Four Stars

Foreword Clarion Review just gave Beyond Visual Range four stars!
Here is the full review:

Ending on a hopeful note, Beyond Visual Range is a military thriller with a tinge of political realism.

In Tom Collins’s timely novel Beyond Visual Range, drone technology collides with a political intrigue that’s reminiscent of current events.

Despite a time of great economic growth and nationwide security, President Tanner is in the hot seat amid allegations of misuse of power. The Speaker of the House leads the charge, raising allegations that Tanner violated his oath of office and ignored foreign sovereignty. In a staggering twist, a splinter group within the American military steps forward and threatens to use force if Tanner isn’t removed from office. Meanwhile, a pair of drone operators are swept up in the conspiracy, as the drones they pilot are commandeered and manipulated into striking foreign civilian targets. The commander, Major Samantha Miller, turns to Mark Rollins and his off-books team for help with preventing the future loss of life.

The book continues the adventures of Mark Rollins and the Women’s Health Club—which operates as a front for a private operations group that protects America from threats foreign and domestic—but functions as a standalone thriller. Context is revealed when needed, allowing the current issue of drone misuse and impeachment to remain in the spotlight.

Major Miller embodies the strong characterization present throughout the narrative. Ample space is given to the sudden loss of control of the drones while hinting at a mystery in Miller’s background—the accident that led to her winding up in a wheelchair. At first introduction, she seems to be noncentral, but careful backstory reveals and her professional relationship with Rollins center her as a capable, compelling lead. The primary cast—Rollins, his team, and a select group of military people and civilians—are equally developed.

Swapping between the drone threat and the impeachment proceedings, the story is well paced. In a literal twist, a threat from Earth’s orbit requires that the story enter space. Dialogue directs much movement, though exposition also comes through prose at the proper times. Intense sequences featuring military jargon stand out, and Major Miller and Rollins have distinct voices, helping to showcase events from both of their viewpoints. The book’s harrowing aerial battles and contemplative discussions are both grounded thanks to clear details and staging. However, when characters take notes or present material, unusual formatting overshadows the narrative; words run together in such spaces.

Ending on a hopeful note, Beyond Visual Range is a military thriller with a tinge of political realism.

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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online bookstores. Audio versions of The Claret Murders and  Diversion are available from iTunes, Audibles and Amazon. eBook editions are also available through Apple iTunes’ iBook’s Store and Smashwords.com. 
Published by I-65 North, Inc.

The Book is on the Printing Press!

Ingram has the print editions of Beyond Visual Range in the print queue. Unfortunately, the company just sent out the following notice:

“Please note that we are extending our current print turnaround times for some U.S. order types as we work diligently to uphold our commitment to the publishing industry while also protecting the health and well-being of our associates.”

Nevertheless, I would expect to see the print editions on Amazon within ten days and the eBook editions within two to three weeks. I must admit that my predictions on turnaround times have not been exactly accurate to date.  However, I think you will find this sixth book in the Mark Rollins Adventure series worth waiting for. To remind you about the story check out the video below:

One of the interesting things about the content of this and other videos is in the background. Check out the artwork and the bookcase contents—I always do when seeing interviews on TV or watching other video presentations.  

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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online bookstores. Audio versions of The Claret Murders and  Diversion are available from iTunes, Audibles and Amazon. eBook editions are also available through Apple iTunes’ iBook’s Store and Smashwords.com.  Look for book number six in the Mark Rollins Adventure series coming soon.
Published by I-65 North, Inc.

Working Hard

I always remember W. C. Fields saying, “It was a woman that drove me to drink, and I never got a chance to properly thank her.”  In my case the woman is my latest book.  

I’m working hard to get this new book in your hands, or on your computer, iPad or iPhone. But the gears are moving slowly.  Here is the amazing thing.  I wrote the guts of this story in six weeks.  That was the quickest part. Editing and polishing has taken almost four months. After that process the finished manuscript, which is in Microsoft Word, has to be professionally formatted for the printed editions and digitally encoded for the various eBook editions.  The Kindle requirements for example are different from Nook requirements or the Apple iBook format.

The pipeline is flowing very slowly right now.  The formatter has said than I am in the production slot for April 8 with a 3 to 5 day turnaround.  The eBook editions follow about a week later. Once the formatting company has done its work, the formatted manuscript goes to Ingram for printing and distribution. I’m just hoping that the presses keep rolling.

Here is a reminder of what you are waiting for:

The Outer Space Treaty prohibits nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons from being placed in or used from Earth’s orbit. What no one could have imagined was that mankind would conceive of the simplest weapon ever deployed – one with extinction power – to launch from space. The military named this weapon “Rods from God.” And yet, it’s not nuclear, biological, or chemical. Two women drone pilots battle in outer space to defend their country. One is a former fighter pilot who, after a crash, now flies from a wheelchair. This dynamic female drone crew from Nashville, Tennessee, now based in Florida, is drafted to defend the United States from a rogue military element threatening to use force to stop the impeachment of the president. Their weapons are twenty-foot tungsten rods. A single rod dropped from orbit would strike Earth at ten times the speed of sound with the impact of a nuclear weapon. As weapons are readied, our heroines find they are Beyond Visual Range.

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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online bookstores. Audio versions of The Claret Murders and  Diversion are available from iTunes, Audibles and Amazon. eBook editions are also available through Apple iTunes’ iBook’s Store and Smashwords.com. 
Published by I-65 North, Inc.

What is your new book, "Beyond Visual Range", about?

Right now, we have an impeachment trial in progress. The country is divided about that, but what if the military was on the side of the President and some of them decided to do something about it. Could that happen in this country.  In Beyond Visual Range one high ranking flag officer says—“In the face of such Congressional treachery, we will no longer keep our weapons holstered.”  As the story of a runaway military revolt unfolds, the story unveils the wounds of war suffered by our drone pilots.  We think of drone pilots as remote warriors fighting our war from the safety of their armchairs thousands of miles away from the front lines.  The truth is many suffer terrible injuries—what some call  moral injuries.

Beyond Visual Range is a Mark Rollins adventure mystery, so as readers of the series would expect, the story has Nashville and Middle Tennessee at its core, but the adventure includes action at 65,000 feet above Cuba, in Hurlburt Field Florida,  at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey,  in Syria, in the rain forest of Brazil,  in Nevada , and 400 kilometers above the surface of the Earth—in outer space.

Beyond Visual Range is targeted for a March 2020 release.  The price of the hard cover edition is $29.00, but the prerelease price for a signed copy is $15.00 with free shipping.  To purchase your signed copy at the prerelease price go to https://www.tomcollinsauthor.com/books/beyond-visual-range-prerelease.  

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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online bookstores. Audio versions of The Claret Murders and  Diversion are available from iTunes, Audibles and Amazon. eBook editions are also available through Apple iTunes’ iBook’s Store and Smashwords.com. 
Published by I-65 North, Inc.