Hammer! Hammer! Hammer!

(Part of the books read for 2006 and part of books read for 2007 and beyond...Omnibus posting!)

(Addendum: The 2007 update note...this entry is going to be a changing entry until I finish reading the third omnibus volume—coming later this year. I'll be revising the reviews, adding more reviews of the individual stories and the like. In the meantime, might I suggest you pick up either the first issue of Jim Baen's Universe or the recently published collection, The Best of Jim Baen's Universe, and read David Drake's tale, The Darkness? It's excellent.)

This will act as a large posting for all the reading I've done this past two years in David Drake's series of tales of a mercenary armored unit. I read them back when they came out from Ace, read more throughout the years as they came out from Baen Books, and now I've been reading them as they have either come out in new baen Books editions, as tales in the Jim Baen's Universe eMagazine or the new omnibus editions from Night Shade Books.

The reviews are pretty much as I wrote them originally (if recycled). You'll see my opinion changing over time, as I read or re-read more of the series. I've let the original thoughts stand; I may add thoughts after the third omnibus edition comes out.

Some of the books are available for free in multiple electronic formats from Baen Books. See: Paying the Piper. The Tank Lords.

See my previous general posting on the series here.

(Previously mentioned here, with some additional information on the miniatures game.)

David Drake: The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Volume One (Night Shade Books; 2006; ISBN 978-1-892389-69-5; cover art by John Berkey).

Made up of: Introduction (Gene Wolfe); Foreword: On Becoming a Professional Writer by Way of Southeast Asia; Under the Hammer; The Butcher's Bill; But Loyal to His Own; Caught in the Crossfire; Cultural Conflict; Hangman; Standing Down; Code-Name Feirefitz; The Interrogation Team; The Tank Lords; Liberty Port; Night March; The Immovable Object; The Irresistible Force; A Death in Peacetime; Afterword: Accidentally and by the Back Door. With the following "non-fiction" essays: Backdrop to Chaos; The Bonding Authority; The Church of the Lord's Universe; Powerguns; Supertanks; Table of Organization and Equipment, Hammer's Regiment.

Counts as twenty-three entries for the 2006 Short Story Project.

Counts as twenty-three entries for the 2008 Year in Shorts.

David Drake: The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Volume Two (Night Shade Books; 2006; ISBN 978-1-892389-73-2; cover art by John Berkey).

Made up of: Introduction (David G. Hartwell); Foreword: We Happy Few; At Any Price; Counting the Cost; Rolling Hot; The Warrior; The Day of Glory; Afterword: What's for Sale.

Counts as four entries in the 2007 Year in Shorts.

Counts as eight entries in the 2008 Year in Shorts.

Part of the 2009 Year in Shorts.

David Drake: The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Volume Three (Night Shade Books; 2007; ISBN 978-1-892389-80-0; cover art by David Martin).

Made up of: Introduction (Barry N. Malzberg); The Sharp End; Paying the Piper; The Darkness; Jim.

Counts as four entries in the 2008 Year in Shorts.

Part of the 2009 Year in Shorts.

(All three of the Night Shade Books editions are scheduled to become available in electronic format via Baen's Webscription service sometime in 2009 or 2010. I'll update this with a link when they do become available.)

Addendum (January 27, 2007): I've dug up or purchased the various paperback editions of the series and the contents are listed below.

David Drake's Guide to Hammer's Slammers.

Hammer's Slammers (Ace, February 1985 printing, ISBN 0-441-31595-X): Introduction: Mercenaries and Military Virtue (Jerry Pournelle); But Loyal to His Own; The Butcher's Bill; Interlude: The Church of the Lord's Universe; Under the Hammer; Interlude: Powerguns; Cultural Conflict; Interlude: Backdrop to Chaos; Caught in the Crossfire; Interlude: The Bonding Authority; Hangman; Interlude: Table of Organization and Equipment, Hammer's Regiment; Standing Down. Drake's comments here.

Hammer's Slammers (Baen, April 1991 printing, ISBN 0-671-69867-2): Mercenaries and Military Virtue (Jerry Pournelle); But Loyal to His Own; The Butcher's Bill; Interlude: The Church of the Lord's Universe; Under the Hammer; Interlude: Powerguns; Cultural Conflict; Interlude: Backdrop to Chaos; Caught in the Crossfire; Interlude: The Bonding Authority; Hangman; Interlude: Table of Organization and Equipment, Hammer's Regiment; Standing Down, The Tank Lords. Drake's comments here.

Rolling Hot (Baen, September 1989 printing, ISBN 0-671-69837-0). Drake's comments here.

Rolling Hot is a short novel set in David Drake's Hammer's Slammers series.

Task Force Ransom is seriously undermanned and underequipped. The vehicles are crewed by burnouts, non-soldiers, newbies and mechanics. The commander of the taskforce is crazy as a Junebug. But, in order to swing the tide of battle (and to ensure that Colonel Hammer's soldiers get paid), they are forced to regroup after an attack, march through hostile territory, travel through urban terrain, force a bridge crossing and spoof a potential enemy armored battalion in order to relive the capital.

Based (according to Drake) on the Tet Offensive, Rolling Hot offers both good battle sequences and many "classic" attacks and maneuvers (e.g., forcing a river crossing). However, the story is peopled by misfits and burnouts. The book would have been stronger with a concentration on fewer such characters or a different mix of characters. Interestingly, as with many of the other titles in the series, Colonel Hammer never appears "on screen", only as a voice over the radio.

At Any Price (Baen, September 1987 printing, ISBN 0-671-55978-8): At Any Price: The Interrogation Team; Code-Name Feirefitz.

The Warrior (Baen, May 1991 printing, ISBN 0-671-72058-9): The Warrior; Liberty Port.

A rivalry between two members of Hammer's Regiment. Good characterization by Drake of two soldiers who know no other life.

The Sharp End (Baen, October 1997 printing, ISBN 0-671-87632-5). Drake's comments here.

An interesting variant on the "standard" tale of the Slammers (is there such a thing?). For more information, read Drake's comments, above.

The Tank Lords (Baen, July 1999 printing, ISBN 0-671-87794-1): Under the Hammer; Rolling Hot; Night March; Code-Name Feirefitz; The Tank Lords; Appendix; Afterword: We Happy Few.

A variety of shorter works, all good.

Caught in the Crossfire (Baen, September 2000 printing, ISBN 0-671-87882-4): Introduction; The Warrior; Caught in the Crossfire; The Immovable Object; Counting the Cost; Afterword to Counting the Cost; The Interrogation Team.

The Interrogation Team is one of my favorites, a very creepy tale. See comments on The Warrior, above. Counting the Cost is a strange tale in the series, I still can't say whether I like it or not (there are very few sympathetic characters in the end!).

Paying the Piper (Baen, July 2005 printing, ISBN 0-7434-7172-5): A Background Note; Choosing Sides; The Political Process; Neck or Nothing.

One of the best of the Slammer's tales. Read Drake's background note (above) for details on the genesis of the story. Probably the best (next to Rolling Hot) combination of character and story and probably my favorite Drake tale, next to the Lt. Leary of the RCN series.

Also: The Darkness, read as part of the 2006 Short Story Project (Magazine Division).

Adds 4 items to the 2007 Short Story Project.

Part of the 2008 Short Story Project.