Casca is a warrior who lives by the sword, but, alas for him, he'll never die by it. Back when he was a Roman soldier pulling duty at a certain crucifixion, Jesus looked down at him and said, "Soldier, you are content with what you are. Then that you shall remain until we meet again." And so Casca is fated to live - and fight - through the centuries.
In the 22-volume series written by Barry Sadler, Casca is a gladiator, Viking, French legionnaire, conquistador, pirate, a German tank sergeant on the Russian front, a soldier of Gideon in the Six-Day War, a U.S. soldier in Vietnam . . . and more.He battles Attila the Hun, fights for the Persian caliph, and is captured in World War I. He gets shot, sliced, even buried alive.But his body always heals. And he always comes back for more.
The series accrued something of a cult following for Sadler, an enigmatic adventurer who fought in Vietnam and wrote that sappy song "The Ballad of the Green Berets" Then Sadler was murdered in 1989. The series went out of print, although apparently trade in used Casca books was brisk - especially among Special Forces types.Now, DH Audio has secured the rights for abridged audio versions. The first two, Casca: The Eternal Mercenary and Casca: God of Death, have been released (3 hours, $9.99) and are read by David Elias.
The best places to find them, other than online booksellers such as Amazon, are truck stops. The Casca line is just one of several that DH has published, all geared to truckers.Other series are titled Destroyer, Executioner, Outlander, Carrier, Seal Team 7 and Deathlands. The titles alone give the gist, and all are "going vertical," according to company vice president Bruce Bennett. I, however, remained baffled. Clearly, I needed coaching, so I called for help. What are big sisters for if not this? Sis once had a boyfriend who was a big fan of Conan the Barbarian, and while I was rolling my eyes and retreating into Jane Austen or whatever, she grew to like Conan, too.The appeal, she said, is that the violence is far enough removed into fantasy to be exciting instead of frightening.Also, the stories are refreshingly unsubtle. "You identify with the good guy," Sis said, "and the good guy always wins."
This is why the Highlander TV series was popular, and Braveheart and The Patriot - not that having Mel Gibson didn't help. Come to think of it, this is what his Mad Max movies were all about.My sister was right. These things are kind of fun, if a bit heavy on testosterone and hyperbole. The time frame for Deathlands is 100 years after earth's largest cities were vaporized in the "final mega-war," and two guys are headed from "Old New Mexico" to somewhere near Seattle to intersect a former comrade in arms. They take off in a light armored vehicle - "the lav" - from which they view the world through "ob slits" military shorthand being a requirement in these things - and encounter various deadly situations along the way. Either that, or amorous women they have to fend off.
The abridgments work. If the stories lasted, say, six hours, you'd only be ready for a break at the end. But after a snappy little three hours, just maybe you'll want more. Like a Casca, for instance. And with a new author tapped to continue the series, who knows? Now that he's mastered swords, guns, and every known form of martial art, it won't be long before he's wielding a ray gun as part of some intergalactic force.