Questions tagged [military-sf]

Military science fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction for which the principal characters are members of a military service and an armed conflict is occurring, often in space or on a planet other than Earth.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
5 votes
0 answers
139 views

SF book about a spaceship captain and female officer who survive a crash landing on a jungle planet and are hunted by an invisible alien predator

I am looking for the title of a SF book about a male and female space officer who survived a spaceship crash on an alien planet where everyone of their crew is dead and an invisible alien tries to ...
Serah Jane Mowatt's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
699 views

Novel about a planet that relies on one soldier - the last soldier in history - to defend it [duplicate]

Trying to find a book. One character is the last soldier in history. After a long period (thousands of years?) of peace and civilization, a planet has one guy - the last soldier - who lives alone in a ...
nerdfever.com's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
528 views

90's (?) sci-fi book about a main character working as a soldier for alien conquerors

I think I read it in the late 90's. Leaning towards an American male author. I think his last name starts with a "B". The book switches between the character's present and his past. ...
Sonny's user avatar
  • 53
8 votes
1 answer
132 views

Looking for a military sf short story about American Marines taken to prevent the emergence of a demon in a different world (dimension?)

A small group of marines were taken to another world to help prevent the emergence of a demon that is awakened by torturing a victim. There is a powerful wizard with them who cannot directly attack ...
mdrs's user avatar
  • 81
8 votes
0 answers
180 views

Book where aliens come through a space gate in the solar system to attack Earth

I'm looking to identify a book about aliens who come through a space gate near Mars or Jupiter. They defeat Earth's space military and come to Earth to kill all humans. But they decide to blow up the ...
Nic's user avatar
  • 97
7 votes
1 answer
119 views

Book with spring gunner(s) and robot with whirling blades on extended arms

I picked this book up in a bookshop in late 1981 but have not been able to find it since. The book was in English. I read the first few pages and it appeared to be military sci-fi. It mentioned ...
ATduToit's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
351 views

Short story about a soldier's reaction to finding out his sergeant is a robot

I'm trying to find a classic science fiction story, maybe 70s era. There is a soldier going through boot camp under a very harsh and demanding sergeant. Later in the story the soldier discovers the ...
causative's user avatar
  • 503
2 votes
0 answers
71 views

Book featuring an airplane plated with gold and an expedition to Africa to get it? [closed]

I didn't read the book, but listened to it in a series of radio auditions, in the end of 1980s. The book was in Polish translation, or, possibly, it was by Polish author. More details, as I remember ...
yury10578's user avatar
  • 137
6 votes
1 answer
690 views

Science fiction novel involving starfighters called 'Loki,' which could jam everything around them

I'm trying to track down a military science fiction novel where Earth is in a losing war with an alien race. I distinctly remember the human faction using starfighters called 'Loki,' which could jam ...
soumyajyoti mukherjee's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
149 views

Trying to identify a military SF short story [duplicate]

I'm trying to identify a short story that was part of an anthology of military science fiction. Probably published 20 years ago or more. Most of the stories were of the two-sides-mutually-annihilate-...
Marc Wilson's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
1k views

Cat and human brains and nervous systems are wired together to fight evil rat-like beings

Looking for this story for a while. Probably from an anthology. Read this many years ago. Earth is under attack by creatures that I recall are on a non-physical plane. Sentient cat brains are wired ...
user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
87 views

Military like sci fi about DoD or possibly DHS agent main antagonist is a geneticist

I can’t remember if this is a series or if it was one book but I remember it being about a very talented, possibly ex military man getting recruited to some secret agency that said they were part of ...
Gabriel Brenner's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
727 views

Short story where a soldier who is trapped in his powered armor becomes a war memorial

In the late 1990s/early 2000s I read a story in a sci-fi anthology about a soldier who participates in a drop-assault battle on the Moon. IIRC, the assault force deploys via dropship in the Sea of ...
Gordon's user avatar
  • 133
8 votes
1 answer
138 views

Military Sci Fi Novel about teenage trainee corps

Looking for a sci-fi story about a teenage military corps for an interstellar govt who have to fight off an invasion force with only ground-based abilities to convince a much larger empire that the ...
Corvid Passiridae's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
2k views

A military guy, named Troy travels back in time with no going back in some lightbulb factory. He went back in time to prevent someone from buying gold

I read this book in the 2010s and I don’t remember much about it. All I remember is that there was a guy named Troy who had experience in the military. He was then asked to go on a mission to this ...
Nika Cherepanova's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
148 views

Story ID: humans in invulnerable powered armor vs telepathic enemy aliens with transporter-based handheld cutting weapon [duplicate]

Military science fiction story, most probably from the 1970's or 1980's, possibly a short story in an anthology, but more likely a novella, or maybe even a full novel. Small squad of human soldiers in ...
Mario's user avatar
  • 255
11 votes
1 answer
879 views

