David Drake Books in Order

Warlord Arthur sends adventurers Mael and Starkad to recover an ancient skull and weapons that will let Merlin raise and control a dragon. Their quest exposes them to monsters and sorcery while threatening to unleash destruction across Britain.

These linked stories follow Colonel Alois Hammer's mercenary tank regiment through wars on distant planets. Soldiers operating armored vehicles face the violence of paid warfare, where survival, orders and political interests often pull them in conflicting directions.

Soviet physicist Emil Vlasov tries to give America secret laser technology, believing it is needed to stop an alien invasion. American operative Tom Kelly must navigate Cold War rivalries to get the information into the right hands.

In the fractured Roman Empire of 262 AD, imperial agent Aulus faces invasions, unrest and rival rulers. His work to preserve civilization takes an unexpected turn when enemies beyond humanity enter a struggle already threatening Rome's survival.

Mercenary Don Slade sets out for Tethys, hoping to reunite with his son and the woman he loves. Dangerous planets interrupt his journey through space, and reaching home may only bring him to another battle.

A mercenary company is betrayed by the leaders who hired it and offered to an enemy determined to execute its soldiers. The survivors must fight across a hostile planet, confronting opposing armies, treachery and overwhelming military hardware.

Newt Gingrich outlines an opportunity society built around technological development and expanded space exploration. Written with Marianne Gingrich and David Drake, the book also considers government efficiency, Social Security and defense as parts of its proposed political program.

Hammer's Slammers are hired to support human colonists against an uprising by the planet's native inhabitants. Their superior weapons seem decisive, but the opposing fighters can teleport, undermining the mercenaries' assumptions about how to win the conflict.

Roman beast hunter Lycon pursues an escaped creature that has begun killing throughout the city. The animal comes from another world and matches his intelligence, turning the hunt into a struggle with consequences far beyond the arena.

An exclusive seaside resort called The Cloud occupies a former Victorian mansion near Hawkins' Cove. Over one summer, the men and women staying there encounter relationships and experiences that change the course of their lives.

Three visitors claiming to come from a peaceful future help university researchers build a time transporter. When experiments begin going dangerously wrong, the scientists discover that their helpers' secret purposes may involve a war they cannot yet understand.

This collection pairs stories about Jed Lacey, a hunter of criminals in a society monitored by government cameras, with time-travel tales. Its contrasting adventures include journeys through time and an expedition devoted to hunting dinosaurs.

Hammer's Slammers face a war on two fronts while trying to preserve civilian authority against religious extremists. The mercenaries' task demands more than battlefield success, as military necessity collides with the political order they are employed to defend.

In an alternate Cold War, a space station is intended to protect Earth from attack. Discovering an alien corpse brings operative Tom Kelly out of retirement, just as hostile forces threaten to turn the station against the world below.

An emperor's death leaves a child as the successor to an interstellar realm. Its leaders must decide whether to support the heir or pursue their own interests, while the threat of civil war puts civilization's survival at risk.

The Alliance launches a campaign to retake space occupied by Khalian invaders in this military science fiction anthology. Soldiers from different worlds and cultures share the task of pushing back enemies who regard other intelligent species as prey.

Warrior Samlor carries a powerful magical dagger through the dangerous city of Sanctuary. Protecting his niece's inheritance draws him into a confrontation with black sorcery, where the weapon he relies on poses dangers of its own.

This anthology explores futuristic hunting through stories by Michael Shaara, Robert Silverberg, Clifford Simak and others. Humans pursue alien creatures, putting the familiar act of the hunt into unfamiliar environments where the stakes extend beyond ordinary sport.

Human expansion into the galaxy brings contact with the predatory Khalians, who treat other intelligent beings as food. This anthology follows the Fleet's soldiers and spacers as they defend threatened worlds against an enemy that takes no prisoners.

