Author: David Drake

The Dragon Lord

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From the author of DEMONSOULED and THE GHOSTS, here is a new epic fantasy of high adventure, heroism, and daring deeds. A thousand years ago, the last grandson of Arthur Pendragon led the survivors of Britain through a magical gate Read more

The Dragon Lord
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Arthur, warlord of Britain, has forged a mercenary army more savage and terrible than the Saxon barbarians who have invaded his island. Victory isn’t enough: now Arthur wants to annihilate the Saxons by becoming The Dragon Lord.

Mael and Starkad, an Irish adventurer and his giant Danish companion, are peerless warriors in a warrior age; men who have fought all across Europe for survival and pay—and always for each other. Now they must seek an ancient skull from which Merlin’s wizardry can raise a dragon, and also the weapons by which alone the dragon can be controlled.

Accompanied by a priestess older than time, their search takes them from a monster-haunted lake, to the barrow of a thing no longer dead, and to a battlefield where the enmity of Briton and Saxon rises to a cataclysm which drowns the earth in blood.

Yet one task remains. The fiery breath of the dragon Mael and Starkad have helped create can sweep the land clear of all life if it ever escapes from Merlin’s control.

And the dragon is about to escape!

An Oblique Approach (Belisarius Saga)

An Oblique Approach (Belisarius Saga)
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ALIEN MINDS BATTLE
FOR BYZANTIUM

In northern India the Malwa have created an empire of unexampled evil. Guided or possessed by an intelligence from beyond time, with new weapons, old treachery, and an implacable will to power, the Malwa will sweep over the whole Earth.

Only three things stand between the Malwa and their plan of eternal domination: the empire of Rome in the East, Byzantium; a crystal with vision; and a man named Belisarius, the greatest commander Earth has ever know. . . .

Dogs of War classic stories of men and machines at arms

Dogs of War classic stories of men and machines at arms
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Military authors have entered the mainstream science fiction genre and continue to leave their mark.

David Drake pays homage to his own sub-genre by collecting ten classic stories of men-at-arms by top writers including himself.

Ranks of Bronze (Ranks of Bronze Series Book 1)

Ranks of Bronze (Ranks of Bronze Series Book 1)
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They were Roman soldiers—
and they were still alive because there
were no better killers in the galaxy.

The Galactics need fighters who could win battles without the aid of technology. That’s why, when Rome’s legions suffered disaster at Carrhae, secretive alien traders were waiting to buy them on the Persian slave market.

Now, virtually immortal, the Romans fight strange enemies on stranger worlds; and though they win every battle, the spoils of victory never include freedom. If the legionaries are ever to return to Earth, it must be through the beam weapons and force screens of their ruthless alien owners. But no matter the odds, two thousand years is a long time; the Romans are coming home.

At the publisher’s request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Vietnam veteran, former lawyer, former bus driver, and now bestselling author, David Drake tells a military story like no other. His readers recognize that he can take them where no one else can, with gut-wrenching description that puts them face-to-face with the enemy, and in the midst of the action right on the battlefield. He helped create the audience for mercenary military science fiction with his best-selling “Hammer’s Slammers” books. 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 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. Drake has a wife, a son, and various pets.

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Lest Darkness Fall & Timeless Tales Written in Tribute

Lest Darkness Fall & Timeless Tales Written in Tribute
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Rarely do books have such a great influence on a genre as Lest Darkness Fall has had on science fiction. Frequently quoted as one of the favorite books of many of the masters in this genre, this book by L. Sprague de Camp helped establish alternate-history as solid sub-genre of science fiction.

An indication of the influence and longevity of the book is by the number of best-selling writers who have written stories in direct response to, or influenced by, Lest Darkness Fall. The original tribute volume (titled Lest Darkness Fall and Related Stories, reprinted three such stories by Frederik Pohl, David Drake and S. M. Stirling written over a period of forty-three years―a testament to the timelessness of the book.

The 2021 edition (Lest Darkness Fall and Timeless Tales Told in Tribute) includes two brand new stories by Harry Turtledove and David Weber.

