petra, a German girl sold into prostitution as a slave at the age of nine to pay her family's yizya, dreams of escape. Unlike most girls of the day, Petra can read. And in her only real possession, her grandmother's diary, a diary detailing the fall of European civilization, Petra has learned of a magic place across the sea: America.

But it will take more than magic to free Petra and Europe from their bonds; it will take guns, superior technology, and a reborn spirit of freedom.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2008
Ebook: B00ARPJDLA
Publisher: Baen Books
The Romanov Rescue

Mankind's history is bound up in the fabric of fate, a strong cloth, tough and closely woven.

It is the beginning of 1918, the last year of the greatest war in human history, to date. All the belligerents stagger on their feet. Starvation is an ever present reality, while disease waits in the wings. In Russia, no longer a belligerent but, instead, rapidly descending into civil war and chaos, a lone family—Father, Mother, four beautiful young girls, and a brave but sickly boy—await their own fate, shivering and hungry in the dark, hoping and praying for salvation.

Their relatives in England have turned their backs. The guards set over them do little but torment them. They look Heavenward, but God doesn't answer. They know they're a threat to the new regime, a threat that will, in time, be eliminated.

But even the strongest fabric has flaws. An escaped prisoner of war, caught, injured, and punished, but still highly capable, might be one. An airship, returned and at loose ends after a failed mission to Africa might be another. A German general, taking a wrong turn on his nightly walk and suddenly coming face to face with the reality of the monster rising in the east, would be a third.

Follow, then, as the general gives the orders, the prisoner of war raises the men from among his fellows, and the airship launches itself forward, to contest fate, to tear the fabric of time, and to effect The Romanov Rescue.

NB: Co-authored with Kacey Ezell and Justin Watson.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2021
Ebook: B09KMG82GY
Publisher: Baen Books

Anthologies

Riding the Red Horse (Edited by Vox Day and Tom Kratman)

RIDING THE RED HORSE is a collection of 24 essays and short stories from technologists, military strategists, military historians, and the leading authors of military science fiction. 

From the Old Guard to the New, the anthology features some of the keenest minds and bestselling authors writing in the genre today. Three national militaries and three service branches are represented by the contributors, the majority of whom are veterans.

Edited by LTC Tom Kratman, US Army (ret) and Vox Day, RIDING THE RED HORSE covers everything from real-world lasers, intelligence ops, threat assessments, and wargame design to space combats, fleet actions, and ground operations taking place in some of the most popular future universes in science fiction.

The anthology consists of contributions from Eric S. Raymond, William S. Lind, Chris Kennedy, James F. Dunnigan, Jerry Pournelle, Ken Burnside, Christopher Nuttall, Rolf Nelson, Harry Kitchener, Giuseppe Filotto, John F. Carr, Wolfgang Diehr, Thomas Mays, Benjamin Cheah, James Perry, Brad Torgersen, Tedd Roberts, Steve Rzasa, Tom Kratman, and Vox Day.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2014
Ebook: B00QZD9H5K
Publisher: Castalia House
Terra Nova: The Wars of Liberation (Edited by Tom Kratman)

"Send us your tired, your poor," says the inscription at the base of the great statue, "your huddled masses yearning to be free."

But the future of the colony planet, Terra Nova, and its relations with Old Earth is far more a case of boot out your tired, your poor, your dissidents and troublemakers. 

Use us for a dumping ground for all your problems. Go ahead and abandon these here. This may have been fine, too, but for the UN and its corrupt bureaucracy insisting on maintaining control and milking the new world and its settlers, willing and unwilling both, bone dry.

Contained herein are tales of the history of Mankind's future first colony, from the first failed attempt at colonization, to the rise in crime, to the rise in terrorism, to its descent into widespread civil war and rebellion...and ultimately liberation. As with most of human history, this history is messy, with good men and women turning bad, bad men and women inadvertently doing good, and blood flowing in the streets.

Stories set in Tom Kratman’s Carrera series by:

Kasey Ezell

Mike Massa

Rob Hampson

Chris Smith

Peter Grant

Chris Nutall

Justin Watson

Monalisa Foster

Alex Macris

Lawrence Railey

and Tom Kratman

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2019
ISBN: 978-1481484169
Publisher: Baen Books

Countdown

The Liberators

Old soldiers never die...except inside, when they lack a reason to live. Old soldier Wes Stauer is dying inside, from sheer lack of purpose.

And then comes the knock on the door: ''Our leader's son and heir has been kidnapped. We don't know where he is. We need you to get him back for us. The people who have him are numerous, warlike, and well armed. But money is no object.''