Dennis leaves the city of Emath after learning a disturbing truth about his father's rule. In the wilderness, monsters and dark magic test his courage, while the possibility of love draws him toward dangers that threaten his soul.

Eleven science fiction stories turn humans into quarry for unfamiliar predators. The anthology includes encounters with an alien collector, a curious monster and a creature loose from a spacecraft, exploring dangers that reverse the familiar relationship between hunter and hunted.

The Alliance Fleet strikes back against the Khalians in this collection of linked military science fiction stories. Pilots and marines fight to recover conquered planets, defend against new invasions and destroy strongholds in a war spanning human and alien worlds.

David Drake and Janet Morris send their characters exploring the underworld in a full-length fantasy novel. With no maps to guide the journey, the possibility of escaping Hell raises uneasy questions about intentions and the route to freedom.

Captain Ranson leads an improvised force of recruits and veterans across three hundred miles of enemy-held territory. In the midst of a major offensive, the soldiers must keep moving and fighting despite the dangers confronting their armored column.

Captain Allison Spencer has been driven into addiction after imperial political maneuvering destroys his marriage. When aliens threaten the empire, he becomes the man positioned to stop them, despite having every reason to resent the rulers who need him.

This collection draws on the ancient world for stories of soldiers, monsters and supernatural danger. Alongside the Vettius tales are adventures involving a barrow troll, Roman warriors and creatures that bring myth into violent contact with human lives.

Humans and aliens become partners in the hunt in this anthology edited by David Drake. Stories by Roger Zelazny, Harlan Ellison, Poul Anderson and others explore cooperation between species through encounters with unfamiliar creatures and shared dangers.

After fleets disappear investigating Northworld, the galaxy's rulers send commissioner Nils Hansen alone. The ruthless investigator enters a world where advanced technology resembles divine power, and finding the missing expeditions means surviving rival warriors and competing rulers.

On a hostile Venus, people live in underwater cities while mercenary fleets fight their wars on the surface. A civilian drawn to soldiering discovers what that life demands amid dangerous seas, predatory wildlife and conflicts between the cities.

The Fleet's struggle against the Khalians enters a new phase as Alliance technology transforms the fighting. This anthology includes human-minded weapons, self-replicating machines and deceptive ships, raising new problems for soldiers already committed to a devastating interstellar war.

Two fantasy tales send ordinary men into worlds that resist familiar rules. L. Sprague de Camp's practical Rollin Hobart enters an irrational realm, while David Drake's ghostwriter Joe Johnson finds himself caught inside a fairy tale.

The Fleet has defeated the Khalians, but discovers a more dangerous power behind their invasion. This anthology follows exhausted soldiers confronting the human-led Syndicate of Families, whose advanced technology and ability to infiltrate the Fleet threaten countless worlds.

Humans and their former Khalian enemies join forces against the Syndicate of Families. In this anthology, the Fleet faces an enemy with superior technology and human infiltrators, while uncertainty about the coming attack threatens the worlds it must defend.

In these connected tales, an Appalachian backwoodsman uses cunning and supernatural abilities to help his neighbors. Old Nathan confronts restless ghosts, witches, bullies and a hostile clan, while the possibility of another chance at life challenges his own choices.

Colonel Hammer and his mercenary soldiers face a conflict that threatens to become a bloodbath. This volume combines the title story with Liberty Port, following members of the regiment through the pressures and violence of their profession.

Security commissioner Nils Hansen enters the dangerous realm of Northworld, where earlier expeditions have disappeared without explanation. His investigation confronts the mystery of their fate in a place that has defeated every previous attempt to explore it.

The enormous battlestation Stephen Hawking takes a mixed human and alien crew beyond familiar space to fight the insectoid Ichton. This collection follows their battles while constant combat and cramped conditions threaten unity aboard the station itself.

Nils Hansen is caught in the struggle for the Matrix, the technological bridge connecting Northworld's warring planes through space and time. Gods and human combatants pursue control of the system, drawing him into a conflict shaped by overwhelming weapons.