Similar, thematically, to Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the book tells the tale of Martin Padway who, as he is walking around in modern Rome, is suddenly transported though time to 6th Century Rome.

Once in ancient Rome, Padway (now Martinus Paduei Quastor) embarks on an ambitious project of single-handedly changing history.

L. Sprague de Camp was a student of history (and the author of a number of popular works on the subject). In Lest Darkness Fall he combines his extensive knowledge of the workings of ancient Rome with his extraordinary imagination to create one of the best books of time travel ever written.

This volume also includes an afterword by Alexei and Cory Panshin, adapted from their Hugo-winning book on science fiction, The World Beyond the Hill.

With the Lightnings, Second Edition (RCN Series Book 1)

With the Lightnings, Second Edition (RCN Series Book 1)
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Now with a new Afterword by David Drake

A Friendship Forged in Hell!

Daniel Leary is a lieutenant in the Republic of Cinnabar Navy with no money and no prospects since he quarreled with his ruthless, politically powerful father.

Adele Mundy is a scholar with no money and no prospects since her family was massacred for conspiring against the Government of Cinnabar.

Kostroma is a wealthy planet which depends on diplomacy to stay independent in a galaxy whose two great powers, Cinnabar and the Alliance, battle for supremacy.

In a few hours, diplomacy is going to fail Kostroma. Daniel, Adele, and the scratch crew they gather aren’t much to stand in the way of a powerful invasion fleet, but just possibly they’re enough.

Men and women who hold courage cheap and honor more dear than life itself face impossible odds in a novel of color, intrigue and slashing action. From the corridors of a treason-ridden palace through the perils of unknown seas and hellish jungles to a final blazlng climax in space, the heroes never bow and the action never flags.

They have nothing on their side but each other—and heaven help whatever tries to stand in their way!

Reaches trilogy by David Drake

Reaches trilogy by David Drake
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Another serie that amazon doesn’t get right

Available only in audio or paperback/hardcover

In a distant galaxy where immense danger threatens, desperate pirates travel to the outer limits of space, doing trade with the star colonies and encountering rivals, aliens, and strange human hybrids.

 

book 1

book 2

book 3

Redliners by David Drake

Redliners by David Drake
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Now with a new afterword by David Drake!

They were the toughest fighters in the galaxy-
until they got used up.

The mission: redemption-or death,
The troops were walking dead already,
so there wasn’t much of a downside.

Major Arthur Farrell and the troops of Strike Force Company C41 had seen too much war with the alien Kalendru. They had too many screaming memories to be fit for combat again, but they were far too dangerous to themselves and others to be returned to civilian life.

The Complete Hammer’s Slammers: Volume I

The Complete Hammer's Slammers
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Published: 2009-10-06
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The Best-Selling Series That Rocketed David Drake to Military Science Fiction Stardom. The First of Three Volumes Collecting the Complete Series. With a veteran’s eye for the harsh and gritty details of war, David Drake depicts a futuristic analog of tank combat in his Hammer’s Slammers fiction. The Slammers are neither cartoon heroes nor propaganda villains; rather they are competent professionals engaged in a deadly business. The inevitable conflicts between policy, necessity, and human nature make Drake’s Slammers fiction instantly identifiable and utterly compelling.

This is the first of a three volume set presenting for the first time the entire genre-defining Slammers series in a uniform trade paperback set, with new introductions by major SF figures and new afterwords by David Drake. Each volume will also include a Slammers story not collected in previous Slammer’s books. “Fans of Drake’s edgy stories of a mercenary tank regiment in a future not all that different from our present will rejoice [at the publication of] the entire series in three volumes.

Drake, a Vietnam vet who served in the Blackhorse Regiment, uses prose as cold and hard as the metal alloy of a tank to portray the men and women of Hammer’s Regiment. . . . In his depiction of combat, Drake rivals Crane and Remarque.” —Publishers Weekly, reviewing the Night Shade hardcover edition