Worlds of Weber [Mass Market Paperback]

David Weber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2009

A mammoth volume (over 250,000 words) of the many facets of one of science fiction’s most popular talents. Here are treecats, starships, dragons, alternate history, self-aware Bolo supertanks, wizards, sailing ships, ironclads—and, of course, Weber’s fantastically popular starship commander, Honor Harrington. For nearly two decades, David Weber has been taking enthralled readers to destinations strange and fantastical, from his best-selling Honor Harrington novels and short stories to the heroic fantasy of Bahzell of the Hrandai, and the shared universe stories set in worlds of his own creation, and those of others, such as Eric Flint’s best-selling Ring of Fire series, the popular Bolo series of Keith Laumer and more.

            Visit 17th-century Magdeburg for the creation of the United States Navy a hundred and fifty years early, and go with John Paul Jones as he wins the Revolutionary War—For George III. Fight dragons and demons with U.S. Marines in a most unexpected campaign, find out how humans and treecats first met and share Honor Harrington’s very first battle. But once you step into the worlds of Weber, you may not want to go home again.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This hefty and moving reprint collection of nine novellas written between 1995 and 2007 fills in the corners of Weber's celebrated Honor Harrington series (most recently 2005's At All Costs) and offers several other variations on political and military themes. In the title story, 20-year-old Honor joins the crew of War Maiden, bound for interstellar antipiracy duty as the Royal Manticoran Navy builds up for confrontation with the People's Republic. The Captain from Kirkbean, a rousing alternate naval-history yarn, and Sword Brother, wherein U.S. Marines are pulled into a parallel universe's sword-and-sorcery battlefield, focus on the responsibilities and price of leadership and the necessity of cooperation despite intrinsic differences. Miles to Go observes interstellar conflict and politics from the unusual perspective of a war robot that learns human compassion. With restraint and good taste, Weber tempers his mourning for war's destruction with heartfelt celebrations of the honorable men, women, creatures and machines of the armed forces. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The creator of Honor Harrington explains this volume’s heft by admitting that he likes to tell long stories, hence his many long novels and the fact that even his short stories aren’t very. The shortest piece here portrays an alternate John Paul Jones, fighting for the British; the longest depicts the peril and promises of the first cruise of “Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington.” Other entries show how treecats and humans learned to bond, how medieval archers saved a band of space-traveling Romans, how Bolos (the sentient tanks invented by late Keith Laumer; see Weber’s Bolo! 2005) handle ethical dilemmas, how an armored car crossing dimensions from Iraq can be a useful weapon in a magical realm once both dimensions’ denizens get used to one another, and how the United State of Europe of Eric Flint’s 1632 (2000) started acquiring a navy. Many of these pieces have appeared before in anthologies, yet they constitute a sampling of what a genius-level storyteller does between novels that is worth adding to most sf collections. --Roland Green --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 960 pages
• Publisher: Baen; Reprint edition (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 143913314X
• ISBN-13: 978-1439133149
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #35 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( W ) > Weber, David
  • #56 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Short Stories

More About the Author

David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952. Weber and his wife Sharon live in Greenville, South Carolina with their three children and "a passel of dogs".

Previously the owner of a small advertising and public relations agency, Weber now writes science fiction full time.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good place to sample his work, August 20, 2008

By 

Craig "hole_west_of_town" (Rensselaer, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Worlds of Weber: Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington and Other Stories (Hardcover)

Worlds of weber (WOW) is a nice walk down memory lane showing off much of David Weber's earlier work. There is no new material in this book, except for the introduction, which is seemingly (according to the copyright page) separately copyrighted from the rest of the book.

The stories are "A Certain Talent" (aka "The Williamson Effect")
"In the Navy"
"The Captian from Kirkbean"
"Sir george and the Dragon"
"Sword Brother"
"A beautiful Friendship"
"Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington"
"Miles to Go" (aka "Bolos 3: The Triumphant")
"The Traitor" (Aka "Bolos 4: The Last Stand")

So as you can see it is a wide showing of his talent.

If you are a Weber fan it is a great book to get to hand out to people to "sample" him. If you are a new reader it is a nice jumping off point for diving into his works. If you are an experienced reader, you may wish to consider if you already have these works on your shelf. Of all these, the only one I haven't read was Sir George and the Dragon.

He gets points taken off for not producing much original work this time, but it is still a well presented book.

20 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Reruns, September 9, 2008

By 

Richard P. Darby (Sandy Creek, New York United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Worlds of Weber: Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington and Other Stories (Hardcover)

Basically, if you are a Weber fan, then you've already read every story here. If not, why bother? After 3 years, isn't it about time he wrote the next installment in the series.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy it for Honor and Read the Rest as a Bonus, December 29, 2008

By 

C. Amos (US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Worlds of Weber: Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington and Other Stories (Hardcover)

The Honor Harrington prequel was very enjoyable and many of the other stories were as well. I'm going to take a chance buying some of Weber's other book series now that I've gotten a taste of them.