OT : Reading Suggestions - Military SF

[deccan]

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?

[Randallw]

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

[deccan]

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.

[deccan]

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

Honor Harrington Campaign Setting

[Randallw]

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.

[Ed Kolis]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, anyone?

[Possum]

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.

[mottlee]

Possum said:
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.

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+ )

[Possum]

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

And yeah, I understand. I just turned 45 on the 8th

[Randallw]

Possum said:

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

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

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.