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THE LONG WAY HOME

Hammer's Slammer Don Slade is coming home to the planet Tethys, to his son and the woman he loves. But the space between is dark and cold. And the stars he must pass shine their light on planets which beckon to the weary traveler, planets which hold hidden dangers.

And if Don Slade should ever reach Tethys... that is when the real fighting starts.

When a planetary government faces threats from guerrillas, insurgents or terrorists, the men they hire are Hammer's Slammers—known throughout the galaxy for their cold, ruthless ferocity, their ability to defeat overwhelming forces, and their willingness to go up against impossible odds.

Table of contents:

• Intro: Mercenaries and Military Virtue by Jerry Pournelle
• But Loyal to His Own
• The Butcher's Bill
• Under the Hammer
• Cultural Conflict
• Caught in the Crossfire (Caught in the Crossfire)
• Hangman
• Standing Down
• Interludes: Supertanks, The Church of the Lord's Universe, Powerguns, Backdrop to Chaos, The Bonding Authority, and Table of Organization and Equipment, Hammer's Regiment (The Tank Lords, as Appendix) The Baen (1987) edition adds The Tank Lords

Col. Alois Hammer's indomitable Slammers are called in to support human colonists against a native uprising in this novel-length adventure. But even though the natives' off-world weapons are no match for the Slammers, their ability to teleport gives them a frightening advantage!

Table of Contents:

• At Any Price
• The Interrogation Team
• Code-Name Feirefitz

The hottest science fiction mercenaries of the decade are back, so why count the cost? The other guy is going to pay for it! Hammer's Slammers must win a two-front war while maintaining the civilian power structure against hordes of religious fanatics.

Colonel Hammer has only a mixed bag of recruits and battle-fatigued veterans to relieve a district capital that has to be rescued.

Rolling Hot is sure to follow the success of David Drake's Hammer's Slammers (nearly a million in print) and the bestselling tie-in adventure game.

Colonel Alois Hammer, Luke Broglie, Tess Kuykendall, and Slick Des Grieux, cogs in a killing machine, find themselves at the center of a potential bloodbath.

A tough, battle-scarred survey team arrives on Cantilucca--a place ruled by gangs and guns where things apparently can't get any worse--seasoned professionals ready for violence and able to destroy anything except their own consciences.

Colonel Alois Hammer: to the galaxy, a legendary commander of mercenaries. To his troops, a leader who can be trusted to always back them to the hilt - and meet a payroll. When the situation on a planet has gone beyond desperate, it's time to call for Hammer's Slammers.

THE SAGA OF THE SLAMMERS BEGINS!

COLONEL ALOIS HAMMER: He welded five thousand individual killers into a weapon more deadly than any other in the human universe. When a planetary government faces unfriendly natives, guerrilla insurgents, or ruthless terrorists, they do the only thing that might save them -- they hire Hammer's Slammers, the toughest, meanest bunch of mercs who ever wrecked a world for pay. Known throughout the galaxy for their cold, ruthless ferocity, the men of Colonel Hammer's indomitable armored brigade routinely accept impossible missions. Again and again, they go up against overwhelming forces, or fight a two-front war against ferocious opposition, all without atomizing their civilian employers. Can they keep doing it? Not if they abide by the rules of civilized warfare...but nobody ever said the Hammers were nice. Even when their chances are not good -- those who oppose them have no chance at all!

Mercenary leader Alois Hammer has created an armored regiment that wins battles--Hammer's Slammers. "Booklist" says "Drake's popular Hammer's Slammers series about futuristic mercenary tank troops . . . has produced some of the best in military science fiction".

This book contains two novels, "Counting the Cost" and "The Warrior", two short stories, and a completely new novelette, arranged in the order the author finds most satisfactory.

They were the best mercenaries in the galaxy. They were Hammer's Slammers! "The Butcher's Bill" contains a novel, two novellas, four short stories, and a new novelette written for the collection, in addition to an Introduction by the author.

With a veteran's eye for the harsh and gritty details of war, David Drake depicts a futuristic analog of tank combat in his Hammer's Slammers fiction. The Slammers are neither cartoon heroes nor propaganda villains; rather they are competent professionals engaged in a deadly business. The inevitable conflicts between policy, necessity, and human nature make Drake's Slammers fiction instantly identifiable and utterly compelling.

