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dRoy Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar from Most likely from my study Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
#1: May 28th 2011 at 10:54:13 PM

Hello everyone. I'm trying to write a military scene but have no idea how to since I never read any military fic. Can you recommend me one? I looked some Tom Clancy works but they tend to be doorstoppers. I would prefer ones that used military jargons (not too much, though) a lot.

Continuously reading, studying, and (hopefully) growing.
honorius from The Netherlands Since: Jun, 2010
#2: May 29th 2011 at 4:21:43 AM

You were writing an urban-fantasy right? Unless you're going to make the horrific nature of war the main theme of your story I think Tom Clancy would be fine. (if you are going to write about these horrors though, I'd recommend classics such as "All quiet on the western front").

edited 29th May '11 4:22:31 AM by honorius

If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied -Rudyard Kipling
dRoy Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar from Most likely from my study Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
#3: May 29th 2011 at 5:30:43 AM

Primarily, but actually military plays a big role in this work and in fact, it opens up with a raid. And no, nothing horrific and realistic; I'm too shallow to write something like that. I know Tom Clancy, but his works tend to be doorstoppers...

Continuously reading, studying, and (hopefully) growing.
Falco Since: Mar, 2011
#4: May 29th 2011 at 7:25:16 AM

For Air Force stuff there's Dale Brown.

For WW 2 stuff there's Alistair Mclean and Doug Reeman (naval stuff).

For Special Forces stuff there's Andy Mc Nab.

Some digging around on Amazon and wikipedia will get what you're specifically after.

"You want to see how a human dies? At ramming speed." - Emily Wong.
PhilippeO Since: Oct, 2010
#5: May 29th 2011 at 10:54:33 PM

Here : http://www.military-sf.com/index.htm

The Essay and Resources chapter is very useful. Recommended books too.

Deboss I see the Awesomeness. from Awesomeville Texas Since: Aug, 2009
I see the Awesomeness.
#6: May 29th 2011 at 11:15:28 PM

What kind of military, what genre? Military Sci Fi can generally be broken up into three types of combat: ships, tanks, and Powered Armor. The other stuff tends to blend with Cyberpunk (spy stuff) or political thrillers.

Fight smart, not fair.
dRoy Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar from Most likely from my study Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
#7: May 29th 2011 at 11:55:51 PM

[up] Weeeeell.....the simplest way to put it is an Urban Fantasy anime in 2030 (then again, the level of technology would be around 2070 in our scale...maybe) where military is involved in main plot occasionally.

Continuously reading, studying, and (hopefully) growing.
Five_X Maelstrom Since: Feb, 2010
Maelstrom
#8: Jun 5th 2011 at 10:04:17 PM

All Quiet On The Western Front is one of the greatest novels ever written, full stop. A brilliant literary chronicle of The Everyman in World War I.

I write pretty good fanfiction, sometimes.
Falco Since: Mar, 2011
#9: Jun 6th 2011 at 12:06:25 AM

[up]

Ah well, if you want classic novels about the tragedy and horror of war, Catch 22 also has to be right up there.

edited 6th Jun '11 12:07:29 AM by Falco

"You want to see how a human dies? At ramming speed." - Emily Wong.
Iaculus Pronounced YAK-you-luss from England Since: May, 2010
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
#10: Jun 6th 2011 at 5:30:31 PM

If you want accessible Clancy, try Red Storm Rising. Yes, it's a big book, but the action in it kicks off a lot faster than in his other fare, so you will have a generous resource on a variety of different types of military action sequence.

What's precedent ever done for us?
Auxdarastrix Since: May, 2010
#11: Jul 12th 2011 at 9:47:21 AM

It would help we knew what type of military scene you had in mind, so we could recommend something with a comprable scene.

Also, if this is about a Real Life militay, find some non-fiction books on the topic.

EmilyG Since: Aug, 2009
#12: Jul 12th 2011 at 7:21:12 PM

In high school I read "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers. It's a not-too-long, fairly easy read, and it's about the Vietnam War.

MrShine Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Hoping Senpai notices me
#13: Jul 12th 2011 at 7:38:35 PM

This is probably months too late, but Black Hawk Down. Its very short, and while I didn't like it, it goes into highly excessive and highly realistic information on urban assault tactics.

vicarious vicarious from NC, USA Since: Feb, 2013
vicarious
#14: Aug 6th 2013 at 6:22:51 PM

[up][up]I remember that book, thought it was really good.

Thought it would be more appropriate for this thread even with lack of activity.

Went and read Starship Troopers and it lives up to its praise. I was surprised also since I've heard criticism that Heinlein was advocating some pro fascist stuff, which turned out untrue from what I read. Still has Author Tract and really, at its worst is just pure military wank.