And then old soldiers-sailors and airmen, too-stop fading away and come back into sharp focus.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2011
Ebook: B00APA4R40
Publisher: Baen Books
M Day

War is brutal. Colonel Wes Stauer gets it. He ought to. He was once one of war's most brutal practitioners—not to mention one of its most effective and least bloody. Brutal yes; stupid no. 

Now, not only must Stauer command his crack outfit of former comrades and pull off yet another miracle mission, he must also harness and direct the brute within himself—a beast he will need in order to destroy an intelligent enemy who is as implacable as Stauer himself. Okay, almost as implacable. 

There will be war. And there will be warriors like Wes Stauer who have the know-how and, once set in motion, the unstoppable professional drive, to see the bad guys to their graves and destroy every last earthly piece of their nasty legacies.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2011
Ebook: B00APA4O66
Publisher: Baen Books
H Hour

Welcome to the Philippines outback. It's a true garden spot, if you happen to like drug running, bush-bound revolutionary movements, Balkanized tribal warfare, illegal weapons trading, and kidnapping for fun and profit. 

It's hostage rescue time once again for Terry Welch's special operations company. But this is turning out to be one of those missions. Starting with no clue as to the hostage's whereabouts topped off by Welch and his crew having to endure a rifle company of hated competitors supposedly sent along for reinforcement.

Part of the territory for Welch. But then an attack on both companies' home bases leaves families and friends under threat of death and any available support scurrying to defend. Worse, advance team members sent to reconnoiter have been taken hostage as well. No help, no backup, team members in the soup.

Welch knows there's only one solution: do whatever it takes. This is H Hour. And the fight is on.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2012
Ebook: B00APA4PE2
Publisher: Baen Books

Desert Called Peace / Carerra

A Desert Called Peace

HE RAISED AN ARMY

AGAINST THOSE WHO

TOOK EVERYTHING FROM HIM

They should have picked their enemies more carefully.

Five centuries from now, on a remarkably Earthlike planet that is mankind's sole colony in space, religious fanatics called the ""Salafi Ikhwan"" have murdered the uncle of former colonel Patrick Hennessey. That was their first mistake, because uncle was rich and Hennessey was rather a good colonel. But they also murdered Hennessey's wife, Linda, and their three small children, and that was their worst mistake for she was the only restraint Hennessey had ever accepted.

From the pile of rubble and the pillar of fire that mark the last resting place of Linda Hennessey and her children arises a new warrior—Carrera, scourge of the Salafis. He will forge an army of ruthless fanatics from the decrepit remains of failed state's military. He will wage war across half a world. He will find those who killed his family. He will destroy them, and those who support them, utterly, completely, without restraint or remorse.

Only when he is finished will there be peace: the peace of an empty wind as it blows across a desert strewn with the bones of Carrera's enemies.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2007
Ebook: B00B5HEF3U
Publisher: Baen Books
Carnifex

BE CAREFUL WHO YOU CHOOSE AS YOUR ENEMY,

HE'S GOING TO BECOME JUST LIKE YOU.

Patricio Carrera has been waging what amounts to a private world war to bring to justice the murderers of his family; He's raised an army and air force and used them. He's raised a fleet and he's about to use that. He's suborned one republic and is about to undermine another. He's tracked his enemies across half a world, breaking, in the process, any notion of international law that stood in his way.

Now he's deployed his legions to Pashtia, penultimate hideout of the Salafi Ikhwan who have made him what he has become. But with each step further from his home, revenge seems no closer. And with each step he leaves behind him a little of his dwindling humanity.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Yet the trail itself grows cold, as cold as the snow-capped, windswept mountains of Pashtia. Only Carrera's hate still burns hot, and that's a fire that is slowly consuming him.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2007
Ebook: B00AP9RXII
Publisher: Baen Books
The Lotus Eaters

Sometimes paranoia is just a heightened state of awareness.

Carrera's won his war, and inflicted a horrific revenge upon his enemies. But there are wars after wars. 

The Tauran Union is planning an attack. The criminals of neighboring states are already attacking, and threatening to embroil him in a war with the planet's premier power. His only living son is under fire among the windswept mountains of Pashtia. An enemy fleet is hunting his submarines. His organization has been infiltrated by spies. One of the two governments of his adopted country, Balboa, is trying to destroy everything he's built and reinstitute rule by a corrupt oligarchy. 

Worst of all, perhaps, he, himself, bearing a crushing burden of guilt, isn't quite the man he once was. Fortunately, the man he once was, was lucky enough to marry the right woman...

