A recent archaeological discovery was made in my garage last week. A box containing some books that I knew I still had (i.e. had not thrown away when my house was foreclosed and reprocessed). Most of these books were of my books about aircraft and aviation history such as
B-25 Walk Around, or
P-51 Mustang Walk Around series. Great pictures of the subject aircraft and color paintings of some aircraft in their squadron markings.
But packed away in this box where three of my favorite science fiction novels - based upon sci-fi role playing games (or RPGs for short). Two are official product tie-ins. The third is a kinda, sorta thing. Below is the listing of the three novels that I enjoyed reading over and over again.
1.
The Sword and the Dagger by Ardath Mahhar.
2.
Not in Our Stars by Jefferson P. Swycaffer.
3.
Renegade's Honor by William H. Keith, Jr.
It should be noted that
William H. Keith, Jr. penned the first
Battletech novel (
Decision at Thunder Rift), that turned into a trilogy; and also wrote
Renegade's Honor for
FASA Renegade Legion series. The "middle" book on my list here is based somewhat on the Traveller game system. Some of the concepts and terms used in
Traveller are used in
Swycaffer's writings.
But of these three re-discovered books on mine, I still love reading
The Sword and the Dagger by
Ardath Mahhar. In fact, as I write this blog entry, it is this book that I have started re-reading again. Of the three, I have to say I think it is my favorite. First published in April 1987 (25 years ago now!), the tale that Ms
Ardath Mahhar weaves is amazing. The inner workings of the ruling houses of the Inner Sphere and politics on a galactic scale where handle very well. In reading her online bio about this book, I came across a reference where
William H. Keith, Jr., came in to help her on the small scale combat tactics writing.
But this book stands alone (I think) of all the other
Battletech novels that came after hers. She 'nailed' the characters of
Ardan Sortec and
Hanse 'The Fox' Davion.
The basic plot for this novel is this -
Ardan Sortek discovers a plot to replace
Hanse Davion, who is the
First Prince of the Federated Suns, with a double under the control of
Maximilian Liao,
Chancellor of the rival
Capellan Confederation. It is this novel that sets in place the conditions that will lead to the
Fourth Succession War that will start when
Hanse Davion weds his betroth -
Melissa Steiner.
I was so in love with this story that I re-read the book at least 13 times while learning how to write a movie script (by adapting her story). Now if only I can re-discover the location of this script of mine, I would be happy again. I wrote it out in long hand first and then transcribed to typewritten pages. Finally, I re, re-transcribed it onto computer. I know I have it, just trying to find it again after basically 20 years of storage is another matter.
Ardath Mahhar recently passed away (February 20, 1930 - February 1, 2012).
Next comes
Not in Our Stars by
Jefferson P. Swycaffer. The plot for it is as follows: The story is set in what is known as the
Concordat, an interstellar empire that is both aged and wide-spread. On one of its flanks lies a section of space called the
Outreach, once loyal to the
Concordat, but now taken over by raiders and in open rebellion as a result. As an aside, this is the
Traveller Game setting as
The Third Imperium and the
Spinward Marches.
Admiral Michael Devon is a hero of the
Sonallan War, but for all the wrong reasons. He disobeyed orders and flaunts authority, but in the process;
Devon manages to win victories after victories.
And this has gone to his head. Out in the
Outreach when
Devon's new mission begins to get hints of a conspiracy within the
Concordat itself,
Devon launches a offensive against his superiors.
Like in
Traveller, you have
Jump Space. Typically it takes a week in Jump Space to get to the next star system. Communications is by courier (no Faster Than Light subspace comm system like in
Star Trek).
The novel is not great fiction, but if you are running a
Traveller game, then it is a wonderful source book. Characters are a bit cardboard like. In later novels in his
Concordat universe,
Swycaffer is better with his writing skills. But in this novel, I enjoyed reading the combat and strategy that is the background for this novel.
Finally, we have
William H. Keith, Jr's Renegade's Honor. For pure space combat thrills and chills, this is a wonderful book to read. While dealing with another game 'universe' instead of the
Battletech game universe, one can see how improved
Keith has become over his first
FASA tie-in novel;
Decision at Thunder Rift. And this novel, like
Ardath Mahhar's novel
The Sword and the Dagger; should be converted to the big screen! Since the re-imaged
Battlestar Galactica has shown the way for future "space combat", I would love to see
Renegade's Honor done in the same manner.
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