Horror/ Action Adventure
Date Published: July 20th
Publisher: Severed Press
Petroleum engineers drilling in the African desert uncover a pocket of mysterious, life-preserving gas, and the hellish creatures hibernating within—a colony of ten-foot prehistoric scorpions. After 400 million years, Scorpius Rex has risen to reclaim its throne as Earth’s apex predator.
When their USAID humanitarian mission goes awry, Dave Brank’s security team becomes trapped inside the drilling complex’s electrified perimeter. Now they’re locked in a life or death battle against hordes of flesh-eating scorpions prowling the labyrinth of machinery. Brank, a decorated soldier unjustly drummed out of the army, is determined to save his men and the nearby village. Outside the fence lurks another kind of monster—renegade commandos with a barbaric plan to lure the scorpions out . . . by feeding them women and children. Only Brank’s team can stop the slaughter and, just maybe, save the world. Unfortunately, these guys aren’t elite Navy SEALS or Delta Force Operators; they’re mercenaries—battle-scarred mavericks who kill to earn a living, not to save the world. But with humanity’s survival at stake and Brank calling the shots, even these hired guns can become heroes.
My latest novel Scorpius Rex is the tale of a squad of private military contractors
locked in a battle for survival against giant prehistoric scorpions. One of my
favorite characters is Hansie Beeker, an aging Afrikaner mercenary. He was inspired
by an article about South African apartheid-era troops turned soldiers of
fortune who, despite being well into their sixties, are still fighting around
the globe. So, in his honor, I thought it would be fun to give a little
background on history’s most testosterone-drenched occupation.
Mercenaries have existed since the dawn of
organized warfare, and their exploits have been chronicled in Greek legends, medieval
tapestries and Warren Zevon songs. Hell, Zevon’s mercenary was so bad assed he
kept fighting without a head!
FACTS
Let’s start in 401 BC, with one of
history’s most legendary mercenary units—The Ten Thousand. After fighting the
Battle of Cunaxa, ten thousand Greek mercenaries found themselves stranded
inland, without food or an employer. Rather than surrender they chose to fight
their way back to the Black Sea. Their heroic, bloody march was immortalized by
a soldier named Xenophon in his Anabasis.
Fun fact—their story was also the basis for the classic 1979 action film The
Warriors.
The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 is
considered one of England’s greatest military victories, but historians tend to
overlook the fact that most of King Henry’s legendary archers were technically
mercenaries. Longbows were a new development, and those who could wield them commanded
top dollar.
Though historically frowned on as a necessary
evil, a few mercenaries still managed to find fame and fortune. John Hawkwood
was such a successful mercenary leader during the late 14th century
that he became wealthy, earned a knighthood and is even commemorated in
Florence Cathedral. Not too shabby for a hired archer, but if you’re born with
the name John Hawkwood, you’re probably not destined for a career in
accounting.
Some other famous mercenaries include the
Hessians who fought on the losing side during the American Revolution. About
thirty-five hundred of these German mercenaries stayed in America after the
war, most settling in Pennsylvania.
In 1941, the United States government
unofficially organized the First American Volunteer Group, better known as The
Flying Tigers, to battle Japan’s Imperial Air Force over China. Though
incredibly effective, the Flying Tigers were disbanded following the attack on
Pearl Harbor, and their members absorbed into the US military.
America’s next major attempt at creating a
mercenary force was less successful. Anybody remember a little fiasco known as
The Bay of Pigs?
Soldiers of fortune captured headlines in
1964, when the Republic of the Congo hired Mad Mike Hoare to recruit a
mercenary army to put down the Simba Rebellion. Initially Hoare’s unit did fine
work—until they discovered the joys of looting everything that wasn’t nailed
down. Hoare’s career went downhill from there. In 1978, he attempted a coup in
the Seychelles with only fifty-five men disguised as a rugby team. It ended
badly, and he was forced to hijack an Air India flight to flee the country,
only to be arrested upon landing.
During the Vietnam War, the USA hit upon a
way to hire mercenaries without getting their hands dirty. They simply
subcontracted part of the war to South Korea, to the tune of about a billion
dollars in cash (about eight billion in today’s dollars) plus another 2.7
billion in loans. They really got their money’s worth—the Korean troops terrified
the North Vietnamese with their fighting spirit and fanatical hatred of
communism.
The USA has gone on to become the world’s
largest employer of mercenaries—or, as they’re known today, private military
contractors. What’s the difference? Well,
historically mercenaries were hired by governments, while PMCs are employed by
private companies, who in turn are employed by governments. So, the difference really
amounts to adding middle management. Call them whatever you like, Uncle Sam
currently employs over 700,000 private military contractors across the globe,
with the bulk posted in Iraq.
FICTION
Plenty of good fiction has been written
about mercenaries, along with some really bad novels. Mercenaries even had
their own magazine, called Soldier of Fortune, which was huge with armchair warriors back in the seventies
and eighties.
Mercenaries may be a fascinating topic, but
they’ve gotten surprisingly little big-screen time. The best mercenary film is
Kurosawa’s classic Seven Samurai. But my personal favorite is 1968’s
shocking, but remarkably entertaining, Dark of the Sun. Not only is it a
great film, but it has the single most macho movie poster of all time.
1978’s The Wild Geese was the tale
of booze-sodden aging mercenaries on an African rescue mission. This surprise
box office hit starred Richard Burton and Richard Harris, who, at that point,
had almost one liver between them.
That tradition of combining big guns and
hip replacements continues with Sylvester Stallone’s endless cycle of Expendables
films. So much blood … so much Botox.
And that brings us full circle back to
those real-life geriatric mercenaries.
After the astonishingly long South African
Border War (1966–1990) many apartheid-era troops drifted into mercenary work. Due
to the African continent’s unrest these seasoned soldiers found themselves in
great demand. But those impoverished nations often paid poorly, putting these
soldiers of fortune into an endless cycle of always needing a new war just to
stay afloat. The real-life equivalents of my character Hansie have continued
fighting well past retirement age. The most recent example of their tradecraft was
in Nigeria when the government enlisted mercenaries to aid in battling Boko
Haram. The militant group had made international headlines by kidnapping young
girls. The use of mercenary troops was controversial, but apparently they did remarkable
work bolstering the Nigerian troops, and at least some of the young women were
returned safely.
After a lifetime of fighting I hope some of
these aging warhorses manage to squeeze in a few years of peace before they move
on to Elysian Fields.
Hope you enjoyed this collection of soldier
of fortune factoids. And just a reminder that my novel SCORPIUS REX is available on Amazon—because repeatedly plugging
your book is a totally mercenary thing to do.
About the Author
Scorpius Rex is William Burke’s second novel, following a long career in film and television. He was the creator and director of the Destination America paranormal series Hauntings and Horrors and the OLN series Creepy Canada, as well as producing the HBO productions Forbidden Science, Lingerie and Sin City Diaries. His work has garnered high praise from network executives and insomniacs watching Cinemax at 3 a.m.
During the 1990’s Burke was a staff producer for the Playboy Entertainment Group, producing eighteen feature films and multiple television series. He’s acted as Line Producer and Assistant Director on dozens of feature films—some great, some bad and some truly terrible.
Scorpius Rex is the glorious result of a childhood spent immersed in late night creature features, monster magazines and horror comics.
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