[Arith]

Hi guys. I am relatively new to the Sci-Fi genre. I have read some Starwars books and that's about it but while at the book store the Fade Sun Trilogy by C.J.Cherryh caught my eye and i picked it up. After thnking for a bit i have decided to give more Sci-Fi a chance and have a few questions for you guys. I am mainly a fantasy reader and i love books with a heavy military theme like GRRM Song of Fire and Ice Series or Ericsons Malazan Book of the Fallen Series. What books in sci-fi would you guys recomend that have a heavy military theme to them, i want starfighters, spaceships, battles, intrege, politics, kind of like the 3 Star Wars books by Timothy Zahn. Thanks guys!

[Hobbit]

Timothy Zahn has written some SF books in a very similar style to the Star Wars books. These might be a fair start. Try: Spinneret, Cobra/Cobra Strike/Cobra Bargain, Blackcollar and the Conqueror's series Conqueror's Pride/Conqueror's Legacy/Conqueror's Heritage(not sure how easy they are to get, but I think all were written before the Star Wars novels).

May be easier to get The Icarus Hunt - more recent.

Of writers in a similar vein - try Roger McBride Allen or possibly Allen Steele, who writes a good pastiche of Heinlein (with all its advantages and faults!) and First Flight & Grounded by Chris Clairmont (who writes a lot of XMen stuff if I remember right).

For material more in a SF/Fantasy vein, try CS Friedman's Black Sun Rising/ Coldfire Series, which a lot of people like around here - it's an SF/Fantasy book - sort of future space opera which mixes Sf and Fantasy.

I quite liked Simon Green's Deathstalker Series - space opera but fun!

David Weber's Honor Harrington series is quite good. Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan Series is recommended.

If you like 'power suits' try Joe Haldeman's Forever War or John Steakley's Armor.

If you want some 'top notch stuff' then the usual classics apply - Frank Herbert's Dune series, Dan Simmons's Hyperion/Endymion Series, and Moving Mars by Greg Bear as well as the Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson -Red, Green, Blue Mars.

Hobbit

[Carmichael]

Another possibility is David Drakes Hammers Slammers series of novels. I believe that they are considered hard military sci-fi.

Carmichael



[This message has been edited by Carmichael (edited April 22, 2002).]

[Arith]

Thanks guys, i have to try some of those books out.

[SusF]

W. Michael Gear wrote some very militaristic space opera. Usually a mix of the two, but very riviting reading.

Susan

[Ntschotschi]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is a very good Sci-Fi book which centers around a war against alien intruders and the training of a unit of recruits. I think it's military centered enough to enlist it here although the sequels aren't military at all.

[fatboy1523]

Deathstalker was fun to read. Interesting characters, and ELFs in space. Though its probably not one one u mean.
try Peter Hamilton's series...forgot the title though. Its very addictive.

I just finished reading Warchild by Lowachee, his/her first book i think. It was pretty good. Fun to read. I think this was the first time i read any sci-fi/fantasy book with a whole section in second-person perspective. It made the action sequences very intense.

[This message has been edited by fatboy1523 (edited April 29, 2002).]

[wildfire]

well its not strictly what your looking for but a great series full of space battles and just bloody good fun is the Nights Dawn Trilogy by Peter Hamilton and you might like the Seaforth Saga by David Feintuch which starts with Midships Hope..if you were prepared to try some of the older classic writers why not go for EE(doc)Smiths Lensman series one of George Lucas inspirations for Star Wars...

[Bill]

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
Much of Jerry Pournelle's stuff. You can sort out what's military SF and what isn't from the descriptions on Amazon.
A Hymn Before Battle (http://www.baen.com/library/jringo.htm) by John Ringo. You can read if for free, legally. It's a page turner.
I enthusiastically agree with the Ender's Game recommendation.

[Carmichael]

How the hell did I forget Starship Troopers? That is about the only book I have read over the years where the sci-fi didn't feel "dated" A must for us military sci-fi fans.

Carmichael