History Creator / DavidDrake

* TheQuietOne: Tovera, Adele Mundy's aide. Subverted in that she's a tiny female. So self-effacing she's ignored by police responding to murderous violence at a society garden party in ''Lt. Leary, Commanding'', despite the fact that she's holding a sub-machine gun. Deadlier than her mistress, the BadassBookworm. ''Much'' deadlier.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Adele Mundy from ''Literature/{{RCN}}'', Joachim Steuben from ''Literature/HammersSlammers'', Hussein ben Mehdi from ''The Forlorn Hope'', Stephen Gregg from ''The Reaches''.... And that's not counting how, in ''The General'' and its follow-ons, Center can augment someone's marksmanship to levels that leave hardened soldiers staring in awe.

* ShoutOut: Occasionally drops Shout Outs to modern culture into his work. A punning one was in ''The Sharp End'' when a ship from the Marvelan Confederacy was known as the ''[[ComicBook/SilverSurfer Argent Server]]''.

-->-- '''David Drake'''

One of the current gods of Military SF, along with Jerry Pournelle, Creator/SMStirling, and Creator/DavidWeber -- in spite of not writing any military SF anymore. (Unless you count Naval SpaceOpera.) Known for his explicit and graphic depictions of the effects of warfare on both human bodies and human societies.

* TakeThatCritics: ''Literature/HammersSlammers'' was reviewed unfavorably early in his career by reviewer Charles Platt, who said that if Drake had ever seen war he wouldn't have written [[http://david-drake.com/2010/platt/ "such queasy voyeurism".]] In response, many of Drake's works feature a reprehensible character named "Platt" who typically dies violently. About the best any "Platt" can hope for is to be stupid.

** ''The Reformer'' and ''The Tyrant'' continued on yet another world in the same Universe with Raj existing as a computer simulation. This time it's the Roman Civil War(?). ''The Tyrant'' was co-written with Eric Flint in 2002 and seems to have ended the series.
** Except now ''The Heretic'' is out, co written with Tony Daniel. This one's Egypt.

* TakeThatCritics: ''Literature/HammersSlammers'' was reviewed unfavorably early in his career by reviewer Charles Platt, who said that if Drake had ever seen war he wouldn't have written [[http://david-drake.com/2010/platt/ "such queasy voyeurism".]] In response, many of his works feature a reprehensible character named "Platt" who typically dies violently. About the best any "Platt" can hope for is to be stupid.

* ''The Reaches'': ''Igniting the Reaches'', ''Through the Breach'', and ''Fireships''. Set a thousand years after the collapse of an interstellar government, and based on the period when Spanish and British exploration and exploitation were colliding in the New World, with particular inspiration from the exploits of Sir Francis Drake (no relation). The planet Venus fills the role of Britain (ruled by [[TheVirginQueen Governor Halys]]), while Spain is played by the Canada-based government of North America.

* ''The Dragon Lord'' - Gritty retelling of the story of KingArthur; Drake described the personality of his Arthur as a cross between Alexander the Great and AdolfHitler. This novel was originally intended as a pastiche novel of Robert E. Howard's historical adventure character Cormac Mac Art, but Drake re-wrote it when the pastiche was declined.

* ''All the Way to the Gallows'' - Gallows humor short stories. Includes
** ''Mom and the Kids'' with L. Niven.
** ''The Noble Savages'' - sci-fi sendup of special ops force operating under PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad.

Drake is, as described in the book jacket for ''[[Literature/BelisariusSeries The Dance of Time]]'' : \\

"Drake graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, majoring in history (with honors) and Latin."\\
\\

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheIsles'': Heroic fantasy series. Ended in late 2008 with ''The Gods Return'', which was the last of the ''Crown of the Isles'' trilogy. You read that right.
** The last three books in the series are known as ''The Crown of the Isle'' series.

* ''Patriots'': Sci-fi retelling of Ethan Allen's capture of the British Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolutionary War.
** From David Drake's website: "There were other interesting things about Allen. While unquestionably violent, neither he nor the violent men under his command killed anybody. That's really remarkable. Taking Allen as a model, I wrote a book in which nobody is killed (which a lot of people will find remarkable also)."
** In the book the Ethan Allen character was described as the type of person who could charge into machine gun fire and survive. This made him dangerous to be around, because the people around him would still get slaughtered.

* ''Killer'': Franchise/{{Alien}} like aliens come up against retired veteran of the Roman Gladiatorial games. Veteran trained killer vs natural born killers. Think ''Predator vs Aliens'' without the sci-fi equipment.

[[http://www.david-drake.com/bibliography.html Full Bibliography]] at David Drake's website. Not quite up to date at the time of this writing (Mar, 2009).

Click on [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/relatedsearch.php?term=Main/DavidDrake Related to...]] at the top of the page for articles linking to this page. Currently (2009-03-13) there are 42. Most of them are tropes with examples from David Drake's works.

The ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'' and ''Literature/TheGeneral'' series have their own articles with trope examples. Again, click on their '''Related to...''' links to find tropes with examples from those series.

