rthur C. Clarke and C.J. Cherryh are just two of the SF giants mounting an assault on readers in The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century, a new anthology edited by Harry Turtledove and Martin H. Greenberg. Originally published between 1953 and 1987, the 13 stories collected in this book are tales of lowly soldiers and warrior kings, of dragonriders and hard-bitten mercenaries. They are stories where individuals must take responsibility for huge decisions and the lives of others, all while ducking enemy fire.
The battles fought in these stories are all played for high stakes. In Poul Anderson's "Among Thieves," a human ambassador watches in anguish when the colony which has protected Earth for generations declares it has had enough--and switches sides. Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority" is the statement of a general whose own side's love of advanced military technology has brought about its ruin and defeat. "Night of the Vampyres," by George R.R. Martin, shows how a fighter pilot's decision to follow orders contributes to America's decline into a fascism he personally rejects.
It is also important to note that several of the collected stories in this anthology have served as precursors to some of the best-loved works of SF. "Hero," by Joe Haldeman, details the beginnings of William Mandella's Forever War adventures. Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game," is here, as is Anne McCaffrey's Pern novella, "Dragonrider."
The few, the proud, the SF
In The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century, editors Harry Turtledove and Martin H. Greenberg have assembled a portrait of an SF subgenre which has evolved considerably since the '50s. As military SF's sensibilities and dominant authors continue to change, it is valuable and rewarding to have a collection like this one to shine a light back on its younger days.
It might be easy to assume, for example, that stories half a century old might lack excitement or moral ambiguity. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The soldiers in this anthology often find their choices are far removed from the original causes for which they signed up to fight. In "Hero," the protagonist's exhaustive training and elite corps mentality are wasted on a horrific, one-sided slaughter. Meanwhile, Turtledove's alternate history, "The Last Article," captures evil with a ruthless efficiency when it pits the India of Mohandas Ghandi against a German Reich which has conquered Britain and her empire.
The emotional and moral range of the anthology is a wide one, however, and not all of the stories are utterly bleak. "Ender's Game" and "Dragonrider" brim with innocence and romantic sensibilities. Deserving of special mention is C.J. Cherryh's "The Scapegoat," in which a human and an alien struggle to understand the long war they have fought, and the mistakes and cultural misunderstandings that have created it. This search for mutual understanding and peace is deceptively subtle and ultimately heartbreaking.
The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century brings together 13 powerful SF talents, showcasing some of their strongest work for reader gratification. In so doing, this anthology gives itself a rock-solid guarantee, and fans of military SF are sure to enjoy it enormously.
