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Bolo #1
Bolo
Bolo. Originally developed as far back as the 1980's by the Bolo Division of General Motors, these great artillery machines took on awareness in later designs and gradually began to replace man in that most human of endeavors: War.
But let Bolo speak for itself. In the action-packed Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade, the ultimate fighting machines tell their own fascinating, far-ranging and ultimately tragic story.
Contents:
A Short History of the Bolo Fighting Machines (1976)
The Night of the Trolls (1963)
Courier (1961)
Field Test (1976)
The Last Command (1967)
A Relic of War (1969)
Combat Unit (1960)
But let Bolo speak for itself. In the action-packed Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade, the ultimate fighting machines tell their own fascinating, far-ranging and ultimately tragic story.
Contents:
A Short History of the Bolo Fighting Machines (1976)
The Night of the Trolls (1963)
Courier (1961)
Field Test (1976)
The Last Command (1967)
A Relic of War (1969)
Combat Unit (1960)
216 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
107 people are currently reading
2123 people want to read
About the author
Keith Laumer
497 books225 followersJohn Keith Laumer was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the U.S. Air Force and a U.S. diplomat. His brother March Laumer was also a writer, known for his adult reinterpretations of the Land of Oz (also mentioned in Keith's The Other Side of Time).
Keith Laumer (aka J.K Laumer, J. Keith Laumer) is best known for his Bolo stories and his satirical Retief series. The former chronicles the evolution of juggernaut-sized tanks that eventually become self-aware through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The latter deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the United States Foreign Service. In an interview with Paul Walker of Luna Monthly, Laumer states "I had no shortage of iniquitous memories of the Foreign Service."
Four of his shorter works received Hugo or Nebula Award nominations (one of them, "In the Queue", received nominations for both) and his novel A Plague of Demons was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966.
During the peak years of 1959–1971, Laumer was a prolific science fiction writer, with his novels tending to follow one of two patterns: fast-paced, straight adventures in time and space, with an emphasis on lone-wolf, latent superman protagonists, self-sacrifice and transcendence or, broad comedies, sometimes of the over-the-top variety.
In 1971, Laumer suffered a stroke while working on the novel The Ultimax Man. As a result, he was unable to write for a few years. As he explained in an interview with Charles Platt published in The Dream Makers (1987), he refused to accept the doctors' diagnosis. He came up with an alternative explanation and developed an alternative (and very painful) treatment program. Although he was unable to write in the early 1970s, he had a number of books which were in the pipeline at the time of the stroke published during that time.
In the mid-1970s, Laumer partially recovered from the stroke and resumed writing. However, the quality of his work suffered and his career declined (Piers Anthony, How Precious Was That While, 2002). In later years Laumer also reused scenarios and characters from his earlier works to create "new" books, which some critics felt was to their detriment:
Alas, Retief to the Rescue doesn't seem so much like a new Retief novel, but a kind of Cuisnart mélange of past books.
-- Somtow Sucharitkul (Washington Post, Mar 27, 1983. p. BW11)
His Bolo creations were popular enough that other authors have written standalone science-fiction novels about them.
Laumer was also a model airplane enthusiast, and published two dozen designs between 1956 and 1962 in the U.S. magazines Air Trails, Model Airplane News and Flying Models, as well as the British magazine Aero Modeler. He published one book on the subject, How to Design and Build Flying Models in 1960. His later designs were mostly gas-powered free flight planes, and had a whimsical charm with names to match, like the "Twin Lizzie" and the "Lulla-Bi". His designs are still being revisited, reinvented and built today.
Keith Laumer (aka J.K Laumer, J. Keith Laumer) is best known for his Bolo stories and his satirical Retief series. The former chronicles the evolution of juggernaut-sized tanks that eventually become self-aware through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The latter deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the United States Foreign Service. In an interview with Paul Walker of Luna Monthly, Laumer states "I had no shortage of iniquitous memories of the Foreign Service."
Four of his shorter works received Hugo or Nebula Award nominations (one of them, "In the Queue", received nominations for both) and his novel A Plague of Demons was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966.
During the peak years of 1959–1971, Laumer was a prolific science fiction writer, with his novels tending to follow one of two patterns: fast-paced, straight adventures in time and space, with an emphasis on lone-wolf, latent superman protagonists, self-sacrifice and transcendence or, broad comedies, sometimes of the over-the-top variety.
In 1971, Laumer suffered a stroke while working on the novel The Ultimax Man. As a result, he was unable to write for a few years. As he explained in an interview with Charles Platt published in The Dream Makers (1987), he refused to accept the doctors' diagnosis. He came up with an alternative explanation and developed an alternative (and very painful) treatment program. Although he was unable to write in the early 1970s, he had a number of books which were in the pipeline at the time of the stroke published during that time.
