The Hammer’s Slammers series of Military SF stories and novels focus on a mercenary armored regiment in the 30th century. I based the fiction on my experience in 1970 with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Viet-Nam and Cambodia.
For information about the stories and novels, see Hammer’s Slammers Fiction
The series has been adapted to various forms of gaming. See Hammer’s Slammers Games
HAMMER’S SLAMMERS (Ace/1979)
CROSS THE STARS (Connected to Hammer Series) (Tor/1984)
AT ANY PRICE (Baen/1985)
COUNTING THE COST (Baen/1987)
ROLLING HOT (Baen/1989)
THE WARRIOR (Baen/1991)
THE SHARP END (Baen/1993)
THE VOYAGE (Connected to Hammer Series) (Tor/1994)
PAYING THE PIPER (three Hammer novellas) (Baen/2002)
THE COMPLETE HAMMER’S SLAMMERS vol.1 (Night Shade Books/2006; pb edition Baen/2008)
THE COMPLETE HAMMER’S SLAMMERS vol.2 (Night Shade Books/2006; pb edition Baen/2010)
THE COMPLETE HAMMER’S SLAMMERS vol.3 (Night Shade Books/2007; pb edition Baen/2010)
This volume features all of the Hammer’s Slammer short fiction, as well as all of the interstitial material from the original Slammers collection, new artwork and new interstitial material. Volume 1 also features an introduction by Gene Wolfe and an original Slammers story, “A Death in Peacetime.”
This volume features the first four Hammer Novels: At Any Price (1985), Counting the Cost (1987), Rolling Hot (1989) and The Warrior (1991) as well as new artwork and new interstitial material. Volume 2 also features an Introduction by David Hartwell and an original Slammers story, “A Day of Glory”.
This volume contains the last two Hammer Novels: The Sharp End (1993) and Paying the Piper (2002) as well as new artwork, and a new Slammers story, “The Darkness.” Volume 3 features an introduction by Barry Malzberg.
Yes, in several fashions.
Mayfair Games brought out a Hammer’s Slammers board game back in the ’80s.
Intracorps licensed electronic game rights to Hammer’s Slammers in the mid ’90s. They got seriously into development, but they were overextended and went bankrupt well before they completed the game. (They paid me part of the money. The business was frustrating in a number of respects, but I was paid well enough to justify the hassle.) continue reading…
Vierziger is named in a manner of speaking after the Mifune character in Sanjuro where he takes an obvious alias from the chrysanthemum trees growing in the garden. My intent was to do something that had no obvious natural explanation in a work that was otherwise straight SF/adventure. In a degree I was playing off the myth of the Vegan Orbital Fort in Blish’s Earthman, Come Home.
The other part of what I was doing there was offering a chance at redemption to a very damaged person. I was finally able to address that directly in Redliners; I guess I was working up to it.
I’ll probably do more, but I don’t have current plans.
Pireme Publishing will launch the definitive guide to wargaming the characters and actions in David Drake’s Hammer’s Slammers books. Hammer’s Slammers – The Crucible contains:
• A unique Slammers story introduction by David Drake • Character History and Background • Vehicle and Weapon Designs and Technical Specifications • Full Profiles of the Slammers, other mercenary units and aliens • Easy to Play Rules and Scenarios • Unit Cards • Painting Guide by Kevin Dallimore • A4 Hardback format • Full colour throughout
Featured in Miniature Wargames Magazine, Issue 325 continue reading…
I’ve always found it easier to use real settings and cultures than to invent my own. No matter how good a writer’s imagination, the six or seven millennia of available human history can do a better job of creating backgrounds.
More than ten years ago I finally took the advice my friends Jim Baen and Mark Van Name had been giving me and did an afterword, explaining where I got the details of the book I’d just completed. I’d resisted this, feeling that it was bad art–the book should explain itself–and anyway, it was unnecessary. It was obvious to any reader that I was using historical and mythological backgrounds, so why should I bother to tell them? continue reading…