"SM Stirling - & David Drake - General 02 - The Hammer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stirling S. M)

THE GENERAL, Volume Two

by S.M. Stirling and David Drake



THE GENESIS OF THE GENERAL SERIES . . .

When I met Steve Stirling for the first time about five years ago, I was so impressed by his breadth and depth of interests that I told Jim Baen that Steve was a writer to watch out for. Jim did, and Baen Books became Steve's publisher.
Steve and I wondered how the two of us would work together in collaboration. Jim provided the opportunity: THE GENERAL. I researched the life of the great Byzantine general Belisarius, then wrote approximately 20,000 words of background and plot set on a human-settled planet which had sunk to roughly the technological level of 19th century America. I outlined in meticulous detail the battles by which my hero reunited his world.

"The Forge [Book One of THE GENERAL] . . . is quite simply one of the best novels to bear my name."

Then it was Steve's turn. I waited nervously. I'd invested a great deal of my self as well as my time in that outline, and one thing I was sure was that the finished novel wouldn't be quite the way I would have written it
I was wrong: The Forge is exactly the way I would have written it, if I'd had Steve's knowledge base in addition to my own. The Forge is quite simply one of the best novels to bear my name -- but the main credit for that goes to Steve Stirling, who translated my outline into life and vibrancy.
-- David Drake


Contents

CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
APPENDIX
REGULAR CAVALRY
IRREGULAR CAVALRY
INFANTRY
ARTILLERY