In the mid-1970s, Laumer partially recovered from the stroke and resumed writing. However, the quality of his work suffered and his career declined (Piers Anthony, How Precious Was That While, 2002). In later years Laumer also reused scenarios and characters from his earlier works to create "new" books, which some critics felt was to their detriment:
Alas, Retief to the Rescue doesn't seem so much like a new Retief novel, but a kind of Cuisnart mélange of past books.
-- Somtow Sucharitkul (Washington Post, Mar 27, 1983. p. BW11)
His Bolo creations were popular enough that other authors have written standalone science-fiction novels about them.
Laumer was also a model airplane enthusiast, and published two dozen designs between 1956 and 1962 in the U.S. magazines Air Trails, Model Airplane News and Flying Models, as well as the British magazine Aero Modeler. He published one book on the subject, How to Design and Build Flying Models in 1960. His later designs were mostly gas-powered free flight planes, and had a whimsical charm with names to match, like the "Twin Lizzie" and the "Lulla-Bi". His designs are still being revisited, reinvented and built today.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
December 3, 2024
Bolo is a collection of a half-dozen stories featuring Bolos, advanced combat tanks with varying levels of AI self-awareness and other capabilities that tend to develop as the series progresses. This is the first book and contains the earliest stories, from 1960s issues of Analog, If, Worlds of Tomorrow, and F&SF magazines. One, Courier (also published as The Frozen Planet), is also a Retief story, part of Laumer's most popular and best-known series. Laumer continued to write Bolo stories, and the series was added to by several other writers, throughout his career. The ones here are pretty good military sf, though I preferred Fred Saberhagen's Berserkers and David Drake's Hammer's Slammers stories. Night of the Trolls and Courier are my favorites in this volume.
August 4, 2008
"Bolo" is collection of short stories based around these super powerful tank-ish, war machines called, you guessed it - "Bolos" - in a post-apocalyptic future. The earlier Mark Bolos ie., IV, V, VII, X, etc. are human-piloted and powerful; but not nearly so much as later model Bolos, which have been refined to the point of being virtually indestructible and... artifically intelligent. You can tell where that's going.
Anyway, the heavy influence that Laumer's work had on more modern sci-fiction series - ala Terminator, Aliens etc - is apparent right from the opening story, all of which are entertaining in their own way.
I particularly liked the stories because they not only have cool, yet simple "retro" tech, but also because all the lead characters seem to possess a cocky, Clint Eastwood-ish, tough guy attitude. An example:
A heavy-shouldered man with a scarred jawline and small eyes was slouching there in a rumpled gray uniform. He put out a hand as Retief started past him.
"Lessee your boarding pass," he muttered. Retief pulled a paper from an inside pocket, handed it over.
The guard blinked at it. "Whassat?"
"A gram confirming my space," Retief said. "Your boy on the counter says he's out to lunch."
The guard crumpled the gram, dropped it on the floor and lounged back against the handrail.
"On your way, bub," he said.
Retief put his suitcase carefully on the floor, took a step, and drove a right into the guard's midriff. He stepped aside as the man doubled and went to his knees.
"You were wide open, ugly. I couldn't resist. Tell your boss I sneaked past while you were resting your eyes." He picked up his bag, stepped over the man, and went up the gangway into the ship.
Classic cheesy good fun, I say! A super-easy read highly recommendable for any sci-fi fan.
Anyway, the heavy influence that Laumer's work had on more modern sci-fiction series - ala Terminator, Aliens etc - is apparent right from the opening story, all of which are entertaining in their own way.
I particularly liked the stories because they not only have cool, yet simple "retro" tech, but also because all the lead characters seem to possess a cocky, Clint Eastwood-ish, tough guy attitude. An example:
A heavy-shouldered man with a scarred jawline and small eyes was slouching there in a rumpled gray uniform. He put out a hand as Retief started past him.
"Lessee your boarding pass," he muttered. Retief pulled a paper from an inside pocket, handed it over.
The guard blinked at it. "Whassat?"
"A gram confirming my space," Retief said. "Your boy on the counter says he's out to lunch."
The guard crumpled the gram, dropped it on the floor and lounged back against the handrail.
"On your way, bub," he said.
Retief put his suitcase carefully on the floor, took a step, and drove a right into the guard's midriff. He stepped aside as the man doubled and went to his knees.
"You were wide open, ugly. I couldn't resist. Tell your boss I sneaked past while you were resting your eyes." He picked up his bag, stepped over the man, and went up the gangway into the ship.
Classic cheesy good fun, I say! A super-easy read highly recommendable for any sci-fi fan.
October 13, 2019
This is the first of the Bolo books by Keith Laumer. This book is a collection of six short stories about the self aware fighting machines known as Bolos. There is also a short history of the Bolo fighting machine in a forward format. I will not attempt to review each story but if you are a fan of Keith Laumer you will enjoy reading these stories. One of them, Courier, is a Retief story involving a Bolo. Fans of Keith Laumer will recognize Retief as one of his best and longest enduring characters. Have fun with one of the masters of science fiction.
