War Dogs (War Dogs #1)

by Greg Bear

Overview

An epic interstellar tale of war from a master of science fiction.

One more tour on the red. Maybe my last.

They made their presence on Earth known thirteen years ago.

Providing technology and scientific insights far beyond what mankind was capable of. They became indispensable advisors and promised even more gifts that we just couldn't pass up. We called them Gurus.

It took them a while to drop the other shoe. You can see why, looking back.

It was a very big shoe, completely slathered in crap.

They had been hounded by mortal enemies from sun to sun, planet to planet, and were now stretched thin — and they needed our help.

And so our first bill came due. Skyrines like me were volunteered to pay the price. As always.

These enemies were already inside our solar system and were moving to establish a beachhead, but not on Earth.

On Mars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316072823
Publisher:	Orbit
Publication date:	07/21/2015
Series:	War Dogs Series , #1
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	213,490
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Greg Bear is the author of more than thirty books of science fiction and fantasy, including Forerunner: Cryptum, Mariposa, Darwin's Radio, Eon, and Quantico. He is married to Astrid Anderson Bear and is the father of Erik and Alexandra. His works have been published internationally in over twenty languages. Bear has been called the "Best working writer of hard science fiction" by the Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

Editorial Reviews

"Stuffed with adrenaline-pumping action and mystifying ambiguity, Bear's series launch is a tempest of rousing SF adventure with a dash of Peckinpah."—Publishers Weekly on War Dogs

"Packed with adventure and incident...and conveyed with gritty realism."—Kirkus on War Dogs

"Military sci-fi, action and adventure, and a whole lot of thought-provoking complexity."—San Diego Union-Tribune on War Dogs

"Bear, as a writer, seems almost more at home on the deadly flats of Mars...than he does back on planet Earth."—NPR Books on War Dogs

"Greg Bear's voice is a resonant, clear chord of quality binding some of the best SF of the 20th Century to the short list of science-savvy, sophisticated, top-notch speculative fiction of the 21st. More than a grace note, Hull Zero Three is a compelling allegro in the growing symphony of Greg Bear's finest work."—Dan Simmons

"Hull Zero Three is a grand adventure of scientific discovery in the tradition of "Orphans of the Sky" and "Rendezvous with Rama" — by turns chilling and touching, it poses challenging questions about what it means to be human."—Charles Stross

"Hull Zero Three is a lean, mean, supercharged sense-of-wonder engine."—Alastair Reynolds on Hull Zero Three

"Not for those who prefer their space opera simple-minded, this beautifully written tale where nothing is as it seems will please readers with a well-developed sense of wonder."—Publisher's Weekly (starred review) on Hull Zero Three

"Greg Bear is one contemporary master of the old ways, and in Hull Zero Three he gives the generation starship theme - crystallized beautifully by Robert Heinlein in 1941's "Universe" - a vigorous makeover...."—bn.com

"The heart of the mystery is worthy of Bear in its bravura extrapolations into far-future science and moral ambiguity...a testament of faith both in human beings and in something beyond them, divine or indistinguishable from it, and it seems directed as much toward the world of today, with all its sinful affections and deceits, as it is toward the far future."—Locus on Hull Zero Three

"I loved Hull Zero Three - this book reminds me of why I fell in love with science fiction in the first place. Searing questions of humanity, a good old fashioned riddle of a plot, and excellent conceptualization make Hull Zero Three more than worth the effort."—thebooksmugglers.com

From the Publisher

08/25/2014
Stuffed with adrenaline-pumping action and mystifying ambiguity, Bear’s series launch is a tempest of rousing SF adventure with a dash of Peckinpah. On a near-future Earth, the alien Gurus have shared technological advances in exchange for military aid in combating the Antags, who have pursued them as far as Mars. Sgt. Michael Venn and his squad of high-tech Skyrines are sent in on a vaguely defined, shoddily planned mission, which has them dodging poison darts and falling comets until they are stranded, wounded, and running out of air. Rescued by a splendidly terse settler, they seek cover in what at first appears to be an abandoned mining operation, but soon the labyrinth, called the Drifter, emerges as the motive to the conflict itself. Eerily and often gloriously explored but scarcely explained, the Drifter is a bonanza of seemingly unlimited resources that both the Gurus and the Antags are inexplicably seeking to destroy. A psychedelic mind-meld with the structure itself adds a layer of complex mystery, but a dead-stop ending leaves Venn and Bear’s readers to impatiently await word of what it was all about. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Associates. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"I loved Hull Zero Three - this book reminds me of why I fell in love with science fiction in the first place. Searing questions of humanity, a good old fashioned riddle of a plot, and excellent conceptualization make Hull Zero Three more than worth the effort."

thebooksmugglers.com

"Hull Zero Three is a lean, mean, supercharged sense-of-wonder engine."

Alastair Reynolds on Hull Zero Three

"A menacing wonderland of a ship."

Marc Laidlaw on Hull Zero Three

"The heart of the mystery is worthy of Bear in its bravura extrapolations into far-future science and moral ambiguity...a testament of faith both in human beings and in something beyond them, divine or indistinguishable from it, and it seems directed as much toward the world of today, with all its sinful affections and deceits, as it is toward the far future."

Locus on Hull Zero Three

"Hull Zero Three is a grand adventure of scientific discovery in the tradition of "Orphans of the Sky" and "Rendezvous with Rama" -- by turns chilling and touching, it poses challenging questions about what it means to be human."

Charles Stross

"Greg Bear is one contemporary master of the old ways, and in Hull Zero Three he gives the generation starship theme - crystallized beautifully by Robert Heinlein in 1941's "Universe" - a vigorous makeover...."

bn.com

"Greg Bear's voice is a resonant, clear chord of quality binding some of the best SF of the 20th Century to the short list of science-savvy, sophisticated, top-notch speculative fiction of the 21st. More than a grace note, Hull Zero Three is a compelling allegro in the growing symphony of Greg Bear's finest work."

Dan Simmons

2014-07-23
First of a new science-fiction trilogy from the author of Halo: Silentium (2013, etc.). In the not-too-distant future, interstellar aliens known as the Gurus arrive on Earth and make humanity an offer it cannot refuse: tremendously advanced technology. There's a catch, of course. The Gurus have enemies of their own, the Antagonists, and would like help to fight them. So Earth creates a new combat force, "skyrines," marines who can fight in space or on planets such as Mars, where, it turns out, the "Antags" have already established a beachhead. Veteran skyrine Master Sgt. Michael Venn prepares with his troops for another drop onto the dusty Martian surface, their mission curiously ill-defined. Attacked immediately as he drops, Venn finds himself stranded on the ground with a handful of companions, no backup, no communications or prospect of relief and rapidly running out of air. Fortunately, they're rescued by Teal, a settler, or "Muskie" (named after Elon Musk), and conveyed to a secret Muskie base, the Drifter, where things rapidly get weirder. A bunch of belligerent, racist Voors (also settlers) show up in pursuit of Teal, followed by a platoon of female skyrine special operations troopers, all with their own secret agendas. Meanwhile, in flash-forwards (so we know Venn doesn't die—at least, not yet), a mystifyingly transformed Venn has returned to Earth, where he waits for the mysterious "Joe" to contact him. Packed with adventure and incident, though remarkably little actual combat, and conveyed with gritty realism via characters that have personalities, Bear's first-person narrative builds to a satisfying order of complexity, one he's rarely shown since his earliest days, though readers hoping for one more step up—such as a military backlash or a splash of social acid—will be thwarted.An intriguing story, but fiction at this high a level deserves just a little more.

Kirkus Reviews