the runes of engagement

[STARRED REVIEW] ＂The collaboration by Buckell (A Stranger in the Citadel) and debuter Klecha is tons of fun and full of geeky references and in-jokes. Will be catnip to readers who love this combination of military SF, alternate history, and fantasy.＂ -Library Journal

＂Fun, action-packed, occasionally gritty, and full of jokes for geeks and Marines alike.＂ -Jim C. Hines, author of Terminal Alliance

The Lord of the Rings meets Call of Duty in this delirious mashup pitting confused soldiers against legendary monsters. This riotous campaign of a novel could only have sprung from the nerdy minds of a science fiction award-winner and an extreme amateur landscaper.

No one could have been prepared for the day when orcs, trolls, and dragons fell from portals in the sky. But now a very tough but not-quite-prepared platoon of Marines is trapped on the wrong side. The enchanting world looks like Middle Earth, but to the dismay of even the geekiest soldiers, is nothing like it.

While the Marines fend off dangerous, improbable, and very rude assailants, their mission is to escort a Very Important Princess who could broker a crucial strategic alliance between worlds. What could possibly go wrong?

Tobias S. Buckell is a New York Times bestselling writer and World Fantasy Award winner. He was born in the Caribbean, grew up in Grenada, and has lived in the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. He is the author of the popular Xenowealth series (Crystal Rain), along with other standalone novels and almost one hundred stories. His works have been translated into twenty different languages. Buckell has also been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, and the Astounding Award for Best New Science Fiction Author. His latest novel is A Stranger in the Citadel. Buckell lives in Bluffton, Ohio.

Dave Klecha was born in Detroit, and studied Russian and history in college. He then joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. In addition to writing, Dave engages in a number of other creative pursuits, including acting, set-building, scriptwriting, and extreme amateur landscaping. His fiction has appeared in the Subterranean Press Magazine, Clarkesworld, and various anthologies. Klecha lives in Rochester, Michigan.