August 11, 2022
Hyper-heavy tanks that have evolved sentience, masters of war and battle, and often more human than their creators: thus are the Bolo.
There's almost a 1950s SF feel to these 1970's stories, more specifically a 1950's USA for all that the settings are far-future and often involve other worlds (and, no, women don't get much of a look-in). But the book is no less enjoyable for all -or most of- that - it's action-orientated, has tough-guy heroes (when the hero isn't actually a tank), with lashings of pseudo-science, light humour, and occasional pathos. The pages turn at a great pace.
Thoroughly entertaining, relatively light, SF. I will be continuing the series.
There's almost a 1950s SF feel to these 1970's stories, more specifically a 1950's USA for all that the settings are far-future and often involve other worlds (and, no, women don't get much of a look-in). But the book is no less enjoyable for all -or most of- that - it's action-orientated, has tough-guy heroes (when the hero isn't actually a tank), with lashings of pseudo-science, light humour, and occasional pathos. The pages turn at a great pace.
Thoroughly entertaining, relatively light, SF. I will be continuing the series.
Read
April 20, 2024The last command
alawys the end come not as we wish
human dream i know
can be we rest
war with machine
why a brown eyes mix with the road
human at rule
many secrit to be best
comman was be rest
and machin also
loyal to that war
hony broke my heart
climping without breatgj
thee die and y lauph hidden
its strange music night
y and me
we back
to hold summer and build dream
alawys the end come not as we wish
human dream i know
can be we rest
war with machine
why a brown eyes mix with the road
human at rule
many secrit to be best
comman was be rest
and machin also
loyal to that war
hony broke my heart
climping without breatgj
thee die and y lauph hidden
its strange music night
y and me
we back
to hold summer and build dream
July 28, 2012
This is a anthology of Bolo stories, but a good sample of Laumer's work. Laumer was a master, though I'm not sure how many people recall everything he did. He was also a great lover of short stories, and why so much of his work has been reprinted in various anthologies over the decades. I suppose his time is past, but as a writer one would be well served to read Laumer. His ability to lead the reader with action packed dialog is superb.
As a book, I suppose I will give this 3.5 stars but if you want to learn something about writing good SF, round that up to 4 and read each line carefully. You're sure to gain much from the experience.
As a book, I suppose I will give this 3.5 stars but if you want to learn something about writing good SF, round that up to 4 and read each line carefully. You're sure to gain much from the experience.
August 5, 2021
One of the original military SciFi series, with some of the original supertanks, run by intelligent, aware AI. Mr. Laumer does a great job of portraying the personalities of these AIs, telling their stories from their point of view.
This collection of novellas is a must read for military scifi fans.
This collection of novellas is a must read for military scifi fans.
July 15, 2019
I love the Bolo series. Awesome stories
June 10, 2018
Excellent military sf.
Better than some of the modern stuff out now. IMHO.
Better than some of the modern stuff out now. IMHO.
December 9, 2017
For me, Keith Laumer is better known for his space diplomat, Jamie Retief, than for his elite, sentient fighting machines known as the Bolo units. It has been suggested that the long-lived strategy game from Steve Jackson (Ogre) was inspired by the Bolo stories. I haven’t verified that with Steve Jackson, but it was when playing Ogre that I first heard of Bolo. There was also a 1987 Macintosh game called Bolo that was adapted for Windows and is available for free download as WinBolo. What’s important is that this is an interesting concept about seeming unstoppable military platforms. Laumer adds complexity and fascination by putting a sentient AI atop this concept.
Bolo: Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade is an anthology which includes a novella and several short stories. One of those short stories is a “Retief” story. I had read that story before, but it is fitting (and worthy of re-reading) for this anthology because it involves a Bolo unit as part of the solution. My two favorite stories (at least, that I haven’t read before) were the novella and the penultimate short story in the collection.The former, “The Night of the Trolls,” where a former colleague of the protagonist has set himself up as a “warlord” in a post-apocalyptic situation. The fun begins when the protagonist awakens from his state of suspended animation and begins to realize what has happened. There is a twist here that an alert reader could see a mile away, but that won’t keep the bulk of the story from being full of action and suspense. The second, “A Relic of War,” features an active, but outdated and semi-functional Bolo unit that serves as sort of a monument such as tanks and field guns serve in some parks today. The local populace takes the “machine” for granted but the government wants to neutralize it. And then, it suddenly activates and, the results were not what I expected—neither in what the Bolo unit does nor what the townspeople.
Interestingly enough, a theme running through most of the stories is that humans fear the sentience of the Bolo units and where the Bolo units sometimes act more humanely than the humans do. Just as Laumer’s galactic diplomat sometimes has to break the rules to gain the very peace for which the rules were supposed to be structured, the Bolos have to act in unexpected ways in order to accomplish the actual mission that the Bolo was built and programmed to accomplish.
