Ep 017 "Military Science Fiction and the Profession of Arms"
Conflict futurism and the leveraging of past future tense...
The noblest fate that a man can endure is to place his own mortal body between his loved home and the war's desolation."
Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers
Effective 20 June 2025, I did a major improved revision on the sound quality for all my WarNotes episodes retroactively thanks to the technology at Podsworth.
I think the military science fiction milieu provides a great tool for forecasting and predicting possible conflict futures.
It may be yet another tool to take this magnificent US 20th century fighting machine and make it a peer combat competitor in the 21st century.
Speculative fiction provides a means to extrapolate what possible war futures are peering over the horizon.
Books:
Military Fiction
Eric Frank Russell The Wasp
Karl Marlantes Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War
James Jones From Here to Eternity
James Gould Cozzens Guard of Honor
Anton Myrer Once an Eagle
Paul Avallone Tattoo Zoo
Military Science Fiction
Michael Z. Williamson The Weapon (Freehold Series)
Joe Haldeman The Forever War (The Forever War Series)
Robert A. Heinlein Starship Troopers
Kali Altsoba Invasion!: The Orion War
Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven Legacy of Beowulf
Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven Footfall
Jerry Pournelle and SM Stirling West of Honor (CoDominium Future History Book 1)
Craig Dilouie Tooth and Nail
Email at cgpodcast@pm.me
The Last Hundred Yards
Bill I suggest the Savage wars series which is outstanding. Then it continues to Galaxy’s edge. Now I don’t care for season 3 but season 1-2 are really good. Season 1-2 kinda jumps back and forth which I find ok because it makes the re-read fun and you pick up on a lot of extra tidbits you missed. War bots, AI, the destruction of earth, hyperdrive, even some mysticism beyond our galaxy. The writers Jason Anspach, Nick Cole co wrote the series. The audiobooks are excellent. Highly action packed extremely detailed like listening to a play by play sporting event. The one caveat is this is very Star Wars flavor. But I think these two writer are much better with details and more accurate to modern times. Great show today but they are alway good. Thanks