Must have Books - S. M. Stirling

Bibliography

1986	Saber & Shadow
1988	Marching Through Georgia	Review
1989	Under the Yoke	Review
1989	The Cage	Review
1990	Stone Dogs	Review
1991	The Forge	Review
1991	Shadow's Son
1991	Go Tell the Spartans
1991	The Children's Hour
1992	In the Hall of the Mountain King
1992	The Hammer	Review
1992	Snow Brother	Review
1993	Bloodfeuds
1993	The Anvil	Review
1993	The Steel	Review
1993	The City Who Fought
1993	Prince of Sparta
1994	The Rose Sea
1995	The Sword	Review
1996	The Chosen	Review
1996	Betrayals
1996	Drakon	Review
1996	The Rising
1998	Island in the Sea of Time	Review
1998	More Than Honor
1998	The Ship Avenged
1999	The Reformer	Review
1999	The Domination	Review
1999	Against the Tide of Years	Review
1999	The Privateer
2000	The Independent Command
2000	Drakas!	Review
2000	On the Oceans of Eternity	Review
2001	T2 : Infiltrator
2002	Rising Storm
2002	The Peshawar Lancers	Review
2003	Conqueror
2003	Warlord

Reviews

	Island in the Sea of Time by S. M. Stirling Well researched, this book oozes detail, and well drawn characters. Nantucket island is cast back in time 3000 and more years where the characters have to create a life for themselves from what is left of the 20th century. Not only that but they must find a way to trade and build a place for themsleves in this new/old world. The story is nicely paced and plotted in a way that makes you want to continue reading well into the night. It fascinates in the way it makes you wonder what you would do in a similar situation: how would you measure up to the dislocation and opportunities that 1250bc would bring to a 21st century individual? It's spring on Nantucket and everything is perfectly normal, until a sudden storm blankets the entire island. When the weather clears, the island's inhabitants find that they are no longer in the late 20th century, but have been transported instead to the Bronze Age. Now they must learn to survive with suspicious, warlike peoples they can barely understand and deal with impending disaster, in the shape of a would-be conqueror from their own time.
	Against the Tide of Years by S. M. Stirling Against The Tide Of Years continues the adventures of the Nantucket residents who have been transported through time to the Bronze Age. In the years since their arrival, the fledging Republic of Nantucket has strived to better the primitive world in which they now exist. Their prime concerns are establishing a constitution and handling the waves of immigrants from the British Isles. But a renegade time traveler plans his own future by forging an empire for himself based on conquest by modern technology. The Republic has no alternative but to face the inevitable war brought on by one of their own....
	On the Oceans of Eternity by S. M. Stirling Now, in the trilogy's rousing conclusion, On the Oceans of Eternity, Walker's powerful army conquers Troy and invades Babylon, Nantucket's last great ally, as Walker's blood brother, the king of Tartessos, blocks Commodore Alston's Nantucket navy at the straits of Gibraltar. If Nantucket's tiny forces cannot defeat Walker's army and allies, the world will be plunged into a Dark Age bleaker and more devastating than any known in our history. On the Oceans of Eternity ends cleanly, yet leaves the door open for a number of interesting sequels--and how often can you say that? Like its prequels, On the Oceans of Eternity is big, bloody, and ambitious, but always fast-paced and fascinating. This fun, intelligent series is perfect not only for action-adventure, alternate history, time travel, and military-SF fans but also for epic fantasy readers, for Burroughs and Haggard fans craving a modern update of the lost-civilization novel, and for anyone who loves Patrick O'Brian's sensational sea battles.
	The Forge by S. M. Stirling and David Drake The Forge" is the first of a five volume set that details the conquest of an early industrial age planet by a brilliant military commander. The planet Bellevue is a colony world that is sinking into barbarism after an interstellar civil war has cut off all travel between worlds. Each successive cycle of time drags civilzation further and further back. But the one remaining operating computer on the planet has taken on the task of reversing this entropy, and raising man back to his former power - with the help of Raj Whithall, the youngest military commander in the army of the Civil Government.
	The Hammer by S. M. Stirling and David Drake A monolithic computer is using General Raj Whitehall to reunite the planet and start humanity back on the road to technological achievement, but armies of musket- and saber-wielding barbarians stand in the way.
	The Anvil by S. M. Stirling and David Drake With the aid of a sentient battle computer, Raj Whitehall and his band of sworn Companions struggle to reunite the entire planet of Bellevue and find their mission impeded by Barholm Clerett. This series has outstanding character development, a solid and well thought out overall plot line, and good story resolution in each book. The two things that really make the series the top of its genre are the interaction between the computer and the hero, and the realism of the situation. The interaction is a delicate balance that the authors perform magically.
	The Steel by S. M. Stirling and David Drake On a mission to reunite the planet Bellvue, Raj Whitehall and his men must conquer a group of barbarians or else his civilization could plunge into an era of darkness. This is the standard by which I judge all military fiction. I have never found another that was it's equal. This book move quickly to pull you in to a world of fantasy battles. With the unique mix of old and new technology the story quickly becomes very interesting. Also the use of giant war dogs is just the right twist to really take you off guard. This book and the other is in this series is a must read for a good time.
	The Sword by S. M. Stirling and David Drake Stirling and Drake conclude (on Bellevue) their thoroughly engrossing military sf series, the General, with hero Raj Whitehall having largely united the relatively civilized areas of the planet Bellevue. Resumption of interstellar flight is to be the next development. Unfortunately, as Raj combines statecraft with his military prowess, his overlord, Barholm Clerett, becomes even more paranoid than he was before; indeed, he becomes Raj's deadliest enemy. Clerett is overthrown, and Whitehall's candidate replaces him. Stirling and Drake provide their usual superb battle scenes, ingenious weaponry and tactics (the cavalry on Bellevue rides giant dogs), homages to Kipling, and many other goodies. High fun.
	The Chosen by S. M. Stirling and David Drake Working with an ancient battle computer in order to prepare hundreds of planets for membership in the Second Federation of Man, Raj Whitehall encounters the militarist planet of Visigar, where racial practices are used to prevent unity.
	The Reformer by S. M. Stirling and David Drake Getting military sci-fi right is tricky. As with any genre fiction, there are certain rules to be followed. When you pick up a book with a cover depicting a sword-wielding Roman-type firing a primitive cannon under the shadow of a swirling nebula, you have certain expectations and woe unto any author who fails to meet them. Fortunately, S.M. Stirling and David Drake are both decorated vets. The Reformer continues their Raj Whitehall series, with its intriguing schtick of the cloned consciousnesses of a military commander (Raj) and a battle computer (Center) becoming voices in the head of a would-be hero on a primitive world who is trying to coax humanity back--one planet at a time--to the level of progress it had acheived before a crippling galactic civil war. In The Reformer, Raj and Center are guiding a clever, scrappy philosopher named Adrian and his studly soldier brother Esmond, helping them introduce gunpowder and civic order (eventually) to the quasi-Roman civilization on Hafardine. Fast-paced, but not quite as meaty as earlier installments in the series, Reformer still gets the job done with believable battle scenes and knowing descriptions of early weapons and technology.
	The Domination by S. M. Stirling The Draka series (dubbed The Domination in this collection) still requires a strong stomach--you'll find no shortage of blood and bullets or sex and violence here. But it's prudish to argue with Stirling's choices. A skilled writer and rigorous thinker, he's spun a compelling--not to mention plausible and well-researched--alternate history for earth: in this timeline, the Loyalists losers in the American Revolution set up shop in South Africa and then proceed to subjugate and industrialize the continent, eventually exporting their brutal system of slavery and conquest through WWI, WWII, and beyond to cover the better part of the globe. Page-turning, blood-pumping, realistic, and masterfully written combat SF, The Domination is part of the genre's canon. This omnibus edition contains the three first books in the Draka series. The books are Marching Through Georgia, Under the Yoke , and The Stone Dogs.
	Drakas! by S. M. Stirling The Domination of the Draka begins as a British possession in Africa, but soon becomes far more. Absorbing refugees after the American Revolution, and later the Civil War, the Draka become a people bred to rule with an iron fist. They permanently enslave the peoples of Africa, when they do not simply kill them. But this does not slake the Draka thirst for power. Sweeping across the world, the Draka empire engulfs nation after nation, shackling into servitude all who are not Draka. Europe, Asia, and finally all the Earth and its colonies throughout the Solar System fall before the might of the Draka. But empires are not faceless monoliths; they are made of individuals, complex humans with their own hopes and dreams. And so one might ask: Who are the Draka? What sort of people does the Domination rule? The Draka would have many different answers... ...and this is their story.
	Drakon by S. M. Stirling It is four centuries after the ending of Stirling's previous novel of the Draka Domination, The Stone Dogs (1990). An accident with an experimental stardrive flings a genetically tailored Draka warrior, Gwendolyn Ingolfsson, across universes and time into contemporary New York City. Kenneth Lafarge, a secret agent for those who fled the Draka, comes to Earth in pursuit of her. Caught in the cross fire are New York cop Henry Carmaggio and his lover, investment counselor Jennifer Feinbaum. The Draka's plan is, very simply, to open an interdimensional gate and bring in a Draka army to conquer Earth. Defeating this cheerfully bloodthirsty scheme involves nonstop action and Stirling's usual wealth of technical detail, wry wit, and superlatively drawn female characters, not the least of them the appalling Ms. Ingolfsson.
	Snow Brother by S. M. Stirling Ordered to cross the steppes and enslave a Mintzan city or die in disgrace, nineteen-year-old Shkai'ra leaves her warring tribe to complete the task, never planning to find a village so resistant to enslavement.
	The Cage by S. M. Stirling and Shirley Meier He stole her life she had built up from nothing and sold her to slavery thinking she was gone forever. Now she is back to destroy her worst enemy that caused her unbearable pain. He had stole her friends, house, money and everything she had every worked for and cared about, but he gave her something no one could ever take away inless she eased it. Revenge. Now Habiku Smoothtongue will feel the stress that he had given to Megan. He will pay.
	The Peshawar Lancers by S. M. Stirling Aimed at readers who thrill to King, Empire and the fluttering Union Jack, as well as to brave white heroes, their faithful dusky-skinned servants and sneering villains, this alternative history from the bestselling author of the Islander novels supposes that in 1878 "a series of high-velocity heavenly bodies struck the earth," wreaking havoc throughout Europe and North America. Because much of the British merchant fleet survived the "Fall," the English upper classes were able to escape to the Asian subcontinent. As a result, the British raj, extending from Delhi through India, Afghanistan and the Kashmir, still exists in the 21st century, though the technology consists of 19th-century vintage railways, hydrogen airships and a turbine-powered building-sized "Engine," the equivalent of a computer. It's a nifty premise, but in trying to continue in the grand tradition of such adventure writers as Kipling, Lamb and Mundy, whom Stirling acknowledges as influences, the author fails to inject much life into his stock characters, from the heroic Captain Athelstane King of the Lancers and the captain's memsahib sister, Cassandra, to King's Sikh companion, his trusty Muslim servant and the inevitable wise and helpful Jew. Unfortunately, this is less history altered than simply stopped, and the story is wordy pastiche rather than active inspiration. Not without humor, appendices survey the worldwide consequences of the Fall, complete with the succession of British monarchs from Victoria on.