Military SciFi books

[AndrewW]

Since the topic has come up a few times recently in the Traveller section of the forum I figured I would make a list of the books in this genre that I have read and enjoyed.

Elizabeth Moon:

Serano Legacy:

Hunting Party
Sporting Chance
Winning Colors
Once a HEro
Rules of Engagement
CHange of Command
Against the Odds

Vatta's War:

Trading in Danger
Marque and Reprisal / Moving Target
Engaging the Enemy
Command Decision
Vicotry Conditions

Vatta's Peace:

Cold Welcome
Into the Fire

Bill Baldwin:

The Helmsman:

The Helmsman
Galactic Convoy
The Trophy
The Mercenaries
The Defenders
The Siege
The Defiance
The Turning Tide

Scott Warren

Union Earth Privateers:

Vick's Vultures
To Fall Among Vultures
Where Vultures Dare

David Weber:

Honor Harrington:

On Basilisk Station
The Honor of the Queen
The Short Victorious War
Field of Dishonor
Flag in Exile
Honor Among Enemies
In Enemy Hands
Echoes of Honor
Ashes of Victory
War of Honor
At All Costs
Mission of Honor
A Rising Thunder
Shadow of Freedom
House of Steel
Shadow of Victory
Uncompromising Honor
Toll of Honor

Manticore Ascendant:

A Call to Duty
A Call to Arms
A Call to Vengeance
A Call to Insurrection

Worlds of Honor:

More Than Honor
Worlds of Honor
Changer of Worlds
The Service of the Sword
In Fire Forged
Beginnings
What Price Victory?

Saganami Island:

The Shadow of Saganami
Storm from the Shadows
Shadow of Freedom
Shadow of Victory

Star Kingdom:

A Beautiful Friendship
Fire Season
Treecat Wars
A New Clan

Crown of Slaves:

Crown of Slaves
Torch of Freedom
Cauldron of Ghosts
To End in Fire

Martin J. Dougherty:

Shadow of the Storm

Robert E. Vardeman

Fate of the Kinunir


Anyone should feel free discuss or contribute their own lists.

 

[Regnarts]

I would also suggest the following:
"Sten" series and "Star Risk LTD" by Chris Bunch
"Vorkosigan Saga" by Lois McMaster Bujold
"Quadrail" series and "Conqueror" series by Timothy Zahn

 

[CordwainerFish]

John G. Hemry did two-three books that were basically JAG in space. I liked them. The bean counters didn't, which is why there's only two-three of them. (The same author hit with a more formulaic conventional premise under the name of Jack Campbell. Couldn't get into the first one. Tired of people killing each other in uniform.)

 

[ottarrus]

David Drake and SM Stirling
- The General series

SM Stirling
- The Draka series
- The Peshwar Lancers

Dave Drake
- Hammer's Slammers series

 

[-Daniel-]

Dave Drake
- Hammer's Slammers series

I love how he used his real life past to create a wonderful Sci-Fi series. I have read the series a few times.

 

[actionman]

Jerry Pournelle
- Falkenberg's Legion

Robert Heinlein
- Starship Troopers

H. Beam Piper
- Uller Uprising

 

[AndrewW]

Robert Heinlein
- Starship Troopers

Ah, yes hadn't thought about Starship Troopers was concentrating more on ship based ones but I have read and enjoyed that one.

 

[ottarrus]

I love how he used his real life past to create a wonderful Sci-Fi series. I have read the series a few times.

I'm proud to say that Dave Drake served in the same regiment I did, although more than a decade and half a world away.

 

[collins355]

Marko Kloos - Frontlines series of books

 

[Geir]

I really liked Drake's RCN series.
Disappointed he never followed up on some of the subplot threads that sort of indicated that it was happening in the really far future.

 

[To Tha Moon!]

