This month’s genre to share, military science fiction, has a heritage in a few earlier works, mostly short stories, by the likes of H. G. Wells and a few others. However, it really didn’t establish itself as a subgenre of science fiction until the 1950s.
You don’t have to be a current or ex-military person (or military history nut, like me) to enjoy this subgenre, so don’t bail on the genre if you aren’t. However, the core concept of war or sometimes graphic descriptions in some series may turn you away.
Sharing Great Stories
One of the benefits of knowing other readers of a genre you like is sharing some of the stories and series you have loved and some you are checking out. The genre of this month’s, binge-worthy series I want to share is military science fiction, which is a sub-genre of science fiction and is often paired with space opera, apocalyptic, or post-apocalyptic subgenres.
Military Science Fiction
Military science fiction features technology, mainly weapons and armor, for military purposes. The principal characters are usually members of a military organization involved in military activity, typically during a war. I say “usually” because the structure and authority of the military organization can be a bit loose, and it may be organized in response to the inciting incident of the novel or series. As science fiction, the technology is speculative and the setting is often in interplanetary space, on different planets, or a future or alternate, often post-apocalyptic, earth. As such, most military SF falls within the broader category of “hard” science fiction, where plausibility of the technology is important to readers.
A detailed description of the conflict, tactics, weapons, and the role of the military service and its members form the basis of a typical work of military science fiction. The stories often borrow features and events of actual past or current Earth conflicts so the author can extrapolate what might have happened.
I have not read widely in the subgenre and tend to gravitate toward novels that are military SF “AND” something else. Of course, it would be hard to find a novel that is purely one subgenre, but the combination of subgenres may be especially true in my military SF reading. So, if you are a fan of the subgenre, I’m sure I can learn something from you. If you are new to the genre, my recommendations may provide a great onramp to some new authors and series.
On to those great works of fiction.
Classic Military Science Fiction
Perhaps the first novel-length work firmly in the military science fiction subgenre is Starship Troopers* (initially a serial called Starship Soldiers) by Robert Heinlein. Heinlein has his detractors, but with a hit film in 1997, forty years after the original work, there is no denying the impact of this novel on popular science fiction and military SF in particular.
Military SF Through the Decades
A couple other notable series in the subgenre that are must reads are: the Ender’s Saga* (1985) by Orson Scott Card and, probably my favorite and certainly the funniest in the subgenre, Old Man’s War* (2005) by John Scalzi.
As with most science fiction subgenres, military SF has some notable authors who specialize in the subgenre, but there are also many authors known for their works in other SF subgenres with excellent works in this group.
Some of the authors I have read and recommend are: Poul Anderson, Robert Aspirin, Greg Bear, Lois McMaster Bujold (see my Space Opera article for more), C. J. Cherryh, James S. A. Corey, Joe Haldeman, Larry Niven, Orson Scott Card, Jerry Pournelle, Fred Saberhagen, and John Scalzi.
But these articles are meant to introduce a bingeworthy series you may not have heard about.
My apologies to these top rated military SF authors whose work I have not read (yet! Several are on my to read list): Dan Abnett, David Drake, Jack Campbell, David Gunn, Tanya Huff, Sara King, Marko Kloos, Jack McDevitt, John Ringo, John Steakley, David Weber, Scott Westerfield, Walter Jon Williams, and Michael Z. Williamson.
Wikipedia has a convenient list of works.
But these articles are meant to introduce a bingeworthy series you may not have heard about.
Hell Divers Series
The Hell Divers series* by Nicholas Sansbury Smith falls in the post-apocalyptic military SF category.
More than two centuries after World War III poisoned the planet, the final bastion of humanity lives on massive airships circling the globe in search of a habitable area to call home. Aging and outdated, most of the ships plummeted back to earth long ago. The only thing keeping the two surviving lifeboats in the sky are Hell Divers—men and women who risk their lives by skydiving to the surface to scavenge for parts the ships desperately need.
When one of the remaining airships is damaged in an electrical storm, a Hell Diver team is deployed to a hostile zone called Hades. But there’s something down there far worse than the mutated creatures discovered on dives in the past—something that threatens the fragile future of humanity.
What’s to love about this series? The Hell Divers series is not going to win any literature awards, BUT… Its thriller pace, fast action, high stakes stories, and interesting characters make it a very quick, entertaining, can’t-put-down read. If you prefer audiobooks, you are in for a special treat. The series is read by R. C. Bray, who is THE premier voice for this subgenre.
Here are a few Links to help you find the series:
Military Science Fiction in Gaming
Based on the interest in the boardgame links I have included in other articles, I will try to have one for each subgenre.
Wargaming is a huge subculture in tabletop gaming, so there are many to choose from, but… The choice for this month and genre was as easy as it was gratuitous for me. To get a good feel for the military SF subgenre, try Scythe from Stonemaier Games. I had the pleasure of being one of several editors for its original production in 2016. It rose as high as #6 on boardgamegeek.com and is currently a respectable #16 (of 138,000 games listed).
The game is deep, fun, and surprisingly easy to learn for a game of this “weight.” Although it has the mechanics of a wargame, like card play conflict resolution, movement allowance, tech trees, and “dudes on a map” of hexagons, it doesn’t feel like a wargame. (Note for those who want to correct “mechanics” to “mechanisms”: Let’s have a beer and I’ll explain why “mechanics” is correct.)
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* Affiliate link