A Belated Goodbye to Mr. Drake

I learned today that a military science fiction writer whose work that I have enjoyed passed away back in 2023 following a Parkinson’s disease announcement in 2019. David Drake was an accomplished writer who served with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (the Blackhorse Regiment) during the Vietnam War. He was drafted and pulled from his studies at Duke University’s law school to serve as an interrogator. After the war he returned to the classroom, worked for a time as a practicing attorney, and then became a full time writer.

My first introduction to Mr. Drake’s work was the novel, The Sharp End. The story is about a survey team representing the Frisian Defense Forces whose task is “…assessing potential customers for field force deployments." The Frisian Defense Forces were farmed out as military advisors and mercenaries as a way to defray the costs of maintaining a large standing military and to keep the military honed and ready for war. This stemmed from the origins of the Frisian Defense Forces as Hammer’ Slammers, a renowned mercenary regiment. In addition to The Sharp End, I have read some of the Hammer’s Slammers short stories. I have a compilation of the stories in the Hammer’s Slammers universe and now I am feeling the need to resume my time with some of the hardest charging mercenaries that ever fired a plasma bolt in anger.

Below is a link to the Wikipedia article on Mr. Drake and a link to Baen Books’ webpage (Baen Books ) for The Sharp End. From there, you can read a sample of the novel, purchase a copy, and branch out into other books by Mr. Drake. Baen Books even offers The Baen Free Library where you can read some books from a number of authors for free.

The plot of The Sharp End reminded me of the plot of the Clint Eastwood western film, A Fistful of Dollars. The parties warring on Cantilucca are not particularly good people and the people of Cantilucca are caught in the middle. Imagine trying to decide which cartel to support in a gang war. It’s been a while since I read the novel, but I remember enjoying it immensely.

Goodbye, Mr. Drake. Thank you for your service and thank you for your contribution to science fiction. Rest in peace, sir. 🇺🇸📚😔

“David Drake” Wikipedia article

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Drake

The Sharp End webpage

https://www.baen.com/the-sharp-end.html