The Apocalypse Troll and other stories

I really like David Weber's military science fiction. A few thousand fans of this sub-genre seem to like it as well; his books, even the ones which are ridiculously swollen with unnecessary and/or undesirable content, sell well. He has also partnered with other authors, including Eric Flint and Steve White, which helps lengthen his list of published novels.

My introduction to his work was a rough go, however. The science fiction book club was touting his In Enemy Hands, which is fairly far into the Honor Harrington series, but I began with that one, not realizing that I had to catch up. There were several times I nearly abandoned it; but about three quarters of the way in, I realized this was indeed a fascinating tale; albeit one which could have been told without quite so much detail. Intrigued, I read a couple of his stand-alone novels, The Path of the Fury and The Apocalypse Troll. While featuring hardware and propulsion concepts, more than characterization, these yarns did not require any backstory, and that helped. After I finished those, I read the Honor Harrington series, from the beginning. The first book is not particularly interesting, being mostly a set up for the series, but the series hits a good stride with books two through six. The seventh book, Echos of Honor also has its moments, but the page counts grow and the synopsis gets shorter with each successive installment. I read most of the series, but I think I have been reading on At All Costs, which may or may not be book twelve, for a couple of years and I have yet to finish it. Instead, I go back and re-read earlier titles.

Some of Baen's earlier Weber titles, including The Apocalypse Troll, are available as eBooks, and I have been re-reading it. Yes, it is perhaps less polished than some of his more recent offerings, but it is also far less bulky than his newer work. No, he still doesn't really write many multi-dimensional characters. Still, I enjoyed it. No one else seems to have the ability to write large scale battle scenes, but Weber does. He also has a firm grasp of the problems and possibilities of technologically driven warfare. Too many writers of space opera write about conflict one-on-one, because that is easier. In Star Wars, there may have been a lot of blasts, but the camera follows Luke and Han, and everything else is a backdrop. That is both cheaper and easier. However, any civilization which moves to the stars will have multiple ships, weapons, and drive mechanisms. Weber writes about those situations, and when Weber is finished with a battle, the casualties are in the thousands. That is what real war is, and it will be in the future.

So, the bottom line is that fans of futuristic writing may or may not like Weber, but most fans of military science fiction do, because he delivers large scale entertainment. Readers should sample the early stories, like The Apocalypse Troll or Path of the Fury, or at the beginning of one of his many series, rather than diving in the middle, however.

Troll is the story of a twenty-fifth century monster unleashed on our current earth, with only one surviving warrior from the future to tackle it. When researching the published reviews, I read that this novel was the first David Weber wrote, but it was published long after he had become established as a writer. So, while still Weber, the complexity is not so vast, and there are not so many references to politics, which is a major flaw in some his Honorverse works. But not everyone agrees that The Apocalypse Troll is a winner, so here is a link to a differing opinion of this novel over at RPG.net.

The Series

Writers sometimes create characters, settings, indeed entire “universes” which they revisit for several books. This technique is termed writing a series. There are many positives in this approach. Sales of series titles tend to be better, because a reader who enjoys one title will want to read the others in the same series. Also, a nifty character can be revisited, even if a main character in one tale becomes a minor one in another. However, a great character can succeed as a main character again and again. Here are three diverse examples—

One of my first experiences in reading a series began with Lois McMaster Bujold’s Shards of Honor. The first two books (now available in a single volume) focus on Cordelia Naismith, who marries Aral Vorkosigan. Their son, Miles, becomes the main character in the rest of the series, and what a marvelous character he is! Alternately humorous, cunning, and inspiring, Bujold’s Miles has enough problems and strength to carry him through many adventures. I’ve pictured one of the better late entries in the series, A Civil Campaign, which describes Miles’ matrimonial adventure, but my absolute favorite Miles adventure is a short story, The Mountains of Mourning. Regarding the writing of a series, “Bujold has also said that part of the challenge of writing a series is that many readers will encounter the stories in ‘utterly random order’, so she must provide sufficient background in each of them without being excessively repetitious. Most recent printings of her Vorkosigan tales do include an appendix at the end summarizing the internal chronology of the series.”

Another science fiction writer, but one with a different approach altogether, is David Weber. His Honor Harrington series is ongoing, but I have given it up. I found the last few entries stray farther and farther from focusing on his main character. The earlier books, especially the first eight, are among the best space opera I have read. Weber has a wonderful grasp of technical matters, and his books are sorta like the Tom Clancy of science fiction. Honor is not particularly successful as a female, but she is wonderful as a military heroine. My most favorite entry in the series, The Honor of the Queen, is pictured. Weber has stated that this series began as an 80K essay which he terms “Honorverse.”

Several years ago, a friend loaned me a mystery by a local author, Kathy Hogan Trocheck, and I enjoyed it enough to revisit the Callihan Garrity series, set in Atlanta. A former AJC reporter, Trocheck often bases her plots in crime stories in the Atlanta area. I was fortunate to hear her speak at a writer’s conference in Athens, and she let her audience in on some of the problems facing the series writer. Her main character is the owner of a cleaning service, which serves as a way to let her be a private detective and get into the homes of her clients and her suspects. This series is often humorous, but she admitted that it is hard to keep everything straight. An example she cited was using a beat up Chevy van in one book, but switching to a Ford in the next one. Her editor’s suggested solution was a writer’s guide, where she kept track of these details. In recent years, she has moved to the more popular “chick lit” perspective, writing as Mary Kay Andrews, but she is still writing a series.

