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Janissaries Series
The ''Janissaries'' series of military and political-based science fiction novels are set in an interstellar confederation of races, in which humans are a slave race entrusted with military affairs and law enforcement. They were written by Jerry Pournelle, with Roland J. Green co-authoring the second two books. Works Overall story arc of the series A small force of mostly American troops, mercenaries under a secret CIA contract in Africa during the Cold War about to be annihilated by a Cuban military force, is "rescued" by the Shalnuksis, extraterrestrial beings part of an interstellar Confederation who offer them their lives in exchange for service on a primitive planet raising ''surinomaz'' ("madweed"), a plant used to produce a recreational drug. The primitive planet, called Tran, is populated by other humans of terrestrial origin, who have been secretly brought there at 600 year intervals over the past several thousand years of Earth history for the same purpose. In the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s and early 1970s, he worked in the aerospace industry, but eventually focused on his writing career. In an obituary in ''Gizmodo'', he is described as "a tireless ambassador for the future." Pournelle's hard science fiction writing received multiple awards. In addition to his solo writing, he wrote several novels with collaborators including Larry Niven. Pournelle served a term as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Pournelle's journalism focused primarily on the computer industry, astronomy, and space exploration. From the 1970s until the early 1990s, he contributed to the computer magazine ''Byte'', writing from the viewpoint of an intelligent user, with the oft-cited credo, "We do this stuff so you won't ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roland J
Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was military governor of the Breton March, responsible for defending Francia's frontier against the Bretons. His only historical attestation is in Einhard's ''Vita Karoli Magni'', which notes he was part of the Frankish rearguard killed in retribution by the Basques in Iberia at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. The story of Roland's death at Roncevaux Pass was embellished in later medieval and Renaissance literature. The first and most famous of these epic treatments was the Old French ''Chanson de Roland'' of the 11th century. Two masterpieces of Italian Renaissance poetry, the ''Orlando Innamorato'' and ''Orlando Furioso'' (by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Ludovico Ariosto respectively), are even further ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Weber
David Mark Weber (born October 24, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He has written several science-fiction and fantasy books series, the best known of which is the Honorverse, Honor Harrington science-fiction series. His debut novel, first novel, which he worked on with Steve White, sold in 1989 to Baen Books. Baen remains Weber's major publisher. Writing career Born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 24, 1952, Weber began writing while in elementary school, fifth grade. Some of Weber's first jobs within the writing/advertising world began after high school when he worked as copywriter, typesetter, proofreader, and paste-up artist. He later earned an undergraduate degree from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina and a Master of Arts, M.A. in history from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Weber's first published novels grew out of his work as a wargame designer for the Task Force Games, Task Force board wargame ''Starfire ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luis Bermejo
Luis Bermejo Rojo (12 August 1931 – 12 December 2015) was a Spanish illustrator and comics artist known for his work published in Spain, Italy, Great Britain, and the United States. He has illustrated a number of novels, and worked for a while with DC Comics. Biography Bermejo initially learned the trade as the assistant of Manuel Gago, before he began his comic book artist career in Britain in the late 1950s when through the agency A.L.I., he worked in the titles '' Girls' Crystal'' and ''Tarzan Weekly''. He worked on ''Thriller Picture'', ''John Steel'', ''War'', ''Battle Picture Libraries'', and ''Pike Mason'' in the early 1960s. In 1962 he started drawing the war-themed comic strip ''Mann of Battle'' for ''The Eagle'', and would draw the strip ''Heros the Spartan'' for that title in 1963. Later in the 1960s he would draw the super hero '' Johnny Future''. For much of the 1960s, Bermejo worked out of a studio in Valencia, Spain for the agency Bardon Arts with other artis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Fiction
Military fiction is a genre of fiction, focusing on military activities, such as war, battles, combat, fighting; or military life. Classes of military fiction Types of military fiction include: * War novels, including written military fiction * War films, military fiction in cinema * Military and war video games Subgenres of military fiction include: * Military science fiction * Naval fiction * Indian military fiction (of India) Works and elements of military fiction Works of military fiction: * List of military science fiction works and authors Elements of military fiction: * Military spacecraft in fiction Creators of military fiction * Military-entertainment complex * List of military science fiction works and authors References See also * W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction * Military history * Western (genre) * Chivalric romance (genre) * Chanbara (genre) * Wuxia ( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fictio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political Fiction
