Hammer’s Slammers

OK, maybe it’s not fair to put a collection of short stories on this list, but it’s a single idea collection, and it’s also one of the most incredible you’ll ever find. David Drake’s greatest creation, Colonel Alois Hammer, is exactly the kind of character you want to follow through adventures. His entire regiment is full of characters, but not in that annoying ‘one-of-every-type’ cliché, but exactly what I’d expect to find in an actual regiment. Everyone has a reason for being there, from sense of honor and duty, to plain old-fashioned revenge. There are some troubling character tropes, and it wasn’t exactly the most progressive work of fiction. Hammer’s Slammers is another work that rise up from the experience of the author. Drake had been in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam, which shows in the details. The literary influences range from the Odyssey, to Dashiell Hammett’s classic Red Harvest. The stories are each beautifully executed, and never fall into the trap of being too far removed from one another, or simply a novel told through short form Instead, they each live and breathe on their own, but still move you towards a common goal. Like a good tank regiment should. Why it’s on the list The story Standing Down alone is worth a place on the list, and that it’s one of many masterfully constructed tales.