Military Science Fiction

[psikeyhackr]

Being a lover of all things naval, I enjoyed the Lost Fleet series up to a point but it ultimately just became a massively, unnecessarily dragged out story line and I eventually thought ‘enough! Doesn’t this author know that a book should consist of a beginning, middle and end?’ It didn’t help that there was little or no character development.

Don't you know that Black Jack Geary is unstoppable?

 

[Pyan]

If you want something a little lighter, but still Military SF (Space Navy) try With the Lightnings, the first of a series by David Drake regarding the rise of Lt Daniel Leary, Royal Cinnabar Navy.

When it comes down to it, most books by Weber, Drake, Ringo, Moon or Turtledove are fertile hunting ground for MSF seekers...

 

[Rodders]

I agree, Foxbat. I also struggled with the idea that naval strategy had suffered because so many were lost that they "forgot" manoeuvres.

I thought that that Walter Jon William's "Dread Empire's Fall" was a decent series too. The space combat is similar to The Lost Fleet, but i felt the characters were better.

 

[BAYLOR]

Warhammer 40k is some of the best military science fiction ive ever read.

 

[Toby Frost]

I think that rather depends on who is writing it...

There's a core of silliness and parody to Warhammer 40k that I think some of the more recent stuff misses (they are literally shooting demons and space elves, after all). When it started, it was rather like a 2000AD comic strip (and definitely influenced by them), and some of that sly, mocking quality has been lost.

My main issue with military SF is that so much of it is clearly a real-world army "but in space". I've seen the US marines, Nelson's navy, Spartans, SS, basically anyone that fans get fixated on as being hard - but in space. I find it hard to suspend belief that in the year 9,000 a bunch of guys who talk and train just like Delta Force would be shooting aliens house-to-house in Space Iraq without it being tongue in cheek.

EDIT: in fairness, I should say that SF films are full of anachronistic and downright silly designs, characters, equipment and tactics - I just find it harder to swallow in print.

 

[Rodders]

I get what you mean, Toby.

My first experience of WH40k was the Founding. In the first book someone gets hit with a bit of shrapnel in battle. Later in the book a deamon bursts out of the guy. I almost put it down then. Glad I didn't but crikey, it was close. My experience since has been nothing but fun.

 

[Toby Frost]

The other thing that makes me wary is that, outside Warhammer, a lot of military SF seems to be highly politicised in a way that isn't relevant to me, by people who wouldn't like me on principle. I'm not going to say any more on this because of forum rules, but I don't want to read books by people who would regard me with contempt, for whatever reason.

 

[Pyan]

My personal problem with Warhammer (and White Dwarf, for that matter) is that as time goes on each 'civilisation'/species/race gets more OTT weapons, armour, powers, etc, until they call a halt and then start a new set of 'civilisations'/species/races at a simpler level, and the whole cycle repeats.

 

[Vladd67]

I get what you mean, Toby.

My first experience of WH40k was the Founding. In the first book someone gets hit with a bit of shrapnel in battle. Later in the book a deamon bursts out of the guy. I almost put it down then. Glad I didn't but crikey, it was close. My experience since has been nothing but fun.

In one of the Gaunt's Ghosts books, possibly the first one, one of the troopers is injured by a piece of a statue in a chaos temple and is shortly corrupted into a chaos beast.

 

[Rodders]

That's the one. I thought it was a little silly at the time, but it was my first experience with the 40k universe and i pushed on. (I hate DNFing a book)

 

[Parson]

is that as time goes on each 'civilisation'/species/race gets more OTT weapons, armour, powers,

I've read Cheree Alsop's Daybreak (Girl from the Stars, book 1) a few days ago. It was okay, nothing too great. I liked the characters, but at the end of the book the heroes recover a weapon that "implodes galaxies." If that isn't OTT to the power of 10, I can't imagine what is. (Also it fits inside a small space ship!!!) I purchased the second Daylight, but at least for now (probably forever) it became a DNF it just went too far down the unbelievable hole for me.

 

[psikeyhackr]

recover a weapon that "implodes galaxies." If that isn't OTT to the power of 10, I can't imagine what is.

Implodes Galaxies!!!

Aww man! I gotta have one of those.

Who cares about jetpacks?

Does it only implode the galaxy that you are in or can you aim it at other galaxies? Was there an instruction manual?

 

[psikeyhackr]

Cheree Alsop's Daybreak (Girl from the Stars, book 1)

I purchased the second Daylight, but at least for now (probably forever) it became a DNF it just went too far down the unbelievable hole for me.

OMG!

That book is on my phone. I quit halfway through where she was in some cavern helping to rescue people. I think. Can't even remember what turned me off. Maybe I need to finish it.

Imploding galaxies sounds orgasmic!

 

[Foxbat]

Why implode instead of explode? Wouldn’t imploding a galaxy cause a galaxy sized black hole?

 

[psikeyhackr]

Why implode instead of explode? Wouldn’t imploding a galaxy cause a galaxy sized black hole?

All you have to do to explode a galaxy is turn off the gravity. Imploding a galaxy is a challenge. Overcoming the angular momentum is a monster.

 

[Parson]

Why implode instead of explode? Wouldn’t imploding a galaxy cause a galaxy sized black hole?

One would think! But I know science wasn't the strong point of this book.

 

[Swank]

One would think! But I know science wasn't the strong point of this book.

Considering that galaxies have black hole cores, I don't see why either collapsing or expanding a galaxy would seem more likely than the other. In fact, they ought to take the exact same amount of energy, since it is really just a question of leaving orbit by going down or going up.

but at the end of the book the heroes recover a weapon that "implodes galaxies." If that isn't OTT to the power of 10, I can't imagine what is.

What size device would have made you comfortable?

 

[Parson]

What size device would have made you comfortable?

Good question. I'm not sure any size would have been comfortable. I'd have thought at least the size of large star. Perhaps if they had talked about what the device had done? Perhaps if they had introduced it as a way to magnify the power of black holes? If one of those two I might not have had so much of a strong negative reaction.

 

[Swank]

Good question. I'm not sure any size would have been comfortable. I'd have thought at least the size of large star. Perhaps if they had talked about what the device had done? Perhaps if they had introduced it as a way to magnify the power of black holes? If one of those two I might not have had so much of a strong negative reaction.

Isn't it funny sometimes where we get our limits when it comes to our suspension of disbelief? In the '50s they managed to make a nuclear fission weapon the size of gym bag. The most powerful computers run on tiny chips. Micro doses of many drugs are lethal. But a fictional device doing a fictional thing with fictional physics is subject to our sense of proportionality and believability.

 

[psikeyhackr]

One would think! But I know science wasn't the strong point of this book.

No excrement!

I have been trying to recall any story that involved destroying a galaxy. Nothing comes up.
The 3rd Bobiverse book destroys a star and explains how it is done. You just have to get a couple of planetoids to near light speed. Nothing really cosmically exceptional. Ensign Flandry had something similar colliding with a star.