Not to be confused with the other author named D. Brown. Also not to be confused with Dale Brown, former basketball coach at Louisiana State University.Once upon a time, there was a member of the United States Air Force. He spent his days as a member of the Strategic Air Command, specifically a navigator-bombardier. He was rather good at it.Then he retired and started writing books. These books involve super-planes, such as the EB-52 Megafortress, a stealth escort bomber. They also sometimes involve nukes being let off. The main plotline through most of his stories involves USAF bomber navigator Patrick McLanahan and his involvement with the supersecret High Technology Aerospace Weapons Center "Dreamland".He made the plot for a Real Time Strategy game, Act Of War, which features some of the tropes found in his books.His books (incomplete, and not yet in chronological order):
Flight of the Old Dog - in which a Soviet laser cannon threatens the deterrent value of American strategic forces.
Silver Tower - in which an American space laser mounted on a space station does battle against space Russians IN SPACE!.
Day Of The Cheetah - in which a Russian spy attempts to steal an advanced, mind-controlled fighter jet.
Hammerheads - in which drug runners are taken out by V-22s launched from an oil-rig air base
Sky Masters- in which a Chinese Admiral nukes some Filipino ships. Comes with hilariously inaccurate portrayal of both nations' governments and militaries.
Night Of The Hawk - in which a friend thought dead is still alive but in Soviet hands, and the crew must save him before the CIA get to him.
Chains of Command
Storming Heaven- in which drug lord Henri Cazaux causes the unplanned destruction of the San Francisco International Airport, decides that Evil Feels Good, and becomes a super-villain powered by the sexual energy of Satan. No, seriously.
Shadows of Steel - in which Iran gets frisky with its new aircraft carrier.
Fatal Terrain- in which the Chinese nuke Taiwanese bases, North Korea and Guam.
The Tin Man- in which McLanahan's brother gets shot by terrorists and he breaks out the eponymous Powered Armor in search of the culprits.
Battle Born- in which a group of maverick National Guard pilots are roped into Dreamland's operations while Korea reunites and China takes action against that.
Warrior Class - in which a Russian oilman plans to restore Russia's glory with a Balkan pipeline.
Wings of Fire - in which the Night Stalkers response to Libyan aggression turns dangerously personal for McLanahan.
Air Battle Force - in which a seemingly straightforward strike against a Taliban group becomes much more complicated.
Plan of Attack - in which the Russian President nukes American nuclear forces.
Act of War - in which an eco-terrorist attack on big business with a nuke inspires a tough response.
Edge of Battle - in which US-Mexico relations grow horribly tense thanks to the warmongering of a drug smuggler masquerading as a revolutionary.
Strike Force - in which McLanahan is asked to intervene in an Iranian power struggle.
Shadow Command - in which a new Russian president plots the destruction of Dreamland while the Iranian power struggle continues.
Rogue Forces - in which McLanahan's new PMC is called into action over Iraq.
Executive Intent - in which China and Russia challenge American domination of space.
A Time for Patriots - in which the US economy goes down the sewer and McLanahan forms a group to keep the peace against terrorists and Right Wing Militia Fanatics.
A-Team Firing - Played for Drama in Executive Intent, where a Mjolnir/Kingfisher Kill Sat misses its target of terrorists holding on to commandeered missiles and kills many civilians.
Aborted Arc: The takeover of Sky Masters, Inc. in Wings of Fire is not raised in the next book.
Adventure Friendly World: One in which conventional conflicts are still ongoing and repeated nuclear releases have not doomed the world to death in nuclear fire.
Alternate History - Has touches of this. For example, the mess with Libya in Wings of Fire started when apparent Big Bad Zuwayy carried out a coup against the Real Life ruler Gaddafi in the backstory.
Beam Spam - In Flight of the Old Dog the Ice Fortress supposedly can do this to defeat ballistic missiles.
Best Served Cold - Zakharov and Chamberlain's motivation in Act of War.
