Monday, May 12, 2008

A military fiction geek out

Ok, this one is going to be for the hardcore military fiction and science fiction readers out there.
  1. Hornblower, Aubrey, both, or neither

  2. What was the "real" last book of the Aubrey Maturin series?
    • Blue at the Mizzen (the canonical last book)
    • The Commodore (Jack becomes an Admiral, and again the story wanders off after)
    • The Far Side of the World (Jack and Steven lose their way for some time after this)
    • The Fortune of War (the natural ending point of the first major story arc)

  3. How about the "real" last Hornblower book
    • The Happy Return (technically the first book published)
    • Flying Colours (the second book published, but many consider it the natural end)
    • Lord Hornblower (the war ends with Napoleons defeat at Waterloo)
    • Hornblower in the West Indies (the canonical last novel; really a series of novelas)

  4. The better Homage to either Hornblower or Aubrey (not necessarily the best books)
    • David Drakes RCN series
    • David Feintuchs Seafort Series
    • David Webers Honor Harrington series
    • LM Bujolds Miles Vorkosigan series (does it even really count?)
    • Other (there are dozens)

  5. Ioan Griffud and Jamie Bamber, or Russel Crowe and Paul Bettany?

  6. Screw that poncy navy crap: Sharpe or Flashman

  7. The "real" last book in the Sharpes series
    • Sharpes Honour: The original end of the series, and Sharpes last true exploits as a fighting soldier in command of soldiers
    • Sharpes Honour, AND the tacked on prequels don't count
    • Sharpes revenge: Sharpe and Harper are out of the army, in the peace of 1814, and Sharps life is ruined... again
    • Sharpes Devil: Sharpe investigating Napoleons death on St. Helena (no seriously), and the canonical last book

  8. What's with all this British Crap: Ken McCoy, Craig Lowell, John Clark, Bob Lee Swagger, Mitch Rapp, Mack Bolan ( I HAVE to include him) or Mike Harmon

  9. Screw all that earthbound war crap... besides, they're called crunchies for a reason : Hammers Slammers or Bolo (pre-sentience)

  10. They don't crunch when they've got powered combat armor, or the equivalent (genetically engineered supersoldier, or born again badass etc...) . "Shines the Name, Rodger Young": Juan Rico, Mike O'Neal, Karl Sten, or Jane Sagan
Note: I don't know of and haven't read, any good revolutionary war or civil war series (excepting various alternate history novels); so I didn't include any soldiery from those conflicts (unless you count Flashman - and I don't) . I'm sure there are some, but I haven't read any. Go ahead and suggest away if you do know of some. Also, I've read the "destroyer" series, but not many other series about WW2 naval combat; so again, suggest away.

Bonus points if you get all the references without looking them up.

I've only included one character in the list above that isn't a major character in a well known series of at least three books; and that's because the single book in question is so influential as to be a cornerstone of the entire mythos of military fiction and science fiction.

I specifically left out several really great characters (I'm lookin at you Mad Mike) because they are side characters, or are not characters in a series (at least not yet. Larry Correia's got one thats going to be a classic once he gets the next two novels published. If you can get your hands on a copy of Monster Hunter International, you should. If not, it's going to be reprinted by Baen in 2009).

Oh and remember, explain your choices.

Knowing my readers, this oughta be fun... Kinda like a knife fight in a phone booth...

... Especially considering at least five of the authors noted above read this page on occasion, as do a couple of other authors who have collaborated with folks on that list (and I'm not tellin. If they choose to make themselves known, s'be't) ...