Bolo: Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade will challenge one’s ideas of progress and how one treats seeming sentient beings. Where does sentience take over from processing power? How much does one have to reason in order to be according the rights of a living being? Laumer was bringing up such questions in a humorous way long before I heard serious scientists talk about the singularity.
Frankly, Laumer doesn’t use the word, “singularity,” but his entire body of work—even though never far from a chuckle—is singularly significant. He may never be eligible for grandmaster status, but I find his work very enjoyable. Bolo: Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade is right up there with the stories of Retief in my book.
Bolo: Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade is an anthology which includes a novella and several short stories. One of those short stories is a “Retief” story. I had read that story before, but it is fitting (and worthy of re-reading) for this anthology because it involves a Bolo unit as part of the solution. My two favorite stories (at least, that I haven’t read before) were the novella and the penultimate short story in the collection.The former, “The Night of the Trolls,” where a former colleague of the protagonist has set himself up as a “warlord” in a post-apocalyptic situation. The fun begins when the protagonist awakens from his state of suspended animation and begins to realize what has happened. There is a twist here that an alert reader could see a mile away, but that won’t keep the bulk of the story from being full of action and suspense. The second, “A Relic of War,” features an active, but outdated and semi-functional Bolo unit that serves as sort of a monument such as tanks and field guns serve in some parks today. The local populace takes the “machine” for granted but the government wants to neutralize it. And then, it suddenly activates and, the results were not what I expected—neither in what the Bolo unit does nor what the townspeople.
Interestingly enough, a theme running through most of the stories is that humans fear the sentience of the Bolo units and where the Bolo units sometimes act more humanely than the humans do. Just as Laumer’s galactic diplomat sometimes has to break the rules to gain the very peace for which the rules were supposed to be structured, the Bolos have to act in unexpected ways in order to accomplish the actual mission that the Bolo was built and programmed to accomplish.
Bolo: Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade will challenge one’s ideas of progress and how one treats seeming sentient beings. Where does sentience take over from processing power? How much does one have to reason in order to be according the rights of a living being? Laumer was bringing up such questions in a humorous way long before I heard serious scientists talk about the singularity.
Frankly, Laumer doesn’t use the word, “singularity,” but his entire body of work—even though never far from a chuckle—is singularly significant. He may never be eligible for grandmaster status, but I find his work very enjoyable. Bolo: Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade is right up there with the stories of Retief in my book.
September 21, 2008
Simply excellent. This is a collection of short stories about self-aware fighting machines of the future. There are some true classics in this collection.
January 5, 2012
Lots of testosterone in this one. And stories about centuries-old war-robots. A good holiday-read. (unless of course you're a woman. Then you will propably hate it)
January 25, 2016
A fantastic selection of stories based on the future "bolo" tank. Great read. Very reccommended
April 19, 2024
Years ago, I became aware of "Bolos" as a concept on one of those web forums dedicated to the fine art of versus debates. Over and over, matchups featuring "Bolos" would come up. Which sci-fi civilizations could withstand a single Bolo? Would you need more than a dozen to completely steamroll the 40k galaxy? It wasn't hard to understand what a Bolo was from context (a mindbogglingly huge autonomous tank), but everyone there just took it for granted. It wasn't until years later I found out they were from a shared universe book series (I had assumed some sort of RTS/tactics game like Total Annihilation).
To be honest, I seriously doubt that most of those guys had ever actually read these books. Few of these stories are so bombastic. In fact, in the early ones the tanks are almost immaterial to the story. They're arranged in ascending order of the capabilities displayed by the Bolos, not necessarily matching the very loose chronology ("Courier" would be one of the last stories, as the Concordiat is noted as being a thing of the past). In the last four, the Bolos themselves become characters in their own right, and sympathy for the machine creeps in, with the Bolos being either destroyed in the line of duty, or reactivated in decrepit states. Their adherence to concepts like duty and camaraderie humanizes them, but their singleminded pursuit of such reminds that they are machines. Is it better to struggle to be noble, or be created so? Will any of the future stories by other authors care when there are nuclear powered hundred foot tall tanks blowing shit up to write?
"A Short History of the Bolo Fighting Machines" (1967) - A frame story that contextualizes what the Bolos are, and the wide variety in their capabilities over thousands of years. The final sentence implies such a huge timeframe that there's unlimited space to write Bolo stories. Though some dates are given, chronology between the stories is almost non-existent.
★ "The Night of the Trolls" (1963) - You know the premise of Fallout 4? It's like that. Including the same twist. Luckily it has a secondary twist to deploy if you saw the other one. Was it as obvious in the 60s? Regardless, it's a fun action story, especially Hitmaning through a high-society party, even if the Bolos ("Trolls" in the post-apoc parlance) are kind of beside the point.
