Drakas!: Draka, Book 5

Book number five of a five book alternate history military science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Baen in 2000 that I bought used on Amazon since there are no more new copies. This book is collection of twelve short stories about S. M. Stirling's Drakas by other authors with Stirling as the editor. I doubt that there will be any more books in the series.After the American revolutionary war, the British loyalists in the colonies mostly escaped to Canada. But in an alternate timeline, those 90,000 British loyalists were exiled to the southern tip of Africa at the direction of George Washington from 1783 to 1786. They took over the Dutch colony of South Africa as other unwanted groups joined them and merged into their slave holding culture. They eventually called themselves the Domination of Draka. By 1998, the Domination of Draka has totally subjugated the Earth and the Solar System and are in the process of genetically modifying themselves to be more dominant and their serfs to be more subservient. Grim, very grim.The prolific author has a website at:The five books of the series are listed at:

Kudos to S.M. Stirling and his team of authorial co-conspirators for putting together this quality anthology, consisting of twelve chronologically-ordered tales from the Drakaverse.Each story stands on its own merits, and you are provided with sufficient information along the way to fully appreciate each tale even if you have not previously read any of the other Draka books.If you like to see your Drakas getting their well-deserved comeuppance, I especially recommend ‘Custer Under The Baobab’, by William Sanders, and ‘Upon Their Backs, To Bite ‘em’ by John Barnes.If you are brave enough to dare the subtle literary knife expertly wielded to utterly devastating effect, you must read ‘The Tradesmen’, by David Drake.If you are one of Stirling’s dirigible groupies, there is a very good story in here based on an air-sea battle between the Tsar’s navy versus Imperial Japanese airships, by Roland J. Green: ‘Written In The Wind: A Story Of The Draka’.If you want some quality prose of the sort which passes for levity and jaunty iconoclasm (by Draka Standards at least), go straight to ‘The Big Lie’, by Jane Lindskold.And if you want to hear how everybody’s favorite old-time Yankee American Annapolis Navy man from Missouri would have cussed out the Drakas on behalf of all our posthumous selves - and in the process get his ticket punched for a guaranteed first class trip to Valhalla (taking an honor guard with him, of course) - I refer you to Commodore Anson MacDonald’s speech on the last page of ‘The Last Word’, by Harry Turtledove....and If you are already familiar with the Draka saga, you will appreciate the added depth and nuance offered up by these twelve imaginative and individualistic writers.Definitely worth your time to check this book out.

This collection of short stories by various authors set in S.M. Stirling's dystopian Draka alternate history/SF universe is, unsurprisingly, not much more cheerful than the "mainline" novels themselves. The plausibility of the historical successes of the Draka don't bear up much better under closer scrutiny than they did in Stirling's novels, either - but nevermind that. The stories here cover a wide range of times, settings, and styles - and it should come as no surprise that their quality varies quite appreciably too. One (quite awfully unforgettable) standout is "The Tradesmen" by noted grimsmith (shut up, it's a word now) David Drake, which while ostensibly merely (ha - "merely") dealing with an area of the universe's Eurasian War that is horrifying even by the high standards set by the Draka, in fact revolves around a piece of humor so black it could qualify as Stygian, with the story culminating with the "punchline". The story "The Greatest Danger" by the less well-known Lee Allred is also excellent - though again in a very dark sort of way. Surprisingly disappointing, however, is "Upon Their Backs, To Bite 'Em" by John Barnes, a writer who I've encountered and been favorably impressed (albeit sometimes a little disquieted) by in other contexts. Have no high expectations for him here, however.Overall, while this anthology is (as indicated) of somewhat uneven quality - and having no new work from Stirling himself can hardly be called anything but a let-down - there is enough of quality and enough glimpses into previously unexplored corners or episodes of the Draka saga here to make this likely a worthwhile purchase for readers interested in seeing more of the dark world Stirling created.

A nice collection of short-some very short-stories set in the Draka book series. Most of the stories were well written though a couple were barely connected and suffered by requiring the reader to have read other books set in a universe outside the Draka universe to fully enjoy. But, overall a good collection.

Nice selection of short stories by other SF authors, if you really enjoyed the Draka books it's worth the time, but if you are a casual reader it sometimes feels like fan fiction, albeit, very well done.

in part at first I found my self intreagued with this world however I came to the conclusion quite quickly that in it I would be a dead man or a slave incorporating some of the best mind,s in to a slave civlaziation is only self defeting in the end as well as breed,s soleless beast,s not men or women

Different stories by different authors within the alternate history of the Domination of the Draka universe. Diverse and fascinating. All of them very readable and for me worth the time to read them.

I enjoyed this book, it gives a new insight into the mind set of the draka impact on the world. Read on.

This is a disturbing book. An alternative history, where all of the sides are equally evil. Just a bit too heavy for me to give 5 stars.

excellent, chilling

Mehrere unzusammenhängende Kurzgeschichten rund um das Draka-Universum, in welchem ein aus Buren und Sklavenhaltern hervorgegangenes Imperium in Afrika die Weltherrschaft an sich reißt. Die Kurzgeschichten geben einen tieferen Einblick in das Universum und verweisen oft auf die Hauptbücher. Einige Beispiele sind die Geschichte um einen Wissenschaftler, der nach dem 2. WK in Draka eingebürgert wurde, die Schlacht im Kaukasus aus Sicht einer Zeitgenossin des Hauptprotagonisten und schließlich die Unterhaltung zweier Buren über den Russisch-japanischen Krieg.

Some people complain about the premises behind this series and I can understand their points, but all of the books are great reads. The characters are well-developed and the world hangs together better than many others. Just do it. If you haven't read 'Peshawar Lancers' for something completely different, do it now.

Interesting to see other authors' take on the Draka universe