OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Okay, the title speaks for itself. And I already know about Honor Harrington. And please don't mention franchised stuff like Star Trek, Battletech etc.

I've found an apparently new one: "Marque and Reprisal" by Elizabeth Moon. Anyone know anything about this one? It seems to be selling quite well...

Fictionwise also sells Empire from the Ashes which supposedly bundles three books by David Weber, "Mutineers' Moon", "The Arageddon Inheritance" and "Heirs of Empire". Anyone read those?

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

There's "The Shiva Option". prety close to being a spaceemepires novel.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Hmm, more David Weber. David Weber is good and entertaining, but sometimes one feels like something a little different. For reference, I also greatly enjoyed books by Vernor Vinge and would highly recommend them, "The Peace War", "A Deepness in the Sky", "A Fire Upon the Deep". Completely unlike Weber, but still quite cool SF with plenty of high-tech conflict, with an emphasis on information warfare and intrigue.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Hey, someone is developing a Honor Harrington campaign setting for the Traveller RPG:

Honor Harrington Campaign Setting

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

it may not be military per se (or at least not to the same intensity as Weber) but Peter F Hamilton writes good books I believe and they tend to have wars in them by by which I refer to the "NightsDawn Trilogy" and "Pandoras Star". As a speed reader I appreciate Trilogies where each volume is 1000 pages.

Edit: however having said that I now recall one problem I once heard on Weber was characters being killed off, which does happen in Hamiltons book albeit they tend to be cloned and the braintape put back in.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, anyone? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

SF
-----------------------
Any of the Hammer's Slammers books by David Drake.

The Draka novels, (Marching through Georgia, Under the Yoke, The Stone Dogs), by SM Stirling.

The General series, (The Forge, The Anvil, The Hammer, The Steel, The Sword), by David Drake and SM Stirling.

The War in 2020, by Ralph Peters. This is a superb novel, but very depressing. A tragedy worthy of Euripides.


Non-SF, but highly reccommended
---------------------------------

The Forgotten Soldier, by Guy Sajer. The author's memoir of his service in the Gross Deutschland division in russia. Nota Bene: Gross Deutschland was an elite regular army division, not Waffen SS.

Sand in the Wind, by Robert Roth. My stepfather (45 months in SE Asia, the first 13 with 1st Mar Div, the rest with 2nd Force Recon Bn) commended this book to me as the most realistic story of the war in vietnam that he had ever read.

Le Rue Sans Joi, or Street Without Joy, by profesor Bernard Fall. An excellent overview of the french experience in southeast asia 1945-56, by a man who was born there.

Company Commander by Charles B. Macdonald. A classic. The commander of an infantry company in europe from shortly after the breakout through the end of the war, Macdonald states the blunt truth like nobody else.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

David Drake...Good!
There is one out called ARMOR been out for some time, they have made a movie out of it several others I can not remember (that is what happens when you are 40+ )

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

mottlee, I believe you're thinking of Armor, by John Stakeley.

And yeah, I understand. I just turned 45 on the 8th http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

I have all the Draka books (don't forget Drakon and Drakas)and I have read 2020. I wasn't too impressed by 2020 however after 9/11 I remembered what happened in it. "Draka", has been described as a story about psycopathic lesbians, but thats mostly "Drakon", the main premise is that if we "live in the best of all possible worlds" imagine what the "worst" is like. As a counterfactual afficionado its considered a classic, however it does fall vitim to the problem of Alternate History in that it stills has elements that by all rights should not exist eg. how the hell the nazis still exist if Draka exists. I was actually considering a Draka shipset (the portraits come right off the books) however I am delaying it so as to make it for SEV.

Back to Topic: I am currently reading the Praxis series. Can't say its superb (the villeins fall to the same trap as in a Hubbard novel ie. they are incompetent morons), but its at least interesting and in part covers the development of tactics in a civil war within an empire that has existed for 12,000 years and has had to do little but drop anti-matter on any civilisation it meets to annex them.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Well, Randallw, that's always the hazard of mentioning one's Favorites in a venue like this. Others will have other opinions.

I have no idea what you mean by Praxis. You didn't cite an author, and a search at amazon.com for titles containing the word praxis returned 7755 results, rofl!

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Hey, I love Draka. I didn't mean to appear disparaging of 2020 however. We all have different tastes. If you like 2020 than theres no problem with that. I'm not really into the Tom Clancy type stuff myself and can't think why I read it, perhaps it was the space ship (?) on the cover. I'll go on record as saying I don't like "Honour Harrington" despite most people seeming to think its great. Some people might not like Praxis. The amazon page describes the Shaa as despots despite the fact that I like that type of government. Heres a more in depth description of "The Praxis"

The Praxis
Walter John Williams
Book one of Dread Empire's fall
ISBN- 0-7433-2897-8

or go here
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...s&n=507846

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Let's see good books I've read
Any of "The Fleet" books though those books are basically just a bunch of short stories tied into the same book, and the end of the war was a let down.
well that and some of the authors made contradicting statements compared to the others but other then that they were pretty good.

Hmm I've read "On Basilisk Station" and loved it, I'm readin "Honor of the Queen" and also love that so far (I'm on chapter 15).
So I'd recomend the Honor Harrington series as far as I've read it.


