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December’s Soldiers Reviewed By Dr. Wesley Britton of Bookpleasures.com
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Dr. Wesley Britton

Reviewer Dr. Wesley Britton: Dr. Britton is the author of four non-fiction books on espionage in literature and the media. Starting in fall 2015, his new six-book science fiction series, The Beta-Earth Chronicles, debuted via BearManor Media.

In 2018, Britton self-published the seventh book in the Chronicles, Alpha Tales 2044, a collection of short stories, many of which first appeared at a number of online venues.

For seven years, he was co-host of online radio’s Dave White Presents where he contributed interviews with a host of entertainment insiders. Before his retirement in 2016, Dr. Britton taught English at Harrisburg Area Community College. Learn more about Dr. Britton at his WEBSITE

 
By Dr. Wesley Britton
Published on July 1, 2018
 

Author: Marvin Tyson

Publisher: Defiance Press &Publishing


ISBN-10:1941948035065
ISBN-13: 978-1948035064


Author: Marvin Tyson

Publisher: Defiance Press & Publishing


ISBN-10:1941948035065
ISBN-13: 978-1948035064

It should be no surprise that December’s Soldiers was published by Defiance Press this year.   Not only does the house champion Texas writers, but a month before they issued Marvin Tyson’s fictional account of what might happen after Texas secedes from the U.S., they published Daniel Miller’s non-fiction Texit: Why and How Texas Will Leave the Union. 

Tyson’s new sequel to his 2015 Fall of the Western Empire opens when an ex-president of the U.S. is drawn into a scheme by a group of rich Chinese underworld figures who will take care of his massive gambling debts if he’ll help ignite a war between the U.S. and the newly created Republic of Texas.   They hope such a war would distract all eyes from their planned takeover of all the crude oil leases in Texas.

Ex-president Jackson isn’t the only political leader working for the Chinese.  An important senator and the Attorney General are also mixed up in the plot.   Opposing them are the presidents of the U.S. and Texas who want a smooth transition for Texas from statehood to independence.  A more than capable group of Texas investigators try to connect the dots between troublemakers in Texas and Washington, the leaders of the conspiracy, and the Chinese bosses. And that takes some risky and deadly doing. 

The stakes couldn’t be higher in this fast-paced tale of political intrigue. Both Texas and the U.S. are called on to help out Europe in its current economic crisis, the U.N. is concerned about any potential war, and a number of states in the American heartland announce they wish to follow Texas’s lead and secede from the union. The U.S. government says that simply can’t happen.

The rich well of main and supporting players includes the movers and shakers at the top of the political heaps as well as the investigators in the trenches who engage in gunfights and prison escapes in their quest to avert any larger wars.     As a result, Tyson has us in locations in or near Austin, Texas and Washington. as well as important scenes set in Macau, China,  and the mountains of Kurdistan. In short, Tyson paints a large canvas that isn’t confined within the borders of Texas.

December’s Soldiers is a thriller that should appeal to readers well beyond those interested in any potential Texas secession.    It’s, in part, a page-turner of an espionage tale as well as a layered and very believable political thriller.  It’s refreshing to meet so many positive political leaders in a story with no shortage of optimism.

I have to admit—I have no idea what the title means. I can’t connect it with anything I read.    For now, consider December’s Soldiers a hot summer read for hot summer nights.