Better to Die than Be Killed: At the end of Sky Masters, the Big Bad Admiral Yin, seeing that his plan is foiled, chooses to blow his brains out rather than return to China in defeat, where he will be humiliated and dishonourably executed.
Big Damn Heroes - Turabi gets saved by Tin Men in Air Battle Force and Plan of Attack.
Big Damn Villains - The Chinese assault on Somalia and Yemen in Executive Intent is likened to this in-story.
Bigger Stick - The entire point of Dreamland and Sky Masters, staying on the bleeding edge of technology. The Americans aren't the only ones with new toys, though.
Boring Invincible Hero - Subverted. The team almost never wins overwhelmingly despite their definite advantages.
Brainwashed - Dave Luger after getting captured by Soviets. He gets rescued and fixed eventually, but the effects still linger.
Call Back - Occurs a few times, one of these being Dave Luger's reaction to seeing a former captor in Warrior Class.
Canon Discontinuity - Day Of The Cheetah was replaced with Sky Masters which was replaced with Night Of The Hawk.
Silver Tower has also been seemingly dropped from continuity.
Perhaps the events of the book, but the titular space station has reappeared in recent books.
Canon Welding - Characters from works originally not involving Pat McLanahan, such as Rebecca Furness, have made their way into the main continuity.
Cassandra Truth - At the end of Flight of the Old Dog, Pat casually mentions to his mother that his absence was due to bombing Russia. Played seriously in Plan of Attack regarding the impending Russian attack and Edge of Battle regarding the seriousness of Comandante Veracruz's plan.
Coitus Uninterruptus: In Sky Masters a redshirt takes an alert call while getting... serviced.
Cold-Blooded Torture - Dave Luger faced this during his involuntary stay as a guest of the USSR. Wings of Fire has some redshirts tortured to death by the Libyans. Wayne Macomber experiences this from GRU agents in Executive Intent.
Colonel Badass - Pat McLanahan spends some time in earlier books as this before his promotion to the stars. He's not the only one though.
Coming In Hot - In Air Battle Force Pat lands a damaged Vampire on Diego Garcia despite being repeatedly told not to.
Cool Plane - the Megafortress. Eventually heavily-modded B-1B Lancers show up. Plus the Black Stallion Space Planes. The Russians sometimes have these, like the Fisikous/Metyor-179 Tyenee/Shadow. Then there are the real-world ones jetting about.
Counter Attack - One new piece of Sky Masters tech in Rogue Forces allows a plane to defeat incoming missiles with Frickin' Laser Beams, then attempt to fry the attacker as well.
Crazy-Prepared - Sky Masters aircraft can mount Russian munitions and have the necessary code to do so, apparently just in case they ever had to.
David Versus Goliath - Played with in Flight of the Old Dog where the Old Dog, despite being much larger than the pursuing MiG-29 Fulcrum, is the David because it Can Barely Stand.
Dead Guy Junior - Bradley, Patrick and Wendy's son, after Brad Elliott.
Dead Little Sister - Patrick McLanahan almost losing his younger brother is what drives him on his vigilante quest in The Tin Man, and eventually both his wife and brother get killed.
Death from Above - In Sky Masters when the Chinese Admiral is about to nuke Davao City his destroyer was hit by a satellite by the Americans when they maneuvered it to crash on the destroyer.
Death of a Thousand Cuts - It is possible to drain Tin Men of power, after which they become vulnerable to small arms.
Sky Masters fits this trope. First, the Philippine government had a presidential system, and had only one vice president unlike in the novel. Another point, which borders on Critical Research Failure to the point of hilarity, is lumping Singapore in with her Muslim neighbours. While her relations with them are comparatively more cordial, the epithet "Israel of the East" is apt.
Dirty Business - Some attackers on a Dreamland facility express regret that the EMP device used to disable a CID will also fry the operator.