ALSO other good military Sci-Fi books:
The Mote in God's Eye and it's sequal The Gripping hand.
The BioFab War by Stephen Ames Berry (it's a fast read and pretty fun but it's no masterpeice of modern literature).
Starship Troopers was a pretty good read.
DUNE was also a pretty good read though I don't know if that counts as "military" sci-fi.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman. Can't beat it, still - but don't bother with all the sequels.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

What I find intriguing is the difference between modern military sci-fi and 50s to 70s classics. Todays Weber and Drake are mass-market paperbacks that are churned out full of action to appeal to fans, and theres nothing wrong with that if the fans are entertained and happy. Compare them however to stuff like "Starship Troopers", "Forever War" and "The Man in the High Castle" (ok that Last one isn't really military but its a sci-fi classic). They don't have non-stop action and are devoted to the evolution of an idea (Totalitarianism, Vietnam era sentiment, and the clash between Third Reich ideals and Japanese culture). They are different from modern literature because what the "main" characters are doing doesn't have much effect on the larger picture, the larger picture is there as a backdrop to what these "little" charcaters are doing.

oh and I agree with expinger, don't read "Forever Peace" expecting it to be the same as "Forever War". Same Author but hardly anything in common, plus it just loses it at the end. I get the impression Haldeman expressed his ideas in his first book and then had to make something up to fill a cash-in.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Anything by Iain M Banks. Not "military" per se, but you do get lots of 10km-long ships blowing the crap out of one another/ destroying planets/ meddling with history.

Everyone should read these.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

From my miniscule familiarity of his work I wasn't aware that his novels contained such things. I had the impression they were hard Sci-Fi. Sure such novels are scientifically accurate, but when it takes a million years for anything to actually happen on a galactic scale there's not much excitement. I base such assumptions on once reading "The Time Ships"(and I'm not saying he wrote it for all I know) and some series (the name of which elludes me) where the aliens took something like a few million years to convert a galaxy to create a portal to another dimension.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Well main reason I like Honor Harrington is because I love the "age of sail" style it's written in and I always have loved classical naval style things which is why I read Horatio Hornblower books (most of them!).
There is just something that draws me in to the classical yet modern sense of sci-fi that pulls that off well as too many people who have tried have failed miserably. (can't remember the name of the other book I tried reading once that had the "age of sail" style to it's naval combat but it was boooooring!"

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

If you like age of sail and Hornblower, then I can not recommend highly enough the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O'Brien, he of Master and Commander fame. I am reading them for the second time and they are even better. The first time I read them I sped through them to find out what happens next, and now I am appreciating his fine observations and excellent, subtle style.

I also recommend the Vinge books and the Pournelle books mentioned above.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

BadAxe, agreed!

The Aubrey/Maturin novels are simply superb.

O'Brien can be howlingly funny, too. But you have to pay attention. It's not like a sitcom, where you have all those clues when to laugh. O'Brien throws his jokes at you totally and completely deadpan, with no clues at all. If you're not paying close attention, they sail right over your head.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Oh yes, and let me add to the list

Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War, by David Brin. The first of these three is a bit slow, but provides a needed background to understanding the Last two, which are truly excellent novels. IMO, this series is tied for best depiction of multiple alien species in all of SF, ever. In all fairness, David Brin can really blow it out his arse sometimes, as in many of his other books. This series is definitely his best work.

The entire Chanur series, (read them in order!), by CJ Cherryh. More human drama than some prefer, but very well done. This is my other candidate for best depiction of multiple alien species in an SF novel, ever.

<sexistpig> One of my hesitations about female authors is that they typically write action scenes with rather less skill and facility than male authors. Ms Cherryh is a delightful exception to this sad rule. </sexistpig>

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Ah violence "doesn't come naturally" to the creative minds of women (LOL I should really introduce whoever said that little jewel to my Kung Fu isntructor's daughter.

Seriously though I've noticed most female authors who do have violence in their books tend to lean the violence toward a more emotionaly gripping climax while a lot of male authors just lean towards the "[censored] blows up" (if you'll pardon my language) kind of end that makes us go COOL.
Granted many male authors are excellent at making violent scenes emotional as well as cool but only a sad few of the ones I've read.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Anyone who think's women can't be more naturally sadistic and violent than men is living a charmed existence as far as I'm concerned http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Got that right!!!! Most wemon I know have a MEAN streek more than a mile wide .... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Try a book caled EON...I deleive David Drake but not 100% on that, not a military type but still a good book, Man Kinzan wars is another so far 3 in the series, BOLO is cool too!!! man if we had those!

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

Pfft, dont put words in my mouth http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

All I said was what I said, not any of this other stuff you're throwing out here.

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

If you want "Hornblower" in space read the "Seafort Saga". Nick Seafort becomes humanities greatest captain however he considers himself a pathetic failure because he sent all his friends and quite a few cadets to their deaths (in his defence there was a war on), its like that StarTrek episode where Troi realises the only way to save the ship during her test is to send Geordi to die

Re: OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF
 

C.J. Cherryh's Atevi novels are very interesting, despite the fact that the main characters a diplomat.

And there's a series...by a guy...about a castle with 144,000 doors. And everything in the castle is constantly changing. Funny. Mind to tired to find the one book I have and find the name.

And Digital Knight, by Ryk Spoor, aka Sea Wasp, aka he of the very good fanfic(What I have read so far) aka the guy who got his start in the fiction industry by getting into an argument with David Weber(or Eric Flint, I really can't remember).

And Eric Flint's Grantville novels.

And www.baen.com ,for those poor souls who havn't found the free library and webscriptions and thus have to wait at their local bookstores and librarys for many good books.