"Courier" (1961) - Retief Story. Bolo has even lesser role than "Trolls". Exact kind of trash lampooned by Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers. Below even The Legion of Space. RANCID ASS
"Field Test" (1976) - The activation of the first self-aware Bolo, told in a series of monologue-snippets from various characters, for and against. The scenario is absurdly perfunctory (the "People's Republic" is invading "Western Continent"), and even if the last line is decent, that can't save it from an overly-long buildup and another character who says "durn". Readable, at least.
★ "The Last Command" (1967) - Spaceport construction inadvertently activates a buried Bolo from decades earlier. Shedding ionizing radiation and unstoppable by conventional weapons, it mistakenly approaches a population centre and must be stopped. The story itself is just alright, but I love the ending.
★ "A Relic of War" (1969) - A technician arrives to deactivate an immobile Bolo in a frontier world village, but encounters resistance from the locals sympathetic to their Bobby. Another melancholic story, with a surprising reversal in store. Best story in the collection, but I struggle to say it's really great.
"Combat Unit" (1960) - Told entirely from the perspective of a Bolo, it struggles to escape after being reactivated without memory under hostile control. Comes closest to the "versus debate Bolo" in the whole collection. The ending is ambiguous about the Bolo's capacity for self-development beyond being a simple Combat Unit. Lacks drama compared to the previous two stories.
To be honest, I seriously doubt that most of those guys had ever actually read these books. Few of these stories are so bombastic. In fact, in the early ones the tanks are almost immaterial to the story. They're arranged in ascending order of the capabilities displayed by the Bolos, not necessarily matching the very loose chronology ("Courier" would be one of the last stories, as the Concordiat is noted as being a thing of the past). In the last four, the Bolos themselves become characters in their own right, and sympathy for the machine creeps in, with the Bolos being either destroyed in the line of duty, or reactivated in decrepit states. Their adherence to concepts like duty and camaraderie humanizes them, but their singleminded pursuit of such reminds that they are machines. Is it better to struggle to be noble, or be created so? Will any of the future stories by other authors care when there are nuclear powered hundred foot tall tanks blowing shit up to write?
"A Short History of the Bolo Fighting Machines" (1967) - A frame story that contextualizes what the Bolos are, and the wide variety in their capabilities over thousands of years. The final sentence implies such a huge timeframe that there's unlimited space to write Bolo stories. Though some dates are given, chronology between the stories is almost non-existent.
★ "The Night of the Trolls" (1963) - You know the premise of Fallout 4? It's like that. Including the same twist. Luckily it has a secondary twist to deploy if you saw the other one. Was it as obvious in the 60s? Regardless, it's a fun action story, especially Hitmaning through a high-society party, even if the Bolos ("Trolls" in the post-apoc parlance) are kind of beside the point.
"Courier" (1961) - Retief Story. Bolo has even lesser role than "Trolls". Exact kind of trash lampooned by Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers. Below even The Legion of Space. RANCID ASS
"Field Test" (1976) - The activation of the first self-aware Bolo, told in a series of monologue-snippets from various characters, for and against. The scenario is absurdly perfunctory (the "People's Republic" is invading "Western Continent"), and even if the last line is decent, that can't save it from an overly-long buildup and another character who says "durn". Readable, at least.
★ "The Last Command" (1967) - Spaceport construction inadvertently activates a buried Bolo from decades earlier. Shedding ionizing radiation and unstoppable by conventional weapons, it mistakenly approaches a population centre and must be stopped. The story itself is just alright, but I love the ending.
★ "A Relic of War" (1969) - A technician arrives to deactivate an immobile Bolo in a frontier world village, but encounters resistance from the locals sympathetic to their Bobby. Another melancholic story, with a surprising reversal in store. Best story in the collection, but I struggle to say it's really great.
"Combat Unit" (1960) - Told entirely from the perspective of a Bolo, it struggles to escape after being reactivated without memory under hostile control. Comes closest to the "versus debate Bolo" in the whole collection. The ending is ambiguous about the Bolo's capacity for self-development beyond being a simple Combat Unit. Lacks drama compared to the previous two stories.
July 12, 2025
I’ve been reading a lot of pulpy 70s and 80s sci-fi and fantasy lately, and largely enjoying my time with those books. That’s why Bolo sucking horribly is actually a kind of perversely affirming; it indicates that I’m not merely a mark for this particular style and time period. How do I know the books I enjoyed are actually good without a powerful counterexample?
