Author Topic: Novels, short stories, etc...General Discussion  (Read 5049 times)

Offline Crbad

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Novels, short stories, etc...General Discussion
« on: May 11, 2016, 10:39:23 AM »
I liked Red Storm Rising, but the Navy parts got a little tedious for me (I'm an army guy). I've read a few good books about ww3 in Germany. Team Yankee by Harold Coyle is good, though it might be too 'pro 'merica' for some tastes. Red Army by Ralph Peters is good as it's told exclusively through Russian eyes. Red Thrust by Steven Zaloga is half non-fiction. He gives technical analysis followed by fictional short stories to illustrate the chapter. I thought it was very well done. There's another book called Chieftains by Bob Forrest-Webb. I haven't read it yet but it is a British perspective on the subject.
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Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Re: German Plains - The Fulda Gap
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2016, 12:13:12 PM »
As someone who's read all of those (and then some), I think this could be a very fun discussion. I thought I was the only boring guy that loved "Red Thrust". I really liked it. "Chieftains" was good, but is a bit of a downer. I'd still recommend it for a different perspective, though. I quite liked "The War That Never Was" by Michael A. Palmer, but I wouldn't recommend it to you. It's basically 350 pages of that "tedious" naval stuff you hated in "Red Storm Rising". It also presumes a pretty significant level of knowledge on the part of the reader, too. The author expects his readers to know what an RGM-84 is and what you shoot them at.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Volkodav

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Re: Re: German Plains - The Fulda Gap
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2016, 04:15:08 PM »
.......It also presumes a pretty significant level of knowledge on the part of the reader, too. The author expects his readers to know what an RGM-84 is and what you shoot them at.

Cheers,

Logan

But doesn't everyone know this stuff?

Offline Crbad

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Re: Re: German Plains - The Fulda Gap
« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2016, 10:35:24 AM »
"Red Thrust" was probably my favorite of the books mentioned. What I found tedious about the Navy parts in Red Storm Rising was A) The characters were indistinguishable and boring. B)Too much of the action were guys in a dark room looking at a sonar screen. C) Even the asw flying was repetitive and overly technical. As for RGM-84's, isn't that a navy sling shot issued for food fights in the chow hall? 😉
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Novels, short stories, etc...General Discussion
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2016, 02:19:20 PM »
Folks,

This is a thread to discuss any particular novels etc that may provide inspiration for scenarios.

If a particular subject gets a lot of comments or if we want something dedicated to just one idea, we can split it off as a dedicated thread here.
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Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: Novels, short stories, etc...General Discussion
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2016, 12:42:03 PM »
For another perspective of a quite possible near future scenario, look at The Fall of Night by Chris Nuttall.
Quite a sobering read on how EU rules/dithering/equality/minor pressure group pacification might lead to an opportunity for an invigorated Russia to strike.

Offline elmayerle

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Re: Novels, short stories, etc...General Discussion
« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2016, 08:21:15 PM »
I would commend Larry Bond's Cauldron as a good read and a source of some whiffing potential (Polish single-seat F-15's, for example).

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Re: Novels, short stories, etc...General Discussion
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2016, 06:19:33 AM »
If you want something that leaves reality behind but can still be enjoyable (from a particular perspective) try The Zone (series) by James Rouch.
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Offline Rickshaw

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Re: Novels, short stories, etc...General Discussion
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2016, 12:44:59 PM »
I am surprised no one has mentioned Sir John Hackett's two books, "The Third World War" and "The Third World War: The Untold Story".   Both are IMO excellent counterfactural histories of how the Cold War got hot.

Offline elmayerle

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Re: Novels, short stories, etc...General Discussion
« Reply #9 on: May 15, 2016, 12:18:02 AM »
I am surprised no one has mentioned Sir John Hackett's two books, "The Third World War" and "The Third World War: The Untold Story".   Both are IMO excellent counterfactural histories of how the Cold War got hot.
Excellent books and Dean Ing used them as a jumping off point for a series of novels (3 or 4, IIRC) that were interesting reads.

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Re: Novels, short stories, etc...General Discussion
« Reply #10 on: September 04, 2016, 05:00:56 AM »
I would recommend "Chieftains" over "Team Yankee" any day.
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Re: Novels, short stories, etc...General Discussion
« Reply #11 on: September 04, 2016, 05:01:47 AM »
Speaking of Team Yankee though, if anyone is interested, you can get this set of kits:  TEAM YANKEE IN 6MM
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