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Paratime Police
Great King's War
Great Kings' War, the authorized sequel to H. Beam Piper's classic novel, was first published in paperback in 1985 by Ace Books. This [2006] edition is a limited edition quality hardcover of Great Kings' War, the long awaited sequel to H. Beam Piper's Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen and chronicles the further adventures of Calvin Morrison, Pennsylvania State Policeman-forcibly retired. This new edition is revised and expanded (over 30%) by the authors with new maps, including Hostigos Town, Hostigos and the Five Kingdoms, and a new dramatis personae.
Calvin Morrison was a pretty good cop in Pennsylvania-until he was scooped up by the cross-time flying saucer and transported to Styphon's House Subsector, a 16th Century equivalent parallel time-line. Here the Indo-Aryan invasions went east across Asia and down the Aleutian Islands into North America, where they have stagnated for thousands of years. Dropped off into the middle of a local dispute, Corporal Calvin Morrison comes face to face with warriors armed with pikes and broadswords, not petty criminals. Lord Kalvan, as the locals call him, transforms the petty Princedom of Hostigos into a fearsome warrior Kingdom by inspired leadership and advanced military knowledge. And, now, after having created and saved his new nation of Hos-Hostigos from destruction by Styphon's House, a tyrannical theocracy that holds sacred the secret formula for gunpowder, Kalvan, now Great King of Hos-Hostigos, faces his greatest challenge-keeping what he has won.
The Holy Host of Styphon and the Royal Army of Hos-Harphax, two of the greatest armies in the history of the Five Kingdoms, are on the move and Kalvan will once again have to call upon his knowledge of military history to save his family and friends. This time it's personal!
Calvin Morrison was a pretty good cop in Pennsylvania-until he was scooped up by the cross-time flying saucer and transported to Styphon's House Subsector, a 16th Century equivalent parallel time-line. Here the Indo-Aryan invasions went east across Asia and down the Aleutian Islands into North America, where they have stagnated for thousands of years. Dropped off into the middle of a local dispute, Corporal Calvin Morrison comes face to face with warriors armed with pikes and broadswords, not petty criminals. Lord Kalvan, as the locals call him, transforms the petty Princedom of Hostigos into a fearsome warrior Kingdom by inspired leadership and advanced military knowledge. And, now, after having created and saved his new nation of Hos-Hostigos from destruction by Styphon's House, a tyrannical theocracy that holds sacred the secret formula for gunpowder, Kalvan, now Great King of Hos-Hostigos, faces his greatest challenge-keeping what he has won.
The Holy Host of Styphon and the Royal Army of Hos-Harphax, two of the greatest armies in the history of the Five Kingdoms, are on the move and Kalvan will once again have to call upon his knowledge of military history to save his family and friends. This time it's personal!
518 pages
First published March 1, 1985
1 person is currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Roland J. Green
88 books28 followersRoland James Green is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and editor. He has written as Roland Green and Roland J. Green; and had 28 books in the Richard Blade series published under the pen name 'Jeffrey Lord'.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 17, 2011
a sequel to Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen by H.Beam Piper. Very true to the spirit of the original. If you like this kind of work then also read the 1632 series and Jannasaries.
August 25, 2024
I picked this up free from Baen Ebooks, so I have no complaint about the price.
It’s a sequel to Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, a popular book by the late H. Beam Piper; it imitates Piper’s style (without improving on it) and maintains his scenario and characters acceptably enough.
At least one of the authors evidently takes an interest in war, because battlefield tactics are described with some imagination and enthusiasm.
However, I found the book rather slow and plodding. Piper’s original book wasn’t a work of fine literature, but it was better paced, livelier, and more concise.
For anyone who liked Piper’s book and wants a sequel, this is adequate, but I think Piper himself could have done better. And a good writer could have improved on Piper’s writing style without straining himself.
It’s a sequel to Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, a popular book by the late H. Beam Piper; it imitates Piper’s style (without improving on it) and maintains his scenario and characters acceptably enough.
At least one of the authors evidently takes an interest in war, because battlefield tactics are described with some imagination and enthusiasm.
However, I found the book rather slow and plodding. Piper’s original book wasn’t a work of fine literature, but it was better paced, livelier, and more concise.
For anyone who liked Piper’s book and wants a sequel, this is adequate, but I think Piper himself could have done better. And a good writer could have improved on Piper’s writing style without straining himself.
November 1, 2013
Awesome book. Green and Carr remained faithful to Piper's original short story premise of an everyman dropped onto another timeline (a world where Europeans had migrated en masse overland through Siberia down throughout N.America to set up a 14/15th century society) in the middle of an ugly religious war.
The background is well explained and the battle scenes/political turmoil are well done. The story line is well set up to foster a series as Lord Kalvin (formerly Calvin Morrison of the PA State Police) struggles to survive a war and drag a world forward from the stagnation it was mired in.
