George Olney

My military career spanned 22 years and two wars, finally ending with a medical retirement. During that career I was, by turns, an Infantry officer, an Artillery officer, and General Staff, both active duty and full time Georgia National Guard. I went from leading ambush and deep reconnaissance patrols in hostile territory to being the executive for three General officers and the Chief of Staff for the Georgia National Guard.

After retirement I did many things, from owing a computer business to being an insurance agent, finally settling as a freelance magazine writer. A few years back, I finally was able to pursue my first love, writing science fiction. That led to two book series.

The first series is the FRENCHY books, stories that are written for fun and delve into the adventures of a very unusual lady. I like strong willed characters that are different from the normal run. That series is for readers to have fun and feel good about what happens.

The GLADIUS series is serious military science fiction and asks some serious questions about what the characters do in complicated situations that really have no right or wrong answers. Genetically bred ultimate soldiers are common in science fiction, but very few writers have looked at them from the inside. How do they live? What do they think about that life? What do they feel about what they were born to do? All of these questions interest me and they are part of the books.

I have also tried to use my military experience and education to add authenticity to the Corps of Gladius and the Fleet. Where I wasn't sure, I used the comments of many others that knew what and why from their own service. Everything in the Gladius books is from my own experience, the experience of others more expert than me, history, or developing technological trends that already exist.

In the end, my books are written for people to enjoy reading. As a teller of tales, that's my goal.