David A. Drake (1945–2023)

Disturbing: The only reason I don't give it 5 is because it is a reprint in a different format, with all stories previously published.

Spoiler alert for the main story.

That said, Rolling Hot, the prime story, is one you simply must read if you want to grasp the military mindset. It ranks up with Heinlein's Starship Troopers (the novel, not the stupid movie with the same title) and Haldeman's The Forever War.

Drake always manages to impart wisdom under the horrific gore. It's actually show more incredibly subtle in its own perverse way. Drake loads on the blood as a cautionary tale. He served with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam, and it still shows in his writing and occasionally in his talk. This isn't gore to titillate, this is gore to revolt, just in case you start to develop the theory that violence is a neat thing. It's harsh enough it will probably override years of stupid shootemup computer games in the current generation. Yes, it's THAT grisly.

But the characters are where the story is. Along with a decrepit, burned out, wrung out bunch of leftovers from previous engagements, a civilian reporter rides along. His goal was to investigate the "Waste" of money on the mercenaries that could be spent on additional indigenous forces. All he sees at the beginning is the rough, crude exterior of the unit.

On post during an attack, he winds up dragging along during a hell for leather chase across the continent, a desperate attempt to relieve the capital with the only troops available--the Slammers' sick list. It's that or be left as fodder, and the enemy doesn't care that he's a "noncombatant." Violating the non-interference concept reporters try to embrace, he mans a gun and offers his best military skill--shooting a grenade launcher as he learned as a reservist years past. "That's it, Turtle! you flush 'em, we'll shoot 'em!" one of his squad mates advises through a burst of fire. Even more than the Slammers, this is the last place he wants to be, and there's simply no choice.

At the end of a brutal, casualty-ridden drive across a hostile wasteland of enemy action, bad roads, "friendly" fire and inadequate supplies, he has the answer to his question. Why spend money on professionals? Because they're the only ones who can accomplish the impossible. As Montesquieu said, "A rational army WOULD run away."

That's when the story took a twist. Upon relieving the town, the mercs are shunned and ridiculed for their "disgusting and unprofessional" appearance by the alleged professionals of the local army and government. Our reporter reacts with righteous indignation and murderous rage that troops brave enough and dedicated enough to pull off the impossible are regarded as trash by pretty boys with no trigger time...

...and is stopped by one of the gunners, who tells him, "It don't mean nothin'."

I was appalled by the ending. I was outraged. It seemed to not be an ending in any fashion. It was six months later, during a discussion where I was trying uselessly to explain the concept of military duty to a civilian who simply CANNOT understand what it means. Some can, some can't. Those who can't never will. That's when I understood. "It don't mean nothin'."

Nineteen years of service. A few hours to read. Six months for it to make sense. And a story I will never forget.

And sadly, most civilians will never get it. That's not an insult, it's a cultural observation.

Bravo, Dave. show less

I had rather hoped I would hate this book. Seriously. Many years ago, when I first purchased my Kindle, I downloaded dozens of books from the Baen free library. That included the first four books in this series. Those books, along with many other free/cheap books that I downloaded around that time period, have resulted in an overwhelmingly large list of books that I’m still trying to work my way through. So I thought, if I didn’t like this book, then I could delete the other three books show more and make a nice little dent in my list of unread books. Of course, I could have just deleted them anyway. Nobody is forcing me to read them. But it seems like, since I have them, I should at least make the attempt. Who knows? I might really like them.

As it turned out, I really liked this book! I didn’t expect to. I enjoy science fiction, but I’ve never read anything that would be classified as military science fiction and I’m not normally interested in military-types of stories. Furthermore, as I read, I found that the military aspect was quite pronounced whereas the science fiction element was barely there at all. The science fiction element has a major underlying influence, and it wouldn’t be the same story without it, but it’s not front-and-center in the story and so at times I almost forgot about it.

But I really enjoyed the story and, most of all, the characters. Their dialogue was funny -- often laugh-out-loud funny. I cared about the characters, and was always eager to find out what would happen next. I even enjoyed the military parts, because it wasn’t just death and mayhem. There were tactics and strategies and interesting character interactions. Maybe I like military stories after all.

I sometimes felt like things were a little over-the-top. There was a lot of black-and-white in the story and not many shades of gray. Brilliant, amazing heroes of great skill. Horrible, vile villains who couldn’t see past their own evil desires and whose evil desires brought about their ultimate downfall. It also seemed like everything Belisarius did worked out exactly as he planned. Of course, he was a brilliant, amazing general of great skill. And he had brilliant, amazing allies of great skill. And he had some additional advantages as well. But I kept expecting some missteps or setbacks. The lack thereof was unrealistic enough to sometimes pull me out of the story. These are the main reasons this book didn’t get a five-star rating from me. However, despite that, I always found myself rooting for everything to go well for the heroes.

The story may be a little lacking in realism and grit and despair, but it was a very fun story and it made for a good change of pace. I’m glad I gave it a try and didn’t just delete it with the assumption that I wouldn’t like it. It looks like I won’t be deleting those other three books, either! show less

Daniel Leary isn't your typical space hero, which is okay, because Adele Mundy isn't your typical space heroine. He's a shortish, kind of pudgy, officer in the Royal Cinnabar Navy. Not long on heroics thus far, infact he'd prefer never to carry a weapon, but well-liked and good with people. She's a tallish, leanish, librarian; an expert with computers, and dead shot with pretty much any type of projectile weapon, she's not good with people and has very few qualms about shooting them. On the show more surface they have nothing in common. Under the surface? Well, it's worth the read to find out.

After a somewhat rocky start (to both the book and the relationship), this odd couple grew on me. Haven't read much of Drake's other work, but once I flipped the last page I found myself curious to see where he'd send Leary and Mundy off to next. show less

In this one, Hammer's Slammers, a hardened mercenary tank company, have been hired to support the colonial army on a planet whose native inhabitants can teleport at will. How do you fight teleporting guys with guns? More importantly, should you?