Craig Alanson Books

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Craig Alanson is a New York Times bestseller that writes science fiction and fantasy. Alanson grew up reading and watching classics like ‘Dune’ and ‘Star Trek.’ He even met Isaac Asimov when the legend visited a local school.

After high school, Alanson secured a position at an aerospace firm (United Technologies). The author got lucky because the company had commenced work on a new mechanical inspection system.

However, none of the employees at the firm wanted to work on the system. As a student, Alanson was eager to do whatever his superiors asked of him. More importantly, he had done the right combination of courses, including calculus, computer science, and drafting.

The author was fortunate enough to work on the components United Technologies added to space suits before sending them to space on space shuttles. Later on, he worked on rockets and missiles.

Surprisingly, life eventually led him to finance and budgeting. Although, his interest in science fiction persisted. Alanson was on vacation in the Caribbean in 2005 when he picked up a book at the airport.

He couldn’t believe how terrible it was. The author kept reading, hoping that it would get better. But somehow, it kept getting worse. The experience was eye-opening. If a book that bad could get published, then surely, Alanson’s chances of securing a publishing deal were far higher than he initially assumed.

The author wrote three novels over the next ten years. Unfortunately, the publishing industry wasn’t quite as welcoming as he anticipated. Publishers and agents showed no interest in Alanson’s rather long manuscripts.

Finally, his wife encouraged him to change tactics by embracing indie publishing. Alanson thinks Irene was just trying to shut him up because he wouldn’t stop discussing the issue. But he followed her advice all the same, uploading the books to Amazon and buying a few ads.

To his shock, the response to the books was overwhelmingly positive. People kept buying his novels, and the checks he got each month kept growing. Even more surprising was the fact that ‘Columbus Day,’ a humorous military story, performed far better than ‘Ascendant,’ an epic fantasy, at a time when HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ was so popular.

The author’s books performed so well that he abandoned his position at HP to become a full-time writer. His wife had already retired. As such, she could afford to devote some of her time to his career.

Together, they wrote a business plan outlining the books he would write and publish over the next five years. The plan was detailed enough to include the weekly word count Alanson would target.

They decided to dedicate their efforts to Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited Subscription program because they knew brick-and-mortar stores typically ignored Amazon writers. The strategy has yet to disappoint.

Alanson tries to generate 180,000 words within four months. However, he disagrees with people who think his work rate is impressive because he’s no different from a conventional employee that works ten hours a day, five days a week.

Best Craig Alanson Books

Craig Alanson is a pen name. The author’s real name is Craig Odell. His life would have taken a different trajectory if he had successfully pursued his dream of becoming a Navy pilot. But red-green color blindness disqualified him. Alanson’s best books include:

Columbus Day: Life on earth changed forever when the Ruhar attacked. Earth did not stand a chance against the technologically advanced culture. Fortunately, the Kristang starships swooped in just in time and sent the Ruhar packing.

The UN was more than happy to supply Kristang’s forces with human soldiers. With the Kristang ships on their side, Earth would eventually defeat the Ruhar. Unfortunately for the humans, they were fighting on the wrong side of the war. The Ruhar were not their enemy.

Spec Ops: In ‘Columbus Day,’ Earth was thrown headlong into a war between two advanced alien races. The second novel in the ‘Expeditionary Force’ series continues that story. This time, Colonel Joe Bishop has a captured alien starship.

He intends to take the Flying Dutchman on a fool’s errand, accompanied by a witty AI. The UN has decided to furnish the Flying Dutchman with a crew of 70 elite troops, including pilots and scientists, even though the ship is unlikely to return from its mission.

When Does The Next Craig Alanson book come out?

Craig Alanson doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Task Force Hammer and was released on September, 10th 2024. It is the newest book in the Expeditionary Force Series.

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