* Occasionally drops {{Shout Out}}s to modern culture into his work. A punning one was in ''The Sharp End'' when a ship from the Marvelan Confederacy was known as the ''[[ComicBook/SilverSurfer Argent Server]]''.

One of the current gods of Military SF, along with [[Literature/CoDominium Jerry Pournelle]], Creator/SMStirling, and Creator/DavidWeber -- in spite of not writing any military SF anymore. (Unless you count Naval SpaceOpera.) Known for his explicit and graphic depictions of the effects of warfare on both human bodies and human societies.

* From the book jacket for ''[[Literature/BelisariusSeries The Dance of Time]]'' : \\

* From [[http://www.david-drake.com/north.html Notes on Northworld]] on David Drake's website: "I made what I thought was a pointless change from my normal procedure by adding a short afterword to ''Northworld''.... Lo and behold, all the reviews of ''Northworld'' noted the intricate play of Norse myth in the novel. Well, yes; I'd precised the ''[[Literature/PoeticEdda Elder Edda]]'', the ''Literature/ProseEdda'', and the ''[[Literature/VolsungaSaga Volsungensaga]]'' before I even started to plot. But I always work that way: I'd outlined all of Procopius' works save for ''The Buildings'' before I started plotting my first novel, ''The Dragon Lord.'' The only difference with ''Northworld'' was that I told the reviewers what I'd done; and, being told, they were able to see what I in my innocence had thought was obvious. Live and learn. I frequently write explanatory essays now."

Anecdote on book covers from [[http://www.david-drake.com/north.html Notes on Northworld]] at David Drake's website:
* "While I was writing Northworld, Beth called to ask what the book was about because they needed to put a cover on it. I sent her a scene of people dueling in powered personal armor. Beth called back in a week. "We had a cover conference on your book," she said. "We're going to put a tank on the cover. Is there a tank in the book?" I told her that there would be, now that I'd been told about the cover. And there is."

* ''{{Redliners}}'': Science fiction story of a burnt out elite unit assigned to guard involuntary colonists on a DeathWorld. In a weird way, it mixes a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming with horror by taking WarIsHell to its logical conclusion--what do you do with, and how can you help, the ShellShockedVeteran, when the war is over?

!!Works:

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!!!Selected Other Works:

!!His works provide examples of:

!Works:

!!Major Series:

!!Selected Other Works:

!His works provide examples of:

[[AC:Major Series]]

[[AC: Selected Other Works]]

!!!His works provide examples of:

* Occasionally drops {{Shout Out}}s to modern culture into his work. A punning one was in ''The Sharp End'' when a ship from the Marvelan Confederacy was known as the ''[[SilverSurfer Argent Server]]''.

From the book jacket for ''[[BelisariusSeries The Dance of Time]]'' :
* "Vietnam veteran, former lawyer, former bus driver, and now best-selling author..."
* "Drake graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, majoring in history (with honors) and Latin."
* "His stint at Duke University Law School was interrupted for two years by the U. S. Army, where he served as an enlisted interrogator with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_ACR 11th Armored Cavalry]] in Vietnam and Cambodia."

* The Lt. Leary series, loosely based off the 18th century British navy, complete with spaceships that travel through hyperspace using sails. However, the sails are handled fairly realistically: stripping a ship's sails with a plasma cannon is a quick and easy way to keep it from escaping into hyperspace, the sails need to be furled and stowed before entering an atmosphere, and when deployed, interfere with the ship's realspace maneuvering and combat.

*** The Literature/{{RCN}} (Republic of Cinnabar Navy) series, however, is the nomenclature Drake uses.

* ''Literature/TheGeneral'' series with S. M. Stirling. (This is ''not'' his BelisariusSeries. See the next entry.) A retelling of the life of the Byzantine General Belisarius in a sci-fi setting on a world after the fall of civilization. The world, Bellevue, has rebuilt itself to approximately 1900 technology. Aka the ''Raj Whitehall'' series, and the ''Raj Whitehall and Center'' series. After the fifth book (''The Sword'' in 1995) the stories shifted to other worlds.

* The Literature/BelisariusSeries with Eric Flint. The life of the Byzantine General Belisarius as an alternate history, where the two great powers from the far future have each sent an emissary to alter the past in Belisarius' lifetime.

* {{Redliners}}: Science fiction story of a burnt out elite unit assigned to guard involuntary colonists on a DeathWorld. In a weird way, it mixes a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming with horror by taking WarIsHell to its logical conclusion--what do you do with, and how can you help, the ShellShockedVeteran, when the war is over?

* ''The Dragon Lord'' - Gritty retelling of the story of KingArthur; Drake described the personality of his Arthur as a cross between Alexander the Great and AdolfHitler.
** This novel was originally intended as a pastiche novel of Robert E. Howard's historical adventure character Cormac Mac Art. Drake re-wrote it when the pastiche was declined.

The ''BelisariusSeries'' and ''Literature/TheGeneral'' series have their own articles with trope examples. Again, click on their '''Related to...''' links to find tropes with examples from those series.