The passenger liner Empress of Earth carries six thousand people between distant worlds when an interstellar war threatens its neutrality. Ran Colville and the crew must protect the passengers and bring their ship home through the spreading conflict.

On Venus, hostile jungles and dangerous seas force humanity into domed underwater cities. Mercenary warships fight the cities' proxy wars, and soldiers continue their work amid fear and destruction as the world around them comes apart.

A powerful townsman's feud with a rancher threatens to tear Mannheim apart, with private soldiers and an armed marshal taking sides. The return of Brian's brother in a formidable car pushes the confrontation toward open violence.

Humanity's expanding colonies face judgment by an alien court whose overseers distrust human independence. This shared-world collection follows the Harriers, fleet troubleshooters whose willingness to break rules clashes with the strict supervision imposed on their missions.

Two rival criminal syndicates prepare for a devastating war on Cantilucca, a planet ruled by violence and the drug trade. A small survey team from Hammer's Slammers arrives to assess the situation and possible military intervention.

The crew of the huge space station Stephen Hawking prepares for an insectoid assault in this shared-world anthology. Exhaustion, confinement, and internal tensions threaten to give the approaching enemy an advantage before the fighting begins.

Captain Piet Ricimer and weapons expert Stephen Gregg seek valuable surviving technology among scattered star colonies. Their trading voyages become violent confrontations as Earth's authoritarian Federation moves to control the same worlds and their resources.

Young Ned Slade joins Captain Lissea Doormann's spaceship Swift on a mission to recover a valuable alien artifact. Dangerous planetary landings and rival ambitions test whether he can become the warrior his family name promises.

Time travel brings human hunters face to face with prehistoric predators in these linked adventures. As modern weapons meet the strength and instincts of dinosaurs, the distinction between hunter and prey becomes dangerously uncertain.

Human settlers on New Hope in the Centauri system are divided into heavily armed clans whose feuds produce mounting casualties. Their promising colony becomes a battleground as rival groups struggle to survive their escalating hostilities.

Military science fiction stories follow soldiers facing combat, dangerous missions, and the lasting effects of war. An armored battalion confronts an ancient alien enemy, while other tales examine how ordinary people endure extraordinary violence and return to civilian life.

Piet Ricimer and Stephen Gregg lead a Venusian expedition toward a breach into another universe, seeking Federation wealth and technology. The route has claimed earlier explorers, and hostile forces make their trading venture a dangerous raid.

Humorous science fiction and fantasy stories follow unlikely fighters, including paratrooper goblins, mercenary elves, and space police working under an alien supervisor. Their adventures combine dangerous assignments with absurd situations, finding comic possibilities in worlds shaped by conflict.

Captain Sarah Blythe seeks repayment after the Federation tries to seize her ship and cargo. Joining Piet Ricimer and Stephen Gregg, she prepares a raid while the Federation assembles a fleet to crush Venus's independence.

Earth's corrupt government plans to seize Greenwood from the pioneers who settled it. Led by Yerby Bannock, the independent colonists must overcome their divisions while confronting military force, legal threats, and betrayal within their own ranks.

Traumatized veterans led by Major Arthur Farrell are assigned to protect civilians establishing a colony on a deadly planet. When the mission goes wrong, soldiers deemed unfit for ordinary life must defend people facing catastrophe.

As magical forces rise toward a thousand-year peak, young villagers leave their isolated home and become entangled in the Isles' struggle for unity. Their emerging abilities and hidden heritage draw them toward a threatened kingdom.

Garric travels toward Valles to claim his place in the Isles' royal succession, but dangerous magic disrupts the journey. Separated across strange worlds, he and his companions confront forces threatening both their reunion and the kingdom.

Navy lieutenant Daniel Leary and displaced scholar Adele Mundy meet on neutral Kostroma as its diplomatic protection collapses. With an improvised crew and few resources, they must confront an invasion that threatens the planet's independence.

