Military SF - Single Ship Novels - Recommendations?

I'm kind of new to this site, but is The Expanse too obvious, DeltaV? I'm not sure they fit the bill of the single ship novels you have in mind, but I really liked John Scalzi's Redshirts and Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.
 
Its been quite a few years since I read Leviathan Wakes, but IIRC the first part of the novel involving the Canterbury does indeed line up with what I am looking for. The rest of the novel, not so much.
 
Omega Force Series

Omega Force Series by Joshua Dalzelle

Omega Rising (Omega Force, #1), Soldiers of Fortune (Omega Force, #2), Savage Homecoming (Omega Force, #3), The Enemy Within (Omega Force, #4), Return o...
www.goodreads.com

Entertaining not very serious.
 
Lensmen, Foundation, Stainless steel rat, Dumerest series.

Ok not all single ship stuff, but getting about in ships is in them.

Mind you, you're all too old to remember these and they probably are no longer in print.
 
TheEndIsNigh said:
Lensmen, Foundation, Stainless steel rat, Dumerest series.
Ok not all single ship stuff, but getting about in ships is in them.
Mind you, you're all too old to remember these and they probably are no longer in print.
Click to expand...
The are mostly in print of course, but they are not single ship novels.

For single ship adventure, how about Brian Stableford's Hooded Swan series:
Halcyon Drift (1972)
Rhapsody in Black (1973)
Promised Land (1974)
The Paradise Game (1974)
The Fenris Device (1974)
Swan Song (1975)
 
Bick said:
The are mostly in print of course, but they are not single ship novels.

For single ship adventure, how about Brian Stableford's Hooded Swan series:
Halcyon Drift (1972)
Rhapsody in Black (1973)
Promised Land (1974)
The Paradise Game (1974)
The Fenris Device (1974)
Swan Song (1975)
Click to expand...

I went in search of these. They are all (I believe) available as e books. I might just try the first to see how well these 50 year old?!! S.F. books hold up. My experience, is, not so well. But the recent reviews say the opposite.
 
Parson said:
I went in search of these. They are all (I believe) available as e books. I might just try the first to see how well these 50 year old?!! S.F. books hold up. My experience, is, not so well. But the recent reviews say the opposite.
Click to expand...
I think they probably do hold up. I've only read the first book, but I've read other Stableford, and he's a better writer than most.
 
Well, this is interesting. Brian Stableford. Don't hear much about his books these days. Yet his Dies Irae books were the first SF novels I ever read ... our school library had them. Ah yes, Humans and Beasts, the House of Stars, Heljanita the Toymaker, Adam December, Mark Chaos and all the others. Names that I still remember. I picked up a set a few years ago in a used book shop ... but have been strangely reluctant to re-read them, not wanting to dislodge good memories....

I also have, and liked, his War Games. Plus I have Journey to the Center, and three of his Hooded Swan novels. Ah, and while rummaging about looking for the Hooded Swan books (thanks to Bick's post) I came across Soldier Ask Not by Dickson. Another book that I need to re-read!

Going back to my original question (military SF involving the mission/adventures of a single ship), Fearless by Allen Stroud has been the best match so far. I also have Nick Webb's Constitution on my to-read pile.
 
I'm about half through Halcyon Drift the first of the Hooded Swan books. It does not feel dated, but I'm not caring much for the M.C. So far he seems too much like a sarcastic narcissist to be likeable. I do like "the wind" though. So far that's what keeps me reading.
 
Got around to reading Constitution by NIck Webb. Although not quite matching up to what I was looking for, still, a pretty good read. In some ways, very similar to Warship by Joshua Dalzelle which, coincidentally, also came out in 2015. The cover says this is book one of a trilogy, but I believe the series is up to six or seven volumes now, so looks pretty popular. The author has put some thought into the alien foe, and the political back story is developed nicely. There is more going on than meets the eye.

I'll go into spoiler mode to discuss a little further:

As I noted above, this book is indeed very similar to Warship, right down to the ending. Very curious. We have a captain with a problematic history, a very capable female XO, both ships with very similar weaponry and defenses (although the Constitution also has space fighters for added drama which, frankly, is the only reason to include "space fighters" in any futuristic space conflict). And finally we have the final death ride with a miraculous escape for the main protagonist. Too bad. I found the endings to both books disappointing. If Tolstoy can kill off Prince André, nobody should be safe. And I really would have liked to have seen both XOs take over as captains in the next books of both series. Oh well. Still, like Warship, I couldn't put the book down until I finished it so that says something.

I'm not sure about the name of the ship though. The ISS Constitution? That's a little ... traditional, isn't it? I'm sure European readers would have liked to have seen the adventures of the ISS Maastricht Treaty. Canadians would, of course, prefer the ISS Meech Lake Accord.... Hmmm. On second thought, Constitution is a fine name....
 