Bolo compiles six short stories which establish Laumer’s Bolo universe. The eponymous creation: a series of futuristic battle tanks equipped with AI which, across generations of development, achieve sentience, bonding themselves to their battle groups and, in many cases, humanity as a whole. This isn’t a bad idea for a foundational concept, if perhaps a little narrow, but Laumer goes out of his way to obliterate it through several incredibly questionable writing decisions that undercut nearly everything he hoped to achieve with them. First off: Laumer’s writing is torturously hackneyed, pulpy in the worst way, with every line of dialogue featuring a quip straight out of a parody of film noir or plucky sci-fi serials. It is consistently obnoxious, trite, and smug, consistently annihilating any sense of seriousness in the stories and fixating on the sort of eye-rolling machismo that I usually have plenty of patience for when not rendering Manowar album covers coy and girlish. Second: this series of stories about hyper-futuristic, ultra-powerful battle tanks almost always displays them far past their obsolescence, barely functional, with little indication given of their supposedly awesome power on the page itself. The idea of these sorts of stories exploring the power of these tanks only through their negative space is an intriguing one, but this was clearly not the intent; Laumer is far too indebted to the dorkiest legacy of 50s sci-fi for that. The Bolos might suck now, but man, if you could’ve seen ‘em in their prime, you would have really liked it! Which leads to the final nail in the coffin: that the Bolos are mere devices for the human characters to work around, given little in the way of personality despite their sentience. The book is named after the fucking things! Couldn’t we give them a little more import?
In short, this is ass.
https://hideousrecollection.substack.com
Bolo compiles six short stories which establish Laumer’s Bolo universe. The eponymous creation: a series of futuristic battle tanks equipped with AI which, across generations of development, achieve sentience, bonding themselves to their battle groups and, in many cases, humanity as a whole. This isn’t a bad idea for a foundational concept, if perhaps a little narrow, but Laumer goes out of his way to obliterate it through several incredibly questionable writing decisions that undercut nearly everything he hoped to achieve with them. First off: Laumer’s writing is torturously hackneyed, pulpy in the worst way, with every line of dialogue featuring a quip straight out of a parody of film noir or plucky sci-fi serials. It is consistently obnoxious, trite, and smug, consistently annihilating any sense of seriousness in the stories and fixating on the sort of eye-rolling machismo that I usually have plenty of patience for when not rendering Manowar album covers coy and girlish. Second: this series of stories about hyper-futuristic, ultra-powerful battle tanks almost always displays them far past their obsolescence, barely functional, with little indication given of their supposedly awesome power on the page itself. The idea of these sorts of stories exploring the power of these tanks only through their negative space is an intriguing one, but this was clearly not the intent; Laumer is far too indebted to the dorkiest legacy of 50s sci-fi for that. The Bolos might suck now, but man, if you could’ve seen ‘em in their prime, you would have really liked it! Which leads to the final nail in the coffin: that the Bolos are mere devices for the human characters to work around, given little in the way of personality despite their sentience. The book is named after the fucking things! Couldn’t we give them a little more import?
In short, this is ass.
https://hideousrecollection.substack.com
April 12, 2020
Laumer's first short story collection about the Bolos - heavily armored fighting machines that initially had a human operator but eventually became fully AI . The first chapter is a "history" of the Bolos, and then a collection of short stories follows, each of which features a Bolo but with no connection between the stories apart from that. They're set in various different time periods with various different Bolo models; the collection also includes one Retief story (Retief is Laumer's sort of Bond-like space agent) with only a very minor Bolo appearance. The rest of the stories are all about the Bolos though, some told from the point of view of the humans and some told from the Bolo perspective. Perhaps it's partly the very dated 70s style of writing, but I find Laumer's Bolo characters are much more engaging than the human ones, who are generally superficial and full of macho bluster. As you'd expect, the Bolo stories tend towards the military fiction end of Sci Fi, but some are still very touching. This collection, although dated, is a great slice of 70s SF which still has a few interesting ideas.
July 20, 2021
Finally got my hands on the first of the Dinochrome Bolo books (I think...). Not going to lie, after reading Honor of the Regiment and being absolutely charmed by about 90% of the stories in that, I was severely disappointed by the first two stories in this little book.
But once I got past them, finally, the Bolos get a chance to shine. It lost two starts for the stories that took me three times as long to slog through than they should have but if I could stomach using and exacto to cut those bits out it would be a solid 5.
Be prepared for the reoccurring theme of "We built a big scary and loyal machine to be big, scary and loyal but now we're afraid the big scary machine is going to stop being loyal and kill us all" (three pages later) "actually the big scary machine was just as loyal as we designed it to be. Who could have known?" Which I personally found to be more funny than irritating (I do love laughing at incompetent's military leaders when it's fictional), but Your Mileage May Vary.
But once I got past them, finally, the Bolos get a chance to shine. It lost two starts for the stories that took me three times as long to slog through than they should have but if I could stomach using and exacto to cut those bits out it would be a solid 5.
Be prepared for the reoccurring theme of "We built a big scary and loyal machine to be big, scary and loyal but now we're afraid the big scary machine is going to stop being loyal and kill us all" (three pages later) "actually the big scary machine was just as loyal as we designed it to be. Who could have known?" Which I personally found to be more funny than irritating (I do love laughing at incompetent's military leaders when it's fictional), but Your Mileage May Vary.