Military sci-fi: warrior-spy codenamed GENIE, Greatest Effectiveness Nexus Identification and Elimination fights mercenaries

Trying to find story that I read years ago. I really wanted to reread it again. Setting: A remote planet hires a mercenary general to help defend it from an impending invasion by a much larger ...
user3763301's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
193 views

War on the moon between two nations, one of which votes on strategy and one which does not

This thread reminded me of a story I read in Analog in the post-2000 era, about a war on the moon (I'm pretty sure) between two nations, one of which decided strategies via public vote, and one of ...
Andrew's user avatar
  • 33.6k
3 votes
1 answer
107 views

Military anime with a main character who can power up others

This anime character is from a military anime and he has a power from a contract with a shrine/deity that lets him power ups others. In one scene, he powers up an entire army and he did this with ...
Dragon Tamer's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
2k views

Book named "Someone"'s War, in which complex technology is outlawed with religious fervor

I've been racking my brain all week trying to remember the name of this book so I can go back and finish it. It's been almost a decade, so I may remember some of the details wrong. The setting seems ...
Brandon Schafer's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
161 views

Looking for Westernized military sci-fi cover art of future woman tank commander and tank battle from 90s or early 00s

I’m searching for what I’m certain originated as cover art from a sci-fi gaming magazine which I once collected from basic internet image search for “future woman soldier” or “sci-fi woman soldier” or ...
Silly but True's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
251 views

Soldier used by his own superiors as an unwitting Trojan Horse

This story was in an anthology of military SF, mass-market paperback, approx. 1975-85 – after the Vietnam War ended, but before the fall of the Berlin Wall. A long-running war is being fought between ...
user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
171 views

Sci Fi book about Jewish people in space [duplicate]

Main character was an inspector general but really an assassin sent to kill his family member who betrayed their people. Also it's about the Jews are mercenaries.
D. Myers's user avatar
  • 291
15 votes
1 answer
1k views

Story about future special forces fighting nano-tech aliens

The main plot of the story is that all the different special forces (SAS, Royal Marines, Delta Force, GSG-9, etc.) are fighting aliens made from a sort of nanotech grey-goo. The alien goo is ...
RB.'s user avatar
  • 253
6 votes
1 answer
177 views

1970s short story: military artificial-intelligence starship with smart-aleck personality from alternate timeline visits Earth [duplicate]

This story was published in the mid-1970s, probably in F&SF, I remember it in a magazine, not in a book. It is told from the perspective of a U.S. military unmanned, artificial-intelligence ...
K-man's user avatar
  • 63
0 votes
2 answers
257 views

Sci-fi show where creature snatches up soldiers in the jungle?

I recall seeing this scene on tv from the early 2000's. It was not from the movie Predator but it is similar. The creature came down from the sky and snatched this soldier up into the air. Next scene ...
Clutchersisco 's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
614 views

Name of author (and anthology) of a sci-fi short story called (I think) "Gold Brick"?

Decades ago, I mowed indiscriminately through dozens of sci-fi anthologies. I remember one short story that stood out in terms of writing style and characterization. It involved a bright but ...
rccapps's user avatar
  • 133
10 votes
1 answer
643 views

Book Title from 1970's-1980's - Military SciFi Collection of Tank Short Stories

Looking for title of collection of short-stories involving tank/tank battles. Pretty sure it had a tank on the front cover. Two distinct stories I remember: #1: Injured soldier stuck in a cave on ...
user3208998's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
227 views

Sci-fi book trilogy about enhanced soldiers, main character develops powers

I read this trilogy 20-ish years ago. It was a military science fiction story about a group of soldiers who were augmented. I think it was genetic enhancements, as the main character developed beyond ...
Joel Lux's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
416 views

bad military sci-fi; from fending off Zerg-like hive to fighting the reified multiverse/sum of history

Every once in a while I recall reading this series, which was mostly notable for the number of trope and genre mashups it crammed in, and for diverging into silly fantasy territory at the end. I ...
Dana Maher's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
187 views

Old sci if short story about a military general on another planet who gets tied up on an anthill by the locals

I am looking for the title and author of a short story I read in a Megapack. It's about a military general who is exiled on a planet, but he is so overbearing and cruel to the locals, they tie him up ...
Lldemats's user avatar
  • 183
6 votes
1 answer
289 views

Sci fi story about suspended animation, military, memory upload, memory download into new bodies after death in combat

Looking for a book I remember reading from 80s or 90s. Was about a soldier who would up being put into some type of suspended animation. At some point he gets woken up just for wars then goes back ...
Chris A's user avatar
  • 61
15 votes
1 answer
1k views

Trying to identify a 1980s sci-fi short story about a robotic spaceship that returns to Earth after being sent to fight aliens [duplicate]

