Weston Ochse (1965–2023)
Author of SEAL Team 666
About the Author
Series
Works by Weston Ochse
Associated Works
Mister October: An Anthology in Memory of Rick Hautala (Volume 1) (2013) — Contributor — 78 copies, 32 reviews
Beyond Rue Morgue Anthology: Further Tales of Edgar Allan Poe's 1st Detective (2013) — Contributor — 57 copies, 3 reviews
Professor Charlatan Bardot's Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World (2021) — Contributor — 23 copies, 3 reviews
Mister October: An Anthology in Memory of Rick Hautala (Volumes 1 and 2) (2013) — Contributor — 17 copies, 15 reviews
In Delirium — Contributor — 11 copies
A Haunting of Horrors, Volume 2: A Twenty-Book eBook Bundle of Horror and the Occult (2014) — Contributor — 10 copies
Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror (2019) — Contributor — 8 copies
The Future of Horror: The Collected Solaris Horror Anthologies, featuring House of Fear, Magic and End of the Road (2015) — Contributor — 8 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1965-06-20
- Date of death
- 2023-11-18
- Gender
- male
- Education
- National University (MFA|Creative Writing)
Excelsior College (Bach. Liberal Arts) - Occupations
- Superhero for Rent
- Awards and honors
- Bram Stoker Award (Best First Novel, 2005)
- Agent
- Robert Fleck
- Relationships
- Navarro, Yvonne (wife)
- Short biography
- Weston Ochse (pronounced 'Oaks) (1965 - 2023) lived in Southern Arizona with his wife, and fellow author, Yvonne Navarro, and Great Danes, Pester Ghost Palm Eater and Goblin Monster Dog. For entertainment he raced tarantula wasps, wrestled rattlesnakes, and baked in the noonday sun. His work has won the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for short fiction. His work has also appeared in anthologies, magazines and professional writing guides. He thinks it's damn cool that he's had stories in comic books.
Weston holds Bachelor's Degrees in American Literature and Chinese Studies from Excelsior College. He held a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from National University. Weston is a retired U.S. Army intelligence officer and retired as an intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency. He has been to more than fifty countries and speaks Chinese with questionable authority. Weston is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a purple belt in Ryu Kempo Jujitsu and a green belt in the Hawaiian martial art of Kuai Lua. - Birthplace
- Gillette, Wyoming
- Places of residence
- Southern Arizona
- Place of death
- Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Tucson, Arizona, USA
Members
Reviews
I honestly tried to go into the book and try to judge it on its own merits, but the only reason I even clued into it was due to a mention of Seal Team 666 in one of the latter Jonathan Maberry books in his uniformly excellent Joe Ledger series.
Maberry is a shameless namedropper, and most of the times, I know exactly what he's talking about, but this time, I had only the most nebulous of ideas of what he was talking about, so I sought out this story.
And, due to that already strong show more connection—I mean, hell, the Joe Ledger series is all about a serious military/technological solution to the more esoteric and supernatural threats to the world in general and the U.S. of A. in particular—I simply couldn't go through this book and wish for that Maberry touch on the story and character.
Having said that, this is a decent start for the series. Good set up, and it's obvious Ochse (pronounced "oaks") knows his shit when it comes to anything military or weapons related. He's good with the action sequences, and to be fair, his supernatural threats are pretty freaking cool as well.
I guess it's that stuff in between that didn't quite grab me as much. Jack Walker, our introduction into Seal Team 666 as a new recruit (or FNG...Fucking New Guy), seems to get tossed from situation to situation to situation with absolutely no agency...which I get. I mean, that's a part of military fiction, I'm assuming, right? You're a grunt, you get no say...until the team is thrown into danger and only you can pull their ass out of the fire, in which case, you have all the agency in the world to do what must be done.
And he's set up as having a bit of a mysterious past, but it feels as though the reveal came too easily. Much as the ultimate big bad of this novel was not only beaten a touch too quickly, but we never really got enough screen time with him to truly appreciate his badness.
Granted, Ochse had a fair amount to pack into this novel, but man, he should have gone back and read that first Ledger book to see how to do it, and do it well.
I'm really hoping the next book ups the game a bit.
Other than that, I would have loved (and maybe it comes along later in the series) to see a woman or two on the team. But I have to say, I can't imagine, from the Ochse writing style, that a gay Seal Team member would ever be allowed. It all seemed a little chest-thumpingly badass male through the story.
And finally, yeah, I get it, the military loves its acronyms, but sweet jumpin' Jesus, please dial back on that shit a bit in future, okay? show less
Maberry is a shameless namedropper, and most of the times, I know exactly what he's talking about, but this time, I had only the most nebulous of ideas of what he was talking about, so I sought out this story.
And, due to that already strong show more connection—I mean, hell, the Joe Ledger series is all about a serious military/technological solution to the more esoteric and supernatural threats to the world in general and the U.S. of A. in particular—I simply couldn't go through this book and wish for that Maberry touch on the story and character.
