War Stories: New Military Science Fiction

By Andrew Liptak and Jaym Gates

In War Stories: New Military Science Fiction, editors Andrew Liptak and Jaym Gates collects short stories by science fiction and fantasy authors dealing with the effects of war prior, during, and after battle to soldiers and their families.

War is everywhere. Not only among the firefights, in the sweat dripping from heavy armor and the clenching grip on your weapon, but also wedging itself deep into families, infiltrating our love letters, hovering in the air above our heads. It's in our dreams and our text messages. At times it roars with adrenaline, while at others it slips in silently so it can sit beside you until you forget it's there.

Join Joe Haldeman, Linda Nagata, Karin Lowachee, Ken Liu, Jay Posey, and more as they take you on a tour of the battlefields, from those hurtling through space in spaceships and winding along trails deep in the jungle with bullets whizzing overhead, to the ones hiding behind calm smiles, waiting patiently to reveal itself in those quiet moments when we feel safest. War Stories brings us 23 stories of the impacts of war, showcasing the systems, combat, armor, and aftermath without condemnation or glorification.

Instead, War Stories reveals the truth.

War is what we are.

Table of Contents:

Foreword -- Gregory Drobny
Graves -- Joe Haldeman

Part 1: Wartime Systems
In the Loop -- Ken Liu
Ghost Girl -- Rich Larson
The Radio -- Susan Jane Bigelow
Contractual Obligation -- James L. Cambias
The Wasp Keepers -- Mark Jacobsen
Non-Standard Deviation -- Richard Dansky

Part 2: Combat
All You Need -- Mike Sizemore
The Valkyrie -- Maurice Broaddus
One Million Lira -- Thoraiya Dyer
Invincible -- Jay Posey
Light and Shadow -- Linda Nagata

Part 3: Armored Force
Warhosts -- Yoon Ha Lee
Suits -- James Sutter
Mission. Suit. Self. -- Jake Kerr
In Loco -- Carlos Orsi

Part 4: Aftermath
War Dog -- Mike Barretta
Coming Home -- Janine Spendlove
Where We Would End a War -- F. Brett Cox
Black Butterfly -- T.C. McCarthy
Always the Stars and the Void Between -- Nerine Dorman
Enemy States -- Karin Lowachee (Read for free at Apex Magazine!)
War 3.01 -- Keith Brooke

Cover art by Galen Dara.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Apex Book Company
• Release date: Nov 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310709555

Andrew Liptak

Andrew Liptak is a writer and historian based in Vermont. He graduated from Norwich University with a master’s degree in military history and writes about history, technology, and science fiction in his newsletter Transfer Orbit. His work has appeared in Armchair General Magazine, Clarkesworld Magazine, Gizmodo, io9, Slate, The Verge, and other publications. He coedited the anthology War Stories: New Military Science Fiction, and his short fiction has appeared in Galaxy’s Edge Magazine and Curious Fictions.

Reviews for War Stories

[meiloslyther · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wanted sci-fi war stories and man, did I get them! I liked most of them and loved a lot of them. Some had some very off-the-wall worlds/technologies, but the authors of each story made it very easy to just sink right into the world. My only wish is that some of them had been longer.

[sgtbigg_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A collection of short stories, most of which I enjoyed. There was only one I actually disliked and one I was so-so about. Other than one story by Joe Haldeman, the stories are written by mostly newer writers. If you like military SF this is a good collection.

[anome_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The trick with compiling an anthology of stories on a theme, is in collecting different stories that represent that theme, without being repetitive. Unfortunately, I think the editors here have failed.Their decision to group the stories into sub-genres doesn't help. The first section is about autonomous attack vehicles. Only one of them really looks at it from a different angle to the others, and arguably that isn't particularly SF.Another oddity is the opening, ungrouped story by Joe Haldeman. Again, it doesn't really fit SF, and I suspect the only reason for its inclusion is Haldeman's reputation. It's a very interesting, short vignette, with a slight horror theme, but ultimately it's an historical story about Vietnam. (And I don't mean that allegorically.)In short, like many anthologies, there are a few gems here, but it really would have been helped by not grouping the stories in the way they did.

