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Hammer's Slammers #9
The Tank Lords
THE SAGA OF THE SLAMMERS BEGINS!
COLONEL ALOIS HAMMER: He welded five thousand individual killers into a weapon more deadly than any other in the human universe. When a planetary government faces unfriendly natives, guerrilla insurgents, or ruthless terrorists, they do the only thing that might save them— they hire Hammer's Slammers, the toughest, meanest bunch of mercs who ever wrecked a world for pay. Known throughout the galaxy for their cold, ruthless ferocity, the men of Colonel Hammer's indomitable armored brigade routinely accept impossible missions. Again and again, they go up against overwhelming forces, or fight a two-front war against ferocious opposition, all without atomizing their civilian employers. Can they keep doing it Not if they abide by the rules of civilized warfare...but nobody ever said the Hammers were nice. Even when their chances are not good—those who oppose them have no chance at all!
Publisher's Note: THE TANK LORDS contains two full volume's worth of the Hammer's Slammer's saga, for the first time presented in chronological story sequence as determined by the author.
COLONEL ALOIS HAMMER: He welded five thousand individual killers into a weapon more deadly than any other in the human universe. When a planetary government faces unfriendly natives, guerrilla insurgents, or ruthless terrorists, they do the only thing that might save them— they hire Hammer's Slammers, the toughest, meanest bunch of mercs who ever wrecked a world for pay. Known throughout the galaxy for their cold, ruthless ferocity, the men of Colonel Hammer's indomitable armored brigade routinely accept impossible missions. Again and again, they go up against overwhelming forces, or fight a two-front war against ferocious opposition, all without atomizing their civilian employers. Can they keep doing it Not if they abide by the rules of civilized warfare...but nobody ever said the Hammers were nice. Even when their chances are not good—those who oppose them have no chance at all!
Publisher's Note: THE TANK LORDS contains two full volume's worth of the Hammer's Slammer's saga, for the first time presented in chronological story sequence as determined by the author.
361 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 1997
148 people are currently reading
640 people want to read
About the author
David Drake
306 books886 followersDavid Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the major authors of the military science fiction genre.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
April 4, 2024
This is a fine collection of Hammer's Slammers stories, a mercenary company of futuristic flying tanks and troops. It's some of the best military science fiction the field has produced, but it does get a bit realistically raw at times. Most of these stories previously appeared in other Drake collections, but there was some new material included.
August 11, 2016
-Militar pero no militarista. Casi al contrario a veces.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Vida y muerte en el seno de una brigada mercenaria mecanizada intergaláctica del futuro. Recopilación, casi antología, de trabajos del autor de diferente extensión (solo uno previamente inédito), ambientados en el universo de los mercenarios Hammer´s Slammers y escritos entre 1979 y 1997.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Vida y muerte en el seno de una brigada mercenaria mecanizada intergaláctica del futuro. Recopilación, casi antología, de trabajos del autor de diferente extensión (solo uno previamente inédito), ambientados en el universo de los mercenarios Hammer´s Slammers y escritos entre 1979 y 1997.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
February 27, 2013
The principal characters in David Drake’s The Tank Lords drive hovercraft-tanks that weigh 170 metric tons, travel nearly 100 kilometers per hour, and mount guns whose cyan-colored plasma bolts can vaporize a small building (or a lesser tank) with a single shot. That the people, not the tanks, are the most interesting part of the book is a testament to Drake’s skill as a writer of military fiction.
The people in question are members of “Hammer’s Slammers,” a mercenary regiment that – in a lightly sketched future where humans have spread among the stars – is hired by governments seeking a decisive advantage in their local armed conflicts. Virtually every story in the long-running series (this volume collects a novel, two novellas, and two short stories) takes place in a different war on a different world, but Drake leaves the political, strategic, and geographic details mostly to the reader’s imagination. The tactical details of individual battles are carefully described, and reflect both Drake’s own wartime experiences in Vietnam and his thorough working-out of how his imaginary technologies might affect the battlefield. In the end, though, the stories always focus squarely on the individual soldiers.
