The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century: Stories

By George R.R. Martin and Harry Turtledove

Book Overview

Explosive and provocative battles fought across the boundaries of time and space--and on the frontiers of the human mind. Science fiction's finest have yielded this definitive collection featuring stories of warfare, victory, conquest, heroism, and overwhelming odds. These are scenarios few have ever dared to contemplate, and they include: "Superiority" Arthur C. Clarke presents an intergalactic war in which one side's own advanced weaponry may actually lead to its ultimate defeat. "Dragonrider" A tale of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, in which magic tips the scales of survival. "Second Variety" Philip K. Dick, author of the short story that became the movie Blade Runner, reaches new heights of terror with his post-apocalyptic vision of the future. "The Night of the Vampyres" A chilling ultimatum of atomic proportions begins a countdown to disaster in George R. R. Martin's gripping drama. "Hero" Joe Haldeman's short story that led to his classic of interstellar combat, The Forever War . "Ender's Game" The short story that gave birth to Orson Scott Card's masterpiece of military science fiction. PLUS SEVEN MORE EPIC STORIES "Among Thieves" by Poul Anderson "Hangman" by David Drake "The Last Article" by Harry Turtledove "The Game of Rat and Dragon" by Cordwainer Smith "To the Storming Gulf" by Gregory Benford "Wolf Time" by Walter Jon Williams "The Scapegoat" by C. J. Cherryh Guaranteed to spark the imagination and thrill the soul, these thirteen science fiction gems cast a stark light on our dreams and our darkest fears--truly among the finest tales of the twentieth century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345439899
• ISBN13: 9780345439895
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 1.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

the beginning of a lifetime love...

I'll always have a special place in my heart for this book. This was the book that got me hooked on a subject that I'd previously despised. I'd hated Science Fiction until I got bored and read Joe Haldeman and OS Card's short fiction presented in this compilation. Now I am hooked. The rest of the stories are enjoyable also, just nowhere near the two mentioned. If your a newbie this is the place to start, if your a veteran SF reader you might pick up a new author you didn't know anything about, and if your a full fledged SF geek this might not be for you.

More of an Intro than a "Best of"

While the thirteen stories in this volume are, for the most part, well done, a couple aren't really military SF at all and others are glimpses into still better works by the same authors. A couple aren't even strong enough to be considered in a "best of" collection.There are some gems here. Orson Scott Card's classic "Ender's Game" definitely deserves to be a volume with this title. I highly recommend the novel-length expansion of the story and it's sequels (most notably the companion novel, "Ender's Shadow" and "Shadow of the Hegemon"). David Drake's "Hangman" is an excellent introduction to his Hammer's Slammers series which also requires inclusion in a volume such as this. Walter Jon Williams's "Wolf Time" is one of the best stories in the volume, taking place in the same universe as "Voice of the Whirlwind". And Joe Haldeman expanded "Hero" to become "Forever War" (and its sequels).Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonrider" was, likewise, the beginning of a large franchise, but it's inclusion as an example of military SF is quite a stretch. Similarly, Harry Turtledove's "The Last Article" is an excellent story, but it would have fit much better in his "best alternate history" collection than in this volume.Other classics include Poul Anderson's "Among Thieves" (an intro to his Polesotechnic League universe), Philip K. Dick's "Second Variety" (recently made, like so many of his stories, into a movie), and C. J. Cherryh's "The Scapegoat". I also enjoyed George R. R. Martin's "Night of the Vampyres".Gregory Benford's "To the Storming Gulf" is not military at all; it would, instead, fit quite nicely in a collection of post-apocalyptic fiction.While touted by some as a classic, I have never been impressed with Cordwainer Smith's "The Game of Rat and Dragon". And Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority" is merely clever. Any number of other stories could have replaced either of these tales in a "best of" volume.

Maybe not all the "Best," but still quite good.

"The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century" contains 13 stories spread out over 544 pages of text. At least two of them, Joe Haldeman's "Hero" and Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" were later expanded into full length novels. Editor Harry Turtledove's "The Last Article" falls more into the "Alternate History" category (a volume of which he also recently edited), but the saga of Ghandi's attempt to free his native India from Nazi occupation is still quite compelling. Superbly chilling is Phillip K. Dick's, "Second Variety," and its scary post-apocalyptic battlefield. One can see that this is where the idea for the "Terminator" movies came from.The rest are more of a mixed bag. Gregory Benford's "To the Storming Gulf" is a decent post nuclear war saga, while Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority" is an excellent philisophical war story. Some of the others are less compelling. Anne McCaffrey's novella "Dragonrider," for example, takes up over 100 pages, and is more of a fantasy story than military science fiction.Overall, this is a decent collection, worthwhile for fans of these types of stories. I would recommend it with the caveat that you can skip over any of the tales that are not to your taste.

good collection

This is a good collection containing many of the important stories from this field. If you're new to SF this book will serve you well. If you're a long time reader (like me) then you're probably already familiar with many of these classic stories like Second Variety, Haldeman's Forever War, Ender's Game, Scapegoat. Still even I got something out of the book. Some of the stories I didn't know before helped me to make up my mind that I don't want to read anything else from their authors. :)

Excellent collection

THE BEST MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION OF THE 20TH CENTURY Edited by Harry Turtledove with Martin H. Greenberg Del Rey, May 2001, $18.00, 560 pp. ISBN: 0345439899 This thirteen-story collection runs the gamut of science fiction even as the theme throughout centers on the military. The contributors are an "A to Z" (actually W) of renowned science fiction authors with most of the authors having one name recognition (Clarke, McCaffrey, Anderson, Benford, Cherryh, Drake, and Turtledove, etc. The tales contain alternate history (duh - with Mr. Turtledove as a participant that is no surprise ending), outer space wars between technological advanced civilizations and more primitive societies, and old fashion magic. The contributions take place in different eras though some are post apocalyptic to post nuclear vampiric. All have heroes or heroines battling against overwhelming odds that would lead to Luke losing confidence in the force. Each story is well written as one would expect from a book titled THE BEST MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION OF THE 20TH CENTURY, and edited by Mr. Turtledove with Martin H. Greenberg. Besides being well-written tales by the elite of the past century, several of the short stories include the opening gamut of an author's classic series (Haldeman, Card). Science Fiction fans will want to read this one because the book lives up to its title.Harriet Klausner