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2010
Ebook: B00APA1I1A
Publisher: Baen Books
The Amazon Legion

On the colony planet of Terra Nova, Carrera has achieved his revenge, destroying those who had destroyed his life by killing his wife and children in a terrorist strike. And, with this help of his second wife, he has thwarted an attempted coup that would have restored the rule of the oligarchy and undone his hard-won victory. But his fight is not over yet...

The problem of the Tauran Union's control of the Transitway between Terra Nova and Earth remains, as does the problem of the nuclear armed United Earth Peace Fleet, orbiting above the planet. The Taurans will not leave, and the Balboans—a proud people, with much recent success in war - will not tolerate that they should remain.

And yet, with one hundred times the population and three or four hundred times the wealth, the Tauran Union outclasses little Balboa in almost every way, even without the support of Old Earth. Sadly, they have that support. Everything, everyone, will have to be used to finish the job of freeing the country and, if possible, the planet. The children must fight. The old must serve, too. And the women?

This is their story, the story of Balboa's Tercio Amazona, the Amazon Regiment.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2011
Ebook: B00AP91RNU
Publisher: Baen Books
Come and Take Them

The Carrera saga continues with entry number five, and the sequel to Amazon Legion. Carrera. Relentless. Machiavellian. Without compunction. Victorious. Pity his enemies. Be thankful he is on the side of freedom from totalitarian domination.

On the colony planet of Terra Nova, soldier turned political leader Carrera has achieved his revenge, destroying those who killed his wife and children in a terrorist strike, and helping to establish a free country. But Carrera’s fight is not over.

War with the Tauran Union is inevitable. Carrera has been preparing his new country for this all-out conflict for years, intending to drive out the last vestige of foreign imperialism in Balboa, the Tauran Union Security Force. He doesn't care that he's outnumbered one hundred to one. He doesn't care that the Taurans are one thousand times wealthier. 

A true Machiavellian, Carrera is convinced that gold cannot always find good soldiers, but that good soldiers can always find gold. After all, his good soldiers have already found quite a bit. Moreover, he's been preparing for the war he intends to start and fight on his own terms, while the TU has been preparing for a progressive fantasy.

But then his own government calls a halt even as the commander of the United Earth Peace Fleet, High Admiral Marguerite Wallenstein, injects a dose of realism and spine into the Tauran Union. Any other government, giving similar orders, Carrera would overthrow without hesitation. But this is his own creation; he must follow these orders.

But the Taurans are provoking Balboa mercilessly, and Carrera knows that sooner or later, he must fight—only now the task will be more difficult and more bloody. No matter. When that time comes, Carerra knows he will do whatever it takes to win. He is, after all, Carrera.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2013
Ebook: B00FY443IW
Publisher: Baen Books
The Rods and the Axe

Tarawa. Iwo. Normandy. Names that shine in the military history of two worlds, places where brave men stormed ashore and fought their way to victory no matter the odds. But then there are other names: Marathon. Malta. Gallipoli.

Balboa’s Patricio Carrera has driven the Tauran Union from his adopted country, driven them out with appalling loss and worse humiliation. That’s not enough though. To finally finish his enemies, Carrera needs to draw them back for a more telling defeat. He cannot take the battle to them because, beyond some long range bombardment capability, he cannot reach them. But when they return, they don’t plan to come alone; they insist on having someone else do most of the bleeding for them.

Carrera understands this. And that’s why he’s provoked the Zhong Guo mercilessly, infuriating their ruling Empress. He needs the Zhong in the war, to buck up the Taurans to continue the war to its bitterest end.

But to get to Carrera, the Zhong must take the Isla Real, the strongest island fortress on two worlds. In the process, they’ll learn why Marines never forget those other names...

Gallipoli…Malta…Marathon.

Carrera’s enemies are about to learn why the expression "blood-stained water" is not just a literary allusion.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2014
Ebook: B00L17ZGY6
Publisher: Baen Books
A Pillar of Fire by Night

Carrera's held off his enemies coming by sea from the north, in the process dealing the naval and amphibious forces of the Zhong Empire a stinging defeat. The Zhong won't soon forget the blood-stained waters and the heaped up bodies on the shores of Balboa's Isla Real.

Now, though, his adopted country of Balboa is under assault from the east, from the south, from the west, from the air, and from space. The Zhong, smarting from the butchery around the island, have bounced back and forced a lodgment east of the capital. Their lodgment is still a-building but when it is done Carrera can expect several hundred thousand brave and determined Zhong to show up on his barely defended flank.