Rolling Hot, the longest and by far the best story in the book, is an apt example. It is, at first glance, a classic story of military heroics: The tale of a small, under-strength, ill-prepared unit of soldiers sent on a strategically vital mission because there is no one else available for the job. Chapter by chapter, however, it gradually resolves into a series of intertwined character studies, as Drake follows a handful of soldiers – the physically and emotionally exhausted captain in command; the overweight, long-serving maintenance sergeant; the local-army veteran turned skeptical war correspondent; and others – through the mission and explores how it changes them. Each of the principal characters is a familiar (as a type) from other war stories, but Drake succeeds in bringing each to life as an individual, and leaving the reader deeply invested in their fate.
The final scene of Rolling Hot underscores the fact that it is not a story about a battle, or about war in general, but about people whose business is war. It – and the other stories in The Tank Lords -- are, under all their futuristic technology and gripping battle scenes, exceptionally thoughtful explorations of what it means to be a professional soldier.
The people in question are members of “Hammer’s Slammers,” a mercenary regiment that – in a lightly sketched future where humans have spread among the stars – is hired by governments seeking a decisive advantage in their local armed conflicts. Virtually every story in the long-running series (this volume collects a novel, two novellas, and two short stories) takes place in a different war on a different world, but Drake leaves the political, strategic, and geographic details mostly to the reader’s imagination. The tactical details of individual battles are carefully described, and reflect both Drake’s own wartime experiences in Vietnam and his thorough working-out of how his imaginary technologies might affect the battlefield. In the end, though, the stories always focus squarely on the individual soldiers.
Rolling Hot, the longest and by far the best story in the book, is an apt example. It is, at first glance, a classic story of military heroics: The tale of a small, under-strength, ill-prepared unit of soldiers sent on a strategically vital mission because there is no one else available for the job. Chapter by chapter, however, it gradually resolves into a series of intertwined character studies, as Drake follows a handful of soldiers – the physically and emotionally exhausted captain in command; the overweight, long-serving maintenance sergeant; the local-army veteran turned skeptical war correspondent; and others – through the mission and explores how it changes them. Each of the principal characters is a familiar (as a type) from other war stories, but Drake succeeds in bringing each to life as an individual, and leaving the reader deeply invested in their fate.
The final scene of Rolling Hot underscores the fact that it is not a story about a battle, or about war in general, but about people whose business is war. It – and the other stories in The Tank Lords -- are, under all their futuristic technology and gripping battle scenes, exceptionally thoughtful explorations of what it means to be a professional soldier.
March 6, 2015
For me, it's been tough finding excellent military science fiction. Starship Troopers, The Forever War, and Armor STILL remain the golden trifecta of this sub-genre. THIS book is another disappointment. The novella Rolling Hot started abruptly by dropping me into the middle of a firefight waged by a couple of morons who's dialog sounded like banjo playing Brits. The other novella The Tank Lords read like a silly harlequin story where dangerous tankers bang chamber maidens. And why do D.Drake books sell? Beats the shit outta me. Different books for different nooks...I guess. Skip this one.
August 27, 2019
I know I've read some Drake. He's prolific enough he's inescapable. But I'm not sure that I've ever read more than a story or two from Hammer's Slammers. Released on the Baen "First One is Free" policy, The Tank Lords is three decent short stories and one mediocre novella.
The basic premise of the series is that the Slammers are interstellar mercenaries, an armored regiment formed around hover-tanks and hover-APCs, and paid by one side of planetary wars to stomp the other side. The best of these stories bring home the themes of the sublime absolute of firepower, the bonds between soldiers, and the incommensurable gap between soldiers and civilians.
But the stories are weaker on characterization, on showing that the civilians have any kind of point of view. And the novella, rather than using its length to do something interesting, is one long rolling firefight based on the Tet Offensive.
So first one is free, but I'm going to let someone else point out which books in the series are actually good before committing to any more.
The basic premise of the series is that the Slammers are interstellar mercenaries, an armored regiment formed around hover-tanks and hover-APCs, and paid by one side of planetary wars to stomp the other side. The best of these stories bring home the themes of the sublime absolute of firepower, the bonds between soldiers, and the incommensurable gap between soldiers and civilians.
