Customer Reviews

Balefires

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If your exposure to David Drake has been limited to the Lord of the Isles series, which apparently maps the very same plot out with different names and places time and time again (drake actually describes this in an intro to a story in balefires), you should realize that once upon a time Drake wrote original stories with tight plots which often ended in a single book and weren't 600 pages long.

This collection includes stories published in other drake compliation volumes before as well as stories I had never seen by him. One story was re-written by August Derleth shortly before he died (Denkirch) and definitely reads like an August Derleth story (I always felt Derleth's Lovecraft-style stories were a little too transparently constructed compared to the originals, and this story is that way too). Many of his stories set in Vietnam are here, as well as other fantastic stories with varied settings.

I am very glad Night Shade published this title, and wish Mr. Drake still wrote stories like this.

This book, one of a series of Dave Drake's works, is from Night Shade Press, a small press that seems to be turning out quite a number of excellent books of late.

First - just as a book, this is a very nice one. It feels good in your hands, solidly bound, on good paper and with good type selection. That is something that we don't get nearly often enough in recent years it seems to me. And it has a cover painting that fits the subject well. A book it will be a pleasure to own for its physical qualities as well as the content.

As a book of short stories, it is biased toward horror (where Drake stated his writing career - his first published story "Denkirche" is one here reprinted), and some very good horror stories there are.

It is a good buy - and it shows the evolution of a writer who is now one of the best craftsmen you'll find anywhere.

I am, personally, fonder of Drake's military science fiction, including the Hammer's Slammers series (also being collected and released by Night Shade and available though Amazon; first two volumes of a three volume set are now available) and the "Republic of Cinnabar Navy/Leary-Mundy" books modeled on the concept Patrick O'Brien used in his Aubrey-Maturin books, than the horror - but these stories are all worth reading and some are just as good as you'll find anyplace, from anybody. "Hunting Ground", for example. Or "Arc Light". Or "Dancer in the Flames'. Or "Red Leer" - now that's one that will make it hard to sleep after you read it...

Book I can recommend without reservations. But then - I guess I'm prejudiced by the fact that Dave Drake is not only a writer who has been giving me pleasure for a quarter century and a bit, but also a friend.

This collection was exactly what I hoped for: an entertaining mix of David Drake's short stories many of which I hadn't read before. If you know Drake's work, you will enjoy this book. If you don't know his work, it's just as good a place to start as any (although, may I recommend 'Vettius And His Friends'?).

Balefires

A collection of short stories, including:

A Land of Romance
Arclight
Awakening
Best of Luck
Black Iron
Blood Debt
Children of the Forest
The Master of Demons
Denkirch
Firefight
Lord of the Depths
Men Like Us
Smokie Joe
Something Had to be Done
Than Curse the Darkness
The Automatic Rifleman
The Barrow Troll
The Dancer in the Flames
The Elf House
The False Prophet
The Hunting Ground
The Red Leer
The Shortest Way
The Song of the Bone

I highly recommend every thing Drake has written.

Gunner August, 2009

I was a little hesitant about this book, having read the odd Hammer's Slammers story and not liked them much at all. Drake points out in this book though that he was a fantasy writer before he was a military SF guy, and he certainly isn't wrong.

Quite a few of these stories are from never seen sources for me, Destinies, some magazine called Whispers, etc., so unfamiliarity is not too surprising.

His introductions to each tale are rather lengthy, moving from his first story sale, on, mentioning he was friends with Wellman and Wagner, something of which I was not aware - writers that I like, so was starting to feel more pleased about this book after reading that. In fact, enough interesting stuff in these bits to bump this book over the edge of a 3.7ish rating to the 4 mark.

Balefires is a pretty apt title, as the majority of this is what some might call dark fantasy, or fantasy and horror, barring the De Camp pastiche of A Land Of Romance. Depends which you would prefer to claim, but certainly a lot of crossover. Vampires, Mythos, witches, trolls, monsters and more. In fact, the weakest story is the Elf House. Fairly eye-rolling title given it isn't a horror twist or anything, and it disappointed just as much. There is also a little science fiction horror, too, in the last few stories.

On a much brighter note, several Year's Best stories to be found here, and I pretty much agree with the quality of those - Children of the Forest, the Barrow Troll, Best of Luck, Something Had To Be Done etc. A pleasant surprise to stumble across these, certainly.

Overall, 3.44 for these, a pretty good score for 20+ stories from the one author, even more so perhaps seeing a lot of it is from the seventies.

So for those that like the low fantasy, dark fantasy end of things (some of which also has a Vietnam war setting) this is certainly work worth looking at. Definitely my sort of story, a lot of these, as far as fantasy goes.

Now I will have to look and see if there is a novel of his that might fit in with this style.

Balefires : The Red Leer - David Drake
Balefires : A Land of Romance - David Drake
Balefires : Smokie Joe - David Drake
Balefires : Awakening - David Drake
Balefires : Denkirch - David Drake
Balefires : The False Prophet - David Drake
Balefires : Black Iron - David Drake
Balefires : The Shortest Way - David Drake
Balefires : Lord of the Depths - David Drake
Balefires : Children of the Forest - David Drake
Balefires : The Barrow Troll - David Drake
Balefires : Than Curse the Darkness - David Drake
Balefires : The Song of the Bone - David Drake
Balefires : The Master of Demons - David Drake
Balefires : The Dancer in the Flames - David Drake
Balefires : Firefight - David Drake
Balefires : Best of Luck - David Drake
Balefires : Arclight - David Drake
Balefires : Something Had to be Done - David Drake
Balefires : The Elf House - David Drake
Balefires : The Hunting Ground - David Drake
Balefires : The Automatic Rifleman - David Drake
Balefires : Blood Debt - David Drake
Balefires : Men Like Us - David Drake


Cow chomping man murder.

3 out of 5


Fast food king removal.

3 out of 5


Crotch rot blackmail.

4 out of 5


She's got the power. Whoosh!

3 out of 5


Alien transmission transformation.

3 out of 5


Roman snakeman chop.

3.5 out of 5


Roman robot chop.

3.5 out of 5


Roman beastmen chop.

3.5 out of 5


Giant squid = bad. Particularly when they grab your ship.

3.5 out of 5


Kid's beef lack forest hunt assault escape.

4 out of 5


Toasted cave gold lust takeover.

4 out of 5


Weak old god blow-up slowdown.

3 out of 5


Osteomusic bear bash.

3.5 out of 5


Summoning fubar.

3 out of 5


Namwitch transfer.

3.5 out of 5


Winged Meng kill.

3.5 out of 5


A dollar short of a vampire.

4 out of 5


Monster hard to see.

3 out of 5


Condolence call fang family explosion at the news.

4 out of 5


Staff homeworld.

2.5 out of 5


Human hangup shootout.

3.5 out of 5


Smartgun conspiracy scenario.

3.5 out of 5


Kill my witchy woman, see how high the bits of you don't fly.

3.5 out of 5


Changeling NDP very proactive.

4 out of 5