I’ve had a couple of requests for a recommended reading list, largely for stuff similar to the Praetorian series.  I’ve also been asked about stuff similar to the Jed Horn series, just not as often (since Jed seems to have a slightly smaller following, that shouldn’t be surprising).  So, after a little thinking (and a little turning around to stare at the bookcases behind my desk), I’ve got a few recommended reads, fiction and non-fiction, that might fill the bill.

Non-Fiction

Secret Commandos, John Plaster

The Village, Bing West

War Story, and The Devil’s Secret Name, Jim Morris

First Recon: Second To None, Paul R. Young (Included here mainly because this was the book that first got me interested in Recon, and led to my Marine Corps career as an 0321.)

First In, Gary Schroen

Jawbreaker, Gary Berntsen

Hunting the Jackal, Billy Waugh

The Last Hundred Yards, H. John Poole (if you can find a copy; this was Poole’s first, and appears to be out of print.  The rest of his bibliography is well worth it for a good look at true light infantry tactics.)

The March Up, No True Glory, The Strongest Tribe, and The Wrong War, Bing West

El Narco, Ioan Grillo

Killing Pablo, Mark Bowden

McMafia, Misha Glenny

Convergence: Illicit Networks and National Security in the Age of Globalization, Michael Miklaucic (This one is big.  It’s a long read, and extremely detailed, but it was one of the formative pieces of research for The Devil You Don’t Know.)

The Bush War in Rhodesia, Dennis Croukamp

War Dogs, Al Venter

Fiction

This is going to be more of a hodge-podge, crossing lines of thrillers, science fiction, and fantasy.

Dead Six, Swords of Exodus, and Alliance of Shadows, Larry Correia and Mike Kupari

The Deckard Series, starting with Reflexive Fire, Jack Murphy

The PRIMAL Series, Jack Silkstone

The Countdown series, Tom Kratman

The Pike Logan series, Brad Taylor (Personally, I think the earlier ones were somewhat stronger, though I haven’t read any of the newer ones since No Fortunate Son.)

The Kolt Raynor series, Dalton Fury (RIP)

Hell and Gone, and Tier Zero, Henry Brown

The Profession, Steven Pressfield

The Ben Williams series, Steven Hildreth

The Task Force Intrepid series, Dan Tharp

Hammer’s Slammers, David Drake

The Monster Hunter International series, Larry Correia

The Dresden Files series, Jim Butcher

Iron Chamber of Memory, Awake in the Night Land, and Somewhither, John C. Wright (Actually, just buy everything the man has written.)

***

That should keep y’all busy for a while, at least until I can get Lex Talionis finished.  The list will likely expand as my own genre writing expands; this is a wavetops list, at best.  Once I’ve got some HF and SF out there, it’ll definitely get longer to include those genres.

Reading List
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Peter Nealen

Peter Nealen is a former Reconnaissance Marine and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He deployed to Iraq in 2005-2006, and again in 2007, with 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Recon Bn. After two years of schools and workups, including Scout/Sniper Basic and Team Leader's Courses, he deployed to Afghanistan with 4th Platoon, Force Reconnaissance Company, I MEF. Since he got out, he's been writing, authoring many articles and 24 books, mostly Action/Adventure and Military Thrillers, with some excursions into Paranormal Fantasy and Science Fiction.

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