Take the Shilling

"Military science fiction concentrating on the psychology and politics of societies in conflict."
---Analog, on the Confederated Worlds series

The Confederated Worlds implanted in his brain the skills to make him a soldier.

He had to learn for himself how to survive interstellar war.

Tomas Neumann seeks escape from his backwater planet and overbearing mother, and a mentor to replace his long-dead father.

"Taking the shilling"—enlisting in the Confederated Worlds military—promises both.

But the soldier's skills implanted in his brain can’t prepare him for combat against fellow humans. Especially ones supposed to welcome him and his fellow soldiers as liberators. The war on New Liberty threatens to destroy him. Not just in body. Also in spirit.

Grieving for lost comrades, demoralized by harrowing combat, Tomas must learn what he needs to survive.

Because soon, with the fates of thousands of his fellow soldiers in the balance, he will face his war's ultimate challenge.

Take the Shilling is the first book in The Confederated Worlds series.