* ''BelisariusSeries'' with Eric Flint

* ''HammersSlammers''

* ''HammersSlammers]'' - short stories about futuristic mercenaries under Colonel Alois Hammer. The toughest mercs who ever killed for a dollar. According to WordOfGod, partly based on the French Foreign Legion in the 1950s, when that service had a large proportion of former [=SS=] in its ranks, but also loosely based on the Vietnam-Era [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_ACR 11th Armored Cavalry regiment]], with fusion-powered hovercraft "panzers" replacing tanks and smaller combat cars replacing M113 cavalry vehicles.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Adele Mundy from the Literature/{{RCN}}, Joachim Steuben from ''HammersSlammers'', Hussein ben Mehdi from ''The Forlorn Hope'', Stephen Gregg from ''The Reaches''.... And that's not counting how, in ''The General'' and its follow-ons, Center can augment someone's marksmanship to levels that leave hardened soldiers staring in awe.

* The BelisariusSeries with Eric Flint. The life of the Byzantine General Belisarius as an alternate history, where the two great powers from the far future have each sent an emissary to alter the past in Belisarius' lifetime.

* ''RanksOfBronze'': The campaigns of an ancient Roman Legion captured by aliens who survive as a mercenary army used on low-tech planets.

* TheGeneral series with S. M. Stirling. (This is ''not'' his BelisariusSeries. See the next entry.) A retelling of the life of the Byzantine General Belisarius in a sci-fi setting on a world after the fall of civilization. The world, Bellevue, has rebuilt itself to approximately 1900 technology. Aka the ''Raj Whitehall'' series, and the ''Raj Whitehall and Center'' series. After the fifth book (''The Sword'' in 1995) the stories shifted to other worlds.

The BelisariusSeries and TheGeneral series have their own articles with trope examples. Again, click on their '''Related to...''' links to find tropes with examples from those series.

* Literature/{{RCN}}
* TheGeneral, with S.M. Stirling
* BelisariusSeries with Eric Flint
* Literature/TheLordOfTheIsles
* HammersSlammers
* Northworld
* The Reaches

* ''TheLordOfTheIsles'': Heroic fantasy series. Ended in late 2008 with ''The Gods Return'', which was the last of the ''Crown of the Isles'' trilogy. You read that right.

[[http://www.david-drake.com/ David Drake]] is the author of several sci-fi series, and has a major fantasy series, ''TheLordOfTheIsles'' which finished in late 2008 with ''The Gods Return''. Has numerous other works.

* TheLordOfTheIsles

* ''Killer'': {{Alien}} like aliens come up against retired veteran of the Roman Gladiatorial games. Veteran trained killer vs natural born killers. Think ''Predator vs Aliens'' without the sci-fi equipment.

** ''The Sharp End'' - Rewrite of DashiellHammett's ''Red Harvest'' on a CrapsackWorld in the Slammerverse, except that one of Colonel Hammer's contract teams serves as the collective hero.

* From [[http://www.david-drake.com/north.html Notes on Northworld]] on David Drake's website: "I made what I thought was a pointless change from my normal procedure by adding a short afterword to ''Northworld''.... Lo and behold, all the reviews of ''Northworld'' noted the intricate play of Norse myth in the novel. Well, yes; I'd precised the ''Elder Edda'', the ''Literature/ProseEdda'', and the ''[[Literature/VolsungaSaga Volsungensaga]]'' before I even started to plot. But I always work that way: I'd outlined all of Procopius' works save for ''The Buildings'' before I started plotting my first novel, ''The Dragon Lord.'' The only difference with ''Northworld'' was that I told the reviewers what I'd done; and, being told, they were able to see what I in my innocence had thought was obvious. Live and learn. I frequently write explanatory essays now."

* From [[http://www.david-drake.com/north.html Notes on Northworld]] on David Drake's website: "I made what I thought was a pointless change from my normal procedure by adding a short afterword to ''Northworld.''...Lo and behold, all the reviews of ''Northworld'' noted the intricate play of Norse myth in the novel. Well, yes; I'd precised the ''Elder Edda'', the ''Prose Edda'', and the ''Volsungensaga'' before I even started to plot. But I always work that way: I'd outlined all of Procopius' works save for ''The Buildings'' before I started plotting my first novel, ''The Dragon Lord.'' The only difference with ''Northworld'' was that I told the reviewers what I'd done; and, being told, they were able to see what I in my innocence had thought was obvious. Live and learn. I frequently write explanatory essays now."

* {{Redliners}}: Science fiction story of a burnt out elite unit assigned to guard involuntary colonists on a DeathWorld. In a weird way, it mixes a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming with HighOctaneNightmareFuel by taking WarIsHell to its logical conclusion--what do you do with, and how can you help, the ShellShockedVeteran, when the war is over?

One of the current gods of Military SF, along with [[CoDominium Jerry Pournelle]], SMStirling, and DavidWeber--in spite of not writing any military SF anymore. (Unless you count Naval SpaceOpera.) Known for his explicit and graphic depictions of the effects of warfare on both human bodies and human societies.