The Mammoth Book of SF Wars
Read The Mammoth Book of SF Wars Online
Authors: Ian Watson [Ed],Ian Whates [Ed]
Tags: #Fiction, #Anthologies (Multiple Authors), #Science Fiction, #Military, #War & Military
Ian Watson
invented Warhammer 40,000 fiction for the Black Library of Games Workshop twenty years ago with his novel
Inquisitor
, not to mention his notorious
Space Marine
. His highly successful
Inquisition War
trilogy omnibus edition was recently reprinted, and
Space Marine
itself, often hailed as the best ever 40,000 novel, has just been released by the Black Library of Games Workshop as print-on-demand through their website due to overwhelming reader demand. He lives in Northamptonshire, England.
Ian Whates
is the author of two novel sequences: the Noise Books (space opera) and The City of a Hundred Rows (urban fantasy with steampunk overtones and SF underpinning). He has also edited several anthologies, including
Solaris Rising
(Solaris, 2011) and two that specifically feature conflict within SF:
Conflicts
(2010) and
Further Conflicts
(2011), both via his own NewCon Press. He lives in Cambridgeshire, England.
Together they edited
The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories
.
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THE MAMMOTH
BOOK OF
SF WARS
EDITED BY
IAN WATSON AND
IAN WHATES
Constable & Robinson Ltd
55–56 Russell Square
London WC1B 4HP
First published in the UK by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2012
Copyright © Ian Watson and Ian Whates, 2012 (unless otherwise stated)
The right of Ian Watson and Ian Whates to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library
UK ISBN 978-1-78033-040-2 (paperback)
UK ISBN 978-1-78033-546-9 (ebook)
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
First published in the United States in 2012 by Running Press Book Publishers, A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.
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[email protected]
.
US ISBN: 978-0-7624-4592-9
US Library of Congress Control Number: 2011939121
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing
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Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371
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Printed and bound in the UK
CONTENTS
Mike Resnick and Brad R. Torgersen
FROM OUT OF THE SUN, ENDLESSLY SINGING
Simon R. Green
Algis Budrys
Tony Ballantyne
Allen Steele
Elizabeth Moon
Fredric Brown
Laura Resnick
Fred Saberhagen
Andy Remic
William Tenn
John Kessel
John Lambshead
Walter Jon Williams
Michael Z. Williamson
Gene Wolfe
David Weber
Cordwainer Smith
David Drake
Neal Asher
Paul McAuley
Joe Haldeman
Dan Abnett
Catherine Asaro
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION by Ian Whates and Ian Watson, © 2012 Ian Whates and Ian Watson.
PEACEKEEPER by Mike Resnick and Brad R. Torgersen, © 2012 Mike Resnick and Brad R. Torgersen. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the authors.
FROM OUT OF THE SUN, ENDLESSLY SINGING by Simon R. Green, © 2012 by Simon R. Green. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
ALL FOR LOVE by Algis Budrys, © Algis Budrys 1962. Printed by permission of the Estate of Algis Budrys.
THE WAR ARTIST by Tony Ballantyne, © Tony Ballantyne 2011. Published by permission of the author.
THE WAR MEMORIAL by Allen Steele, © 1995 Allen Steele. Printed by permission of the author.
POLITICS by Elizabeth Moon, © Elizabeth Moon 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.
ARENA by Fredric Brown, © 1944, by Street & Smith Publications, copyright © 1974 by Fredric Brown. Originally appeared in
Astounding Science Fiction
. Reprinted by permission of the Estate and its agent, Barry N. Malzberg.
PEACEKEEPING MISSION by Laura Resnick, © 2008 Laura Resnick.
THE PEACEMAKER by Fred Saberhagen, originally published as “The Lifehater”, © 1964 Fred Saberhagen. Printed by permission of the JSS Literary Productions.
JUNKED by Andy Remic, © 2009 Andy Remic. Published by permission of the author.
THE LIBERATION OF EARTH by William Tenn, © 1953, 1981 by William Tenn; first appeared in
Future Science Fiction
; reprinted by permission of the author’s Estate and the Estate’s agents, the Virginia Kidd Agency, Inc.
A CLEAN ESCAPE by John Kessel, © 1985 John Kessel. Published by permission of the author.
STORMING HELL by John Lambshead, © 2009 John Lambshead. Published by permission of the author.
SOLIDARITY by Walter Jon Williams, © 2005 Walter Jon Williams. Published by permission of the author.
THE PRICE by Michael Z. Williamson, © 2010 Michael Z. Williamson. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE HORARS OF WAR by Gene Wolfe, © 1970 Gene Wolfe. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agents, the Virginia Kidd Agency, Inc.
THE TRAITOR by David Weber, © 1997 David Weber. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE GAME OF RAT AND DRAGON by Cordwainer Smith, © 1955. Every effort has been made to contact the agent for the Estate.
CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE by David Drake, © 1978 David Drake. Published by permission of the author.
THE RHINE’S WORLD INCIDENT by Neal Asher, © 2008 Neal Asher.
WINNING PEACE by Paul McAuley, © 2007 Paul McAuley. First published in
Postscripts 15
, PS Publishing.
TIME PIECE by Joe Haldeman, © 1970 Joe Haldeman. Printed by permission of the author.
THE WAKE by Dan Abnett, © 2011 Dan Abnett. Printed by permission of the author.
THE PYRE OF NEW DAY by Catherine Asaro, © Catherine Asaro 2012. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
INTRODUCTION
T
HE ABILITY
to make war appears to have been in mankind’s blood from the moment we first began to evolve, violence being an integral part of our heritage. Picture a caveman and invariably we imagine him holding a spear or a club. Yet we call our species Homo sapiens, Intelligent Man, while some have even suggested that Homo faber, Man the Maker (of everything from ploughs to radiotelescopes) might be more appropriate. Perhaps both are misguided. Glance at our history, taking in the past few thousand years right up to the present day, and it would be hard to argue that Man the Warmaker isn’t the most fitting designation of all. Have we outgrown war? Have we left it behind? No, and it’s doubtful we ever will.
Some of the stories in this collection suggest that our warlike tendencies (which of course we all regret, don’t we?) might come in rather useful in the future, supposing we encounter non- benevolent aliens. Just to be on the safe side, of course. After all, it’s perfectly feasible that only general-purpose predators become fully sentient and claw their way to the stars.