The Chaplain's War

The mantis cyborgs: insectlike, cruel, and determined to wipe humanity from the face of the galaxy.

The Fleet is humanity's last chance: a multi-world, multi-national task force assembled to hold the line against the aliens' overwhelming technology and firepower. Enter Harrison Barlow, who like so many young men of wars past, simply wants to serve his people and partake of the grand adventure of military life. Only, Harrison is not a hot pilot, nor a crack shot with a rifle. What good is a Chaplain's Assistant in the interstellar battles which will decide the fate of all?

More than he thinks. Because while the mantis insectoids are determined to eliminate the human threat to mantis supremacy, they remember the errors of their past. Is there the slightest chance that humans might have value? Especially since humans seem to have the one thing the mantes explicitly do not: an innate ability to believe in what cannot be proven nor seen. God. Captured and stranded behind enemy lines, Barlow must come to grips with the fact that he is not only bargaining for his own life, but the lives of everyone he knows and loves. And so he embarks upon an improbable gambit, determined to alter the course of the entire war.

About Chaplain's War:
"Torgersen mixes the spiritual aspects of the book with subtlety, integrating questions about God and faith into the story organically. The result is thought provoking questions arising as part of an entertaining story . . . Torgersen [also] doesn't shy away from conflict, violence, or space battles."--Futures Past and Present

"Solid hard SF with the frisson of well thought through action. Much to enjoy!"--Gregory Benford, multiple Nebula award-winning creator of the Galactic Center saga

About Brad Torgersen:
"Brad Torgersen can write something technical and complex, yet still give it real emotional depth. He's one of the most talented authors I've ever read."--Larry Correia

"Brad R. Torgersen shows why he's going to be a power in this field for years to come."--Mike Resnick

"Brad Torgersen is a writer who's done a lot and come up the hard way... and the depth of his writing shows it, especially in understanding the nuts and bolts of technology and the souls of those who use it." --L.E. Modesitt, Jr.