But the stories are weaker on characterization, on showing that the civilians have any kind of point of view. And the novella, rather than using its length to do something interesting, is one long rolling firefight based on the Tet Offensive.
So first one is free, but I'm going to let someone else point out which books in the series are actually good before committing to any more.
May 20, 2019
Like with all his Hammer's Slammers books, Drake is able to describe combat down to the smallest details without it getting tedious or making it seems like he enjoys the graphic violence. He puts people of varying personalities in difficult, life-or-death situations and examines how they behave, and that seems to be the real purpose of these stories; not just telling about battles for their own sake. Drake's language is wonderfully evocative and cinematic, and reading these stories and learning about the exotic worlds which have hired the mercenaries is always fascinating.
This book a collection from 1997, contains the following stories:
Under the Hammer (1979): While towing a cage trailer full of exotic creatures into town, a combat car is ambushed by local forces. New recruit Rob Jenne has some critical decisions to make.
Rolling Hot (1989): A cobbled-together force of tanks and combat cars, with mixed up crews and faulty equipment, is forced to undertake a suicidal mission many miles behind enemy lines. (This one is the length of a short novel.)
Night March (1997): A case of mistaken identity can be a great opportunity for the crew of a lone combat car--or it could quickly be their end.
Code-Name Feirefitz (1985): Two estranged brothers--one a soldier, one a priest--are unexpectedly reunited in the middle of a bloody civil war.
The Tank Lords (1987): Told from a different point of view than most of the Slammers stories, a young servant has an encounter with some of the Slammers when they are detailed to protect his lord's estate.
This book also contains an appendix with a closer look at some aspects of Drake's universe: the development of air-cushion panzers and powerguns, the background of the Church of the Lord's Universe religion that features so prominently on many worlds (and is followed, to some degree or another, by many of the Slammers themselves), and the political and economic backdrop among the colonies of Earth that make fielding a star-faring mercenary force a viable enterprise.
Drake also ends with a personal note about his experience as a cavalryman in Vietnam circa 1970, and how that experience shaped how he writes about the people in his stories.
An excellent addition to the library of anyone who likes military sci-fi!
This book a collection from 1997, contains the following stories:
Under the Hammer (1979): While towing a cage trailer full of exotic creatures into town, a combat car is ambushed by local forces. New recruit Rob Jenne has some critical decisions to make.
Rolling Hot (1989): A cobbled-together force of tanks and combat cars, with mixed up crews and faulty equipment, is forced to undertake a suicidal mission many miles behind enemy lines. (This one is the length of a short novel.)
Night March (1997): A case of mistaken identity can be a great opportunity for the crew of a lone combat car--or it could quickly be their end.
Code-Name Feirefitz (1985): Two estranged brothers--one a soldier, one a priest--are unexpectedly reunited in the middle of a bloody civil war.
The Tank Lords (1987): Told from a different point of view than most of the Slammers stories, a young servant has an encounter with some of the Slammers when they are detailed to protect his lord's estate.
This book also contains an appendix with a closer look at some aspects of Drake's universe: the development of air-cushion panzers and powerguns, the background of the Church of the Lord's Universe religion that features so prominently on many worlds (and is followed, to some degree or another, by many of the Slammers themselves), and the political and economic backdrop among the colonies of Earth that make fielding a star-faring mercenary force a viable enterprise.
Drake also ends with a personal note about his experience as a cavalryman in Vietnam circa 1970, and how that experience shaped how he writes about the people in his stories.
An excellent addition to the library of anyone who likes military sci-fi!
January 29, 2014
Read the stories of Hammer's Slammers as a kid and loved them. Still enjoyed them quite a bit the second time around, but as a thought provoking military sci-fi, it falls far short of books like Ender's Game, Starship Troopers, or Armor. There is one particular story, the longest in the collection, that mirrors the Vietnam War's Tet Offensive to some degree and has perhaps the highest level of character development and insight into the social and military workings of a potential future. The rest are more explorations in futuristic combat scenarios that, while fun to read, don't offer a lot of meat. That said, it was an easy read and still fun. Pick this one up off the shelf if you need a quick read and like military books. Solid 3 stars.
