Marko Kloos

Kloos is best known for his Frontlines series of military science fiction novels. Featuring the protagonist Andrew Grayson, they are set in a future in which a Western and an Eastern power bloc are at war with each other and with an alien threat.^[2]

Reviewing the first novel, Terms of Enlistment, io9 described it as sticking close to the conventions of the genre, focusing on "guns, acronyms, hard-ass drill sergeants, explosions and battles on alien worlds". The reviewer considered the second novel, Lines of Departure, to be an improvement in that it reflected a critical outlook towards powerful, centralized government that was often absent in leading works of the genre such as Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers.^[3]

Lines of Departure was nominated for the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel on a slate organized by the "Sad Puppies", a group of "right-leaning science fiction writers."^[4] In reaction to this, Kloos withdrew the novel from consideration for the award.^[4] He was subsequently honored by George R. R. Martin for this decision.^[5]

In 2019, his short stories, Lucky Thirteen and On The Use Of Shape-Shifters In Warfare, were adapted as part of the Netflix anthology series Love, Death & Robots.^[6]

Aftershocks, the first book in a new series, "The Palladium Wars," was released in July 2019.^[7]

Kloos served in the West German military as a junior NCO from 1989 to 1993. He drew upon these experiences in his military science fiction.^[8]

Kloos lives in New Hampshire with his family and has been employed as "a soldier, a bookseller, a freight dock worker, a tech support drone, and a corporate IT administrator".^[1] He is a graduate of the Viable Paradise writers' workshop.^[9]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Frontlines series

Novels

1. Terms of Enlistment (2013), ISBN 978-1-4778-0978-5, 47North
2. Lines of Departure (2014), ISBN 978-1-4778-1740-7, 47North
3. Angles of Attack (2015), ISBN 978-1-4778-2831-1, 47North
4. Chains of Command (2016), ISBN 978-1-5039-5032-0, 47North
5. Fields of Fire (2017), ISBN 978-1-5039-4071-0, 47North
6. Points of Impact (2018), ISBN 978-1-5420-4846-0, 47North
7. Orders of Battle (2020), ISBN 978-1-5420-1958-3, 47North
8. Centers of Gravity (2022), ISBN 978-1-7136-4680-8, 47North
9. Echoes of Silence (novella) (2025), Frostbite Publishing

Chapbooks

• Lucky Thirteen (2013)
• Measures of Absolution (2013)

Comics

With Ivan Brandon:

• Frontlines: Requiem (four issues, Jet City Comics, 2016)

Frontlines: Evolution series

1. Scorpio (2023), ISBN 978-1-5420-3549-1 47North
2. Corvus (2025), ISBN 978-1662524882 47North

The Palladium Wars series

Novels

1. Aftershocks (July 1, 2019^[10]), ISBN 978-1-5420-4355-7, 47North
2. Ballistic (May 26, 2020^[11]), ISBN 978-1-5420-9007-0, 47North
3. Citadel (August 10, 2021^[12]), ISBN 978-1-5420-2724-3, 47North
4. Descent (July 16, 2024^[13]), ISBN 978-1-5420-3615-3, 47North

Other work

Short fiction

• How to Move Spheres and Influence People (2019)^[14]

• Ink and Blood (2011)
• Cake Whores of Mars (2012)^[15]
• Berlin Is Never Berlin (2020)^[16]