Read Embers of War by Gareth Powell over the weekend. There are some interesting ideas in this novel. However they are overshadowed by a lot of odd plot points, and I found that some of the character's actions didn't make a lot of sense. The science isn't always right either, at least according to the descriptions. See my spoiler notes for a couple of comments on that...

After the attack on the van Amsterdam, 'Ona Sudak' states that the ship had lost artificial gravity. Yet the whole description of both her actions and what she sees in that chapter doesn't make sense in this context. I'm surprised that this wasn't picked up in the proof reading.

The Trouble Dog hides itself in the star's photosphere. Now, the story does mention the danger of overheating ... but would not the strength of the star's electro-magnetic field also be very dangerous? Especially if the ship, as it seems, is mostly ferrous material? IIRC, the ships in The Mote in God's Eye also hid in the local star, but that was written in 1974. Anyway, if anyone has comments on this point, I'd be interested; I'm far from being an expert on stellar phenomena.

I see that, like the other books that I have read in the context of this thread, it is the first novel of a series. Doubt that I'll pick up the sequel.

Poking around Atomic Rockets, I came across a recommendation for Here Be Dragons by Craig Alan. So that will be next on my list.
 
Here Be Dragons 2013 Craig Alan.

Hard SF novel from a first-time author. Story takes place in 2152-53. Outsiders have taken over the outer system, restricting humanity to inside of the asteroid belt. Several previous attempts to repel the invaders have failed. This story is about the voyage of the latest class of warship, the Gabriel, sent to scout out and attack the invaders.

Like Fearless, the context of this story is one of my favorite SF settings: hard SF, based in the solar-system, near future (within the next several centuries).

Some good stuff in the book: believable technical background, and pretty good descriptions of the crew and life on the ship. Historical context fairly well laid out, and I liked the way the author gradually revealed both the past and the present (what is a bit unnerving is that the future of Here Be Dragons could very well happen). I thought that the author did a reasonable job developing the character of the main protagonist, Captain Elena Gonzalez Estrella.

There are a couple of odd plot points ... but for a first novel I found this an enjoyable read. When I first finished it, I thought that there was a lack of clarity with some aspects of the main plot ... but thinking about it more, I believe that this was deliberate.

At the end of the novel, the main protagonist has a critical decision to make that will have a major impact on Earth politics ... and it is not clear that she made the right decision. I think there is an argument for both sides.
The novel toggles between the mission, and Estrella's life six months before. Some readers might not like this ... I was ok with it, and it revealed not just more on the politics but also about Estrella's character.

Unfortunately, it appears that this is the only novel Alan has ever written, and there is no trace of him on the Internet. Pity, as I think as a hard SF writer he has potential.


I then started reading Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear, but stalled out. The premise caught my eye ... a salvage tug Finds Something out on the edge of the galaxy that holds a key to an ancient mystery ... ok, not military SF per se, but close to what I'm looking for. Unfortunately I'm finding that the extended internal dialogs of the main characters are dragging the story down, and I'm not sold on a couple of the main plot points.

So I've put it aside for a change of pace: a couple of books on the Japanese blitzkrieg that started the Pacific War.
 
Thanks @DeltaV for the review. Here Be Dragons is now safely on my Kindle.
 
I would be interested in knowing what you both think of the denouement of the plot, and of what Captain Estrella did at the end (considering the political situation on Earth).

It was nice being able to read a story wrapped up in a single novel ... I think most, if not all, of the books that I have read since starting this thread have been the first book of a series.
 
I will report back. And you are right there are very few stand alone novels written any more. However, I think, at least in the past, often books were written as a stand alone, and then when it was successful there came a lot of pressure from readers, publishers, editors, (bankers?) to capitalize on their success. I think that The Mote in God's Eye was always intended to be a stand alone, for example. There are 25 years between The first and the second books. --- There were a couple of magazine articles before Mote which set the basis for the novel idea.
 
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Especially if you already pay for Kindle Unlimited, you might like to try Joel Shepherd’s Spiral War series. This follows the UFS Phoenix over seven volumes starting with Renegade Renegade (The Spiral Wars, #1). The story hasn’t ended and apparently at least three more volumes are planned but unpublished.

Phoenix starts alone but picks up temporary companions from other species such as the Tavalai warship Makimakala. Phoenix also starts to pick up crew from other species to replace casualties as can be seen from the Fandom Wiki Phoenix Crew.

The stories are almost never restricted to events in space as Phoenix’s marines are generally landing somewhere or other during each story. By volume 7, Phoenix is no longer even the most powerful unit as she is travelling with four very old and very powerful AI warships. The AIs helpfully name these Friendship, Alliance, Sunrise and Melody because their numeric designations wouldn’t be so useful for the organics of Phoenix’s crew and it would be tactless to give them names reminding anyone that they had killed billions of organic enemies in long ago wars.
 
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