The book does well as a stand alone and as a start to the follow on books written by John Carr (Siege of Tarr Hostigos, The Fireseed Wars, Gun Powder God, and soon The Hos Bletha Affair.
The background is well explained and the battle scenes/political turmoil are well done. The story line is well set up to foster a series as Lord Kalvin (formerly Calvin Morrison of the PA State Police) struggles to survive a war and drag a world forward from the stagnation it was mired in.
The book does well as a stand alone and as a start to the follow on books written by John Carr (Siege of Tarr Hostigos, The Fireseed Wars, Gun Powder God, and soon The Hos Bletha Affair.
March 20, 2017
This has been one of my favorite books for a long time. I've read it several times through the years until it's started to fall apart on me!
For the most part, this book is set in an alternate America in an age that is late middle ages to early Renaissance era where the use of black-powder has gained popularity, but in which there is still cavalry in heavy armor (although starting to be fazed out). Drop in a Pa. State Trooper by accident, due to a Para-Police screw up and you've got one heck of a story when he finds himself helping lead one side in a wonderful full scale war (and landing the princess, of course)!
Read it if you're lucky enough to scrounge up a copy; you'll thank me for it.
For the most part, this book is set in an alternate America in an age that is late middle ages to early Renaissance era where the use of black-powder has gained popularity, but in which there is still cavalry in heavy armor (although starting to be fazed out). Drop in a Pa. State Trooper by accident, due to a Para-Police screw up and you've got one heck of a story when he finds himself helping lead one side in a wonderful full scale war (and landing the princess, of course)!
Read it if you're lucky enough to scrounge up a copy; you'll thank me for it.
October 15, 2023
My first eBook. A continuation of "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" which is one of my favorite stories. Following my most recent re-read of "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen”, I thought that there must be sequels and I discovered http://www.hostigos.com. While H. Beam Piper ,the author of the original story, is deceased, this author provides an enjoyable, consistent, and well written installment.
A free edition of "Great King's War" in PDF format can be downloaded from http://www.hostigos.com/. Select "Shop" and then flip through the pages until you find the free download link.
I re-visited (2017) hostigos.com and located the free PDF mentioned above. Check "Dowload page".
A free edition of "Great King's War" in PDF format can be downloaded from http://www.hostigos.com/. Select "Shop" and then flip through the pages until you find the free download link.
I re-visited (2017) hostigos.com and located the free PDF mentioned above. Check "Dowload page".
July 2, 2008
Great fun, the continuation of Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen - now available in hardcover at www.hostigos.com (I have no connection with this website, but I like the books).
September 25, 2020
Only recently found out about these sequels to H. Beam Piper's "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" stories, which I have read and re-read many times.
A bit of a mixed bag. The authors have captured a great deal of Piper's style, and the characters are written well -- respectful to their origins, with just enough development to be appropriate for the ongoing events.
Still, I found the first half of the book rather slow going. I think that is more due to the change from the original set of short stories to the form of the full-length novel. It takes so long to introduce the new settings and the new characters and the grand strategy of the war, that I found myself often setting the book down. Once the action starts, the pace picks up and I read straight through to the end. A worthy, if not perfect, successor to the original.
A bit of a mixed bag. The authors have captured a great deal of Piper's style, and the characters are written well -- respectful to their origins, with just enough development to be appropriate for the ongoing events.
Still, I found the first half of the book rather slow going. I think that is more due to the change from the original set of short stories to the form of the full-length novel. It takes so long to introduce the new settings and the new characters and the grand strategy of the war, that I found myself often setting the book down. Once the action starts, the pace picks up and I read straight through to the end. A worthy, if not perfect, successor to the original.
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January 15, 2025It isn't often that you know or remember when you read an old book. But when I pulled this off my shelf for rereading there was a letter from my mother in March 1985 --- thirty-nine years. I was in college then. Mom was asking me when I wanted to come home for a weekend. I was twenty-four.
Looking ahead in Goodreads I am disappointed to see that other authors besides Green decides to expand on H. Beam Piper's original "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen". Couldn't they write their own books?
Looking ahead in Goodreads I am disappointed to see that other authors besides Green decides to expand on H. Beam Piper's original "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen". Couldn't they write their own books?
January 13, 2019
Way too many characters, but some decent fight scenes.
February 23, 2019
Read this when first published in the 1980s.
October 11, 2014
A competent continuation of the Paratime world created by H. Beam Piper in "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen". John F. Carr has continued to develop the Paratime/Kalvan story in subsequent novels. I'm currently reading the next in the series, "Kalvan Kingmaker".
September 3, 2010
Written as a sequel to H. Beam Piper's Time Patrol stories by another author and it doesn't quite work, at least not as a sequel. Not a bad read as a stand-alone...
May 11, 2011
Continuation of Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. Downloaded free from baen.com
March 21, 2014
A competent sequel, almost as endearing as Piper's original.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews