It's late, and I have just finished the edits on WITHOUT A TRACE. Today was not very interesting. I tidied my desk. There is wood down there... Oh and O'Mike my agent suggested he needed an Urban Military fantasy. I told him to wash his mind out with soap. Urban... that's so me. And I loved being in the army so much that I want to write about it.(not). It was the mindless following of orders from people who had trouble tying their own shoe-laces that I loved most. If you want my opinion of my Military experience - read GENIE OUT OF THE VAT (and RATS BATS AND VATS to a lesser extent) it was written as ridiculous fiction because the truth is too ridiculous to be believed. I met some brave comrades I respected and learned a lot from, but WW1 thinking was quite prevalent... as were the relics of peacetime army (as in the Rats books)
Simak wrote rural sf, and no one else seems to have... More my metier
What's an Urban Military fantasy? Stalingrad? [Admittedly you have already shown some expertise with rattenkreig ("rat war," which was the German name for fighting in the ruins of that city).] There was a reason most sensible people fought around cities rather than in them throughout most of history (or seiged them until they surrendered).
ReplyDeleteAre you sure O'Mike didn't request an Urbane Military fantasy? [Except I think that Nick Polloto already did that with The Incredibly Civil War.]
[I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed Rats, Bats and Vats because of the special touch of authenticity that you brought to it.]
I had a comment suggesting that O'Mike actually wanted you to write about an Urbane Military fantasy, but it got lost in the recent Blogger crash. [Besides Nick Pollota has beaten you to it with The Incredibly Civil War.]
ReplyDeleteBesides I think actual urban warfare (as opposed to counter-insurgency police ops) is officially defined as "not fun for anyone."
Although I do think that your experiences, especially as a conscript, add an great deal of authenticity to Rats, Bats and Vats.
Not lost forever...
ReplyDeleteReverance Pavane has left a new comment on your post "It's late, and I have just finished the edits on W...":
What's an Urban Military fantasy? Stalingrad? [Admittedly you have already shown some expertise with rattenkreig ("rat war," which was the German name for fighting in the ruins of that city).] There was a reason most sensible people fought around cities rather than in them throughout most of history (or seiged them until they surrendered).
Are you sure O'Mike didn't request an Urbane Military fantasy? [Except I think that Nick Polloto already did that with The Incredibly Civil War.]
[I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed Rats, Bats and Vats because of the special touch of authenticity that you brought to it.]
Urbane jane austen style military fiction? Or bertie Wooster style?
ReplyDeleteI suppose some other authors besides Dave Drake do bring some authenticity to Mil SF. The trouble I always had was having seen the army as a conscript (and very reluctant one) is quite different to seeing it as a profession. Not really what I want to write.
Well, as a conscript it's the perfect touch of authenticity. Admittedly whilst Australia still used to follow the forms proposed for armies by Otto von Bismark [such as the junior officer leading the unit on formal drill from the front, and the sergeants (who used to be selected because they were big burly men rather than managers of the battlefield), marched in a supernumerary rank at the back], we didn't have the class distinctions that the English maintained, and so officers, nco's and enlisted freely associated outside the messes. To the level that if we hadn't of had Major General Monash run active interference for us, a lot of the diggers would have ended up on Field Punishment #1 (being strapped elbows and knees to a gun carriage) for saying "G'Day" to an officer.
ReplyDeleteThen again, whilst I have done my share of ground defence exercises and training (my favourite was escape and evasion courses), as Connolly might have put it, I was an orificer in the air farce, which is a considerably different situation.
Drake's work is good, especially when it comes to examining the effects of putting civilians into a combat situation. Laumer's Bolo stories are excellent when it comes to the ingrained traditions of being a soldier. Robert Frezza, who served as a JAG officer in Germany, wrote decently based on the stupidity that can arise when young soldiers are plunked into the middle of an alien culture. I love Don Hawthorne's take on both the Soviet Army Combat Engineers and the Saurons in Pournelle's Future History Universe.
However I find most modern American Mil SF to lack a lot of veracity. Partly this is due to the different organisational structure and training and operational paradigms, but mostly it is the extremely gung ho attitude of the authors to their heroes, which has been antithetic to any concept of the good soldier since Sardon's time.
[Although John Birmingham's Axis of Time trilogy was well done for someone who I don't think has served. Excellent future warfare tech and ops, but the main focus is on the interaction of the historical protagonists to the sudden appearance of a modern battlefleet in their midst. Very politically astute (as opposed to, say Turtledove, who doesn't really follow through on his alternate histories).
Has that provided enough outraged comment fodder?
[I'd have to vote for Bertie/Wooster since Georgian fiction simply makes me want to tear my hair out by the roots.]
Is that the same without a trace which you were working on as one of your first books? I seem to recall it being incredibly gripping although slightly confusing if so. Although I was much younger than today so perhaps I will find it even more gripping and less confusing. Watching this space :D
ReplyDelete