December 31, 2014
I have an odd complaint about this book. It had too much action. Yep, I said it. I'd heard about Hammer's Slammers for some time and wanted to pick a book in the series up and read it, so I chose this one, which is I think the first one. And it started rather excitingly. But as it turned out, it's all just shooting. Just page and page of shooting. And page after page of people being blown up. There's literally no plot. None. It's just non-stop violence for the sake of violence. So I gave up at page 98 and said enough. I'm done. No more. Now I doubt if I'll pick up another book by this author. I think he's extremely limited. Not recommended.
June 27, 2017
This was drudgery to read. While it is clearly of true military nature, the sentences are to overloaded with military jargon and unnecessary descriptions and explanations that the sentences are very difficult to follow. That in turn slowed the pace to a crawl. The plot progresses to two thirds the way through the book then, apparently the book wasn't long enough, so the author added other elements that seemed almost alien to the first part.
The characters weren't developed enough for me to empathize with any but the reporter and the boy.
I can't recommend the book.
The characters weren't developed enough for me to empathize with any but the reporter and the boy.
I can't recommend the book.
February 7, 2017
Contains:
Under the Hammer
Rolling Hot
Night March
Code-Name Feirefitz
The Tank Lords
Appendix* Containing Information about Supertanks, Power Guns, Bonding Authority, etc.
AfterWord: We Happy Few
Under the Hammer
Rolling Hot
Night March
Code-Name Feirefitz
The Tank Lords
Appendix* Containing Information about Supertanks, Power Guns, Bonding Authority, etc.
AfterWord: We Happy Few
December 31, 2017
Maybe the only David Drake I didn’t like. Absolutely zero character development and all action, it reads like a clinical account of a tank battle.
May 29, 2018
I've read a lot of the Hammer's Slammers stories, but for some reason, had missed this one until now. Take the Tet Offensive, rename the enemies and the allies, put the tanks and APCs on hoverfans and replace projectile weapons with energy weapons and you have this book. It would be easy to believe that this was actually the first book written by David Drake about the Slammers (no idea of what the actual order they were written in was). Good read, entertaining - but other of the books have done better at being original.
June 10, 2021
I really liked the RCN novels, and thought I'd try this. It's about a mercenary army, mainly an armoured division. The weapons are an evolved tank, which hovers, and mounts fearsome energy weapons. The story is told very much from the perspective of the soldiers themselves, and describes the carnage of close quarter combat with heavy weapons.
David Drake is a Vietnam veteran, and understands the military life, weapons and tactics. He also relates to the way people respond to the demands of combat.
However, I found this book quite "bitty" and had some trouble actually engaging with it.
David Drake is a Vietnam veteran, and understands the military life, weapons and tactics. He also relates to the way people respond to the demands of combat.
However, I found this book quite "bitty" and had some trouble actually engaging with it.
July 19, 2021
War isn’t pretty
David Drake is a favorite author of mine. Hammers Slammers is one of my favorite series he wrote. I grew up watching the Vietnam war on the world news.I truly thought I would be drafted and wind up there. Friends and kin who did go tell me I didn’t miss a thing and to count my blessings.
David Drake is a favorite author of mine. Hammers Slammers is one of my favorite series he wrote. I grew up watching the Vietnam war on the world news.I truly thought I would be drafted and wind up there. Friends and kin who did go tell me I didn’t miss a thing and to count my blessings.
January 6, 2021
Right up there with the other Hammer's Slammers stories. Told from the viewpoints of the grunts on the ground who have to live with the results of combat, not just get shiny awards. Gritty and realistic feel with a setting in the not too distant future.
June 16, 2021
I normally like military science fiction, but this one just didn't do it for me. Lots of action, maybe too much. I felt like I never really knew the characters. Some authors I seem to really "click" with, but this was definitely not one of them.
July 24, 2022
The Drake Tank Lords
Really enjoy reading Drake's stories of Future Tankers and Mercenaries! His Military Science Fiction is among the best in my opinion! I keep rereading his stories in between reading new titles as they never get old for me!
Really enjoy reading Drake's stories of Future Tankers and Mercenaries! His Military Science Fiction is among the best in my opinion! I keep rereading his stories in between reading new titles as they never get old for me!