Political fiction employs narrative to Political commentary, comment on political events, systems and theories. Works of political fiction, such as political novels, often "directly criticize an existing society or present an alternative, even fantastic, reality". The political novel overlaps with the social novel, proletarian novel, and social science fiction. Plato's ''Republic (Plato), Republic'', a Socratic dialogue written around 380 BC, has been one of the world's most influential works of philosophy and Political philosophy, political theory, both intellectually and historically. The ''Republic'' is concerned with justice (:Wiktionary:δικαιοσύνη, δικαιοσύνη), the order and character of the just city-state, and the just man. Other influential politically-themed works include Thomas More's ''Utopia (book), Utopia'' (1516), Jonathan Swift's ''Gulliver's Travels'' (1726), Voltaire's ''Candide'' (1759), and Harriet Beecher Stowe's ''Uncle To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, extraterrestrial life, sentient artificial intelligence, cybernetics, certain forms of immortality (like mind uploading), and the singularity. Science fiction predicted several existing inventions, such as the atomic bomb, robots, and borazon, whose names entirely match their fictional predecessors. In addition, science fiction might serve as an outlet to facilitate future scientific and technological innovations. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is also related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Science fiction, in literature, film, television, and other media, has beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janissaries (novel)
''Janissaries'' is a science fiction novel by American author Jerry Pournelle. Originally published in 1979, and illustrated by comic artist Luis Bermejo, it is the first book of Pournelle's Janissaries series. The following books are '' Janissaries: Clan and Crown'', '' Janissaries III: Storms of Victory'' and Janissaries IV: Mamelukes. Like '' King David's Spaceship'', a novel in Pournelle's CoDominium Series, it is the story of a capable military leader undertaking campaigns on a backward planet. Plot introduction In ''Janissaries'', the leader is a United States Army officer from the Cold War period, Captain Rick Galloway, who along with his platoon-sized unit of soldiers primarily from the U.S. are abducted from a CIA-run operation against Cubans in the fictional tropical African country of Sainte-Marie by a flying saucer. The beings abducting them present themselves as rescuers from a hopeless situation where Galloway's unit is about to be overrun by Cubans in a night a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clan And Crown
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning that their members can marry one another. Clans preceded more centralized forms of community organization and government, and exist in every country. Members may identify with a coat of arms or other symbol to show that they are an . Kinship-based groups may also have a symbolic ancestor, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Etymology The English word "clan" is derived from old Irish meaning "children", "offspring", "progeny" or "descendants"; it is not from the word for "family" or "clan" in either Irish or Scottish Gaelic. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the word "clan" was introduced into English in around 1425, as a descriptive label for the organization ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Storms Of Victory
A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation (snowstorm, rainstorm), heavy freezing rain (ice storm), strong winds (tropical cyclone, windstorm), wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere such as in a dust storm, among other forms of severe weather. Storms have the potential to harm lives and property via storm surge, heavy rain or snow causing flooding or road impassibility, lightning, wildfires, and vertical and horizontal wind shear. Systems with significant rainfall and duration help alleviate drought in places they move through. Heavy snowfall can allow special recreational activities to take place which would not be possible otherwise, such as skiing and snowmobiling. The English word comes from Proto-Germanic ''*sturmaz'' meaning "noise, tumu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janissary
A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan (1324–1362), during the Viziership of Alaeddin. Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the devşirme system of child levy, by which Christian Albanians, Romanians, Armenians, Bulgarians, Croats, Greeks and Serbs were taken, levied, subjected to circumcision and conversion to Islam, and incorporated into the Ottoman army. They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves, they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden to marry before the age of 40 or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Sultan was expected. By the seventeenth century, due to a dramatic increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army, the corps' initially strict recruitment policy was relaxed. Civili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaos Manor
Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s and early 1970s, he worked in the aerospace industry, but eventually focused on his writing career. In an obituary in ''Gizmodo'', he is described as "a tireless ambassador for the future." Pournelle's hard science fiction writing received multiple awards. In addition to his solo writing, he wrote several novels with collaborators including Larry Niven. Pournelle served a term as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Pournelle's journalism focused primarily on the computer industry, astronomy, and space exploration. From the 1970s until the early 1990s, he contributed to the computer magazine ''Byte'', writing from the viewpoint of an intelligent user, with the oft-cited credo, "We do this stuff so you won't ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
