The Fleet Book One [Mass Market Paperback]

Various (Author), David Drake (Editor), Bill Fawcett (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2002

The Fleet is mankind's last line of defense against the vicious Khalia. This is their story-told by the masters of this universe.

Anne McCaffrey, Poul Anderson, Margaret Weis, Steve Perry, David Drake, Janet Morris, Jody Lynn Nye, John Brunner, Bill Fawcett, E. Gary Gygax, Robert Sheckley

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Ace; First Printing edition (July 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441240860
• ISBN-13: 978-0441240869
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,287,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Story Breakdowns and UpRepairs, September 13, 2006

By 

Joe Quasar "star quasher" (nc, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fleet Book One (Mass Market Paperback)

here is my take on many of the wonderful stories in this book.

The Only Bed to Lie In, Poul Anderson

A intrigue filled story. The deceptions applied to the biomodded marines and the reader were entertaining and satisfying once the last few paragraphs denoued. [..]

Pay Tribute to the Fleet, Gary Gygax's contribution of rebels who succeed rankled my bones in a good way. The people of Freeborn, their very name identifies me with them, are stodge examples of how people who choose liberty over security end up the better for their choices.

Contrapuntal by Steve Perry. The avian assassins, alliterate aliens aren't they?, guild was another story on intrigue and plot twists that satisfied. And without all that much violence. Lots of talk of violence but little actual violence. As in many stories of people's lives, fictional or non-fictional, the implications of violence and the results of past violence influence greatly the perceptions and sympathies of characters or people.
The avian assassins I perceived as honor among killers. The Far Eastern cultural types applied to the strange avian aliens revealed how easily our current realities' people could evolve over thousands of more years. The violence of survival could very well mold our culture into the alien culture depicted in the story.

Klaxon by Robert Sheckley. Hilarious story. Utterly ridiculous that beetles could be such harbingers of intelligence. Highly entertaining after the beetles mystery is more fully revealed in the last quarter of the story. The first half and and a quarter were thoroughly boring and uninteresting. Probably because I'm not a female with latent psi abilities. Though I held on through those first few parts it was well worth the wait for the beetle's kidnapping of Esplendadore.

The Thirty-Nine Buttons by Margeret Weis. This story would have been much hotter with more explicit sex scenes. The booty factor was there. The gender challenges were disturbing and probably precluded the heavy sex being put in. Women as harbingers of war and command brought out a new light to whores and reformed whores. They are or were good for something after all.

Bolthole by Jody Lynn Nye. Grotesque. Splattergore satisfying. Read this one too long ago to get a real good handle on what the story was about.

Tradition by Bill Fawcett. This is a great example of how to decieve alien races. Shares a parallel with Poul Anderson's story in that the aliens are backwards looking compared to the humans in the stories. The technologically challenged aliens (retarded oldies) go up against the ever-so-smart and savvy humans. Ever heard a story from the alien's viewpoint? That isn't human or has human like qualities? If you can answer that one you perhaps have something to add to the range of human emotions and further advance our race culturally.

The Two that It Took by John Brunner. A more detailed ecology of an alien race. Cultural anthropology would serve the reader well here in understanding and staying interested in the Tschweeit types depicted in the story.

The Collaborator by Janet Morris. The story's depiction of a caste society in an Irish sci-fi setting. Great stuff for Eireaphiles and equestrianiphiles. I like making up new words for love. Which is what Collaborator means to me now.


This book is much more than military fiction. The ultra-violence bits only enhance the literary qualities of this book. Or is it the other way around? No matter, go now, read this book.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Contributors Should be Embarassed!, September 24, 2003

By 

Ben Klausner (Redmond, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fleet Book One (Mass Market Paperback)

What a miserable collection of pointless and shoddy stories tied together with a preposterous theme. Any military organization that acts like the one used as the basis for these tales deserves to be wiped out in their first hostile contact.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Military Sci-Fi, May 6, 1998

By 

M. James "Realtater" (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fleet Book One (Mass Market Paperback)

While this book won't be winning any awards it is still a good book. But only if you enjoy military Sci-Fi...