Why I Love Hammer's Slammers
I just finished David Drake's Rolling Hot. Again. I think this is my fourth reading, but
honestly, I've lost count. It’s a heart-rending story of a small task force of
misfits that must fight their way hundreds of kilometers across an
enemy-infested land to save the crumbling government.
I enjoyed the book immensely at the first reading, and enjoy
it more with each subsequent immersion. Drake is a Vietnam vet, and that experience
pervades his writing. It's not that he can describe the trinkets of war. Science
fiction novelists who have never caught a whiff of a tank can describe one,
albeit poorly. What sets Drake apart is his portrayal of the men and women of
Hammer's Slammers. They are not macho men or gun-toting, large-breasted women. They
are not interested in glory, or fame. They do not enjoy war, at least not in
the finger-on-the-trigger-with-a-maniacal-smile fashion oft championed by Hollywood and secretly
believed by so many.
They are flat. Not two-dimensional, but rather flat,
focused. If something needs doing they do it. If that something means killing
everything in their way, then they kill. If the innocents can be spared, spare
them they will, but neither will they dwell on their deaths, at least not now.
Their nightmares, as witnessed by Rolling
Hot’s Birdie Sparrow’s haunting by his dead friend, DJ Bell, come later. They
do not hold allegiance to a flag; they do not hold allegiance to Colonel Alois
Hammer; they hold allegiance to each other. They do what they need to do to keep
the trooper next to them alive.
These men and women give the Slammer novels authenticity,
and even more importantly, create a bond with the reader. That bond, coupled
with believable battles, which put the characters in danger, pulls the reader
into the universe. That pull, those battles, and a fast-paced plot make for a
story that is not soon forgotten. And if it is?
Mark H. Walker is the author of Dark War series, creepy, military action, with paranormal elements, alternate history, World War Three novel things. They are available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Just $2. Give it a try. What the hell?
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