OT - Book (Fiction) Review/Recommendations Thread

[Adm.Lee]

Some F-14 novels

I could have mentioned these a while ago, was just reminded of them recently.

Punk's War, Punk's fight, Punk's wing, all by Ward Carroll
Ghostrider One by Gerry Carroll

Not exactly T2k-ish, but of the era. All are about Tomcat crews, shooting off carriers and doing "that pilot stuff!"

[Adm.Lee]

For whom the bell tolls / Hemingway, Ernest

Not a post-ww3 setting, but pre-ww2, still nearly apocalyptic. I never read this one before, I had a bad experience with a Hemingway short story, probably in high school. I still don't like his writing style, but 2/3 through the book and I can tolerate it.

The T2k-related stuff: the book's central figure is a demolition specialist, sent behind fascist lines to blow a bridge in support of a conventional infantry attack. He links up with two partisan bands, and there is our story. This reads like a textbook of guerrilla personalities and how one might ally with and lead them. If he were an SF leader or a 5th Division straggler come to town, the NPC here are just what a GM could wish for. There's a power struggle within one group, a need to convince the guerrillas to stick out their necks on a dangerous confrontation, ambush tactics, ragged mix of weaponry, enemies with technical and numerical superiority, weather and timing all to consider. Bonus: a romantic interest for the protagonist, with whom to dream of life away from the fighting.

I suspect I heard somewhere that this book is, or should be, on several military/professional "to read" lists.

Downside: as I said, Hemingway's way of writing bothers me, some reviewers say it's because he is modelling Spanish styles of speaking/writing. Some might have trouble getting past that the protagonist is an ally of the Communists (he seems to be a Socialist, not an actual Communist). It's also pretty long-- I am listening to it on CDs in my car, and there are 16 CDs in the box.

[unkated]

Not a post-ww3 setting, but pre-ww2, still nearly apocalyptic. I never read this one before, I had a bad experience with a Hemingway short story, probably in high school. I still don't like his writing style, but 2/3 through the book and I can tolerate it.

Downside: as I said, Hemingway's way of writing bothers me, some reviewers say it's because he is modelling Spanish styles of speaking/writing. Some might have trouble getting past that the protagonist is an ally of the Communists (he seems to be a Socialist, not an actual Communist). It's also pretty long-- I am listening to it on CDs in my car, and there are 16 CDs in the box.

Admiral -

Don't let the politics get in the way of your enjoyment.

Do recall that pre-WW2, the communists were considered the lesser of two evils compared to Fascism, then in control of Germany and Italy, and seeking to control Spain (and, at the time, gaining influence in several nations of Central Europe, but that isn't part of Spain's story). In Spain, in several quarters, the Russians were considered heroes for being willing to provide equipment and some volunteers, when the western democracies did nothing to counter German and Italian aid and troops in Spain.

Hemingway was in Spain as a correspondent; he saw and heard some of this first hand.

If you liked For Whom the Bell Tolls (or at least this period), stop by your local library and look for novels by Alan Furst.

Alan Furst writes about spies and intelligence operatives or people who become resistance in early WW2 or the dark period leading up to WW2. To me, his books have the dark feeling of a film noir.

Spies of Warsaw or The Polish Officer are a good starting choices. Spies of Warsaw follows a French military attache as he spies on Germany in 1938 (the BBC did this as a miniseries if you'd rather watch it); The Polish Officer is about a Polish Officer who goes underground and becomes a resistance fighter starting in 1939.

Uncle Ted

[Targan]

Hemingway was in Spain as a correspondent; he saw and heard some of this first hand.

Hemmingway also served as an ambulance driver in Italy at the end of WWI where he was badly wounded by mortar fire and decorated for gallantry. He knew war.

[.45cultist]

[QUOTE=Adm.Lee;68937]Not a post-ww3 setting, but pre-ww2, still nearly apocalyptic. I never read this one before, I had a bad experience with a Hemingway short story, probably in high school. I still don't like his writing style, but 2/3 through the book and I can tolerate it.

The T2k-related stuff: the book's central figure is a demolition specialist, sent behind fascist lines to blow a bridge in support of a conventional infantry attack. He links up with two partisan bands, and there is our story. This reads like a textbook of guerrilla personalities and how one might ally with and lead them. If he were an SF leader or a 5th Division straggler come to town, the NPC here are just what a GM could wish for. There's a power struggle within one group, a need to convince the guerrillas to stick out their necks on a dangerous confrontation, ambush tactics, ragged mix of weaponry, enemies with technical and numerical superiority, weather and timing all to consider. Bonus: a romantic interest for the protagonist, with whom to dream of life away from the fighting.

I suspect I heard somewhere that this book is, or should be, on several military/professional "to read" lists.

Downside: as I said, Hemingway's way of writing bothers me, some reviewers say it's because he is modelling Spanish styles of speaking/writing. Some might have trouble getting past that the protagonist is an ally of the Communists (he seems to be a Socialist, not an actual Communist). It's also pretty long-- I am listening to it on CDs in my car, and there are 16 CDs in the box.[/QUOTE
He had a fondness for whiskey, "The Killers" had to have been written drunk.

