Other Times Than Peace

Other Times Than Peace, David Drake (Baen Books, 2006, ISBN 978-1-4165-2076-4, cover by Kurt Miller).

Introduction: A brief overview of where the various stories have come from.

A Grand Tour: Set in David Weber's Honorverse, but without any of the characters from that series. Based, as are many of Drake's tales on incidents that really occurred, this tale deals with an archaeological dig. The characters and their relationships can be seen as a model for Drake's later Lt. Leary series. Drake's afterword to the story talks about how the writings of Patrick O'Brian influenced the writing of this tale and later helped in the Leary writings.

Lambs to the Slaughter: Set in the same universe as one of Drake's earliest works, Ranks of Bronze. Uses different characters and setting from that tale. A very good story (despite the SF trappings) of showing how the military works on the squad and company level. It also shows that the lot of the common soldier probably was the same in Roman times as it is now. Drake displays a fine knowledge and understanding of the soldier (won through some hard experience!).

Dreams in Amber: Another tale set in the Roman era with science fiction overtones. An amusing twist at the end which puts one in mind of H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Out of Time.

Safe to Sea: One of Drake's earlier stories. Somewhat experimental in nature, so it might have benefited from some additional polishing. It also feels like a piece of a larger series, so it took a while for me to get "into" the mindset of the universe.

The Murder of Halley's Comet: A story co-written with Larry Niven and part of Drake's space opera series The Fleet. A good story, but unless you've had some exposure to the shared universe, you might feel a little lost.

Made up of: Introduction: A Range of Treatments; Lambs to the Slaughter; Men Like Us (previously read); The Day of Glory (previously read); The Interrogation Team (previously read); A Death in Peacetime (previously read); Dreams in Amber; Safe to Sea; The Murder of Halley's Comet (David Drake and Larry Niven); The Hunting Ground (previously read); The False Prophet (previously read); A Grand Tour (previously collected here, this version is supposed to be significantly different).

Counts as seventeen (17) entries in the 2008 Year in Shorts.