[amnoteor · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Several reviewers have added excellent, detailed reviews to which I have little to add.As a collection, the theme of "war" is simply too wide-spread, and I found it fatiguing to jump from one short story to another with wildly different assumptions and contexts -- this is one of the challenges of "mil-SF" which is not a genre I'm strongly attracted to.As a veteran, I know that there is a vast range of responses to the "other" with whom we do battle. These range from seeing them as "wholly other" - zombies, robots, "Buggers" or stereotypical jihadists or 'gooks' -- to the near-comradeship sense of being fellow warriors who are not understood by non-combatants and civilians. This can explain some of the Rambo-like approaches, as well as the almost blase descriptions of the enemy; both are typical.The collection, like any collection, varies in quality and interest, and your mileage may vary. It would have benefitted from a much stronger Introduction to set more clearly a theme or the reasons for inclusion of some of the pieces, and possibly a brief introduction (say, the author's bio) to aid in the transition from one story to the next.

[raisamichele · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I finished reading the anthology today. My favorite short-story is"Ghost Girl". The diction and style of writing really caught my attention. I enjoyed reading this book, because I read one short-story every other day.

[david_martella-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as a free electronic copy from Library Thing Early Reviewers.For a large collection, I was pleasantly surprised by how few of the stories weren't quite up to what I expected. In general I was very pleased, and enjoyed reading the various viewpoints expressed by the authors. I also liked the way the book was divided up into general categories - a good framing device for the individual stories.

[conalo-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as a free electronic copy from Library Thing Early Reviewers.War Stories is a group of well written short stories that are all related in some way to War or related activities. There are stories within that should appeal to many fans of this genre, including several that I would love to read additional stories or novels about. As in most collections, you will find some stories that appeal to you more than others and this is the case as I made my way through this. I especially enjoyed Light and Shadow by Linda Nagata, In the Loop by Ken Liu and Suits by James L. Sutter but they were certainly not the only enjoyable material in this collection.4 Stars for enjoyable reads and perfectly suited for any fan of the military or military SF genres.

[bearlyr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As is true in any short story collection, there were stories that I really liked and others not so much. Overall, however, I really enjoyed this collection. Don't expect many happy endings, after all these are war stories! These stories are by all means something different!

[davros410 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Let me state up front that I received an eBook edition of this book as an early reviewer's giveaway through LibraryThing.It has long been my contention that writing a "good" short story is harder than writing a "good" book. In a short story you cannot "waste" pages supplying a back story, explaining the motives of the major characters, or, in science fiction and fantasy stories, describing the universe.As a result, many anthologies are rather a hit and miss affair. And so is this collection, but thankfully not only are there more hits than misses, but the number of stories contained in it (23) means that once you have finished all the stories the misses tend to be swept under the carpet by better stories.The stories are divided into four grouped themes: Wartime Systems, Combat, Armoured Force, and Aftermath. Traditionally my tastes in science fiction would generally have followed this order if I had to state my preferences for sub-themes.It was therefore somewhat surprising and to discover the first story in the Aftermath section, "War Dog". This story is simply amazing, with the reader discovering on every page a change in direction and theme, until the final, sorrowful yet strangely beautiful, ending. It is a story that should be approached with an open mind, and no preconceived hint of its content. Also of note are "Suits", "In Loco", "Black Butterflies", and the story which serves as an introduction to the book, "Graves" by Joe Haldeman.The overall theme? War is us, and we are all scarred by it.

[rnmackrn26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

War Stories is a nice addition to the growing number of military science fiction anthologies. Well put together, broken up into general themes like Aftermath, Combat Systems, and Armored Forces, each author has written character-driven stories showing the effects of war on the soldier. high recommendations for even the beginning science fiction reader because these stories are so accessible.

[dokfintong · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Science Fiction stories about war with the leadoff piece by Joe Haldeman. Most of the stories in this collection are pretty good, none is politically horrible. The book was funded through Kickstarter, which is interesting too.I received a review copy of War Stories: New Military Science Fiction edited by Jaym Gates and Andrew Liptak through Librarything.com.