Having said that, this is a decent start for the series. Good set up, and it's obvious Ochse (pronounced "oaks") knows his shit when it comes to anything military or weapons related. He's good with the action sequences, and to be fair, his supernatural threats are pretty freaking cool as well.
I guess it's that stuff in between that didn't quite grab me as much. Jack Walker, our introduction into Seal Team 666 as a new recruit (or FNG...Fucking New Guy), seems to get tossed from situation to situation to situation with absolutely no agency...which I get. I mean, that's a part of military fiction, I'm assuming, right? You're a grunt, you get no say...until the team is thrown into danger and only you can pull their ass out of the fire, in which case, you have all the agency in the world to do what must be done.
And he's set up as having a bit of a mysterious past, but it feels as though the reveal came too easily. Much as the ultimate big bad of this novel was not only beaten a touch too quickly, but we never really got enough screen time with him to truly appreciate his badness.
Granted, Ochse had a fair amount to pack into this novel, but man, he should have gone back and read that first Ledger book to see how to do it, and do it well.
I'm really hoping the next book ups the game a bit.
Other than that, I would have loved (and maybe it comes along later in the series) to see a woman or two on the team. But I have to say, I can't imagine, from the Ochse writing style, that a gay Seal Team member would ever be allowed. It all seemed a little chest-thumpingly badass male through the story.
And finally, yeah, I get it, the military loves its acronyms, but sweet jumpin' Jesus, please dial back on that shit a bit in future, okay? show less
Watch out for the Maggies! What is a Maggie you ask?
A Maggie is a maggot. It's a nickname for the millions of maggots running wild, seemingly everywhere. There are also caddies, and other creatures taking over cities, ( states, countries, continents?). Can they be stopped? You'll have to read this and see.
This story follows your usual group of plucky survivors, but this story has better than usual characterization. I loved the crack smoking grandmother and the flawed protagonist. I also have show more a fondness for the theme song for the movie Rocky. For these reasons, I bumped up this 3.5 read to four stars.
Thank you to Coach David for the Kindle loan! show less
A Maggie is a maggot. It's a nickname for the millions of maggots running wild, seemingly everywhere. There are also caddies, and other creatures taking over cities, ( states, countries, continents?). Can they be stopped? You'll have to read this and see.
This story follows your usual group of plucky survivors, but this story has better than usual characterization. I loved the crack smoking grandmother and the flawed protagonist. I also have show more a fondness for the theme song for the movie Rocky. For these reasons, I bumped up this 3.5 read to four stars.
Thank you to Coach David for the Kindle loan! show less
I'd never read anything by Weston Ochse before, only knowing him by reputation. Wow. I was totally blown away. It's a very American style of horror. REDEMPTION ROADSHOW is a magnificent piece. I only wish it was full-length novel. His writing style is really creative and solid. It grabs you and won't let go.
The story is set in the southwest (as are most of his stories I'm told), and revolves around a highway patrol man. He encounters a traveling spiritualist group led by a strange man who show more is covered head to toe in burn scars. Among the odd troupe is a woman in a coma who is a sort of psychomagnet. They cart around the comatose woman because she can channel the spirits of those who died a violent death, such as highway accidents (the spirits speak through her). The story is extremely emotionally powerful and philosophical. After his encounter with the traveling group, the protagonist, officer Gibbs, is forced to reevaluate his long-held core beliefs. It's really powerful stuff. After reading this story I'll never look at roadside crosses the same again. I definitely plan to pick up more works by Ochse, starting with his novel with the evocative title, SCARECROW GODS. Highly recommended. show less
The story is set in the southwest (as are most of his stories I'm told), and revolves around a highway patrol man. He encounters a traveling spiritualist group led by a strange man who show more is covered head to toe in burn scars. Among the odd troupe is a woman in a coma who is a sort of psychomagnet. They cart around the comatose woman because she can channel the spirits of those who died a violent death, such as highway accidents (the spirits speak through her). The story is extremely emotionally powerful and philosophical. After his encounter with the traveling group, the protagonist, officer Gibbs, is forced to reevaluate his long-held core beliefs. It's really powerful stuff. After reading this story I'll never look at roadside crosses the same again. I definitely plan to pick up more works by Ochse, starting with his novel with the evocative title, SCARECROW GODS. Highly recommended. show less
There are two ways to read this book. You can be an intellectual and get stuck pondering all the biblical/historic quotes between chapters, while wrapping your head around all the scientific and mathematical stuff, or you can shrug all that off, hop on the Velcro camel and ride like a madman through the story, screaming with excitement and dodging incoming fire. I went with Plan B and had a great time reading the story.
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Statistics
- Works
- 49
- Also by
- 34
- Members
- 789
- Popularity
- #32,271
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 60
- ISBNs
- 102
- Favorited
- 1