[rcaf_777]

Hemmingway also served as an ambulance driver in Italy at the end of WWII where he was badly wounded by mortar fire and decorated for gallantry. He knew war.

It was WWI not WWII, during WWII he was a war corespondent, and was almost convicted for breaching the Geneva Convention as he was caught leading company of French resistance, which I am guessing is a no no was he was classified non combatant

[pmulcahy11b]

It was WWI not WWII, during WWII he was a war corespondent, and was almost convicted for breaching the Geneva Convention as he was caught leading company of French resistance, which I am guessing is a no no was he was classified non combatant

It wasn't WWI or II, but the Spanish Civil War, IIRC.

[rcaf_777]

It wasn't WWI or II, but the Spanish Civil War, IIRC.

No it wasn't

Hemingway was an ambalance driver in World War I in Italy, he then went on covered the war in Spain. He then wrote for whom the bells tolls and then went on to cover World War II. And got into trouble

There is a movie about his World War I experience, 1996, In Love and War, starting Chris O'Donnell

[Legbreaker]

Hemingway

http://www.biography.com/people/ernest-hemingway-9334498#life-in-europe

Military Experience

In 1918, Hemingway went overseas to serve in World War I as an ambulance driver in the Italian Army. For his service, he was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery, but soon sustained injuries that landed him in a hospital in Milan.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Hemingway served as a correspondent and was present at several of the war's key moments, including the D-Day landing.

That should put an end to that I think.

[Targan]

It was WWI not WWII, during WWII he was a war corespondent, and was almost convicted for breaching the Geneva Convention as he was caught leading company of French resistance, which I am guessing is a no no was he was classified non combatant

Yes, WWI. WWII was a bloody typo. Sorry.

[Adm.Lee]

Unkated--no, Robert Jordan's politics aren't really a turn-off for me, but I thought I'd warn other readers here.

I have read at least two Furst novels-- Spies of the Balkans and Spies of Warsaw.

I've let the novel lie for a few days over the holiday weekend, so I don't know if he makes it to the bridge, or gets to a semblance of happily ever after with Maria or not. I suspect neither of the above, but am willing to wait until Monday or so to find out.

[Tombot]

Since most relevant Books were mentioned, Comics came to my mind:

"Vic and Blood" by Richard Corben
based on Harlan Ellisons "a boy and his dog"/the movie with young Don Johnson (only good one from him, as much as i remember)

& "Mutantworld/Son of Mutantworld"
by Corben as well

"Jeremiah"-Series by Herman
NOT the later TV-Series with had nothing to do with it, except for the title and some names

Some comic-short-storys from "Heavy Metal/Metal Hurlant"-Magazine, especially one called "Good bye, soldier" (in which a patrol of NBC-wearing NATO-soldiers walk through a ruined city (Berlin Paris ), and get into a situation with an "automatic
sniper"..)

"Hombre"-Series by Segura/Ortiz
Another "spagetti-western" approach to the apocalypse.

Most of these are pretty old...

[Rainbow Six]

Some comic-short-storys from "Heavy Metal/Metal Hurlant"-Magazine, especially one called "Good bye, soldier" (in which a patrol of NBC-wearing NATO-soldiers walk through a ruined city (Berlin Paris ), and get into a situation with an "automatic sniper"..)

That reminds me of a one shot story I read when I was a kid in a British sci fi comic called 2000AD. The opening premise (iirc - it was a long time ago) was very similar but the story established that the patrol were actually the last survivors of a global war - everyone else on the planet was dead. They come under fire from a sniper who picks them off one by one (one of them tries to reason with the sniper by calling out that they (including the sniper) are the last survivors and it's pointless to carry on fighting. That doesn't work). The last one is mortally wounded but makes it to the sniper's position where he discovers that the sniper is long dead but his weapon is in an automatic mode and is still fully functioning. The last frame was the of the mortally wounded soldier looking at the sniper's skeleton and realizing that humanity was doomed.

As I'm on the subject of 2000AD it also featured Invasion, which has been discussed here before, and Rogue Trooper, which I don't think has.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion!_%282000_AD%29

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

[Tombot]

@RainbowSix:
2000AD sounds interesting, gonna hunt it down. Thanks for the hints. Usefull!

[Adm.Lee]

World War 1990 series

Anyone know anything about these

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...om_search=true

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...world-war-1990 "The Third World War Continues

In Europe, NATO assembles an army for the liberation of Eastern Europe...
In the Pacific, the US Navy takes the war to the Soviet Far East...

In Britain, the SAS plots a daring rescue of Polish dissident Lech Walesa...

In Moscow, the doves, led by Mikhail Gorbachev, try to derail the Hawk's plan for nuclear war."

Sounds like it's something somewhat up our alley. Too bad (for me) they only appear to be in ebook format.