Dissonant Serenity - Thorn demonstrates this in Warrior Class; it's noted that some find it calming/comforting, while others find it annoying.
Dragon Ascendant - Gregory Townsend, Big Bad of The Tin Man, was The Dragon to Storming Heaven's Big Bad Henri Cazaux. Also, the Big Bad of Fatal Terrain, Chinese Admiral Sun Ji Guoming, was subordinate to that of Sky Masters.
Enemy Mine - In Air Battle Force the Taliban detachment end up working with the Turkmen and Americans against Russian invaders.
Edge of Battle has Zakharov working with Task Force TALON after Comandante Veracruz's double-cross.
Strike Force is centred on former enemy Buzhazi asking for American assistance.
Ensign Newbie: Hal Briggs is a Major in Shadows of Steel, but being given command of a Marine-comprised commando unit leads to this, especially with his experience coming from Army and Air Force.
Establishing Character Moment - Gryzlov from Air Battle Force has this. His Bait the Dog shows his care for his people, as well as his utter ruthlessness against the Rodina's enemies.
Even Evil Has Standards - Russian general Stepashin from Plan of Attack, a man with no qualms against nuclear sneak bombings against the US, is disgusted by Gryzlov's use of nukes on Russian soil and the man's apathy about possible Russian survivors.
False Flag Operation - The Chinese do this in Fatal Terrain to make it seem that Taiwan and the US are attacking them. Pavel Kazakov from Warrior Class does this to trigger a Albania-Macedonia conflict. Zakharov from Edge of Battle does this to make it seem that the American Watchdogs are killing illegal immigrants.
Foreshadowing - Brad Elliott's death in Fatal Terrain gets this. Hal Briggs's too, though it's many books before the cheque gets cashed; see Harsher in Hindsight.
General Ripper - General Park from Battle Born will go as far as having his president killed to get the codes needed for Nuke 'Em in order to fight Chinese aggression.
Genre Shift: The Tin Man was the first one to be almost entirely focused on the dirtside perspective, unlike previous titles that were almost solely the flyboys' game. More infantry-centric content started creeping in after that.
Godzilla Threshold: Villainous example in Sky Masters. His flotilla in shambles after a Filipino ambush, with only death or dishonourable retreat on the cards, Big Bad Admiral Yin decided to Nuke 'Em. Things go downhill from there.
Gone Horribly Wrong - The mission at the start of Wings of Fire was to simply destroy some Libyan missiles. Then Paul gets killed and Wendy goes missing...
In Executive Intent a Mjolnir/Kingfisher Kill Sat misses its target of terrorists holding on to commandeered missiles and kills many civilians.
Harsher in Hindsight: In-Universe. In Shadows of Steel Hal Briggs is chastened for taking a risk that gets him hurt by a ZSU-23 antiaircraft gun. Guess how he dies, several books later?
Heel Realization - Fursenko from Warrior Class experiences this.
Hero with Bad Publicity - McLanahan and team(s) face this problem, as do Jason Richter and Task Force TALON.
Heroic Sacrifice - In Flight of the Old Dog Dave Luger leaves the Old Dog to deal with Soviets and let the others get away.
In Fatal Terrain Brad Elliot crashes the crippled "Old Dog" into a Chinese ICBM site
In Battle Born Rinc Seaver "de-stealths" his plane to lure missiles away from their intended target.
Hostage for MacGuffin - In Edge of Battle Jason is made to give up the CID activation code or let some children get killed. He gives in... and, surprisingly enough, Zakharov doesn't backstab him after letting him and the children go.
If I Wanted You Dead: In Shadows of Steel a back-channel envoy between the Iranians and the US is told that if the President were not in control of the situation, the US would have carried out overt military action already.
Immune to Bullets - Tin Men and CIDs have this, although bigger guns still work.
Implacable Man - Tin Men and CIDs can appear to be this.