My editor for Trinity on Tylos suggested that I make it a series. That is still a possibility, and I did use a guide when I was writing Trinity on Tylos, so that I could keep the characters and the physical layout of the Excalibur straight. If you want to see part of it, just flip to the back of that book; my editor suggested that the character list be a part of the book so that readers could keep them straight as well. If I ever revisit the “Trinity on Tylos” universe, I will certainly use that guide again.

In good company, but sold out?

Like many authors these days, I have a “google alert.” This is a nifty service which sends me an email when someone does a search for either Pamela J. Dodd or Trinity on Tylos, and lets me know what that person clicked on after doing the search. My latest alert apprised me that Trinity is now available from The Dungeon Bookstore. Okay, I admit, my first thought was, “Say what? There’s not any BDSM in Trinity!” I touched on that in The Gift Horse, but not in Trinity. However, a visit to the site states: Science Fiction, fantasy, horror, and witch craft/magic books are our main categories, we've also begun to add science fiction dvd's and comic graphic novels.

Some of The Dungeon Bookstore’s other offerings are books I like quite a lot, including the series by Elizabeth Vaughan which begins with Warprize. Indeed, they have titles from Tor, Baen, and Eos, which is top notch content, and I am really glad to be included. Another great aspect of this site is that they offer free shipping, without up-pricing the books. The printer, Pawprints, sells it via Amazon, and they raised the price a dollar, which along with Amazon’s standard shipping price of 3.49 yields a purchase price of $18.48. Ouch.

Unfortunately, the product page lists the book as being sold out. I clicked on a couple of my fellow Whiskey Creek Press author’s titles, they were “sold out” as well. I asked over at the WCP author group, and the webmaster replied that this page just links to the WCP site, and customers are supposed to buy there. That's too bad, huh? I guess I'll always be "sold out" in the Dungeon.

For fans of Science Fiction Romance

If you are new to romantic science fiction, and some of the folks who have read Trinity on Tylos are, then what comes next? I could write a lengthy essay on romantic science fiction, and I’ve already commented on it from time to time here, but what books might my readers like if they wish to check out offerings in this subgenre of fiction?

I used to be frustrated by what was available to read, whether the source was the local library or a bricks and mortar store, because they all seem to feature the same few authors from the big New York publishers. First and foremost, the internet is a great resource for recommendations and vendors of books that you might not find otherwise.

Here are some books from my keeper shelf, in no certain order, except I have divided them with those primarily available in print first and eBooks second. Also, I tend to like more science fiction and less romance, but most of these offer a blend of the two genres.

•Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, Conflict of Honors, Agent of Change, Carpe Diem (all 3 are in the omnibus called Partners in Necessity)
•Catherine Asaro’s Skolian Empire Series-- to begin, try SkyFall or The Last Hawk; also check out the stand alone title, The Veiled Web
•Elizabeth Moon, Remnant Population, and her Heris Serano series
•David Weber, Path of the Fury, Apocalypse Troll, and the early Honor Harrington books
•Susan Grant, Contact
•Linnea Sinclair, An Accidental Goddess
•C. J. Barry, Unearthed and its sequels
•Catherine Spangler, Shielder and its sequels
•S. L. Viehl, StarDoc and its sequels
•Anne McCaffrey, Freedom’s Landing and its sequels
•Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honor and Barrayar (available as an omnibus edition called Cordelia’s Honor and as eBooks) as well as the excellent short story, The Mountains of Mourning, available from Baen Books Free Library
eBooks:
•Angela Verdenius, Love’s Sweet Assassin, Heart Of An Outlaw
•Myra Nour, Love’s Captive (this is rather sensual)

Holiday Sci-Fi?

What should a fan of science fiction have on her (or his) Christmas list?

I’d include one or two of Linnea Sinclair’s books, which are being re- released by Bantam Spectra. In a post back in July, I commented on a review I read for one of her books, Finder’s Keepers. My favorite is An Accidental Goddess, which is due out in December. The main character, Gillie, wakes up 350 or so years in her future and finds that she’s been deified while she was out of action. The resulting sci fi romance is quite a good read.

Catherine Asaro has a new book coming in December as well, and she’s seldom written anything I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. This new addition to the Skolian Empire series is entitled The Final Key.

David Weber has a new book on the shelves. I’m behind on Honor Harrington’s adventures, having purchased The Shadow of Saganami, but not having read it as yet. I did note that At All Costs was published in November. Fans of military fiction and space operas usually like Weber’s sagas which are set in Honor’s universe. His publisher, Baen Books has announced an enlarged version of my favorite of his books, Path of the Fury. I’ve never gotten enough of Alicia DeVries, so I’ll no doubt pick up a copy of In Fury Born, but I’ve been hoping prequel or a sequel for many years.

Star Wars fans can pick up the newly released Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, or indulge in the DVD version of the original trilogy. I find it interesting that the whole saga, all six episodes, is now available on DVD. I can watch the original trilogy over and over, but I don’t find Episodes I or II worthy of repeated viewings.

If you have any younger Star Wars fans, the impossible to find toy this season is Hasbro’s “Build Your Own Lightsaber” kit. I’m still trying to get one for my 12 year old son. Wish me luck!