# Recommend some "Orcs with machine guns" novels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268 "2009-12-14T21:02:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/1 "2009-12-14T21:02:06Z")
Perhaps it goes back to Tolkien when he said\* in The Hobbit: > [@](#): > > It is not unlikely that they invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them, More recently there was the novel Grunts by Mary Gentle, and Warhammer 40,000 has the Orks, which gave us the meme of [Dakka](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoreDakka). Any other entries worth looking at? \*they were called “goblins” in The Hobbit, but that’s pretty much accepted as beta-Orcs. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/2 "2009-12-14T21:25:50Z")
Dangit, I came in here to mention Grunts. So I’ll just watch this thread too for other suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/3 "2009-12-14T22:13:36Z")
Not a book, but Bakshi’s movie “Wizards” could arguably fall into this. I haven’t actually SEEN it, but I’m under the impression it involves goblin-y characters with guns. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/4 "2009-12-14T22:16:22Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Dangit, I came in here to mention Grunts. So I’ll just watch this thread too for other suggestions. And I came in here to mention Orks. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/5 "2009-12-14T23:16:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Not a book, but Bakshi’s movie “Wizards” could arguably fall into this. I haven’t actually SEEN it, but I’m under the impression it involves goblin-y characters with guns. I’ve seen it. They’re not explicitly “orcs”; the in-story term for them is “mutants”. But they sure look like them. Still, though, machine guns and the like were the least of their weapons. The most potent weapon the forces of evil wield in that movie is propaganda. The evil wizard uncovers some millenia-old Nazi films, and through a combination of technology and dark magic, is able to spread the spirit of those movies over the battlefield, spurring on his own troops and demoralizing their fairy opponents. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/6 "2009-12-15T06:22:35Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > \*they were called “goblins” in The Hobbit, but that’s pretty much accepted as beta-Orcs. Orcs are mentioned in _The Hobbit_, when Gandalf mentions the unfeasibility of detouring around Mirkwood, and also in the preface. ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/7 "2009-12-15T16:01:16Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > And I came in here to mention Orks. Make that two for Grunts. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/8 "2009-12-15T17:02:22Z")
Three. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/9 "2009-12-16T00:35:23Z")
Many. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/10 "2009-12-16T03:10:29Z")
Stephen King’s _The Talisman_ has some “orcs” with guns - and werewolFs. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/11 "2009-12-16T03:12:59Z")
Aren’t Klingons really Orcs with disrupters and cloaking devices? ---
**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:** [December 16, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/12 "2009-12-16T03:20:51Z")
Lots. Bonus points for those who get the reference, although Detritus doesn’t need a machine gun. He has The Crossbow. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/13 "2009-12-16T04:35:50Z")
Perhaps this genre isn’t as widespread as I thought. I may have been conflating Grunts with the Orcs series of novels by Stan Nicholls, which upon review is Orc-centric but AFAIK sticks to pre-industrial weapons. Or in turn conflating both with the Orks. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/14 "2009-12-16T04:40:56Z")
I’m not sure how much they focus on Orcs with guns things, but there was a serious of novels based in the ‘Shadowrun’ universe. Shadowrun was a cyperpunk setting where magic had returned to the world, so you have fantasy races (including orcs) running around in a near future world. You might find some of what you are looking for in some of those novels. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/15 "2009-12-16T05:49:02Z")
…grots? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/16 "2009-12-16T06:38:27Z")
When I read the title I pictures killer whales with AK-47s/.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/17 "2009-12-16T11:05:03Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Aren’t Klingons really Orcs with disrupters and cloaking devices? No, they’re shaved, wussier, Kzinti. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-orcs-with-machine-guns-novels/521268/18 "2009-12-16T14:51:57Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Not a book, but Bakshi’s movie “Wizards” could arguably fall into this. I haven’t actually SEEN it, but I’m under the impression it involves goblin-y characters with guns. You can probably catch it on a Tube, somewhere, if you look. Let me just say it’s…um…not without it’s charm. Veeeery 70s-ish. Features Mark Hamil in a minor role.