It's Personal: In Shadows of Steel, being told that Hal Briggs is with the group he is being asked to help convinces Pat to come out of "early retirement" where more nebulous appeals fail.
Karma Houdini: Chinese President Evils, repeatedly, unlike their Russian counterparts. Also, the Iranian general Buzhazi, who survives Shadows of Steel and returns to benefit from an Enemy Mine.
Karmic Death - General Gary Houser from Plan of Attack dies in the same Russian attack that he kept denying would occur.
La Résistance - In Wings of Fire the Night Stalkers are aided by the Sanusi Brotherhood who are fighting the usurping Libyan dictator.
Lampshade Hanging - in Executive Intent, a State Department official summarizes parts of a supposed plot by China and Russia (which is actually happening), and says the line "I think you've been reading too many cheesy techno-thrillers."
Laser Sight - Pavel Kazakov's men in Warrior Class use these to keep some enemies off their principal.
Last-Second Chance: Offered to Admiral Tufayli in Shadows of Steel and naturally rejected.
The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort - Invoked in Wings of Fire where Hal tells a Night Stalker new to the Tin Man suit to focus on the job and let the suit shrug off small-arms fire rather than obsessing over cover like a normal foot mobile.
Loophole Abuse - The Soviets in Flight of the Old Dog refuse to deactivate the Kavaznya laser under the excuse that the strategic arms treaties never banned ground-based laser systems. The Iranians in Shadows of Steel got their weapons from post-Soviet states that were not covered in the arms control treaties.
Ludicrous Gibs - 23mm rounds make a mess of American aircrewmen in Fatal Terrain and Warrior Class. In Strike Force Hal Briggs goes down this way.
Macross Missile Massacre - In Plan of Attack, Russian missile spam inflicts heavy casualties on the Air Battle Force.
Mama Bear: In Rogue Forces, former Kurdish separatist commando Zilar Azzawi retakes her sword after a Turkish airstrike kills her husband and her children.
Military Maverick - McLanahan and the Dreamland old-timers to a tee.
Misguided Missile - In Shadow Command the superiority of the Black Stallions over older planes is vividly demonstrated when Boomer guides a pair of Russian missiles back to the planes that had fired them.
Neutron Bomb - Used by the Libyans in Wings of Fire. The results were most unpleasant.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero - In Air Battle Force the ABF prevents a Russian airstrike by destroying the bombers at Engels AFB, but this motivates Gryzlov to do what he does in Plan of Attack.
In Rogue Forces, former Kurdish separatist commando Zilar Azzawi retakes her sword after a Turkish airstrike kills her husband and her children.
No One Gets Left Behind - Subverted in Warrior Class, where Pat goes back for Annie and Dev after they get shot down in Russian territory... and gets into serious trouble with the higher-ups for it.
No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup - Subverted; the first Fisikous plane is stolen in Night of the Hawk, but they had a second one, as revealed in Warrior Class.
Non-Action Guy - Jason Richter starts as one, being not much good without his CID unit, but gets better. Some Sky Masters personnel are also this, never having been military before joining and thus not mentally prepared to use their equipment in an actual combat situation.
Not a Game: In Sky Masters, Patrick calls Dr. Masters out on his flippant, overly casual attitude with regards to the oncoming battle.
Not Quite Dead - The discovery that Dave Luger is this and the subsequent rescue attempt form the plot for Night of the Hawk.
Not So Invincible After All - Pat gets this while using the first version of the Tin Man suit in The Tin Man. Hal Briggs gets this in Strike Force after running into a Russian trap.
Nothing Personal - In Warrior Class, one of the aircrew of the Russian stealth bomber says so after shooting down an AWACS plane.
Pay Evil unto Evil - Chris Wohl's killing of Pavel Kazakov in Wings of Fire is undeniably vicious and yet very much the least the scum deserves. In Executive Intent the Chinese respond to a Somali pirate attack on one of their vessels by carrying out a massive aerial and amphibious assault and takeover of Somalia.