Star F.I.S.T.
- 14 books in the series so far
- soldiers on the ground with advanced tech

Starfist

Buy books online and find book series such as Starfist written by Dan Cragg and David Sherman from PenguinRandomHouse.com

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

Space Viking
- you might recognize some things in this book

Space Viking - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Star Rangers
- Space Navy with an elite on-the-ground team

Star Rangers (novel) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Starship Troopers
- not much like the movie
- pretty good, tho

Starship Troopers - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Citizen of the Galaxy
- you might recognize some things in this book, too

Citizen of the Galaxy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[AndrewW]

Starship Troopers
- not much like the movie

Or better, the movie didn't follow the book too well. Missing the MI suit was a biggie (they didn't want to budget for it).

Citizen of the Galaxy

Good book, not sure I would classify it as military though does have some parts that could be.

 

[Condottiere]

The movie was a pastiche of a concept film of (modern) fascism, to the point of parody.

Considering Robocop, not an accident, and brilliantly executed.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Don't you think our current 24 hour news cycle is an awful lot like the media presentation of the ST film?

 

[Condottiere]

Either very insightful, or a narrative device.

I think it's because you not only want to set the narrative, but also dominate the news cycle.

 

[actionman]

Joe Haldeman
- The Forever War

 

[actionman]

Or better, the movie didn't follow the book too well. Missing the MI suit was a biggie (they didn't want to budget for it).

Good book, not sure I would classify it as military though does have some parts that could be.

I seem to recall that the director of the movie wanted to create a "counter narrative" to Heinlein and use the opportunity to criticize fascist propaganda he experienced as a child during WW2. So not only did the movie not follow the book, the director was directly opposed the Heinlein's thought in the book. A very poor choice of director for the film.

 

[actionman]

David Drake and SM Stirling
- The General series

SM Stirling
- The Draka series
- The Peshwar Lancers

Dave Drake
- Hammer's Slammers series

I read the Draka series, but it didn't sit well enough for me to enjoy it. Too many things in the books didn't make a lot of sense. Strangely enough, I didn't like Hammer's Slammer much either. I thought it would be a perfect series for me, but I never liked the characters very much. I'll have to read the series again to see if I get a different impression.

 

[Condottiere]

The characters aren't sympathetic; seems to happen in most of his books.

As regards Starship Troops, closer to the original material than The Karate Kid, whose producers licensed the name from DC Comics.

 

[ottarrus]

I read the Draka series, but it didn't sit well enough for me to enjoy it. Too many things in the books didn't make a lot of sense. Strangely enough, I didn't like Hammer's Slammer much either. I thought it would be a perfect series for me, but I never liked the characters very much. I'll have to read the series again to see if I get a different impression.

Oh, there's a whole BUNCH of stuff in the Draka series that doesn't sit well with pretty much everybody. SM Stirling has a fascination with writing about superior and inferior cultures [the outright slavery of the Draka, the British Raj, etc.] but if you dig down he has some worthwhile observations about it. And though is may appear so, he's no fan of that kind of social system.

As regards to Hammer's Slammers, Drake wrote the Slammers drawing on his Vietnam experience as an enlisted translator/interrogator in Laos in the latter stages of that war. That's where a lot of the moral ambiguity of the Slammers' characters comes from. He drew inspiration from the people he served with and the impressions they made on him. If you're more used to stories in the Western story tradition [clear heroes with virtues being exemplified, obvious villains, etc.], the Slammers will disappoint you. The Slammers and Tolkien are two VERY different things.
But I submit that Hammer's Slammers are a good look at what it's like to serve in a technological military on operations where the casus belli is less clear cut than War Two. And the Slammers has been incredibly influential in the sci-fi genre. Every major author since has been influences positively or negatively by the series. It's like Dune that way.
Now, I freely admit I have a 'tanker bias', but completely separate of that is one thing that I personally appreciate about the Slammers series. This is that it is NOT Horatio Hornblower in Space [like Honor Harrington obviously is] nor is it a John Wayne - John Ford cavalry movie. The moral choices are far more nebulous and gray. Drake didn't copy any other military adventure series. He wrote from his real life projected into a politically confusing future. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the Slammers series if I was a supply clerk in the Air Force instead of a tank crewman in the Army.