We lost David Drake a few weeks ago. He was born on September 24, 1945 and passed away on December 10, 2023.
Drake was a legend in the field and he wrote across a variety of sbgenres in both fantasy and science fiction. He was best known as a military science fiction writer, specifically his Hammer’s Slammers series about a team of mercenaries. Continue reading
Onward, Drake!
Mark L. van Name, ed.
Baen Books
Hardcover, $25
ebook $9.99
There’s been a long tradition in the field of honoring outstanding authors with an anthology. Sometimes the anthology comes after they’ve passed on, but usually the anthology is published while the authors are still with us. Such is the case with David Drake. He’s a giant whose works have changed the genre, and for the better I might add. It’s good to see this tribute to him, especially as he’s still with us to appreciate it.
Onward, Drake! contains both original fiction as well as essays in honor of Drake. There’s a pretty wide range of stuff here. Although David Drake built his reputation with his military science fiction, particularly the Hammer’s Slammers series, he’s written in a wide variety of subgenres: epic fantasy, dark fantasy and horror, space opera, and humor. As if that weren’t enough, he’s also been an editor and historian of the field with a great appreciation of the pulp writers. I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve read by him
The highlights of the anthology are two new stories by Drake himself. Continue reading
I posted recently about one of the local used bookstores (currently there are 4: 2 good, 1 decent, 1 not worth bothering with) closing and some of the titles I picked up.
You know I went back. The store will be open for a little while yet. Here’s what I picked up this time.
I couldn’t resist the cover of the Howard pastiche by Offutt, even though I doubt I’ll read it. The People of the Mist is an upgrade of my existing copy. The Starfollowers of Coramonde is a later edition, but the Darrell K. Sweet cover matches the one on the first novel in the series.
I loved Sean Stewart’s Galveston some years back, but I haven’t read any of his other books. The Tanith Lee speaks for itself. The third row contains the first 3 of 4 in Lawrence Watt-Evans Lords of Dus series.
The last row is a reading copy of one of Evangeline Walton’s books that was part of the BAF series. The Zahn is part of a series that looks like a lot of fun. And the Paul Preuss because I wanted some solid science fiction in the old style.
But the gem of this little collection is the volume in the upper left of the picture. It’s Whispers, edited by Stuart David Schiff. It’s a collection of stories published in his groundbreaking small press magazine of the same title. I’ve got a copy of this already, but I couldn’t pass this one up. The contents include “Sticks” by Karl Edward Wagner, “The Barrow Troll” by David Drake, “The Dakwa” by Manly Wade Wellman, plus stories by Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, William F. Nolan, Hugh B. Cave, Dennis Etchison, Joseph Payne Brennan, Ramsey Campbell, Richard Christian Matheson, Brian Lumley, and many others.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go reread “Sticks”.
Anyhoo, before I left I bought and downloaded the Beneath Ceaseless Skies anthology. This is a collection stories from the first year of the magazine. I must confess to not being as familiar with the publication as I need to be. That’s going to change. I’m only about a third of the way through, but the stories are top notch. Less sword and sorcery than I prefer, but still good high quality, well-written pieces. Worth checking out, and for three bucks, you will get your money’s worth. All proceeds go to the authors and artists. Check it out, along with the magazine. I’ll be posting about it more in the future.
In addition to reading a business book and the current issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, I ended up getting a used paperback copy of David Drake’s Other Times Than Peace. I pretty much only read this one on the way back while I couldn’t read the Nook, so I only got about 130 pages into it, finishing the first two stories. Still, Drake does a good job of pulling you into a tale with only a few words. One of the things I like best about his work is that he draws on ancient history. He’s another author I need to read more of.
I still haven’t started the latest McDevitt, Echo, and since he’ll be at ConDFW next weekend, I need to get moving on that. I haven’t had much time to blog lately, but I thought I would pass along some recommendations on what I’ve read lately. Expect a report on ConDFW when I get back. Until then, look for at least one more post later this week.