Read
February 13, 2025Bolo, written by Keith Laumber, is a classic science fiction novel that tells the story of a sentient tank named Bolo. Set in a distant future where humanity has colonized the stars, Bolo is a powerful weapon that is feared by all who know of it.
The novel follows Bolo as it is deployed on a mission to stop an alien invasion. Along the way, Bolo must overcome many challenges, including enemy forces, difficult terrain, and even its own programming.
Bolo is a well-written and exciting novel that is sure to please fans of science fiction and military fiction alike. Laumer does a great job of creating a believable and immersive world, and the characters are all well-developed and interesting.
One of the things that makes Bolo so unique is its protagonist. Bolo is a machine, but it is also a sentient being with its own thoughts and feelings. This makes the novel more than just a story about war and conflict; it is also a story about identity and the nature of consciousness.
Overall, I recommend Bolo as a entertaining and thought-provoking novel.
The novel follows Bolo as it is deployed on a mission to stop an alien invasion. Along the way, Bolo must overcome many challenges, including enemy forces, difficult terrain, and even its own programming.
Bolo is a well-written and exciting novel that is sure to please fans of science fiction and military fiction alike. Laumer does a great job of creating a believable and immersive world, and the characters are all well-developed and interesting.
One of the things that makes Bolo so unique is its protagonist. Bolo is a machine, but it is also a sentient being with its own thoughts and feelings. This makes the novel more than just a story about war and conflict; it is also a story about identity and the nature of consciousness.
Overall, I recommend Bolo as a entertaining and thought-provoking novel.
October 5, 2021
Originally bought this book second-hand as a consequence of playing a long-forgotten but obsessive travel-boardgame of my undergrad student days ('Have Bolo, Will Travel'). It is somewhat prescient of the whole Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Vehicles/Weapon Systems debates of our own times, as also the US DOD vs UK MOD differences of opinion over the place of the human in the decision loop (Sensor-Shooter vs Sensor-Human-Decider-Shooter doctrinal divergences), tho as ever with such way-too-early predictions the language remains of its own time and the new jargon is never anticipated, meaning the knowledgeable reader has to do some of the translation work themselves.
Still, it's a very enjoyable and easy read, with dollops of pathos relating to the fates of both humans and machine intelligences. Space Opera to a degree but in many ways classier. One I toy with keeping, rather than donating as part of the decluttering endeavour. We shall see... But - Enjoy!
Still, it's a very enjoyable and easy read, with dollops of pathos relating to the fates of both humans and machine intelligences. Space Opera to a degree but in many ways classier. One I toy with keeping, rather than donating as part of the decluttering endeavour. We shall see... But - Enjoy!
January 5, 2023
Found this book in my old bedroom at Mom’s house over the holidays. I had tried to read it when I was quite young - it belonged to my older brother, who is the biggest reason I’m a fan of Science Fiction today - but it was a bit too hard to follow at my age then. Picking it up decades later was a heckuva lot of fun.
The first story in this collection, “The Night of the Trolls,” is campy and delicious, with prose reminiscent of the great pulp novels: “The place was empty as a robbed grave - except for the rats,” “…my skull was getting ready to split and give birth to a live alligator,” and so much more.
The other stories weren’t so pulpy, but they were still abundant with SciFi adventure. Each story is centered around some version of a Bolo fighting machine, a futuristic evolution of the modern tank.
For me, this was a quick, escapist read that I’m so glad I stumbled across. Goodbye, Unit Nine five four of the Line!
The first story in this collection, “The Night of the Trolls,” is campy and delicious, with prose reminiscent of the great pulp novels: “The place was empty as a robbed grave - except for the rats,” “…my skull was getting ready to split and give birth to a live alligator,” and so much more.
The other stories weren’t so pulpy, but they were still abundant with SciFi adventure. Each story is centered around some version of a Bolo fighting machine, a futuristic evolution of the modern tank.
For me, this was a quick, escapist read that I’m so glad I stumbled across. Goodbye, Unit Nine five four of the Line!
December 9, 2024
A series of short stories that feature A.I. run tanks called Bolos. Brief History is a little dry and Courier is more an introduction to Retief series rather than fitting in this collection but just when you think there won't be a Bolo it is there eventually. Not really featured though. Still a fun little story.
A very good collection. All fun to read except the Brief History. They're all still short stories so if you want more out of it you'll be looking elsewhere. Also none of them are really linked together except by featuring one of these tanks.
Doesn't take too long to rip through so even if you're only slightly interested it won't cost you that much time. Solid 1960s sci-fi.
A very good collection. All fun to read except the Brief History. They're all still short stories so if you want more out of it you'll be looking elsewhere. Also none of them are really linked together except by featuring one of these tanks.
