Hammers Slammers [Paperback]

David Drake (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ace (September 15, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044131595X
• ISBN-13: 978-0441315956
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,175,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The Army took David Drake from Duke Law School and sent him on a motorized tour of Viet Nam and Cambodia with the 11th Cav, the Blackhorse. He learned new skills, saw interesting sights, and met exotic people who hadn't run fast enough to get away.

Dave returned to become Chapel Hill's Assistant Town Attorney and to try to put his life back together through fiction making sense of his Army experiences.

Dave describes war from where he saw it: the loader's hatch of a tank in Cambodia. His military experience, combined with his formal education in history and Latin, has made him one of the foremost writers of realistic action SF and fantasy. His bestselling Hammer's Slammers series is credited with creating the genre of modern Military SF. He often wishes he had a less interesting background.

Dave lives with his family in rural North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where it all begins..., January 14, 2003

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hammers Slammers (Paperback)

This book is short stories, starting from when (and why) the Hammer's Slammers were formed to when Colonel Alois Hammer finally came home. These stories show us a little more than later stories of the Hammer himself, a man who is ruthless towards his enemy yet loyal towards his own men (and women). The stories are; But Loyal to His Own, The Butcher's Bill, Under the Hammer, Cultural Conflict, Caught in the Crossfire, Hangman and Standing Down. It also has tiny interludes inbetween the stories that explain a lot about the background of this universe and also has an introduction by Jerry Pournelle.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best, December 12, 2006

By 

Hammer fan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hammers Slammers (Paperback)

I first picked up this volume 20 years ago and it left an impression ever since. Drake has a brutal and realistic angle on why men kill for a living, and these stories convey so strongly the cost and responsibility of war, and the way that responsibility is used by competent leaders and abused by beasts and politicians. And most of all, how the soldiers pay the cost.

And it's rocking fun sci-fi too.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first of the outstanding Hammer's Slammer's series., July 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Hammer's Slammers (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a collection of short stories that begin the almos t legendary Hammers Slammers series. It is must reading for any one who loves military science fiction. Mr. Drake has a deep understanding of his material. If any one wants to know the truth of combat and how one must behave to survive this is the book. Many of the technological aspects of his stories are very prescience, considering it was written between 1975 and 1979. His use of computers, digital communications links and instantaneous target aquisition is comming true today. I can't recommend anything better