Commandos and Mercenaries

I figured it was about time to do a shout out to a friend of mine: Jack Badelaire.

Jack and I have been gaming together for some 13 years now, when we met at Boston University. For a while we played tabletop RPGs in our gaming group, but I had been a 40k gamer long before I met him. It took some cajolery to convince him to give 40k a try, but the imagery of the Necrons got him hooked. Now he has a good-sized Necron army, a large Waaagh! of Orks, and has recently started a Space Wolves army. Over the years his forces have featured in many if not most of my battle reports.

Jack's blog, the Post-Modern Pulps Blog, deals with action/adventure novels, movies and television series--all things that have in part inspired the over-the-top action-packed adventure that is found in the Warhammer 40k universe.

Jack has made for himself a network of contacts in the blogosphere with other fans of the genre, and even several authors. With the help of several like-minded collaborators, he has published the first issue in a what promises to be an interesting eJournal called Hatchet Force Journal.

Among other things it consists of several movie and book reviews, an interview with action/adventure novelist Mack Maloney (author of the Wingman and The Pirate Hunters series), and the essay The Children of Vietnam by Jack himself.

The eJournal is $0.99--pocket change, really. So if you're into the action/adventure genre I encourage you to check it out.



The Journal isn't the only thing he's been working on. Jack's first novel, Commando: Operation Arrowhead, will be released as an eBook for the Kindle in the coming months:

This ebook is the first in a planned series about British Commando operations during World War II. This first installment introduces us to Tommy Lynch, a veteran of the evacuation at Dunkirk, and his first mission as a Commando in Nazi-occupied France.

Jack's also hard at work on another novel, Killer Instincts, which is a revenge thriller set in 2001. It is currently in the editing phase and stands a good chance of being released by the end of the year.

Killer Instincts is about young William, a preppy college student whose family is wiped out by mafiosi. He is introduced by his Vietnam vet uncle to the shadowy Richard, an eccentric mercenary who brings William's killer instincts to the fore, preparing him to exact a very personal revenge.