Like the title says, I'm trying to find the name of a story I read in an anthology in the early 1980s. It was about an AI-controlled spaceship that returns to Earth after fighting aliens in the ...
tardisowner47's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
3k views

Novel where a mind control device is used to commit murders

I'm looking for a sf story I read years ago. It has to do with mind control by the controller wearing a headgear of sorts. Significant scenes in this story have scuba divers cutting one driver's ...
Anthony Fiaschetti's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
3k views

Book about a prison sentence carried out by piloting a tank in wars

This is going to be vague but it was a book where a person (forgot the gender) choose to carry out their prison sentence in a tank fighting wars? I don't think they were allowed to leave the tank, ...
Stickyz's user avatar
  • 239
9 votes
1 answer
156 views

Help to ID military Space Opera trilogy with feliniods (tigerish) and suspended animation using a gas [duplicate]

I read this trilogy in the 90's, though it might be older. There is a felinoid security officer on the starship who goes EVA from one hatch to another in an effort to prove that it was possible for an ...
NothingToSeeHere's user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
486 views

Book about a space marine who control suit settings with his tongue [duplicate]

I read that book 20+ years ago and I am trying to find its title. The story is about space marines who visit various worlds and encounter new species. One original element of the story is a space ...
PRouleau's user avatar
  • 151
8 votes
1 answer
250 views

Military science fiction in an anthology—world war between Islamic countries and rest of the world

A very good short story published in a military science fiction anthology - possible 25 years ago. Protagonist was a female officer trying to get her ragtag platoon through the jungle. There had been ...
Anthony Dudek's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
128 views

Military sci-fi series about a human combat unit on their ship specially bred for their roles

Back in the 1980s or 90s, I read the first book in a military science fiction series that dealt with a human combat unit in the far future. The novel mostly took place on their ship, and the humans ...
Kevin Rohrer's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
238 views

Book about Israelis in space

The story is centered around Israelis in space, one of whom, the main character is an inspector general sent to solve a problem.
David Myers's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
538 views

Recycling Shields? Baffling Star Wars Naval Terminology

So I was watching the Clone Wars Season 2 episode 16 titled "Cat and Mouse". In this episode, the senator Bail Organa has been trapped on the planet Christophsis by a Seperatist blockade lead by ...
Kitanga Nday's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
362 views

Book about humanity and four other alien races at war, learn they are seed colonies of dead civilizations

I'm looking for a book I read 6 or 7 years ago - maybe less. Humanity is at war with one or more of four alien races, there is a sixth race which is a cross breed of the others. Humans come across ...
christian's user avatar
  • 111
9 votes
1 answer
828 views

Film involving modern soldiers in a jungle/forest fighting large vine creatures - similar feel to Predator [duplicate]

I watched a film around 2005 that involved modern soldiers (possibly American) who are being stalked and killed one by one in a forest or jungle. The look and feel is similar to Predator - big GI's ...
Smeato's user avatar
  • 193
7 votes
4 answers
881 views

Book about humanity's war with a species of bird-like aliens

I’m trying to remember a book I read about 4 years ago (though I'm sure it was older). It was military sci-fi portraying humanity’s war with a species of bird-like aliens that were rather martial in ...
Joseph Carlson's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
176 views

Sci fi War series involving human powered ships

The book was about a group of escape convicts tasked to hunt down a stolen ship and when they find it, they find it's powered by human bodies. The main character is a female they dubbed Queeny and she ...
jeremy kerbango leach's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
134 views

Name of a book about submarine combat

But not your standard submarine combat with to steel tubes filled with hundreds of men stalking each other in silence. These submarines were small one man ships akin to fighter aircraft. The book ...
Stormtrooper53's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
248 views

A story about a super soldier name Lambda 602

I'm looking for a novel where the main character is a super-soldier called Lambda 602 who's just like Master Chief from Halo. He is transported to fantasy world, where he became a familiar their that ...
Kite Avanthine's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
278 views

Why is this Lanky Ship alone and acting unusually?

In the battle in the Fomalhaut system after the Solar System is attacked and Grayson is stranded with a small portion of the fleet, the Lanky seed-ship behaves in some very strange ways. It deposits ...
amflare's user avatar
  • 32.5k
10 votes
1 answer
215 views

Book identification - space marines, underground

OK, so it goes like this: there's a team of space marines that crash land/arrive in an underground cave system they are in a ship. the action takes place inside and around the ship, in the cave they ...
Bogdan's user avatar
  • 103
1 vote
1 answer
281 views

Performance-enhancing "Battle Drugs"

The idea of performance-enhancing drugs for soldiers has been kicking around in hard and hard-ish SFF for quite a while. What was the earliest example in SFF fiction? I'm referring to drugs or drug ...
Joe L.'s user avatar
  • 27.8k