A mysterious magical bridge appears in Valles, while seven wizards work to raise the sunken island of Yole. Sharina's sudden abduction scatters Garric's companions into unfamiliar realms as they confront the forces behind the disturbances.

Daniel Leary commands the Princess Cecile on a mission to suppress unrest in a neighboring star system. Alongside intelligence officer Adele Mundy, he faces a royal hostage, treacherous allies, and pirates threatening his ship and crew.

Prince Garric's newly established government faces western rebels and ancient supernatural enemies. Torn from his own time and body, he must seek unfamiliar allies while his scattered companions confront threats that could destroy the Isles.

Lieutenant Arne Huber leads a combat-car platoon after a tariff dispute erupts into war on Plattner's World. The Slammers' assignment becomes increasingly dangerous as rival factions and investors exploit the conflict for power and profit.

Garric's party arrives in Carcosa, where Tenoctris detects a supernatural attack. Investigations into endangered shipping and magical assaults scatter the companions across different worlds, threatening their effort to unite the Isles against increasingly powerful sorcery.

Speculative stories explore conflict and control in imagined societies, from a surveillance state to a fleet charged with maintaining galactic peace. Soldiers and observers confront the costs of authority, duty, and violence as they navigate systems that offer uncertain protection.

During a fragile peace, Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy escort wealthy nobles aboard their former warship, now a private yacht. A distant expedition uncovers an Alliance threat that could overturn the balance of power.

Garric and his companions visit Sandrakkan to strengthen the Isles' unity, but old enmities threaten their royal progress. A hostile countess plots with her wizard to replace him, drawing on dangerous forces beyond the human world.

This collection gathers Hammer's Slammers short fiction alongside material explaining the mercenary regiment's equipment and organization. Soldiers face difficult decisions in battle and peace, including the previously uncollected story A Death in Peacetime.

Riots divide Cinnabar as Daniel Leary serves under a dangerously paranoid commander and Adele Mundy faces pressure to join a conspiracy. Political upheaval and advancing Alliance fleets threaten both their survival and the Republic.

This collection follows soldiers confronting violence, divided loyalties, and the uneasy aftermath of war. Two Hammer's Slammers adventures join other science fiction tales exploring the dangers facing fighters whose habits outlast their military assignments.

Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy must prevent Pellegrino's forces from conquering Dunbar's World. Their corvette has empty missile tubes, leaving them dependent on intelligence, ingenuity, and uncertain local support against a well-equipped invading army.

Four Hammer's Slammers novels follow professional mercenaries through violent assignments and conflicts within their own ranks. Collecting At Any Price, Counting the Cost, Rolling Hot, and The Warrior, this volume examines the human costs of military service.

Prince Garric and his companions travel among the Isles to secure his succession and unite local kingdoms. Surging magic separates them, while the Green Woman's mysterious fortress threatens their efforts to establish a lasting realm.

This volume collects The Sharp End, Paying the Piper, and the novella The Darkness. Hammer's mercenaries confront criminal rule and profitable wars, weighing their professional obligations against the damage their employers and military decisions inflict.

A magical upheaval drains the ocean and transforms the Isles into a continent assembled from different times and places. Garric and his companions face unfamiliar creatures and landscapes while struggling to preserve their fragile new kingdom.

The transformation of the Isles has displaced their old gods and opened the way for dangerous new powers. Garric and his companions confront the summoned Worm, whose advance threatens all life in their newly formed kingdom.

Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy are sent to help the Bagarian cluster rebel against the Alliance. Treacherous politicians, mutiny, and superior enemy forces complicate a mission their small corvette seems poorly equipped to undertake.

Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy face an embittered senator, an unpredictable young ruler, and a world shaped by slavery. Their mission demands overcoming political danger and capturing an enemy base their lone cruiser should be unable to defeat.

