STAR FIST - STEEL GAUNTLET

A Del Rey Book

Written by David Sherman and Dan Cragg

Copyright 1999 by David Sherman and Dan Cragg

In Steel Gauntlet, Book III of the Starfist series, the planet Diamunde has been taken over from the corporations by industrialist Martin St. Cyr with an army of tanks in a form of civil war. The Confederation Marines must take back the planet with weapons 300 years out of date.

St. Cyr is a sadistic tyrant who graphically deals with the people in his way - even the alien Woos, which is almost like child abuse against the Woos. As tanks with their artillery have not been used in 300 years, the Confederate Marines must learn old/new tactics to defeat the tanks - along with learning how to use the 300 year old rocket weapons that made tanks obsolete in the first place. The lack of these shoulder-launched rockets puts a damper on the Marines ability to deal with a planet full of tanks.

With the Army waiting in space for the Marines to secure a planetary beachhead for the Army to land, the Marines are getting their butts kicked in what was supposed to be an easy beachhead, according to the military planners, for the Marines to take.

The ambassador sent to broker a peace treaty with St. Cyr has a disdain for Marines in general. Arrogant Ambassador Wellington-Humphreys was so sure of her being able to broker a peace treaty - until St. Cyr has her and her Marine guard kidnapped. The Marines desperately want to get the ambassador and the Marines back, and get St. Cyr - especially after the way he killed his Marine prisoners.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Starfist: Force Recon - Pointblank

A Del Rey Mass Market Original

Written by David Sherman & Dan Cragg

Copyright 2006 by David Sherman and Dan Cragg
Excerpt from Flashfire copyright 2006 by David Sherman and Dan Cragg



In Pointblank - the second of the Force Recon books - a Confederation army is cut off on the planet Ravenette by a dozen aggressive Secessionist Coalition worlds. A detachment of resourceful Marines, Fourth Force Recon Company is sent to deal with it.

Since we are dealing with several different armies with lots of characters in the book, it is often hard to determine which side you are reading about when the book changes point of view. Sometimes you can only tell the point of view of which army you are reading about by the speech patterns of who is talking - with the locals having a less than literate style of talking. It was rather frustrating for me that the general in charge of the Confederation army does not like the Marines in general and was often not giving the Marines the respect, support, and leadership they needed to accomplish their mission. The ending is also a little unsatisfying to me in that there does not seem to be a definitive resolution to the conflict.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STARFIST - SCHOOL OF FIRE

A Del Rey Book

Copyright 1998 by David Sherman and Dan Cragg

On the planet Wanderjahr, the Marines are deployed against the aggressive guerrillas. It turns out not all the acts of terrorism come from the determined guerrillas.

In School of Fire - written by David Sherman and Dan Cragg, the second book of the Starfist series - the terrorist tactics that are used to blame the guerrillas are rather graphic. Considering the graphic terrorist tactics, it is hard to believe who was really responsible for the terrorist acts. However, due to the ineffectiveness of the local military forces, the Marines become responsible for the training of the local military - while Corporals Dean and Claypoole get assigned to the local police. Dean and Claypoole soon get caught up in the middle of a terrorist action and must work together to get out of it. It was nice to see Corporal Dean falling in love with a local girl. I wish I could see more of their relationship in the Starfist series. However, due to the nature of Dean's relationship with the girl, this probably will not happen. 

Pancho

All people smile in the same language.