# Military Science Fiction Recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230 "2012-01-11T23:47:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/41 "2012-01-14T04:12:54Z")
Try Weber and Ringo’s _Empire of Man_ series next. It starts with _March Upcountry_. Aliens, but not BEMs. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/42 "2012-01-14T06:21:59Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > Joel Rosenberg’s Metzadan Mercenary Corps books were damn good. > > Rick Shelley’s Dirigent Corps books features future war from a ground-pounder’s point of view. The books follow the main character from his induction as an officer cadet through all his promotions. I mentioned Shelley earlier. Damn shame there will be no more books. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/43 "2012-01-14T17:25:08Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The Forever War is considered a classic of Science Fiction period. A Hugo and Nebula winner. More than 20 years ago now I saw Joe Haldeman at a book reading. Afterwards he talked about his writing including this one. He mentioned that for an action or military book it has very little graphic action or violence. I went back and reread it and he was right. Didn’t really notice it at the time. He is not very descriptive in writing about the violence during the battles (thats not really what the book is about anyway). He explained that he wrote it just a few years after he returned from Viet Nam and he still felt uncomfortable writing about graphic violence. I noticed when I read it that it wasn’t at all graphic. But it was good, so who cared. 😃 > [@Loach](#): > > One of my favorite military science fiction authors was Rick Shelley. Don’t know how easy it would be to find his books. I think I still have them somewhere. He died very young about 10 years ago. IIRC he also came from an actual military background. Yeah, he had some good stuff. Just as long as you stay with the DRC books. His next series only had the first book and a half done when he died, but someone else wrote more in it. Not as good, IMO. But finding the books shouldn’t be hard, [an Amazon search](http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link_code=qs&field-keywords=Rick%20Shelley&sourceid=Mozilla-search) had lots of results, for new or kindle even. > [@Sleel](#): > > Joel Rosenberg’s Metzadan Mercenary Corps books were damn good. > > Rick Shelley’s Dirigent Corps books features future war from a ground-pounder’s point of view. The books follow the main character from his induction as an officer cadet through all his promotions. The Metxadan stuff wasn’t a hit, although I agree it was very good. I don’t know how easy it would be to find, my copies are all used, and that was when Rosenberg was alive. > [@Loach](#): > > I mentioned Shelley earlier. Damn shame there will be no more books. At least the DRC stuff was finished. When I talked to Shelley before Colonel came out, he said people kept talking about the last book General. But there wasn’t going to be one, because the DRC General never left the planet, so there was no story to tell. I think it actually irritated him that his readers didn’t realize that. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/44 "2012-01-14T22:42:11Z")
[Ian Douglas](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_n_feature_browse-b_mrr_0?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AIan+Douglas%2Cp_n_feature_browse-bin%3A2656022011&bbn=283155&sort=relevancerank&ie=UTF8&qid=1326580303&rnid=618072011) Three seperate but linked space marine trilogies set over a long timeline from the near-future onwards. Plus a nearly finished (book 3 out next month)unrelated to the above space combat series. I enjoyed both series. I’m especially enjoying the Star Carrier trilogy. They have a bog standard _‘hyperdrive between systems’_ setup. After that however there’s heavy emphasis on relatavistic weapons and their implications. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/45 "2012-01-15T00:23:39Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > I enjoyed Mars by Ben Bova. > ~VOW 😕 How is that military SF? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/46 "2012-01-15T02:06:59Z")
Well, Mars is the God of War. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/47 "2012-01-15T04:03:46Z")
> [@DeptfordX](#): > > [Ian Douglas](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_n_feature_browse-b_mrr_0?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AIan+Douglas%2Cp_n_feature_browse-bin%3A2656022011&bbn=283155&sort=relevancerank&ie=UTF8&qid=1326580303&rnid=618072011) > > Three seperate but linked space marine trilogies set over a long timeline from the near-future onwards. > > Plus a nearly finished (book 3 out next month)unrelated to the above space combat series. > > I enjoyed both series. I’m especially enjoying the Star Carrier trilogy. They have a bog standard _‘hyperdrive between systems’_ setup. After that however there’s heavy emphasis on relatavistic weapons and their implications. Thats actually a pen name of William H Keith, Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Chipacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Chipacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chipacabra)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/48 "2012-01-15T04:57:18Z")
If you want to dip your toes into another genre, you might try the Black Company novels by Glen Cook. It’s fantasy rather than scifi, but it’s a great series from the point of view of the poor bastards in the trenches. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/49 "2012-01-15T05:09:46Z")
Or try _Grunts_ by Mary Gentle. Basically a band of orcs stumbles upon a cache of modern weaponry and become Marine Orcs. There are no good guys in the book, but it is an excellent read, and very amusing in places. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/50 "2012-01-15T06:46:58Z")
Apparently an outlier, but I highly recommend _Downbelow Station_ by CJ Cherryh. Not really focused on the details of combat, but more on the political and civil consequences of interstellar war and revolution. Absolutely brilliant IMO. And still lots of action too. ---
**Author:** ![Fatwater\_Fewl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@Fatwater\_Fewl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fatwater_Fewl)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/51 "2012-01-15T07:46:35Z")
I’ll second **Boyo Jim** on Downbelow Station. And I’d say the same for most of Cherryh’s Alliance-Union Universe novels (but not _Cyteen_). I’d recommend her trilogy called _The Faded Sun_, as well, which has aliens but not BEM’s. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/52 "2012-01-15T16:11:38Z")
Bujold’s Vorkosiganverse series. If you’re reading the CoDominium stories, don’t skip The Mote in God’s Eye. Roger MacBride Allen has some good ones as well: The Torch of Honor and Rogue Powers (collected into Allies and Aliens, even though they are both full-length novels). ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/53 "2012-01-16T02:07:33Z")
Oh, forgot about Stirling’s Draka books. It’s not 100% military-oriented, but quite a lot of combat in it. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/54 "2012-01-16T20:37:47Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > It’s not 100% military-oriented, but quite a lot of combat in it. Following in the same vein – it appears that both [Asher](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Asher) and [Banks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Banks) have escaped nomination so far. The \*Polity \*and \*Culture \*novels respectively while not exclusively military SF (and having some BEMs) have some of the most ferocious space combat around. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230.md?page=2)