Steel Gauntlet (Starfist, Book 3) [Mass Market Paperback]

David Sherman (Author), Dan Cragg (Author)

Book Description

Series: Starfist | Publication Date: December 26, 1998

"Marines ain't supposed to sit. We're supposed to kill."

After the resource-rich planet Diamunde is seized by the armed forces of industrialist Marston St. Cyr, the Confederation Marines face their most desperate battles yet against the mechanized forces of the bloody usurper. Promised a walkover by military planners, instead the Marines must run a gauntlet of steel, with weaponry three hundred years out of date.

For the Confederation's invasion army to seize the planet, the Marine FISTs first have to secure a planethead against St. Cyr's much larger forces which are equipped with superior weapons. Together with their outgunned comrades, the Marines of 34th FIST must do the impossible--or die . . .

Editorial Reviews

Review

"CAUTION! Any book written by Dan Cragg and David Sherman is bound to be addictive."
--RALPH PETERS
   New York Times bestselling author of Red Army

From the Inside Flap

"Marines ain't supposed to sit. We're supposed to kill."

After the resource-rich planet Diamunde is seized by the armed forces of industrialist Marston St. Cyr, the Confederation Marines face their most desperate battles yet against the mechanized forces of the bloody usurper. Promised a walkover by military planners, instead the Marines must run a gauntlet of steel, with weaponry three hundred years out of date.

For the Confederation's invasion army to seize the planet, the Marine FISTs first have to secure a planethead against St. Cyr's much larger forces which are equipped with superior weapons. Together with their outgunned comrades, the Marines of 34th FIST must do the impossible--or die . . .

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; First Edition edition (December 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034542526X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345425263
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Sherman is a former United States Marine and the author of eight previously published novels about Marines in Vietnam, where he served as an infantryman and as a member of a Combined Action Platoon. He is an alumnus of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and worked as a sculptor for many years before turning to writing. Along the way he has held a variety of jobs, mostly supervisory and managerial. Today he is a full-time writer. He lives in Philadelphia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Infantry against Heavy Armor, March 2, 2000

By 

Thomas M. Rux "Sci-Fi Sonardog" (Roy, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Steel Gauntlet (Starfist, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Steel Gauntlet" (ISBN 0-345-42526-X) is David Sherman and Dan Cragg's third book chronicling the history of the Confederation Marine Corps' 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) L Company Third Platoon, among the most deployed units in the Corps. The 34th FIST's mission to Wanderjahr was a success and for thwarting an attempt on the lives of one of Wanderjahr's leaders and the 34th FIST's General, Joe Dean and Rackman Claypoole were promoted to Lance Corporal. Diamunde, a resource-rich planet, has for the fourth time in Confederation history become a trouble spot requiring the use of military force to restore order. This time the Confederation gathers together a force consisting of six of the thirty-six Marine FISTs, the 34th is one the first units to land, two Army Corps, and a large Fleet to end the ambitions of the man who has taken control of Diamunde by force. The major problem that face the Marines, Army, and Navy units is having to relearn how to deal with Main Battle Tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, which have not been seen on the battlefield for 300 years. Before leaving Thorsfinni World to Diamunde, the 34th FIST's commanding officer makes sure that all his troops have been promoted and received all awards due them, including Charlie Bass who is once again promoted to Gunnery Sergeant. This mission will test the skills and bravery of not just the men of L Company Third Platoon, but to all the troops involved on both sides of the conflict. David Sherman and Dan Cragg do a great job in describing the fears and bravery of the infantry having to go against tanks on the battlefield. Further, this book does a good job in blending fact and the probable future of the infantry and of tanks in modern warfare.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars SNAFU, August 5, 2005

By 

John A Lee III "jal3" (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Steel Gauntlet (Starfist, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed the first two installments of the Starfist series. They were not my very favorites but they did keep my attention. I guess that's why I'm a bit disappointed with this installment. It seemed a "situation normal" type of read. It was a fair story and kept my attention but did not do so to the degree that the earlier two did. Since there are many more left to go in the series, there is still hope.

In this story, the 34th FIST is deployed as part of a larger force in a full scale war against a planet led by a maniacal sadist who has reinvented the doctrine of armored warfare. These jarheads are going to fight tanks, something they have not trained to do in several centuries. The marines are to make an opposed landing, establish a "planethead" and hold for relief by the army. The overall commander is a political admiral who has a talent for making bad choices. A major bad choice is the site of the landing. Things just get worse when the army fails to reinforce the marines on schedule. That's bad enough but, when corrupt politicians get their oars in the water, things really go to hell. As I said to begin with, Situation Normal, All Fouled Up or SNAFU.

I still plan on reading the rest of the series but it is not as high on my priority list as it was.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Series, Mediocre Entry., June 23, 2004

By 

Darryl Hushaw (Henderson, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Steel Gauntlet (Starfist, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

As much as I like the Starfist Series, Steel Gauntlet is probably the worse book in the series, for the reason mentioned by nzjohn in his review. After Sherman and Cragg go to great lengths to prove that MBTs are obsolete, their villain has to make an elementary mistake (one that the very research into military history that led him to build tanks in the first place would almost certainly have prevented) to keep the "useless" panzers from wiping out our heroes. Feels like the authors got two-thirds of the way through the story and then realized that they'd screwed up. Read through this one quickly.