October 1, 2023
Multiple stories
Multiple stories to give different viewpoints. Interesting. But most interesting was his appendix describing his view of the Vietnam war: almost no one thought the war could be won since our government was not even trying to win!?!? I hope he expounds on this.
Multiple stories to give different viewpoints. Interesting. But most interesting was his appendix describing his view of the Vietnam war: almost no one thought the war could be won since our government was not even trying to win!?!? I hope he expounds on this.
November 17, 2020
Excellent
Excellent combat scenes, more fighting action than any three other books. Must read for action junkies and technology freaks. Super
Excellent combat scenes, more fighting action than any three other books. Must read for action junkies and technology freaks. Super
December 27, 2020
Only Drake can spin a tale like this.
David Drake is one of the best Sci-fi writers in the world. The Slammers are solid troopers under the best leader Col. Hammer!!
David Drake is one of the best Sci-fi writers in the world. The Slammers are solid troopers under the best leader Col. Hammer!!
February 14, 2022
Hammers Slammers....good stuff...
October 9, 2022
Pretty good, lots of action.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I feel the author's Afterword is very important to read.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I feel the author's Afterword is very important to read.
February 24, 2024
Contains the great book Rolling Hot, with non stop great action.
March 23, 2017
An entertaining set of War stories wrapped in science fiction. Very reminiscent of the Traveller universe in a number of ways.
July 9, 2017
I picked up this Hammer's Slammer collection of short stories and novellas while it was free on Kindle. As is typical of Dravid Drake's works, the battle action and technology of the military are described in detail. In additional, the author manages to both glorify military action and bring its horrific consequences to the unblinking eye of reality through the use of black humor. The men, and handful of women, who ride with Hammer's Slammers know their chosen mercenary profession will either kill them or leave them crippled, mentally and physically, but wouldn't do anything else.
Mr. Drake is considered a master of science fiction military ground-action, and the book shows the mastery in his worldbuilding of the battlefield, the armor, the tanks and combat cars, the soldiers, and what is left of the environment after they have done their thing.
This book pushes the 5-star area as I define it, but pulls back because of the language - which is extremely sexist in its descriptions, typical of fictional military action stories - things like "shied like a young virgin" and "wide as a cow's cunt". Just enough language for you to know the coarseness and horror of war ... and add to the mystique of what is termed as "rape culture", so I am going to mark it down. We need to stop glorifying any portion of this culture, whether action or language. This is still realistic to the present way things are, so I am not going to mark it down very far because being "real" is also important. A hard area to find the right balance. I think Mr. Drake had it when this book was originally published in 1997, but two decades later the center for the balance has moved.
Stories in the collection
Under the Hammer (short story) - First day on the job is never easy, especially when your ride takes a short side-trip.
Rolling Hot (novella) - The metamorphosis from Turtle to Snake of a local reporter, follows several different POVs on a suicide mission.
Night March (short story) - We all know friendly fire is never friendly, but a combat car out to find some lost local boys who hired them discovers enemy fire is just as dangerous.
Code-Name Feirefitz (short story) - Two brothers representing War and Peace met while a surrender is being enforced.
The Tank Lords (noveletta) - Local ladies and tanker men.
Mr. Drake is considered a master of science fiction military ground-action, and the book shows the mastery in his worldbuilding of the battlefield, the armor, the tanks and combat cars, the soldiers, and what is left of the environment after they have done their thing.
This book pushes the 5-star area as I define it, but pulls back because of the language - which is extremely sexist in its descriptions, typical of fictional military action stories - things like "shied like a young virgin" and "wide as a cow's cunt". Just enough language for you to know the coarseness and horror of war ... and add to the mystique of what is termed as "rape culture", so I am going to mark it down. We need to stop glorifying any portion of this culture, whether action or language. This is still realistic to the present way things are, so I am not going to mark it down very far because being "real" is also important. A hard area to find the right balance. I think Mr. Drake had it when this book was originally published in 1997, but two decades later the center for the balance has moved.
Stories in the collection
Under the Hammer (short story) - First day on the job is never easy, especially when your ride takes a short side-trip.
Rolling Hot (novella) - The metamorphosis from Turtle to Snake of a local reporter, follows several different POVs on a suicide mission.
