If you’re a fan of science fiction, you’re in mourning today.
David Drake, author of Hammer’s Slammers, and the RCN series featuring Leary and Mundy among others, passed away on the 10th.
I was honored to meet David at LibertyCon a quite a few years ago, and got a chance to chat with him for a few minutes. I honestly think I surprised him by welcoming him home (something very few coming back from Vietnam got). I was just starting out, and after I fanboi’ed over both the Slammers and RCN (which I actually liked better), we talked accuracy and research, since I knew he was a antiquarian at heart and had degrees in history.
That lead to an interesting premise, and he told me he used his research on ancient history and artifacts to get ‘ideas’ for plot lines for his science fiction series. I think this was really the first time I’d had anyone admit they just scrubbed the serial numbers off of something to reuse it in a different environment, but it was absolutely brilliant.
Sadly, I never got the chance to talk to him again that weekend. He’d basically retired from writing in 2021 due to health issues, and that he was declining was pretty apparent from his newsletter.
Thank you for your time, sir. May you rest in peace.
Hey Old NFO;
Bummer, I got into David Drake reading the world of “Hammers Slammers” and they had their own code of honor and ethics. I didn’t find out until much later that he played in the Southeastern Asian War games, but I should have twigged in on it by his writing style and subject matter by the nuances in the “Hammers” series. He will be missed. Wonder if he and Clancy are in Valhalla sharing war stories now? Another Bard has arrived.
My library is filled with just about everything Drake wrote.
He knew his stuff and could communicate it.
Did not know he was poorly.
Another good one leaves us.
I knew he was in bad shape. He’ll be missed.
This is such a shame. Hopefully he is at peace now. David Drake was a great writer and a nice guy. We had him as guest of honor at Millennicon back in 2005, and as a regular guest at least once more. The man was a genuine intellectual and scholar but seldom made a big deal about it.
The second time David Drake was our guest was regrettably at the hotel whose owners cut back on maintenance and supply budget a week or so before the convention as they were about to sell it. Many people had to run out and get their own soap and shampoo, had to get rooms shifted because of maintenance issues the management had no ability to resolve, etc. It was a shame, because it was a really nice place up until then. The sales deal fell through, the hotel shut down within a year or so, the building stood empty for years before it got bulldozed, and it was was a vacant lot for years more – now there are condos under construction.
All- Thanks for your thoughts.
My wife just recently got into Drake’s RCN series.
She is very well read, enjoys Dickens for fun, has a huge vocabulary (which was used against her at her job and at school when she went back and got her Masters) yet Drake dropped big words like he used them in normal speech, not as a snobby attempt at attention but as if they were normal. She’s finding words she never heard of before. Good for her to expand her mind and vocabulary.
She’s thoroughly hooked.
And now totally bummed, as he was such a sharp brain and to go with cognitive issues, that hits far too close to home. Taken down by what made him great.
He will be missed. Except by those ass-hats over at the Hugo and other leftist sci-fi awards.
Oh look, “Beans” is so ate up with culture war brain worms that he has no idea how sadly Dave is missed in the wider SF community because everything has to be strained through an idiot lens.
Beans- Glad she’s enjoying them! And yes, gone too soon! 🙁