The Taurans, remembering their military roots, have assaulted Balboa from the south, taking half the area of, and cutting, the Transitway that joins Terra Nova's Mar Fusioso and her Shimmering Sea. In the process, they've cut off and besieged the second city of the country, Cristobal, trapping inside the city Carrera's Fourth Corps, and overrunning and capturing a large portion of Carrera's artillery train.

West of Cristobal, the Taurans have created, almost from scratch, a series of small ports and airfields to support their siege.

Inside the town, a sense of desperation is growing among the men and women of the Fourth Corps: Has their leader forgotten about or abandoned them?

Meanwhile another Tauran Expeditionary force secures Balboa's eastern neighbor, Santa Josefina, as a base against them.

In space, the United Earth Peace Fleet, under the Command of High Admiral Marguerite Wallenstein, keeps as low a profile as possible, all the time spying and feeding intelligence to both Zhong and Tauran.

It's beginning to look like the game is up for Balboa and Patricio Carrera.

But Carrera's been planning this war for fifteen years. He certainly hopes his enemies think they're winning.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2018
Ebook: B07J6HHDM2
Publisher: Baen Books
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath

When Patricio Carrera’s family was murdered by Salafist terrorists aided and abetted by the fleet of alien Earth, the only restraint on his ruthlessness and ambition was also removed. Now, after decades of war and preparation for war in his adopted homeland of Balboa, the last of the Tauran Union Expeditionary Force collapses and is herded into prison camps and ships, where their re-education commences.

An Islamic rebellion explodes inside the Tauran Union, bringing the governments and the bureaucracies to their knees...except when they’re hauled up by their necks on lampposts. In neighboring Santa Josefina, the Taurans’ Task Force Jesuit is pinned into one small corner of the country, helplessly awaiting destruction. At sea, the Balboan classis and the remaining fleet of the Zhong Hegemony battle for the supply lines that keep the invading Zhong Army in Balboa alive, while the legions, now rid of the Taurans, redeploy against the Zhong, vengeance and massacre in their hearts and minds. 

And finally, Hamilcar Carrera, Patricio’s young son, stands poised on the bridge of a clandestine assault transport, ready to obliterate the last enemy base on his planet, even as a small ship is poised to remove the alien interstellar fleet overhead.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2020
Ebook: B08D9WFJJR
Publisher: Baen Books
Notes on the Carreraverse: A Concordance, More or Less

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Carreraverse in one handy volume! Tom Kratman’s Carrera series has cut a swath through the military science fiction genre. Now Kratman outlines the history and worldbuilding of his popular creation.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2021
Ebook: B08TB6VPB7
Publisher: Baen Books

Legacy of the Aldenata (with John Ringo)

Watch on the Rhine (Book Seven)

In the dark days after the events in the book Gust Front, but before the primary invasion, the Chancellor of Germany faces a critical decision. 

Over the years, with military cutbacks, the store of experienced military personnel had simply dwindled. After the destruction of Northern Virginia, he realized that it was necessary to tap the one group he had sworn never, ever, to recall: the few remaining survivors of the Waffen SS.

Watch On the Rhine is perhaps the most unbiased, and brutal, look at the inner workings of the Waffen SS in history. Meticulously researched, it explores all that was good, and evil, about the most infamous military force in history using the backdrop of the Posleen invasion as a canvas.

NB: Here is the complete list of the series by John Ringo and other authors:

1. A Hymn Before Battle (2000) by John Ringo

2. Gust Front (2001) by John Ringo

3. When the Devil Dances (2002) by John Ringo

4. Hell's Faire (2003) by John Ringo

5. The Hero (2004) by John Ringo and Michael Z Williamson

6. Cally's War (2004) by Julie Cochrane and John Ringo

7. Watch on the Rhine (2005) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo

8. Yellow Eyes (2007) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo

9. Sister Time (2007) by Julie Cochrane and John Ringo

10. Honor of the Clan (2009) by Julie Cochrane and John Ringo

11. Eye of the Storm (2009) by John Ringo

12. The Tuloriad (2009) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2005
Ebook: B00AP91Y6A
Publisher: Baen Books
Yellow Eyes (Book Eight)

Stand Against the Posleen Horde!

Earth invaded! The Posleen aggressors eating what population they don't outright vaporize! Now the aliens are closing in on a vital choke point for the humans: the Panama Canal. No canal, no food. No food—the North American resistance crumbles, and hope fades. What's worse, slimeball appeasers within the U.S. State Department (surprise!) are set to sell out the resistance to another race of would-be galactic overlords.

