On The Six Greatest Military Adventures Ever Written (Part2), Eating our Young, and Renaming a Novel
More of the six greatest military adventures ever written… I finished another military adventure this morning, The War After Armageddon, by Ralph Peters. A tad preachy, a bit thin with the plot, not a bad book, but neither is it a great one. Here are the final three of the top six.
Honour Guard, Dan Abnett. Another classic from an author who might just be the best military adventure author currently writing. Set in Games Workshop’s 40K universe, Colonel Gaunt and his regiment must fight their way to the site of a religious artifact and return it to Imperial hands. Some of the best, down and dirty, armor combat scenes I’ve read.
Red Army, Ralph Peters. A third world war, circa 1985? Who would have thunk it? Another in a bevy of mid-eighties Third World War books, but with a twist. As the title would suggest, this book is told from the Soviet point of view. It’s an excellent piece of writing with absorbing battle scenes and memorable characters. Yet perhaps the most important element of the book is Peter’s reminder that whether Soviet or American, troops are troops, fighting to survive, protect each other, and return home to a more normal life.
The Third World War, General Sir John Hackett. I guess, in a manner of speaking/writing, this is the book that birthed the modern military genre. It certainly inspired Coyle’s Team Yankee (he credits the book in his forward), and the war depicted in both my World at War: Eisenbach Gap game and that Strange-World-War-III-Book-That-Also-Has-Creepy-Stuff. It goes into much more politics, and many more rhymes and reasons than most of the other novels in this niche genre, but still includes spellbinding combat sequences. Overall, a dry book, but important in its influence on what was to come.
Arc Light, Eric L. Harry. Okay, okay, I know. This makes seven, but I forgot Harry’s masterpiece. Radically different than most World War II-themed novels, Arc Light begins with a nuclear attack. The world doesn’t end, nor is it turned into a radioactive wasteland traveled by The Chosen One. Fallout video game references aside, the nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union leads to an all out invasion of the Russia by the Americans. Believe it or not, it’s believable and enthralling stuff.
Random Stuff
To be filed under “The Strategy Game Publishing Industry Eats Their Young.” I see Amazon has lowered the price of the Kindle again. Nary a peep from their constituents. If Lock ‘n Load Publishing chose to permanently lower the price of a game, we would be swamped with angry emails and rabid forum posts.
About that Strange-World-War-III-Book-That-Also-Has-Creepy-Stuff… I’m tired of calling my yet-to-be-released novel by that name. Whatever humor was there has left the building. What do you all think of World at War: Revelation? Or maybe just Revelation?
Honour Guard, Dan Abnett. Another classic from an author who might just be the best military adventure author currently writing. Set in Games Workshop’s 40K universe, Colonel Gaunt and his regiment must fight their way to the site of a religious artifact and return it to Imperial hands. Some of the best, down and dirty, armor combat scenes I’ve read.
Red Army, Ralph Peters. A third world war, circa 1985? Who would have thunk it? Another in a bevy of mid-eighties Third World War books, but with a twist. As the title would suggest, this book is told from the Soviet point of view. It’s an excellent piece of writing with absorbing battle scenes and memorable characters. Yet perhaps the most important element of the book is Peter’s reminder that whether Soviet or American, troops are troops, fighting to survive, protect each other, and return home to a more normal life.
The Third World War, General Sir John Hackett. I guess, in a manner of speaking/writing, this is the book that birthed the modern military genre. It certainly inspired Coyle’s Team Yankee (he credits the book in his forward), and the war depicted in both my World at War: Eisenbach Gap game and that Strange-World-War-III-Book-That-Also-Has-Creepy-Stuff. It goes into much more politics, and many more rhymes and reasons than most of the other novels in this niche genre, but still includes spellbinding combat sequences. Overall, a dry book, but important in its influence on what was to come.
Arc Light, Eric L. Harry. Okay, okay, I know. This makes seven, but I forgot Harry’s masterpiece. Radically different than most World War II-themed novels, Arc Light begins with a nuclear attack. The world doesn’t end, nor is it turned into a radioactive wasteland traveled by The Chosen One. Fallout video game references aside, the nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union leads to an all out invasion of the Russia by the Americans. Believe it or not, it’s believable and enthralling stuff.
Random Stuff
To be filed under “The Strategy Game Publishing Industry Eats Their Young.” I see Amazon has lowered the price of the Kindle again. Nary a peep from their constituents. If Lock ‘n Load Publishing chose to permanently lower the price of a game, we would be swamped with angry emails and rabid forum posts.
About that Strange-World-War-III-Book-That-Also-Has-Creepy-Stuff… I’m tired of calling my yet-to-be-released novel by that name. Whatever humor was there has left the building. What do you all think of World at War: Revelation? Or maybe just Revelation?
Comments
On the Eighties...I was 31 in '85, I won't say it was the best time in my life because that was before kids, and they have been the best time in my life...but it was damn good fun.