Best of
Military-Science-Fiction

2014

Empire of Man


David Weber - 2014
    It probably wasn't too surprising that someone in his position should react by becoming spoiled, self-centered, and petulant. After all, what else did he have to do with his life?  Then warships of the Empire of Man's worst rivals force his crippled vessel out of space and Roger is shipwrecked on the planet Marduk, whose jungles are full of deadly predators and barbarian hordes with really bad dispositions. Now all Roger has to do is hike halfway around the entire planet, then capture a spaceport from the Bad Guys, somehow commandeer a starship, and then go home to Mother for explanations.  Fortunately, Roger has an ace in the hole: Bravo Company of Bronze Battalion of The Empress' Own Regiment. If anyone can get him off Marduk alive, it's the Bronze Barbarians.About The Empire of Man Series:"Will fascinate sophisticated readers (the manual of arms for a four-armed, 10-foot soldier is a thing of beauty) . . . [and] grip straightforward action lovers."—Publishers Weekly"Coauthors Weber and Ringo excel in depicting the lives and times of soldiers both on and off the battlefield."—Library Journal

Throne of Stars


David Weber - 2014
    After much travail, Roger has developed into a competent and compassionate leader of men. That competence will be tested when Roger and the Marines face an even greater challenge. The Throne of Man has been usurped. With his brother dead and the forces of an interstellar empire arrayed against him, Roger must avenge his family and fight for the just rule of a thousand stars.About The Empire of Man Series:"Will fascinate sophisticated readers (the manual of arms for a four-armed, ten-foot soldier is a thing of beauty) . . . [and] grip straightforward action lovers." Publishers Weekly"Coauthors Weber and Ringo excel in depicting the lives and times of soldiers both on and off the battlefield." Library Journal

Into the Dark


J.A. Sutherland - 2014
    Her options are few. She must marry and watch a stranger run the lands, or become a penniless tenant and see the lands she so dearly loves sold off. Yet there may be another option, one that involves becoming a midshipman on a shorthanded spaceship with no other women.

No Honor in Death


Eric Thomson - 2014
    Some called her overly aggressive. Others simply called her reckless. What the enemy called her was something else altogether. That she gave the Shrehari a good drubbing along the way didn't matter in the least, because not all her enemies wore an Imperial uniform. A reputation for bad luck was pretty much the only reputation she had left.Sailing yet another ruined starship home after a near defeat, she wanted nothing more than a long, long rest, because this time, she had escaped by the thinnest of bluffs. Unfortunately, the Admiralty had other ideas.  The frigate Stingray was known as the unluckiest ship in the Fleet and her Captain had just been removed in disgrace for cowardice. Some in the Admiralty would dearly love to retire the old warhorse. After all, she was the last of her type left in service, and perhaps it was time to break up the jinx permanently, along with the crew. But in the midst of an interstellar war, every ship that could fight was needed.In short order, Dunmoore went from staring down the Empire's finest on the bridge of a wrecked battleship to taking on a demoralized, semi-mutinous crew, scheming Admirals and a deadly mystery. Stingray's bad luck wasn't just superstition gone rampant. Between a crew that won't talk, political enemies who want her gone, and her personal demons, she's got her hands full. Taking the frigate into battle under those conditions would seem foolish to anyone else, but Dunmoore was never one to shrink from a good fight.  Failure was not an option, and defeat not an acceptable alternative, for there was no honor in death. She would redeem herself and her ship or be damned for all eternity.

A Call to Duty


David Weber - 2014
    the two things his neglectful mother couldn't or wouldn't provide. So when Travis enlisted in the Royal Manticoran Navy, he thought he'd finally found the structure he'd always wanted so desperately.But life in the RMN isn't exactly what he expected. Boot camp is rough and frustrating; his first ship assignment lax and disorderly; and with the Star Kingdom of Manticore still recovering from a devastating plague, the Navy is possibly on the edge of extinction.The Star Kingdom is a minor nation among the worlds of the Diaspora, its closest neighbors weeks or months away, with little in the way of resources. With only modest interstellar trade, no foreign contacts to speak of, a plague-ravaged economy to rebuild, and no enemies looming at the hyper limit, there are factions in Parliament who want nothing more than to scrap the Navy and shift its resources and manpower elsewhere.But those factions are mistaken. The universe is not a safe place.Travis Long is about to find that out.

