Military Sci-Fi
 

Military Sci-Fi and Military non-fiction being my two main areas of interest, I have compiled a list of books that might interest you. The attached PDF file is general military science fiction and fantasy with a few odd books as well. It is organized by author and grouped by series. I made the list several years ago when I realized that I kept buying books I already had. :confused:

Hope this helps!

Peregrino's right!
 

BTW Peregrino's right! Ringo, Weber, and Drake are todays standard in Military Sci-Fi.:munchin

Oblique -
Outstanding List!! I've read most of it, and had the same problem with rebuying books.
I noticed one big miss in the Niven- Pournelle series - "The Mote in God's Eye" wasn't there.
A Few more additions:
If you can find it a great addition to your list, not really SciFi or military - is "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M Miller (1959)
Saberhagen's "Sword Trilogy"
"The Grey Mane of Morning" Joy Chant
"Steppe" Piers Anthony
"The Once and Future King" and "The Book of Merlin" T.H. White
"Mother" Maxim Gorky (the FOGs will really get a kick out of this one)
"Alas, Babylon" Pat Frank (may be out of print)
Anything by Kurt Vonnegut Jr

"Old Man's War" and "Ghost Brigades" by John Scalzi.

"Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank is still in print. Excellent book. It was required reading in one of my high school english classes. Still good today.

There's 3 books in the Jannissaries Series - Storms of Victory, and there is another one that should be out soon.

Just about any Ben Bova book is a good read with few exceptions.

The Commonwealth Series by Alan Dean Foster is very good. Comprised of around 20 books, all different stories in the same universe.

Nice to know we've got some genuine "literati" kicking around in here. Also nice to see people still reading the classics (Alas Babylon). Looks like most of us have similar preferences. OA - I can't read your .pdf file. :( I was hoping to find something I hadn't already read that came recommended. MW - I just finished both of Scalzi's books, still sitting on the end table waiting to be shelved. Well worth the effort to find (we discussed "Old Man's War" here last year(?)). An idea for those of you without access to B&N etc.; check out http://www.baen.com/. Baen has made their niche in the publishing world by concentrating on SF (with a strong military orientation). Jim Baen has an interesting philosophy about the internet and he's very supportive of the military as a whole. I sent them a request a couple years ago and they gave me 50+ cds with books on them (probably 60 titles on four different CDs) that I sent to my brother while he was in Iraq. Takes a laptop to read but he says they went over well. Baen also has a broad free library available online and a web subscription service to sell books at reasonable prices - less than bookstore. If you have internet and a CC you can feed your habit from anywhere in the world. FWIW - Peregrino

+1 on clancy, especially Without Remorse and Clear and Present Danger

Just read Blood Meridian, really enjoyed it, although it's some pretty heavy stuff.

Also, since we're into non-military fiction, I just read the unabridged version of The Stand, by King. One of the best books I've ever read, and at over 1100 pages, should eat up plenty of a soldier's free time.

Oh, and another good nonfiction book, if anyone's familiar with it: Ghost Soldiers, by Hampton Sides. Story of the rescue of the Cabantuan POW camp towards the end of WWII. I think that the recent movie "The Great Raid" was based on this book and another.

Military Fiction
 

STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert A. Heinlein

JANISSARIES by Jerry Pournelle

THE MERCENARY or FALKENBURG'S LEGION by Jerry Pournelle

DORSAI! by Gordon Dickenson

("Starship Troopers" and a Jerry Pournelle's "Mercenary" series were indirectly responsible for my joining the military. I re-read "Starship Troopers" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" every couple of years)

(TERM LIMITS by Vince Flynn is pretty good too, as a political thriller)

I'm going to throw Catch 22 and Dune into the ring. Both are outstanding.

+1 on the Dune series

You guys ought to try some of the 'classic' Russian / soviet fiction - Gorky, Gogol, Trotsky, even Dostoyevsky and later Solszheynitsyn (sp. can never spell his name), yeah they all wrote fiction, well, besides the propoganda stuff. Interesting insights into the mind of the Russian/ Soviet people - the xenophobia was there prior to Bolshevism.

Classic Oriental and Middle Eastern fiction and philosophy are really interesting too. The minds of our allies and enemies. Khalil Gibran is one that comes to mind for Middle Eastern, and The Kite Runner.

Esoteric, but kind of fits wit hthe SF mentality is Coelho's The Alchemist.

And a real kick in the pants to all practicing and lapsed Catholics - A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Man, that keeps coming up. Library time.

Thanks, everyone, for more great suggestions. It's nice to see some old favorites make the list.

And, of course, my own "need-to-read" list just gets longer and longer...

Mug - Canticle was written in '59 - the 'sequel' St Leibowitz and the Mad Horsewoman was published not too long ago - just after Miller's death - finished by a collaborator - I need to read that one pretty soon.

Scifi military?
 

Armor by John Steakley
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
The first 4 collections of the Bolo shot stories (various authors)
Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh (though this is space opera)
Voice of the Whirlwind by Walter Jon Williams
Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies by Richard K Morgan

j

Reading Vonnegut at a young age can cause drain brammage, trust me I know!;)