Thread: John G. Hemry
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Old 02-03-2009, 10:45 AM   #29
Robotech_Master
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I rather liked the Stark's War books.

But then, I guess there's no accounting for taste (or lack thereof).

I'm also fond of the "Lost Fleet" series, which he wrote under the name of Jack Campbell. Interesting milSF that turns on a couple of neat premises.

One: a young officer sacrifices himself to block a "Pearl Harbor"-type attack and is subsequently canonized for it (and "posthumously" promoted to captain)—then a hundred years later he turns up in suspended animation in an escape capsule whose homing beacon malfunctioned. He's picked up by a fleet leading a sneak-attack deep into enemy territory, which turns out to be an ambush—and all the fleet's higher-ranking officers are murdered when they go to "negotiate." Having 100 years' seniority in rank to the other fleet captains (thanks to his "posthumous" promotion), it falls to this officer to lead a ragtag fugitive fleet home from the heart of enemy territory—while trying to deal with the fact that a century of hero-worship which he feels he could never live up to has grown up around him.

Two: During the time this officer has been drifting around, naval tactics on both sides have degenerated into brute-force slugfests, and this officer is the only one who remembers anything at all about real fleet maneuvering tactics—not to mention the articles of warfare, which have also been largely forgotten.

Three: No FTL communication or sensors, so all encounters and engagements are limited by what can be seen and known and guessed over ranges of light-seconds or light-minutes. This sort of restriction on fleet maneuvering and battle has been rather rare in most milSF that I've read, and it brings a sort of almost submarine-warfare feel to the story at times.

Good stuff.
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