About
Vincent H. O’Neil brings a wealth of life experience to his writing. Over the years he has served as a paratrooper, a risk manager, and an advertiser. He holds a bachelor's degree from West Point and a master's degree from The Fletcher School. He also graduated from The Defense Language Institute's Mandarin Chinese program, and has lived overseas.
In 2005 he won the St. Martin’s Press "Malice Domestic" Writing Competition. His debut novel, Murder in Exile, received a glowing review from Marilyn Stasio in The Sunday New York Times. It introduced the background-checker Frank Cole, and was followed by Reduced Circumstances, Exile Trust, and Contest of Wills.
His mystery novel Death Troupe is the first book in a theater-based mystery series featuring playwright Jack Glynn and the unusual members of the Jerome Barron Players theater troupe.
In 2013 he turned his hand to horror, with a suspense novel set in Providence, Rhode Island named Interlands. It follows graduate student Angela Morse as she searches the local woods for a lost stone obelisk once worshiped by a colonial-era cult that perished at its feet. In 2015 he released the sequel to Interlands, a book called Denizens.
In 2014 HarperCollins released the first book in his military science fiction Sim War series, Glory Main, written as Henry V. O'Neil. That was followed by Orphan Brigade, Dire Steps, and CHOP Line. The fifth and final book in the series, Live Echoes, was released in 2017.
His short work has appeared in Mystery Tribune, Bourbon Penn, Mystery Weekly, Scene4, and other magazines. His futuristic fiction short story "In-Body" was performed in the Escape Pod podcast, and his TV crime drama pilot script "Handler Hank" was selected for the 2019 Austin Revolution Film Festival. He has also authored three professional articles released by Risk Management Magazine, and has been interviewed in The Economist and Jane's Defense Weekly.
Most recently, he released two new books in an innovative series that pairs a futuristic fiction novel (A Pause in the Perpetual Rotation) with a non-fiction self-help manual (The Unused Path) that is featured in that novel.
His website is www.vincenthoneil.com
Featured Work
Glory Main: Book One of the Sim War Series
We are closer to the Sims than we think.
For decades, mankind has been locked in a war with an alien enemy that resembles the human race so closely they are known as the Sims. Both sides battle for control of habitable planets across the galaxies—often at any cost.
Lieutenant Jander Mortas is fresh out of officer training and new to the war zone, but eager to prove himself. There's just one problem: disaster strikes while he's traveling to his first assignment. He wakes to find himself marooned on a planet that appears deserted, with only three other survivors: a psychoanalyst, a conscientious objector, and a bitter veteran of a brutal slave-scout detachment. As the group struggles to reach safety on a nearby base, Glory Main, they discover a Sim colony—which could mean their salvation, or their demise.
Thrown together, they must fight the harsh elements, an ever-present enemy, and possibly each other.
Other Works
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"They Don't Need the Light" in Andromeda Spaceways Magazine
2024
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"Marjorie's Last Run" in The Saturday Evening Post
2024
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Coronavirus Solitary, a one-scene play in Esoterica Magazine
2023
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A Pause in the Perpetual Rotation
2021
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The Unused Path
2021
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Live Echoes: Book Five of the Sim War Series
2017
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CHOP Line: Book Four of the Sim War Series
2016
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Denizens: Interlands Book Two
2015
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Dire Steps: Book Three of the Sim War Series
2015
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Orphan Brigade: Book Two of the Sim War Series
2015
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Interlands
2013
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Crime Capsules: Tales of Death, Desire, and Deception
2012
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Death Troupe
2011
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Contest of Wills
2010
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Exile Trust
2008
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Reduced Circumstances
2007
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Murder in Exile
2006
Awards and Recognition
- 2005 Winner, St. Martin's Press Malice Domestic Award
- Official selection to the 2019 Austin Revolution Film Festival: TV crime drama pilot script "Handler Hank"
