Marko Kloos

"Terms of Enlistment" redirects here. For enlistment term, see military service.
Marko Kloos
OccupationScience fiction author
GenreMilitary science fiction
Website
markokloos.com

Marko Kloos is a German author of military science fiction and high fantasy. Born in Germany, Kloos lives and works in the United States.[1]

Work

Kloos is best known for his Frontlines series of military science fiction novels. Featuring the protagonist Andrew Grayson, they are set in a future in which a Western and an Eastern power bloc are at war with each other and with an alien threat.

Reviewing the first novel, Terms of Enlistment, io9 described it as sticking close to the conventions of the genre, focusing on "guns, acronyms, hard-ass drill sergeants, explosions and battles on alien worlds". The reviewer considered the second novel, Lines of Departure, to be an improvement in that it reflected a critical outlook towards powerful, centralized government that was often absent in leading works of the genre such as Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers.[2]

Lines of Departure was nominated for the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel on a slate organized by the "Sad Puppies", a group of "right-leaning science fiction writers."[3] In reaction to this, Kloos withdrew the novel from consideration for the award.[3] He was subsequently honored by George R. R. Martin for this decision.[4]

In 2019, his short stories, Lucky Thirteen and On The Use Of Shape-Shifters In Warfare, were adapted as part of the Netflix anthology series Love, Death & Robots.

Aftershocks, the first book in a new series, "The Palladium Wars," was released in July 2019.[5]

Personal life

Kloos served in the West German military as a junior NCO in 1989. He drew upon these experiences in his military science fiction.[6]

Kloos lives in New Hampshire with his family and has been employed as "a soldier, a bookseller, a freight dock worker, a tech support drone, and a corporate IT administrator".[1] He is a graduate of the Viable Paradise writers' workshop.[7]

Bibliography

Frontlines series

Novels
  1. Terms of Enlistment (2013), ISBN 978-1-4778-0978-5, 47North
  2. Lines of Departure (2014), ISBN 978-1-4778-1740-7, 47North
  3. Angles of Attack (2015), ISBN 978-1-4778-2831-1, 47North
  4. Chains of Command (2016), ISBN 978-1-5039-5032-0, 47North
  5. Fields of Fire (2017), ISBN 978-1-5039-4071-0, 47North
  6. Points of Impact (2018), ISBN 978-1-5420-4846-0, 47North
  7. Orders of Battle (2020), ISBN 978-1-5420-1958-3, 47North
  8. Centers of Gravity (2022), ISBN 978-1-7136-4680-8 47North
Chapbooks
  • Lucky Thirteen (2013)
  • Measures of Absolution (2013)
Comics

With Ivan Brandon:

Frontlines: Evolution series

  1. Scorpio (2023), ISBN 978-1-5420-3549-1 47North

The Palladium Wars series

Novels

  1. Aftershocks (July 1, 2019[8]), ISBN 978-1-5420-4355-7, 47North
  2. Ballistic (May 26, 2020[9]), ISBN 978-1-5420-9007-0, 47North
  3. Citadel (August 10, 2021[10]), ISBN 978-1-5420-2724-3, 47North
  4. Descent (July 16, 2024[11]), ISBN 978-1-5420-3615-3, 47North

Other work

Short fiction
  • Ink and Blood (2011)
  • Cake Whores of Mars (2012)[12]
  • Berlin Is Never Berlin (2020)[13]

References

  1. ^ a b Kloos, Marko. "about". Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  2. ^ Liptak, Andrew (31 January 2015). "Craving a new military science fiction thrillride? Pick up these books". io9. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  3. ^ a b Flood, Alison (17 April 2015). "Hugo award nominees withdraw amid 'Puppygate' storm". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  4. ^ Who Won Science Fiction’s Hugo Awards, and Why It Matters, by Amy Wallace, in Wired; published August 23, 2015; retrieved August 23, 2015
  5. ^ "Forthcoming Books". Locus Online. 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
  6. ^ Liptak, Andrew (30 April 2016). "Marko Kloos On Turning His Military Service Into Kickass Space Adventures". io9. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  7. ^ "Marko Kloos". Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  8. ^ "Aftershocks (The Palladium Wars)". Amazon.com. 2019-07-07. Retrieved 2019-07-07.
  9. ^ "Ballistic (The Palladium Wars)". Amazon.com. 2019-07-07. Retrieved 2019-07-07.
  10. ^ "Citadel (The Palladium Wars)". Amazon.com. 2020-07-28. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  11. ^ "Descent (The Palladium Wars)". Amazon.com. 2024-08-09. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
  12. ^ "a first day of fall freebie: cake whores of mars". 23 September 2015.
  13. ^ Kloos, Marko (2020-05-06). "Berlin Is Never Berlin". Tor.com. Retrieved 2020-05-11.