Strange events threaten the city of Carce while northern magicians attempt to summon destructive supernatural forces. Corylus, Varus, Hedia, and Alphena pursue separate investigations through other realities, seeking answers before their world is consumed by fire.

Sent to the fringes of human space after an exhausting war, Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy discover threats to the new peace. Pirates and traitors intend to exploit both weakened powers, forcing another dangerous intervention.

Young Allen Allenson accepts a frontier mission to drive encroaching Terrans from a disputed star sector. Hoping to restore his family's fortunes, he instead encounters rival political schemes and alien Riders determined to manipulate him.

An elaborate public spectacle in Carce reveals what appears to be an attack by a monstrous sea creature. A few spectators recognize the display as dangerous magic, raising fears that supernatural powers are entering their world.

The High Secretary's death leaves the Pact of Mankind's four thousand worlds vulnerable to a succession struggle. Military leaders, corporations, imperial relatives, rebels, and enslaved alien populations maneuver for power as the decaying empire faces collapse.

Horror, fantasy, and alternate-history stories follow people confronting monsters, violence, and their own fears. Notes accompanying the tales connect these imagined threats with David Drake's writing career, offering background on the stories and the people involved in their creation.

A jealous admiral diverts Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy from a coup-prevention assignment into a violent commercial frontier. Amid rebellion and extortion, they must confront an intelligence officer whose plans threaten to trigger a devastating war.

Two novels follow dangerous journeys in the Hammer's Slammers universe: Don Slade struggles to reach home, while young Ned Slade joins an expedition for an alien artifact. Both face violent obstacles to their ambitions.

In the Roman-inspired city of Carce, Varus experiences a vision of enormous crystalline worms consuming the world. A family visit becomes entangled with supernatural threats, drawing Varus, Corylus, Hedia, and Alphena into another struggle against catastrophic forces.

This collection gathers five time-travel adventures, including Henry Vickers's work guiding wealthy dinosaur hunters whose behavior creates dangers beyond the animals. Another story follows two teenagers aboard an airship exploring unusual phenomena across America in 1897.

Captain Daniel Leary and spy Adele Mundy escort a treasure-seeker to a mining planet torn by civil war. Kidnappers, pirates, and hostile factions threaten the mission, while the rumored treasure may be far older and more valuable than expected.

Hedia and Varus follow mysterious visitors through a supernatural opening, prompting Alphena and Corylus to search for them. Their journeys cross Carce, India, and the Otherworld as magical dangers and the forces of Bacchus threaten their world.

Veteran Allen Allenson must lead the Cutter Stream colonies in a war against their distant homeworld. Though he hates conflict and doubts his qualifications as a general, his understanding of the colonists makes him their best hope for independence.

Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy are drawn into a distant rebellion that could reignite war between Cinnabar and the Alliance. Facing superior enemy forces, they must also question whether the officials employing them truly want their mission to succeed.

Rural youth Pal travels to Dun Add hoping to become a Champion in a shattered universe connected by a mysterious Road. His ability to restore ancient technology offers promise, but he understands little of the violence awaiting him.

Roy Olfetrie's naval ambitions collapse after his father's crimes are exposed, until Daniel Leary offers him a chance. Accompanying Leary and Adele Mundy throws Roy into warfare, piracy, and betrayal that test both his resourcefulness and his principles.

Champion Pal of Beune searches for his missing mentor Guntram in a universe fragmented by chaos. His effort to rescue the man who trained him leads toward an encounter with a force that may underpin the world's broken condition.

The exploration ship Far Traveller charts routes and studies unfamiliar worlds during a fragile peace. Its crew faces ambitious regional powers, while the science director pursues traces of ancient spacefarers whose history could transform humanity's understanding of the galaxy.

Knight and Maker Pal defends Lord Jon's efforts to unite scattered humanity in a fractured cosmos. Monsters from the Waste threaten that vision, but enemies within Dun Add demand his skills with ancient technology, combat, and his perceptive warrior dog.