Military science fiction

Military science fiction (abbreviated to MSF , Military-SF or Military SF ) is a sub-genre of science fiction . Works of this sub-genre place great emphasis on the realistic description of fictional military conflicts, the protagonists are mostly part of a military association. MSF covers the spectrum from heroization to critical examination of war and its consequences. Most of the MSF's works are part of the Hard-SF .

Although there are definition problems (see definition clarification ), the realistic description of the military conflict, the tactics used and the technical details from a military point of view are almost always key issues.

One of the classic works that can be assigned to the MSF is Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (see also the film adaptation ) as well as Space Navy adaptations, which are mostly based on the model of the Royal Navy (see also the books as a model Horatio Hornblower ). Examples of this are David Weber's Honor Harrington Universe or David Feintuch's Nick Seafort series . But satirical debates with the military, such as Harry Harrison's Bill, The Galactic Hero or Robert Asprin's Phule's Company series, are counted as military science fiction.

Clarification of definition

A clear and unambiguous demarcation from other sub-genres of science fiction such as space opera is only rarely possible and fluid.

Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series is an example of the problematic assignment . While the first three books are generally attributed to the MSF, later volumes are more likely to belong to the sub-genre of space opera, as the military aspects have moved into the background.

Therefore, there are very different definitions for MSF:

• "Works that revolve primarily around military protagonists who are involved in wars that take place either in space or on foreign planets." ( Don D'Amassa : Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 2005)

• "Basically just armed troops in space." (SFsite.com)

• "MSF deals with military clashes in futuristic places (space, planets) against the most diverse opponents (modified humanoids, aliens, machines) with technically highly developed weapon systems (technology, genetics)." ( Marg Gilks ​​& Moira Allen : writing-world. com)

• “For me, MSF is science fiction that deals with military situations, with a basic understanding of the differences in military life and characters from civilian and civilian life. MSF tries to portray the military realistically in an SF context. It's not "Shoot Alien." It's about humans and aliens trapped in the horror of war. MSF is no excuse for simplistic representations of complex problems. "( David Drake : in an interview)

Examples

Novels

• Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers , a conflict between Earth and an insectoid civilization in space.
• Joe Haldemans The Eternal War , a unit of soldiers in the fight against the alien taurians, who is exposed to the effect of time dilation due to the faster than light speed of the spaceships .
• In Edward E. Smith's Lensmen cycle, the Galactic Patrol exists ; a mix of military and interstellar police force .
• Perry Rhodan , a German booklet series, which under the influence of its first synopsis editor Karl-Herbert Scheer ("Handgranaten-Herbert" or "Kanonen-Herbert") showed a strongly militarized character, so that contemporary criticism parallels the series Der Landser pulled. The series was only"demilitarized"after William Voltz took over the editingfrom volume 500. The SF novel series ZBV , which had already been written by Scheer, also hadsimilar militaristic elements.
• David Weber's Honor Harrington series, which is based on a protracted military conflict of several star civilizations.
• Orson Scott Cards The big game has a similar basis as Starship Troopers with insectoid aliens, but with child soldiers as protagonists.
• Michael McCollum's The Antares War portrays the fate of human colonists cut off from Earth after the outbreak of a supernova and attacked by an unknown race.

Movie and TV

• Enemy Mine (1985), which describes a war between humans and reptilian Dracs .
• Aliens - The Return (1986), a troop of US Colonial Marines inspects a space colony to which the connection was lost because the colonists were attacked by animal aliens and fights them.
• Space 2063 (1995–1996), the struggle of mankind against the alien Chigs .
• Starship Troopers (1997), is about a war between humans and "arachnoids" (very large arachnids).
• Stargate - Kommando SG-1 (1997-2007), the struggle of humans against various extraterrestrial races, such as Goa'uld , Replicators and Ori .
• Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009) describes the struggle between humans and Cylons , some of which have become biological androids themselves.
• Avatar - Aufbruch nach Pandora (2009), on behalf of a society human mercenaries exploit the planet of the primitive humanoid Na'vi .
• Edge of Tomorrow (2014), humanity fights in continental Europe against the alien race Mimics .

Video games

• BattleTech from FASA
• Command & Conquer game series from Westwood Studios / Electronic Arts
• Gears of War from Epic Games
• Halo game series from Bungie
• Mass Effect game series from BioWare
• StarCraft series of games from Blizzard
• Warhammer 40,000 from Games Workshop

criticism

Military science fiction is controversial because of its focus on the military perspective and portrayal of the atrocities of war and conflict. Some authors avoid this term for their works, as this branch of science fiction is sometimes criticized as follows:

• "... no doubt, they are among us, the revenants of saber-rascals long believed dead and intergalactic war correspondents ..." ( Phantasia Almanac No. 5 )
• "... with a neoconservative mindset and the writing skills of an eleven year old ..." ( Hannes Riffel : editor and translator)
• "... limit yourself, as before, to moving US imperialism from the home front into space." ( Phantasia Almanac No. 5 )

The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction sums up the critics' arguments in a very simplified manner as follows: "... Hard SF, which degenerates into conservative power fantasies about military technology and people who kill their opponents with oversized weapons."