Hope Rearmed


S.M. Stirling - 2014
    A young hero overcomes implacable foes to lead a planet fallen into a dark age back to the high point of its lost technological civilization. Contains The Anvil and The Steel in the General series.  Series relaunched in The Heretic and continuing in The Savior.After the collapse of the galactic Web, civilizations crumbled and chaos reigned on thousands of planets. Only on planet Bellevue was there a difference. There, a Fleet Battle Computer named Center had survived from the old civilization. When it found Raj Whitehall, the man who could execute its plan for reviving human civilization, he and Center started Bellevue back on the road leading to the stars. Now Raj Whitehall has come close to reuniting the entire planet of Bellevue. Because of his victories and because of the way he won them, Raj is loved by the people—and his army would follow him to Hell. Even those closest to him, his band of sworn companions and his wickedly subtle but utterly loyal wife, hold him in awe. And that's the problem. For though Raj battles only in the name of his emperor and has proven his loyalty again and again, still the half-mad jealousy and fear of that emperor Clerett is about to give Raj no choice but to revolt or face death and the loss of all he has gained for freedom.About prequel omnibus volume, Hope Reborn:"The various battles and intrigues–all of them very clever and some of them very unexpected–make up the core of these extremely well-written and unabashedly fun books. And really, the action never stops. I highly recommend them to you as they’ve come out in a tasty trade format that’s very easy to hold and lug around (they are, in other words, backpackable)."—Amazing Stories About the Raj Whitehall series:“[T]old with knowledge of military tactics and hardware, and vividly described action. . .devotees of military SF should enjoy themselves.”—Publishers Weekly“[A] thoroughly engrossing military sf series. . .superb battle scenes, ingenious weaponry and tactics, homages to Kipling, and many other goodies. High fun.”—Booklist

The Heritage Trilogy: Semper Mars, Luna Marine, Europa Strike


Ian Douglas - 2014
    The USMC – a branch of a military considered, until just recently, to be obsolete – has dispatched the Marine Mars Expeditionary Force, a thirty-man weapons platoon, to the Red Planet to protect American civilians and interest with lethal force if necessary.Because great powers are willing to devastate a world in order to keep an ancient secret buried. Because something that was hidden in the Martian dust for half a million years has just been unearthed . . . something that calls into question every belief that forms the delicate foundation of civilization . . .Something inexplicably human.This bundle contains Semper Mars, Luna Marine and Europa Strike - the complete Heritage trilogy.

First Strike


Christopher G. Nuttall - 2014
    It’s desperate. And it’s Earth’s only hope. A massive alien power looms over humanity, claiming Earth as its territory and humanity as its slaves. The Hegemony has already taken over one colony, yoking hundreds of thousands under their brutal rule. Every tactical exercise, every wargame and every simulation gives humanity zero chance in a defensive campaign. Earth’s only chance to win the coming war - is by striking first.