[reading_fox · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mostly Meh. As ever with a collection of short stories there are hits and misses, but there were only one or two in this book that I genuinely felt worked well as short stories, and even then they were few that were actually mil-SF as it's commonly known. Yes all the stories featured war and soldiers as part of it - either as heroes or the enemy, as those left behind or doing the leaving. But Mil-SF is more than just a story that features a soldier, as these frequently didn't have that spirit de-corps which characterises Mil-SF. They are more personal tales, more of the horror and feelings of war than Mil-SF manages. Sometimes this is a good thing, Mil-SF is not a favourite sub-genre of mine, but more usually it meant they didn't work as stories either, starting and stopping without having achieved anything. Far too many (over three quarters) of the authors committed the cardinal sin of re-working today's conflicts into the future. Al-Kaida will not be a threat 2000yrs from now. Syria etc ditto. Vietnam is already ancient history, despite how relevant it may seem to vets from that era. At least Russia was mostly given a break. But there were some good stories in there, mostly the middle and later sections. Some inventive technology and a recognition of biology changing the way we think of weapons. The WarHosts and War Dog were particularly clever. There were plenty of thoughts along the lines of drones, augmented robots, the fallibility of AI, and the re-occurring soldier ported into another body to fight on. There were no stories about the glory of war from a distant perspective. Which given that these were all written by those invovled with the forces in some way is probably the most telling commentary of all. As ever it's hard to tell who the intended audience for this book is, not me. Probably that small sub-set of forces involved people and families who also like SF. But those may well enjoy it, as I didn't feel any of the stories were bad, mostly just not aimed at me.

[silentq_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a Kickstarter project, I put in enough to get a paperback copy of this anthology of new war stories with an s/f bent. It starts off with a chill, Joe Handleman's story about a veteran's nightmare from Vietnam had me physically shuddering when I got to the end. PTSD, desertion, loyalty, remote warfare, soldiers of all kinds in all kinds of battles, lots of topics get covered and the quality is high throughout. Only one story had me wondering what the point of it was.

[mshooker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As a military fiction fan and a sci fi fan this was the best of both worlds in one. I loved how most of the stories were from either a LBGT perspective or a female one. Also the various views of war from authors(and in a lot of cases soldiers), from not only different branches but different countries. There were one or two stories that were very difficult to read because their wordiness caused them to be pretentious and drag on(one in particular). Over all though I would recommend this book and would like to see some authors turn the short stories into full length books.

[gkarlives · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This collection of military science fiction was a mixed bag of near future to far future military fiction. A good read overall but not a stunning study of military life in fiction. Warning, the very first story by Joe Haldeman deals with the recovery of human remains and is graphically descriptive. The stories that resonated best for me were the ones dealing with the aftermath of the wars, in particularly Black Butterflies, which dealt with what soldiers unknowingly give away to their leaders. Worth a read.

[Roger Bohn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was very impressed. Of course some stories were better than others, but many of them had novel ideas about conflict, packaged into short stories. Most also had sympathetic if mysterious protagonists.

[sturgeon_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

War Stories, by various authors is a compilation of war stories (no surprise there), mostly science fiction, and all focusing on the characters more so than the battles. I admit to being unsure about this novel, but after ignoring it for far too long, I finally dove in and was immediately surprised by the character depth and realism these writers display.You will run the gambit of emotions with this one, and after finishing one short story, you want to immediately tear into the next one as there are no dogs here. Each author, in their own unique way, kidnaps your attention.This is an easy five star in my mind – something I never do lightly. Just buy the book. You won’t regret it.

[cuentosalgernon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’m not a fan of Military Science Fiction, but when I saw among the contributors of this anthology some authors I like and that I don’t associate with that kind of fiction I thought that maybe this stories would be something different. And I was right, as what we find here is a bunch of stories dealing more with personal and moral conflicts during and after the war, than revolving around battles and the war itself. Although I liked some stories better than others, of course, I found that the level was more uniform than usual in this kind of book. This was not bad, as it meant that there was only one story I actually dislike, but on the other hand it wasn’t so good, as I didn’t find any of them impressive either, with most of the stories in the OK range, and a few in the good or pretty good one. The stories are divided in four groups according to its theme (Wartime Systems, Combat, Armored Force and Aftermath), which a priori seemed a good idea, so I read them in order. But if I were to read this book again, I would probably jump from one group to another, to avoid a slight feeling of repetition.Despite the aforementioned problems, I enjoyed most of the stories, and my favorites were those by Ken Liu, Yoon Ha Lee, Carlos Orsi and Keith Brooke. All in all, an interesting and worth-reading anthology for any SF fans, although not memorable.