Required Secondary Powers: The Wolverines have to be limited below their maximum maneuverability because their explosives will prematurely cook off otherwise.
Shut Up, Hannibal! - Tufayli from Shadows of Steel and Leonid Zevitin from Shadow Command fall victim to this.
Slashed Throat - In Wings of Fire Wendy gets this, but doesn't die of it. Pavel Kazakov takes a much more severe version.
So Last Season - Subverted; the "Old Dogs" are still lethal despite the emergence of the Vampires and the Black Stallions have not obsoleted the Vampires.
Something Only They Would Say - Brad Elliot uses some choice oaths in Flight of the Old Dog to let a certain colonel recognise him and bring up tanker support.
Soviet Superscience - While most of their new toys are reverse-engineered from American tech, the former-Soviets-now-Russians did build their anti-sat lasers themselves.
Spanner in the Works - In Executive Intent bumping into a random civilian leads to Wayne Macomber getting captured by the GRU.
Surrounded by Idiots - Pavel Kazakov from Warrior Class says "I'm surrounded by cowards and incompetents" after Tin Men take over one of his oil tankers.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill - Zakharov from Act of War sends several squads with anti-tank weapons and a helicopter gunship to kill one man. Executive Intent has a Russian fighter jet thoroughly obliterated by a Mjolnir/Thor's Hammer orbit-to-surface kill vehicle, as well as the Chinese approach to taking over Mogadishu.
Too Dumb to Live - Zakharov from Edge of Battle thinks that the illegal immigrants who tried to take on a CID rather than run away were this.
The Yemeni in Executive Intent. After the Chinese prove they're not going to be soft-hearted like the West with their Disproportionate Retribution takeover of Mogadishu, the Yemeni still bomb a Chinese frigate. No prizes for guessing whose shit is going to get wrecked.
Turn In Your Badge - Terrill pulls this on McLanahan and Dave Luger in Warrior Class.
Villain with Good Publicity - The Chinese try to paint themselves as this in Fatal Terrain. Comandante Veracruz from Edge of Battle masquerades as a Mexican nationalist to do this.
Villainous Valour - Shown by the Taliban forces in Air Battle Force.
Was It Really Worth It? - In Wings of Fire Pat says this after the Night Stalkers get very large paychecks for the mission that saw Paul killed and Wendy missing.
Wave Motion Gun - The Soviets' Kavaznya laser system in Flight of the Old Dog is rated at hundreds of megawatts and able to serve anti-satellite duties.
We Could Have Avoided All This: In Shadows of SteelBig Bad Buzhazi is told that he could have avoided getting into trouble with the US had he only destroyed their spy ship but let the crew be, since the US would have swallowed the destruction of the ship in exchange for not letting the truth about it out.
Weak, but Skilled: In Sky Masters an outdated Filipino naval group puts a modern Chinese force soundly on the ropes.
Weapon Of Mass Destruction - In Battle Born, among the weapons used are "plasma bombs" that are explicitly described as transferring the objects their blast converts into the titular form of matter into an alternate universe.
Well-Intentioned Extremist - GAMMA from Act of War is not above using backpack nukes against the big corporations it believes are ruining the environment. Then it turns out that this was the Deceptive Disciple's idea and the apparent Big Bad is also horrified to learn of it.
What You Are in the Dark - McLanahan warns his group about the lack of recognition at best for their success in Fatal Terrain. This fails to dissuade them.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness - Pavel Kazakov from Warrior Class threatens and eventually does this. Comandante Veracruz from Edge of Battle tries this on Zakharov, prompting an Enemy Mine.
You Keep Telling Yourself That - Zakharov from Edge of Battle criticises Comandante Veracruz as not actually believing the ultranationalist rhetoric he spouts.
You Killed My Father - Defied in Warrior Class, where Pavel Kazakov claims his strike against Albania was not because their guerillas killed his father.
0 reviews 