Soldiers are rescued from certain death in an African civil war by aliens. They are transported to the planet Tran where they discover the reason for their hosts' merciful intervention.
A soldier returns to his wife and family through the length and darkness of space to discover the unforeseen battles that await him. Part of the Hammer's Slammers series.
This news of being named an [ALA] Alex Award winner is especially sweet because I, personally, know what it means to be included into a world of free access to books, which has been my real family since the first day of the first grade, when I stepped into the bookmobile.