H. R. Kaufman served as a Special Operations Officer in the U. S. Navy for nearly a decade. He led teams specializing in underwater mine countermeasures and countering weapons of mass destruction. He now works in the space sector.
Inspiration
Tom Clancy
The Hunt for Red October / The Sum of All Fears
Proof that well-done research and attention to detail can go a long way. If you want your reader to suspend their reality, what better way to establish credibility.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story . . . but never be too lazy to Google it either.
Jack Carr
The Terminal List (series)
An author who can connect with military veterans and also tell a compelling story. The combination is rare enough, but no one else is doing it better in contemporary fiction.
Frederick Forsyth
The Day of the Jackal / The Fourth Protocol
The master of blending fact and fiction. The result is a story so believable, you find yourself fact checking your own memory.
Chris Hadfield
The Apollo Murders / The Defector / Final Orbit
These thrillers prove that stories told in space aren't owned exclusively by the sci-fi genre. Instead, Hadfield blends the pacing and style of a Cold War thriller with his own background as a veteran astronaut.
Andy Weir
The Martian
The science and logic of the main character make this an incredibly stimulating read. They say anything worth reading will make you laugh or make you learn. Weir manages to accomplish both.
Michael Crichton
Jurassic Park
A factual premise with a singular suspension of disbelief followed by a plausible chain of events. Why can't all science fiction be this straight forward?
Annie Jacobsen
Nuclear War: A Scenario
The only non-fiction on this list . . .
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