One problem for our enemies: when the chips are down for humans, heroes have a habit of arising: A captain of industry who whips a corrupt and inefficient Central American kleptocracy into fighting shape within weeks. A retired Panamanian woman warrior who returns to the field of battle to rally her people in a last stand to save their children. And a battleship that is literally brought to consciousness by the echoes of ancient naval tradition (and a sentient A.I.) to fight ferociously for her country — and the captain she's come to love.

It's a rip-roaring epic of tactics, heroism, and survival as only two masters of military SF (both of whom served in Panama during their stint in the Army) can tell it.

NB: Here is the complete list of the series by John Ringo and other authors:

1. A Hymn Before Battle (2000) by John Ringo

2. Gust Front (2001) by John Ringo

3. When the Devil Dances (2002) by John Ringo

4. Hell's Faire (2003) by John Ringo

5. The Hero (2004) by John Ringo and Michael Z Williamson

6. Cally's War (2004) by Julie Cochrane and John Ringo

7. Watch on the Rhine (2005) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo

8. Yellow Eyes (2007) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo

9. Sister Time (2007) by Julie Cochrane and John Ringo

10. Honor of the Clan (2009) by Julie Cochrane and John Ringo

11. Eye of the Storm (2009) by John Ringo

12. The Tuloriad (2009) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2007
Ebook: B00AP91PZK
Publisher: Baen Books
The Tuloriad (Book Twelve)

The Enemy of My Enemy...

Of the once innumerable battle clans of the Posleen only a handful survive. And that on the sufferance of a group of despised Indowy and Himmit. Plucked from the maelstrom on Earth they are cast out into the eternal blackness of the stars with only a slighltly insane Indowy and a computer virus to guide them.

What follows is a trail of tears and remembrance as the Posleen retrace the footsteps of their ancestors in a search for their homeworld. A search to determine if the Posleen posess the one thing no Human would give them credit for: A soul.

Returned to their beginnings, the question remains: Is there a new path for the Tular Posleen?

NB: Here is the complete list of the series by John Ringo and other authors:

1. A Hymn Before Battle (2000) by John Ringo

2. Gust Front (2001) by John Ringo

3. When the Devil Dances (2002) by John Ringo

4. Hell's Faire (2003) by John Ringo

5. The Hero (2004) by John Ringo and Michael Z Williamson

6. Cally's War (2004) by Julie Cochrane and John Ringo

7. Watch on the Rhine (2005) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo

8. Yellow Eyes (2007) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo

9. Sister Time (2007) by Julie Cochrane and John Ringo

10. Honor of the Clan (2009) by Julie Cochrane and John Ringo

11. Eye of the Storm (2009) by John Ringo

12. The Tuloriad (2009) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2009
Ebook: B00AP9D5IK
Publisher: Baen Books

Non-fiction

Training for War: An Essay

An essay and manual on training for war by retired Army lieutenant colonel Tom Kratman, creator of the popular Carrera military science fiction series, including novels A Desert Called Peace, Carnifex, Come and Take Them, and The Rods and the Axe. Kratman’s contention: an army is for winning wars. And to win wars, you have to train men (and some women) to be warriors, not police or social workers. 

Herein Kratman gives guidance and a practical plan of action to officers tasked with training troops—advice than might be equally applied to other crucial training situations, as well.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2014
Ebook: B00JQI9TH2
Publisher: Baen Books
Principles of Organization for War and Organizing for War in the Carreraverse

Tom Kratman’s science fiction novels are distinguished by his attention to detail in all matters military. Now, Kratman details his philosophy behind the organization of the Carreraverse, in a series of essays. 

These are a distillation of Kratman’s years of military service and deep reading in military history, philosophy, as well as the thoughts of someone who has “been there” and “done that” on timeless principles of military operations and organization that will likely still be required when humanity takes to the stars.

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2019
Ebook: B07PGDDF57
Publisher: Baen Books

Novellas

Big Boys Don't Cry

Thi story covers the creation, training, combat life, and end of a Ratha, a sentient cybernetic supertank of the far future, a multithousand ton janissary, as it faithfully wages war for its human masters on dozens of alien worlds. What will happen, though, when battle damage reveals to the creature previously sealed memories, when it discovers that Man, it’s creator-god, is an idol with feet of clay?

Can its programmed conscience survive the knowledge of what has been done to it, how it has been manipulated and perverted. Will its gratitude to its creators be enough to maintain the loyalty of an intelligent war machine with enough firepower to flatten cities?

Author: Tom Kratman
First Release: 2014
ISBN: 978-1077088818
Publisher: Independently published