In Every Clime and Place


Patrick LeClerc - 2014
    Always Faithful. The motto of the United States Marine Corps. Words to live by. On the ragged edges of civilization, Corporal Michael Collins has lived those words, taking on riots and evacuations, rebels and terrorists. Asteroid belt patrol is just another deployment. Ninety nine percent boredom, one percent terror. But soon the platoon of Marines find themselves entangled in the threads of a conspiracy of corporate greed, government corruption, piracy, and a band of war criminals. As the fire team leader struggles with tensions in the close knit unit, Collins and his fellow Marines find themselves outnumbered in a pitched battle to stop a corrupt land grab that seems right out of the Old West, but on a new, wider, more unforgiving frontier. And now he must confront the harsh demands of being “always faithful.” Semper Fi. Words to live by. Words to die by. Time to earn that combat pay, Marines. Welcome to the Suck. And remember, you volunteered for this. Patrick LeClerc has crafted a tense, military action adventure on the edge of civilization: Earth’s mining colonies in the asteroid belt. “In Every Clime and Place” combines the spirit of classic s/f of Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” or David Drake’s “Hammer’s Slammers” with the isolated, small unit grunt’s eye view intimacy of George MacDonald Fraser’s “Quartered Safe Out Here.” "In Every Clime and Place” is a frontier land grab; a tale of government corruption and corporate piracy, and a near future Marine science fiction story, told with gritty authenticity, gallows humor and raw emotion, evoking the closeness and isolation of a small unit deployed to the distant edge of a bleak and dangerous frontier. BOOK REVIEW Set some 60 years in the future, this impressive, fast-paced novel is as much ‘Semper fi’ as it is sci-fi. The convincing story centers on the hard-hitting law and order role of the USMC in dealing with organized commercial pirates causing mayhem on planet Mars. The plot’s development is cleverly stage-managed by the author (a former US Marine) From the very first page, authenticity is the dominant hallmark of this exciting and very readable book. Don’t expect to read this novel a chapter at a time, last thing at night and then drop off to sleep. I found it impossible to put down. This book demanded and held my attention. The very believable characters live off the pages. They, their gritty Service dialogues and the battle scenes are all USMC through and through. Long before that iconic US Marine legend, Chesty Puller, was mentioned in the story, I was sold on this book’s authenticity and the author’s credibility. I thoroughly recommend it as an absorbing, exciting read. It has, too, the makings of a great film. -Mike Williams, Royal Marine, SBS, Author of The Tremayne Trilogy

Survivors: The Second Book of The Off World Trilogy


Patrick Locke - 2014
    Forced by the Khonians to fight in their ancient war against the Rha’ket’gar, Jacob and his fellow Saje endured the terrible battles and torture of their conscription, only to be betrayed and left to die as the massive planet-killer bombs rained down on them, sucking the oxygen from the planet’s surface. Now, further from home than ever, Jacob must face his fears, search for his missing comrades, and lead the Saje survivors on their quest to find their own way back to Earth. Along the way, they battle new enemies—on land and in space—while striving to retain the core of their humanity and, above all, hope.

Outports: The Champions of 1942 - Part 4


Kenneth Tam - 2014
    Determined to give the four remaining young women a stern test, Lieutenant Stephanie Shylock sets a challenge: they must outwit and outmatch an elite pursuit force across the remote southern coast of Newfoundland. But while Stephanie leads these ambitious hopefuls into the wild, Lady Alex Smith and her new chaperone — the Canadian warship HMCS Sackville — swim in the coastal waters nearby… and are soon reminded that dangers from the sea can overwhelm even the best training. What disaster will befall the best friends, as they visit the outports of Newfoundland? For more, visit championsof1946.com

Dominoes: The Champions of 1942 - Part 2


Kenneth Tam - 2014
    Fear remains high as the new club Dominoes prepares for its grand opening event, and with black U.S. servicemen set to socialize for the first time with Newfoundlanders, and female officer candidates seeking to make an impression, the potential for strife seems great. As hospitality agents continue their search, and white American officers loom oppressively over their men, Sergeant Mike Strong must play the unexpected role of ‘celebrity chef’, while Lady Alex Smith and Lieutenant Stephanie Shylock must try to prevent disaster in an entirely alien environment: a jazz club. For more, visit championsof1946.com.

Scourge: The Champions of 1942 - Part 3


Kenneth Tam - 2014
    With Champion resources stretched thin by the fighting, the arrival of an unknown starship in orbit of the new world shatters routines, and sends the whitecoat and her lance on their first field operation in months. Joined by Sass, Ciaran, and Smith, the trio must contend with whatever danger lurks over the Selkirk Mandate… assuming there actually is any danger. Plagued by limited data and countless questions, can any mission to protect the new world meet with success, or will a new villain emerge to change the fate of humanity?

Snapdragon: The Champions of 1942 - Part 1


Kenneth Tam - 2014
    While the RAF drops leaflets calling for peace, the Snapdragon fighter planes are put through test flights, and Lady Elspeth Cornish leads the search for Lord Duncan, a certain Champion known for her white coat is noticeably excluded from any action. Lady Alex Smith, Second Lieutenant Stephanie Shylock, and Sergeant Mike Strong are eager to do their bit, but it isn’t until a severe blizzard visits Newfoundland that they’re assigned a new mission... and an unprecedented threat is revealed. To learn more, visit championsof1940.com.