In a scientific context, the task of science fiction is to get people used to new technology and changes (see Susan Sontag's essay on scientific aspects of SF: Imagination of Disaster ). This also applies to the MSF.

Every artistic genre always processes current developments. This can be shown well with the help of the MSF and its early representatives, who, under the influence of major wars (up to and including World War II), dealt with innovations in warfare and new opponents:

• George Tomkyns Chesney : The Battle of Dorking (1871)
• Hermann Lang: The Air Battle (1859)
• HG Wells : War of the Worlds (1898)
• Ferdinand Grautoff : 1906. The collapse of the old world (1905)

More recently, due to asymmetrical warfare ( terrorism , guerrilla , private security and military companies ) and the flare-up of conflicts around the world, more weight has been attached to dealing with these military aspects ( Vietnam War until 9/11 ):

• Norman Spinrad : The Men in the Jungle (1967)
• Norman Spinrad: The Big Flash (1969)
• Andre Norton : Star Guard (1955)
• Mack Reynolds : Mercenary from Tomorrow (1962 Mercenary ; exp. 1968)

further reading

• Claus Ritter : Struggle for Utopolis or The Mobilization of the Future . Berlin ( Verlag der Nation ) 1987. ISBN 3-373-00083-1 .
• Edward James, Farah Mendlesohn (Eds.): The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. Cambridge UP, New York 2003, ISBN 978-0521016575 .
• David Seed (Ed.): A Companion to Science Fiction. Blackwell Limited, Grand Rapids 2005.
• Brian Stableford : Science Fact and Science Fiction. Routledge, New York 2006, ISBN 978-0415974608 .
• Don D'Amassa: Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Facts On File, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0816059249 .
• Kim Sawchuk: Biotourism, Fantastic Voyage, and Sublime Inner Space. In: Janine Marchessault, Kim Sawchuk (Eds.): Wild Science: Reading Feminism, Medicine and the Media. Routledge, London 2000, ISBN 978-0415204316 , pp. 9-23.
• Vivian Sobchak: The Scene of the Screen: Envisioning Cinematic and Electronic 'Presence.' In: Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, K. Ludwig Pfeiffer (Ed.): Materialities of Communication. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1994, ISBN 978-0804722643 .

Web links

• Military Science Fiction Bibliography 2009 (eLib.at)
• Science and Fiction Topic (eLib.at)
• Perry Rhodan author Karl-Herbert Scheer explains in a broadcast of the news magazine Monitor from 1969 how a so-called transform cannon works

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Scott Connors: The Politics of Military SF . Publishers Weekly, April 7, 2008, accessed June 5, 2008.
2. ↑ Craig E. Engler: Classic Sci-Fi Reviews: Starship Troopers . SciFi.com, 1997. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
3. ↑ Don D'Ammassa: Encyclopedia of science fiction. Facts On File, New York 2004, p. 358.
4. ↑ Don D'Ammassa: Encyclopedia of science fiction. Facts On File, New York 2004, p. 407.
5. ↑ Don D'Ammassa: Encyclopedia of science fiction. Facts On File, New York 2004, p. 141.
6. ↑ Don D'Ammassa: Encyclopedia of science fiction. Facts On File, New York 2004, p. 179.
7. ↑ Don D'Ammassa: Encyclopedia of science fiction. Facts On File, New York 2004, p. 19.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Don D'Ammassa: Encyclopedia of science fiction. Facts On File, New York 2004, p. 61.
9. ↑ See the definition collection on eLib (from the English from eLib.at). Retrieved January 24, 2009.
10. ^ Stephan Maus: A German hero. (No longer available online.) In: stern.de. December 3, 2006, archived from the original on December 15, 2013 ; Retrieved December 16, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ^ Edward James, Farah Mendlesohn (Ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. Cambridge UP, New York 2003, ISBN 978-0521016575 , pp. 193 ff.
12. ↑ Science and Fiction Topic (eLib.at). Retrieved January 24, 2009.
13. ^ Susan Sontag: Imagination of Disaster , pdf, early version. Accessed: January 24, 2009. See also: Science and Fiction Themenkreis (eLib.at) for a discussion of science, society and SF . Retrieved February 2, 2009.
14. ↑ ^{a b c d} J. Clute, P. Nicholls: The Encyclopedia of science fiction. St. Martin's Griffin, New York 1995. Article: War.
15. ↑ Don D'Ammassa: Encyclopedia of science fiction. Facts On File, New York 2004, p. 402.
16. ↑ Don D'Ammassa: Encyclopedia of science fiction. Facts On File, New York 2004, p. 38.
17. ↑ Don D'Ammassa: Encyclopedia of science fiction. Facts On File, New York 2004, p. 274.
18. ↑ Don D'Ammassa: Encyclopedia of science fiction. Facts On File, New York 2004, p. 306.
19. ↑ Monitor magazine. Broadcast on February 24, 1969: Perry Rhodan. In: youtube.com. June 23, 2008, accessed December 16, 2013 .