Night March (short story) - We all know friendly fire is never friendly, but a combat car out to find some lost local boys who hired them discovers enemy fire is just as dangerous.
Code-Name Feirefitz (short story) - Two brothers representing War and Peace met while a surrender is being enforced.
The Tank Lords (noveletta) - Local ladies and tanker men.
December 29, 2014
The Tank Lords by David Drake is one of those books that had been on my "to read" list for years. I remember buying the paperback in a used book store about 10 years ago, on a camping trip in Vermont, and somehow the book disappeared before I ever got to it reading through it. One of the reasons the book was set aside was that it is a collection of short stories, and not a single novel. I have a preference for the later, as once I've invested time and effort into getting to know a protagonist, I like to find out what happens to them. So, when I began reading The Tank Lords on my tablet, it was with a lukewarm attitude at best. Despite this, I was quickly (re)absorbed in the first novella. Again somewhat disappointed to find little in common between the first and second stories, I continued to read. In the end, the collection did not disappoint, but did not enamour either. The writing is tight, the story-lines obviously from a military mind, and the actors real. I was particularly impressed with the characters in the last story (the one that lends its name to the book), and how technology was so well blended with a feudal setting. All said, this book probably deserves more than a 3, but I found it difficult to read to the end, so I couldn't rate it a 4. Had there been more continuity between the stories than just the machines and Hammer, I would certainly have rated it higher.
March 2, 2014
Product Description
Colonel Alois Hammer has welded five thousand killers into a weapon more deadly than any other in the human universe. When a planetary government faces threats from guerillas, insurgents or terrorists, the men they hire are Hammer's Slammers, known throughout the galaxy for their cold, ruthless ferocity, their ability to defeat overwhelming forces and their willingness to go up against impossible odds. How do they do it? They certainly don't abide by the rules of civilised warfare ...but then nobody ever claimed that the Hammers were nice! Even when their chances are one step away from hopeless - those who oppose them have no chance at all...
About the AuthorDavid Drake is widely regarded as America's foremost exponent of military and historical science fiction. His bestselling books include the HAMMER'S SLAMMERS series and the Belisarius novels co-authored with S.M. Stirling and with Eric Flint.
January 27, 2016
It's pretty clear from these stories that David Drake has a liking for tanks - not surprising, since he served in an armored unit in Vietnam (as described in the very interesting afterword). In order to indulge that, he has created an entire future history in which tanks rule the battlefield. And a very good job he's done of it as well. The background is detailed, realistic and well put together, with the tactics and strategies described being logically developed from the military technology and political background. Having said that, though, it's still the action sequences that are the main strength of these stories. Drake doesn't glorify war, he's realistic about it's grim brutality and murky moral choices - but he also communicates the tension and excitement of combat, the courage of the soldiers and the bonds of loyalty that hold them together. Several of these stories have appeared in other collections, but most of these were new to me and I thoroughly enjoyed them.
October 11, 2014
This in a book without pretense, a book without extraneous complications or fripperies. The Tank Lords is an armored vehicle shoot-'em-up, period, featuring several unconnected stories in the continuing adventures of Hammer's Slammers, a hi-tech mercenary group.
Lots of shootin'. Lots and lots, with "tri-barrel" and main-armament plasma weapons. And lots of destruction, and lots of people losing various cherished and important body parts.
Heaps of action, very little character development. Unusually for this kind of story, some of the sentences seemed to meander and I had to reread them to suss them out.
Lots of shootin'. Lots and lots, with "tri-barrel" and main-armament plasma weapons. And lots of destruction, and lots of people losing various cherished and important body parts.
Heaps of action, very little character development. Unusually for this kind of story, some of the sentences seemed to meander and I had to reread them to suss them out.
January 10, 2011
One of the best and most prolific authors of military science fiction. I do find, though, that despite presenting themselves as gritty and unglamorous, his stories do leave out a lot of the emotional consequences of combat, killing, and the associated trauma and loss; and after a while, the stories tend to feel alike and kind of formulaic. I can't fault Drake's credentials as a writer and a combat veteran himself, but I'd like it if he probed more into the vulnerabilities of his series characters.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews