Vincent H. O'Neil

On April 3, 1986 I graduated from the Army's grueling Ranger Course s part of Class 5-86. It was the toughest school I attended in the Army, but it was also a tremendous growth experience. I wore my Ranger tab tee shirt to the gym this morning to mark the 40th anniversary of our graduation.

In the Ranger course, you don't get much sleep or food and you're constantly on the go, patrolling in rough terrain with heavy rucksacks. You're frequently harassed by the Ranger Instructor (RI) graders. When I went through, the school started at Fort Benning, Georgia and then went to the mountains of northern Georgie before shifting to the frozen wasteland of Dugway, Utah and finishing up in the swamps of Eglin AFB, Florida.

You're out in the elements most of the time, and our class was in winter time. You get chosen at random to lead patrols, and your pass-fail record decides if you complete individual phases of the course. If you don't do well enough, they offer you the choice of quitting or doing that phase over again. It's called recycle, and many Ranger students get recycled more than once. 

I walked, starved, and shivered every step of the way with Class 4-86 and came out of the swamps believing I'd completed the course. That night I learned my pass-fail percentage was exactly 50-50, which meant I would not graduate with my class. I was offered recycle and took it without hesitation, going back into the swamps with Class 5-86 and coming back out with them on Easter Sunday, 1986. Resurrection Day.

Everyone who's been through this course has a different take on why it's so tough, so I'll skip that and just say I learned more about myself in that school than at any other time of my life. As rough as it was, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I'm a novelist now, writing everything from mystery to horror to science fiction. In the first book of my military science fiction Sim War series, Glory Main, I wanted to write a book that was based on my Ranger experience. So I took four people from different backgrounds and marooned them on a planet that's much like Dugway, Utah. They have no food, no weapons, and no idea where they are. They have to walk many miles, footsore and hungry, dodging the predators that exist on the the planet. They have to come together as a team, or die as individuals.

Glory Main is the first book in a complete five-novel series, and I hope you like it.

Rangers Lead the Way.

https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Main-Sim-War-Book-ebook/dp/B00IRCZGK2

I'm thrilled to see my horror short story The Little Visitor has been published at The Dread Literary Review.

It tells the story of what happens when the wrong cat comes home.

WARNING: This is not a cuddly-kitten piece. It's horror.

#horror #feline #cats #feral #wild #mistakenidentity

https://the-dread-literary-review.ghost.io/feature-the-little-visitor-by-vincent-oneal

My blog's been getting a lot of traffic lately, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce the new faces to the very big stack of books I've written. Whether you're a fan of mystery, science fiction, horror, or self-improvement, I've got something for you.

More to the point, the genre isn't half as important as the characters and the action and the human experience in every one of my works. I've done a little bit of everything in this life, from Army paratrooper to risk manager, and all my books show that depth of experience.

So if you want brains-over brawn detective stories, try out my Exile mystery series (Murder in Exile, Reduced Circumstances, Exile Trust, and Contest of Wills) and if you want military action with high-level strategy, try my Sim War series (Glory Main, Orphan Brigade, Dire Steps, CHOP Line, and Live Echoes) for starters.

My futuristic fiction novel A Pause in the Perpetual Rotation depicts a world where robots do all the work, AIs make most of the decisions, and everyone's got everything they need--except a purpose. The companion book to that is the non-fiction self-help maual The Unused Path, which appears in the novel as an underground philosophy opposed by the government. It's a real self-help book, loaded with easy-to-follow lessons about managing time, getting good information, and living more authentically. 

I'm especially proud of my Providence, Rhode Island-based Interlands horror series and its main character, the historian Angelaaa "Ree" Morse. Think Halloween horror in New England, and you're on your way. Those books are Interlands and Denizens, with more in the works. 

Finally, although I've written 16 books I'm pretty much unknown as an author. Maybe you can help me change that.

Check out my books at my website, www.vincenthoneil.com. 

I'm pleased to announce that my dimension-shifting sci-fi short story "Me and Mine" was just released as part of the "Professor Feiff's Trans-Dimensional Travelogue" anthology from JayHenge Publications. 

"Me and Mine" features an unwilling traveler sent to a world that's almost identical to ours--except there are no people. Expected to return as soon as he can, the reluctant visitor decides instead that he likes the world where he's the only occupant. Remembering the mad scienitst "friend" who sent him there, the main character becomes worried that he might not be alone much longer. 

This is a big anthology, with writing from both newcomers and award-winning sc-fi authors. It's only available on Amazon, but you can get it in hardcover, paperback, or ebook. 

It makes a great gift, so pick one up.

My short story, Door Number Two, was just published in the magical realism/mystery anthology "Lucky Penny" from The Writers Cache. 

It's about a hit man who's become such an adrenaline junkey that he doesn't want any details about what he might be facing other than the identity of the target. One night, his enthusiasm gets him into a situation where he faces an adversary that may not even be human. 

Available in ebook and paprback from Amazon. Click the image for more.

My short story about betrayal, friendship, and long-delayed justice, Prodigals' Night, was just published in the most recent edition of Dirty Magick Magazine.

This one's special to me, because while I was recovering from an emergency appendectomy a few years ago I read a history of the Borgia family. The description of Renaissance festivals, the ever-present threat of sudden violence, and the rules of society that were followed only by a few, inspired this tale.

Check it out.

My sci-fi horror story "Point of Contact" is in the latest issue of the acclaimed UK science fiction magazine PARSEC. It's the story of an offie worker who has a strange encounter in the middle of a crowded sidewalk and begins to suspect an entity has somehow accessed his memories. 

Amazing Stories Magazine recently asked me several Unexpected Questions, including which sci-fi character I'd like to have dinner with. I said, "Zaphod Beeblebrox from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and he's pictured here.

Well, Sam Rockwell is pictured here in the role of Zaphod. And if that's not enough to make you want to know why I picked Zaphod and to read the other Q&A, I can't imagine what will. Here's the link:

https://amazingstories.com/2024/07/unexpected-questions-with-vincent-h-oneil

Read my short story "Marjorie's Last Run" in The Saturday Evening Post. It's 1500 words long, and tells the tale of an art restoration expert who turns her talents to our nation's currency.

Click on the image, or put this URL in your address line:

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/.../marjories-last-run/

I'm thrilled and honored to announce my sci-fi horror story "They Don't Need the Light" is in the latest issue of the fantastic Andromeda Spaceways Magazine. I've submitted one or two other stories to ASM before, so it's a special occasion for me to have this accepted. 

To quote the story description, "Find out what volcanoes, meteorites, and cyberbullying have to do with the end of the world." Check it out at:

https://andromedaspaceways.com/product/asm-93