Nohbody "In distress", my ass. from Somewhere in Dixie Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Mu
"In distress", my ass.
#15: Aug 7th 2013 at 6:22:56 AM

^ "Fascist" has long sense lost any meaning other than to use as a guideline for who to ignore. Specifically, the person that uses the term, for the same general reason that many consider invoking Godwin's Law a sign that a discussion is effectively at an end. tongue

Anyway, as for the initial question, I've not gotten around to them myself, but I've heard from others that W.E.B. Griffin is a pretty good read, as far as military fiction goes. His focus is primarily on WW 2 and Korean War, though, so it might not be that great a guide to modern or near-future warfare. Less positive is the reception of his later works, though, particularly the stuff co-written with his son.

Larry Bond also writes pretty good stuff (in addition to his own works, he co-wrote Red Storm Rising with Clancy), though like with Clancy his works tend to be door stoppers. What little I've read of his work was pretty good, if somewhat mildly stretching credibility just a tad.

All your safe space are belong to Trump
TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#16: Aug 8th 2013 at 9:02:26 AM

Read some Sven Hassel. His novels, well, more accurately a series of books made up of some loosely connected short stories, are brilliant depictions of military life in the German army during Big Mistake Number Two. They could have used a better translator as some of the military depictions don't match up with reality and his characters seem to have been at the same time thousands of miles apart, but they are brutally funny and brutally frank in showing what the war on the Russian Front was like for the front line soldier.

Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#17: Aug 12th 2013 at 2:28:57 PM

I would recommend two great military series. Neither are set in your time period, but both are fantastic page-turners, one is a great work of literature in its own right:

  • The Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. The series begins during Britain's campaign against the Sultan Tippoo of Seringapatam, India, where our hero, orphan, whoreson, fighter and general down-and-out Richard Sharpe is a Private in His Majesty's 33rd Regiment of Foot, commanded by the young Colonel Arthur Wellesley. The series takes him to the Deccan Plain, the deck of a ship-of-the-line at Trafalgar, the streets of Copenhagen, the rookeries of London, the battlefields of Spain, the Pyrenees, and the coasts of Chile, as Sharpe fights in just about all of Britain's wars, proxy wars, shadow games, and battles against Napoleon Bonaparte. It's wonderfully atmospheric, not to mention very well-researched indeed.

  • The Hornblower series by C.S Forester. Ernest Hemingway said that "I recommend Hornblower to evey literate I know". The series begins in Spithead, where Horatio Hornblower, a new Midshipman in the Royal Navy, is posted aboard the HMS Justinian. Over the English Channel, the King of France languishes in prison. When the news reaches Spithead that he has been executed and war declared, it sets the stage for Hornblower to take part in the next three decades of warfare against the Old Enemy. It's a fantastic adventure story, but also a very strong examination of The Chains of Commanding and the mind of a hero. In March 1964, a TV exec proposed a series about a "space-age Horatio Hornblower" and his crew. You may have heard of it.

Read them, you'll go far.

edited 12th Aug '13 2:31:10 PM by Achaemenid

Schild und Schwert der Partei
Cahir Research Monkey from Speewah Since: Nov, 2011
Research Monkey
#18: Aug 14th 2013 at 12:55:11 AM

- War, By Sebastian Junger, if you want to look at the psychology of front line soldiers.

- Control Point, by Myke Cole, if you want urban fantasy written by an actual military man. The first one isn't the best from a writing point of view, but I'm told the second is much better.

- Anything by Chris Ryan

- Armageddon, by Stuart Slade for a broad, theater look at a military in an urban fantasy war (http://www.tboverse.us/HPCAFORUM/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=8334)

- Eben Barlow's blog, for counter insurgency stuff (http://eebenbarlowsmilitaryandsecurityblog.blogspot.com.au/).

edited 14th Aug '13 12:55:27 AM by Cahir

Cattle die, kinsmen die you yourself die; I know one thing which never dies: the fate of the honored dead.
TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#19: Aug 20th 2013 at 9:11:37 AM

If you are going to recommend Sharpe, and I concur, and Hornblower (kinda), then another good series to get into would be Alexander Kent's Bolitho series of books, based in the same sort of time period as Sharpe and Hornblower. They be good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bolitho_novels

Madrugada Since: Jan, 2001
#20: Aug 20th 2013 at 9:20:36 AM

Yes, the Bolitho books are very good. I actually liked them better than Hornblower.

dRoy Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar from Most likely from my study Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
#21: Aug 22nd 2013 at 2:55:04 AM

You know, when I saw this thread, I thought "Oh great, another newbie posting a recommendation request thread outside the Recommendation subforum." Then I clicked it and wow, I am the one who launched the thread at the first place.

Awkward.

It's a non-fiction, but I'd personally recommend Generation Kill. The accuracy is undeniable and the whole thing drips with Black Comedy. It flows rather easily too, in my opinion.

By the way, should we lock this thread down or change things a little bit and use this thread for a different purpose, like General Military Fiction Thread, or something like that?

edited 22nd Aug '13 2:57:53 AM by dRoy

Continuously reading, studying, and (hopefully) growing.
TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#22: Aug 23rd 2013 at 6:34:17 AM

Locking it would be a bit harsh. Changing it to General Military Fiction would be good, I think, but no-one died and gave me mod powah!!!. Thankfully.[lol]

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