Future war fiction — also known as alternate history or military science fiction — has been around a long time. Occasionally such books have proved startlingly prophetic. Sinclair Gluck's "The Dragon in Harness" (1932) featured a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor nine years before the actual event. In general, however, it must be understood that such books are, after all, fiction and plausibility need not be a critical factor in judging their worth.
"Tiger's Claw" is about conflict over the Spratly and Paracel island groups, which are currently claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. In addition to valuable mineral resources, the outcome of territorial claims may affect the freedom of international shipping to transit their waters.
In 2014, a U.S. civilian survey ship is fired on by a Chinese naval helicopter and incurs several fatalities. In quick succession, a U.S. naval reconnaissance plane is downed by a Chinese carrier fighter; a Vietnamese naval frigate is nearly blown out of the water; and a Taiwanese submarine that came too close to China's new aircraft carrier is destroyed with a nuclear torpedo.