Meet Kevin Miller

 
 

Background: Captain Kevin Miller, a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, is a former tactical naval aviator and has flown the A-7E Corsair II and FA-18 Hornet operationally. He commanded a carrier-based strike-fighter squadron in combat, and, during his career, logged over 1,000 carrier-arrested landings, made possible as he served alongside outstanding men and women as part of a winning team. Captain Miller lives and writes in Pensacola, Florida.

Raven One, released in June 2014, was his first novel. He published his sequel novel Declared Hostile in August, 2016. High Desert Reflections is a short story about his personal flying experiences in the Navy. Fight Fight, the third in his RAVEN ONE series, was published in August, 2018.

"I enjoy reading history, and historical fiction from authors such as Michael and Jeff Sharra, Herman Wouk, and Edward L. Beach fascinate me. They write about human beings, flawed and unsure of themselves, under tremendous pressure and caught up in events they cannot control. With Raven One my goal is to bring the reader with me on a carrier deployment, to join me in the cockpit and be privy to ready room camaraderie, whispered conversations in staterooms, and the level of precision involved with all facets of carrier operations. Declared Hostile and Fight Fight take place in other parts of the world, with new antagonists and new leadership challenges. The public response to my novels has been overwhelming."

His long-awaited historical fiction novel about the Battle of Midway, The Silver Waterfall, was released on June 4, 2020. The Silver Waterfall won the American Fiction Award, Military Category.

Latest Book: The Silver Waterfall (summary, reviews and links to purchase).

Upcoming Book News: Raven One was released last year as a Digital Combat Simulator video game campaign. I am working with the developers on a prequel campaign for release this year.

A 4th Flip Wilson series novel is in the works.

Authors That Influenced You: CAPT Edward L. Beach, Herman Wouk, Pat Conroy, Michael Shaara and Stephen Coonts.

Books You Would Recommend: Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson, Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer, The Great Santini by Pat Conroy, Dust on the Sea by Edward L. Beach, The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, TOPGUN by Dan Pedersen and The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman

Favorite Indie Bookstore: Bodacious Bookstore & Café in Pensacola, FL.

Charities: National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum’s mission is to honor all former Prisoners of War; remember and never forget those missing in action heroes and the families who seek their return.

The Tailhook Association is an independent, fraternal, nonprofit organization internationally recognized as the premier supporter of the aircraft carrier and other sea-based aviation.

How To Contact Kevin: Email, Website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The Silver Waterfall

 
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In the desolate middle of the largest ocean on earth, two great navies met, one bent on the conclusive battle, the other lying in ambush.

Six months after Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto again crossed the Pacific with the most powerful naval armada the world had ever seen, this time to finish the job. Nimitz waited for him with what he had, placed exactly where he needed it.

Both admirals depended on their fliers, some veterans of the battle, others raw and unproven. Striking first meant decisive victory.

This is the story of the men who fought World War 2 Battle of Midway over three momentous days in June 1942. Men uncertain, determined, fearful, and courageous. Their story is one of daring and unfathomable loss.

The Silver Waterfall is a historic fiction novel of Midway told by today's master of carrier aviation fiction about those who fought in one of the most pivotal and epic naval battles in world history.

Fight Fight (Raven One #3)

 
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A contemporary Air-Sea heavyweight fight...the like we haven't seen since The Pacific War.

A routine U.S. Navy Freedom-of-Navigation patrol in the South China sea turns deadly when it encounters a covert - and unauthorized - Chinese plot to lay claim to waters of the South China Sea. Misunderstanding, miscalculation, and fear lead to both sides mobilizing, with the United States moving west across the Pacific to meet and engage the People's Liberation Army (Navy) who waits with modern weaponry and determined purpose.

Through detailed research and his insight of modern naval and aerial warfare gained through personal experience, Kevin Miller takes the reader aboard a nuclear powered aircraft carrier heading across the Pacific for the South China Sea - and combat. Today, the South China Sea is one of the most important - and dangerous - bodies of water in the world, with seven countries laying claim to portions of it, and in one case, all of it. Loaded with action, from heavy seas to inbound missiles, Fight Fight explores a scenario that could lead to an unwanted and unplanned - and with today's headlines perhaps inevitable - war between an established and a rising superpower.

Once again Flip, Weed, and Olive deploy on another sea adventure. Along the way they will encounter a leadership challenge as old as the sea, and the motivations of several Chinese antagonists, from 4-star leadership to front line fighter pilots, are explored.

Today's cutting-edge precision weapons - some real and some imagined - are employed to devastating effect. Could the Chinese - though relentless action or divine luck - do the unthinkable?

Declared Hostile (Raven One #2)

The United States has been fighting – and arguably losing – the so-called “War on Drugs” for decades. In an unusual assignment, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Coral Sea is sent to the Caribbean for training, but that is only the cover story.

Jim Wilson is back as a carrier pilot in the Firebird squadron caught up in a shadowy world of covert operations that turns into actual combat with a blend of nation-states and powerful drug cartels intent on doing harm to the United States.

As he did in Raven One, Kevin Miller brings to life the men and women of Coral Sea – and the human emotions of their enemies fighting them. Societal and geo-political issues of interpersonal and international conflict are raised which there is no clear answer, causing the reader to reflect and ponder. High-level military command relationships are explored, and the emotions of jealousy, greed, courage and betrayal are found on both sides in this human story. This epic novel takes to a new level the authentic high-g flying action as well as the deep and interesting characters Miller is known for.

Raven One

Lieutenant Commander Jim Wilson, a fighter pilot aboard the carrier USS Valley Forge, is weary of combat over the skies of Iraq. He has been there many times since the late 90s, but now, as each passing minute draws him once again closer to combat, various other conflicts also complicate his life. His executive officer Commander “Saint” Patrick becomes unreasonably overbearing; his wife Mary, fed-up with their long separations, applies pressure for him to resign from the Navy; junior officers test his leadership skills as they act in unpredictable ways; and the raging sea outside serves as the only thing that separates him from events that will change forever his life and career. Imminent combat with the inhospitable and hostile countries over the Arabian Gulf horizon is the one constant he can depend on.

Raven One places you with Wilson in the cockpit of a carrier-based FA-18 Hornet…and in the ready rooms and bunkrooms of men and women who struggle with their fears and uncertainty in this new way of war. They must all survive a Middle-East deployment that takes a sudden and unexpected turn when Washington orders Valley Forge to respond to a crisis no one saw coming. The world watches – and holds its breath.

Kevin Miller’s first novel is filled with flying action and adventure – and also examines the actions of imperfect humans as they follow their own agendas in a disciplined world of unrelenting pressure and danger.

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