This is the first of a three volume set presenting for the first time the entire genre-defining Slammers series in a uniform trade paperback set, with new introductions by major SF figures and new afterwords. Each volume will also include a Slammers story not collected in previous Slammer's books.

Table of Contents:

• The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 1 - interior artwork by John Treadaway
• 1 - Introduction (The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 1) - (2005) - essay by Gene Wolfe
• 5 - Foreword: Becoming a Professional Writer by Way of Southeast Asia - (1998) - essay (variant of Becoming a Professional Writer by Way of Southeast Asia)
• 9 - Under the Hammer - (1974) - short story
• 25 - Supertanks - (1979) - essay
• 29 - The Butcher's Bill - (1974) - novelette
• 45 - The Church of the Lord's Universe - (1979) - essay
• 47 - But Loyal to His Own - (1975) - novelette
• 67 - Powerguns - (1979) - essay
• 71 - Caught in the Crossfire - (1978) - short story
• 83 - Backdrop to Chaos - (1979) - essay
• 87 - Cultural Conflict - (1979) - short story
• 101 - The Bonding Authority - (1979) - essay
• 105 - Hangman - (1979) - novella
• 147 - Table of Organization and Equipment, Hammer's Regiment - (1979) - essay
• 149 - Standing Down - (1979) - novelette
• 163 - Code-Name Feirefitz - (1984) - novelette
• 189 - The Interrogation Team - (1985) - short story
• 201 - The Tank Lords - (1986) - novella
• 237 - Liberty Port - (1987) - novella
• 289 - Night March - (1997) - novelette
• 305 - The Immovable Object - (1998) - novelette
• 337 - The Irresistible Force - (1998) - novella
• 373 - A Death in Peacetime - (2005) - novelette
• 391 - Afterword: Accidentally and by the Back Door (The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 1) - essay

This Omni-trade paperback volume collects the first four novels in the series: At Any Price, Counting the Cost, Rolling Hot, and The Warrior-all have been out of print and unavailable for several years...

Neither stainless white knights nor bloodthirsty killers, the Slammers are competent professionals, with recognizable human flaws, engaged in a deadly business. Their internal conflicts, set against vivid scenes of battle, make their stories exciting and compelling.

This is the second of the three volume set presenting for the first time the entire genre-defining Slammers series in uniform Omni-trade paperback volumes, with new introductions by major SF figures and new afterwords. Each volume will also include a Slammers story not collected in previous Slammer's books.

Table of Contents:

• The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 2 - interior artwork by John Treadaway
• 1 - In Defense of David Drakes's Hammer's Slammers Stories: An Introduction (The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 2) - (2005) - essay by David G. Hartwell
• 5 - Foreword: We Happy Few (The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 2) - (1997) - essay (variant of Afterword: We Happy Few (The Tank Lords))
• 9 - At Any Price - (1985) - novel
• 109 - Counting the Cost - [Hammer's Slammers - 3] - (1987) - novel
• 229 - Rolling Hot - [Hammer's Slammers - 4] - (1989) - novel
• 379 - The Warrior - [Hammer's Slammers - 5] - (1991) - novel
• 481 - The Day of Glory - (2006) - novelette
• 503 - Afterword: What's for Sale (The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 2) - essay

This volume features the final two Slammers novels, The Sharp End and Paying the Piper, as well as an original novelette, The Darkness. This volume will feature an introduction by Barry Malzberg.

Table of Contents:

• 1 - Inextricable Disengagement: The War Games of David Drake: An Introduction - (2005) - essay by Barry N. Malzberg
• 5 - The Sharp End - [Hammer's Slammers - 6] - (1993) - novel
• 231 - Paying the Piper - [Hammer's Slammers - 7] - (2002) - collection
• 232 - Choosing Sides - (2002) - novella
• 290 - The Political Process - (2002) - novella
• 377 - Neck or Nothing - (2002) - novella
• 483 - The Darkness - (2006) - novelette
• 511 - Jim - (2007) - essay