John Dalmas (1926–2017)

When their parents flee just steps ahead of the thought police, Larn and Deneen, along with their espwolf, decide to rescue them. Suspecting that their parents are bound for the almost mythical planet of Fanglith, they take off in pursuit. The myth is that F.anglith was used as a prison planet thousands of years ago and people were marooned there with no technology. Some survived and their descendents began the long road back to civilization on a planet its inhabitants now call Earth. Landing in Medieval Europe they begin the search for their parents ...

Although marketed as SF when published, today this book would almost certainly get a Young Adult label. It's a quick read and Larn and Deneen are teenagers. However, that didn't keep me from being diverted by their adventures. I particularly liked the role played by Bubba, the espwolf.… (mais)

In John Dalmas’s Soldiers, 14,000 alien warships appear from nowhere in the human Commonwealth and start attacking entire planets, exterminating all of the humans, and resettling and terraforming these worlds for themselves – kind of six limbed, powerful mini-dinosaurs with brains and guns. Typically all humans die. The Commonwealth doesn’t even find out about this until this has happened to several planets and warning is gotten away secretly.

The Commonwealth is unprepared for this, as it hasn’t had war in centuries, and it has virtually no fleet nor army to speak of. In order to get the time to build up both, more worlds will fall and more people will die.

A lot happens in this book as we follow one particular group of recruits from a religious-based (as in zealots) planet as they train, as well as following the build up of the fleet and the tactics used in an effort to gain intelligence and to “annoy” the enemy. Additionally, there are peaceniks at home who think this is all a hoax, "peaceniks" who want peace so badly, they are willing to kill to get it. It all makes for good drama and a pretty good book. The ultimate land and orbital battles are tactically gripping and are well written. You can draw certain conclusions from this book, philosophically, although I wouldn’t put it in the same category as Ender’s Game or its sequels. Still, if you want to think about things, you can. If you don’t want to, just enjoy the explosions. It’s typical Dalmas – a four star book and recommended.… (mais)