Doesn't take too long to rip through so even if you're only slightly interested it won't cost you that much time. Solid 1960s sci-fi.
October 1, 2019
This is an anthology of short stories by a variety of authors, all of which are set in Keith Laumer's "Bolo" universe. The Bolo tank, in its many iterations, is an AI-controlled weapon of enormous size and power. Serving as man's main weapon against aliens and other, predatory humans across the galaxy, a single Bolo can defeat a medium-sized conventional army.
Many of these stories were good and, I felt, true to Laumer's original Bolo concept. I might have given it another star except for the few stories where I felt the Bolo characters were at odds with how they've been portrayed by Laumer.
Many of these stories were good and, I felt, true to Laumer's original Bolo concept. I might have given it another star except for the few stories where I felt the Bolo characters were at odds with how they've been portrayed by Laumer.
September 22, 2023
A giant fortress of a futuristic tank? Of course 12 year old me wants to read that!
I couldn't make it past page 1 because i didn't know wtf they were talking about. Maybe it was bad writing or maybe my 12 year old brain was still too dumb to understand it. Either way im not going to bother giving it a second chance. If i want a big mega tank vs the world, I'll try playing Steve Jackson Game's Ogre boardgame.
I couldn't make it past page 1 because i didn't know wtf they were talking about. Maybe it was bad writing or maybe my 12 year old brain was still too dumb to understand it. Either way im not going to bother giving it a second chance. If i want a big mega tank vs the world, I'll try playing Steve Jackson Game's Ogre boardgame.
September 2, 2019
Very much at the military fiction end of science fiction but the 'ancient machines of war' premise is an interesting take. Some different perspectives and writing styles make this book interesting but overall not remarkable. That said its a slim volume and a bit of fun so worth picking up if you like stories about massive semi sentient tanks!
October 29, 2019
Terminators and Skynet are out to destroy us....but what if the AI we created were here to save us [Humanity]???? What if our creation took upon its sentient self, the very best of us all??? Honor, Duty, and lineage??? War is the most human of endeavors. What if our children, our machines understood this??? BOLO.
December 11, 2020
A trip back in time
I've always enjoyed the BOLO series but when Keith Laumer passed, I believed the BOLO series went with him.
It does not matter to me that a couple of stories were not BOLO related.
It were the ones that were that I enjoyed reading the most.
After computing for 17.003 seconds, I've determined to seek all the other BOLO books.
You should too.
I've always enjoyed the BOLO series but when Keith Laumer passed, I believed the BOLO series went with him.
It does not matter to me that a couple of stories were not BOLO related.
It were the ones that were that I enjoyed reading the most.
After computing for 17.003 seconds, I've determined to seek all the other BOLO books.
You should too.
November 22, 2022
We have gone far beyond mere tanks.
Bolos, enormous engines of combat destruction. These few stories sparked my imagination when I was younger. I was inspired by the honor and glory of Dinochrome Brigade. Those sentient combat machines that never gave up, never backed down, and fought on for the glory and protection of humanity.
Bolos, enormous engines of combat destruction. These few stories sparked my imagination when I was younger. I was inspired by the honor and glory of Dinochrome Brigade. Those sentient combat machines that never gave up, never backed down, and fought on for the glory and protection of humanity.
April 6, 2023
3/5 The Night of the Trolls: Very tropey sf adventure with a bumbling protagonist.
4/5 Courier: Standard space opera. Btw, the titular bolos seem to be almost an afterthought in these stories.
4/5 Field Test: I came here for bolo, and I finally gotit, er, him! Everyone is holding the idiot ball in this story though.
5/5 The Last Command: Now this is the good stuff!
5/5 A Relic of War: Another good one! Should have led with these imo.
4/5 Combat Unit: Bolo who has no more fighting to do finds some hobbies.
4/5 Courier: Standard space opera. Btw, the titular bolos seem to be almost an afterthought in these stories.
4/5 Field Test: I came here for bolo, and I finally got
5/5 The Last Command: Now this is the good stuff!
5/5 A Relic of War: Another good one! Should have led with these imo.
4/5 Combat Unit: Bolo who has no more fighting to do finds some hobbies.
September 16, 2023
Ah intelligent space tanks, love it. Reminds me a lot of Murderbot from words used like Port Authority, Combat Unit, to the way the Bolo internal monologue. Wonder if there is any inspiration for Murderbot from these. The stories about the early times (written later) were jut okay, but the stories with little snippets of the Bolo as themselves were great, very intriguing. I want more of them.
January 3, 2021
Knights par excellance
The Bolo series has been one of my favorites since the early 80s. Laumer groks Veterans and war and the damage that it does to vets. And honor and duty. He got it.
The Bolo series has been one of my favorites since the early 80s. Laumer groks Veterans and war and the damage that it does to vets. And honor and duty. He got it.
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