DRAKE, David A(llen)

(1945-)

   US lawyer and writer who served as the Assistant Town Attorney in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1972-80. He became a full-time writer in 1981, although his first story, the H.P. LOVECR AFT pastiche "Denkirch", had appeared much earlier, in Travellers by Night (anth 1967) ed August W. DERLETH. Though the wide success of his various military-sf novels and series and SHARED-WORLD enterprises has perhaps had a simplifying effect on his reputation, DAD has, in fact, from the beginning of his career written a wide variety of work, both stories and novels, a range perhaps best encapsulated in his first collection of unconnected stories, From the Heart of Darkness (coll 1983), which assembles sf, fantasy and horror tales written from 1974 onwards and set in the past, present and future. From early in his career, his prose has been spare and telling though occasionally, in some of the more routine sf adventures, seemingly no more than cost-efficient.DAD first came to wide notice with his Hammer's Slammers sequence of military-sf tales set in a SPACE-OPERA Galaxy: Hammer's Slammers (coll 1979; exp 1987), \#2: Cross the Stars (1984), \#3: At Any Price (1985), \#4: Counting the Cost (1987), \#5: Rolling Hot (1989), \#6: The Warrior (1991), \#7: The Sharp End (1993), and The Voyage (1994), set in the Hammer universe and retellilng the tale of Jason and the Argonauts. It is very noticeable that the mercenaries involved in this sequence, and in most of DAD's other military sf, are (as it were) soldiers on the ground, and that representatives of the officer class generally merit the suspicion with which they are greeted. Though its general political vision could not be described as anarchist, DAD's work lacks-possibly as a consequence of his indifference to the loquacious cod stoicism ascribed by other writers to officer classes in general - a sense of philosophizing import, gaining much thereby, so that he can concentrate on the moment-to-moment exigencies of honorable mercenary soldiering. The Fleet sequence of SHARED-WORLD anthologies, created and ed by DAD and Bill FAWCETT - The Fleet * (anth 1988), \#2: Counter Attack * (anth 1988), \#3: Breakthrough * (anth 1989), \#4: Sworn Allies * (anth 1990), \#5: Total War * (anth 1990) and \#6: Crisis * (anth 1991) - does not depart markedly from this mature restraint, which is further manifested in a sequel series, the Battlestation sequence comprising Battlestation * (anth 1992) and Vanguard * (anth 1993). The Crisis of Empire sequence, essentially written as TIES by his collaborators - Crisis of Empire \#1: An Honorable Defense * (1988) with Thomas T. THOMAS, \#2: Cluster Command * (1989) with William C. DIETZ and \#3: The War Machine * (1989) with Roger MacBride ALLEN - rather more flamboyantly follows the plummeting career of a captain who reaches bottom in the third volume but whom we expect, in projected continuations, to save the Empire. The Northworld sequence - Northworld (1990), \#2: Vengeance (1991) and \#3: Justice (1992) - sets its military operations on a world which operates as a gateway to several ALTERNATE-WORLD settings. The General sequence with S.M. STIRLING - expected to run several volumes beyond The Forge (1991), The Hammer1992 - features yet another military officer, befriended on his far-off planetary home by a battle COMPUTER planning to re-establish a Galactic Federation.With The Dragon Lord (1979), an exercise in Arthurian SWORD AND SORCERY, DAD began to publish singletons set in various venues and times, and of varying quality. Time Safari (coll of linked stories 1982); exp vt Tyrannosaur 1994 makes one of the hoary CLICHES of TIME-TRAVEL tales -the dinosaur hunt - vividly present to the mind's eye through the well researched verisimilitude of the telling. Birds of Prey (1984) brings Ancient Rome, again through time travel, vividly to life, as does Killer (1974 Midnight Sun \#1; 1985) with Karl Edward Wagner (1945-). Bridgehead (1986) combines time travel with interstellar military action and intrigue. Dagger * (1988) is a tied contribution to the Thieves' World enterprise, and Explorers in Hell * (1989) with Janet E. MORRIS is part of the Heroes in Hell enterprise. Old Nathan (coll of linked stories 1991), set in a traditional USA, nostalgically tells tales of a crabby but lovable ghost-hunter. Today there seems very little to stop DAD from writing exactly what he wishes to write.

   JC

   Other works: Skyripper (1983); The Forlorn Hope (1984); Active Measures (1985), Kill Ratio (1987) and Target (1989), all three with Janet E. Morris; Fortress (1986); Lacey and his Friends (coll of linked stories 1986); the World of Crystal Walls fantasy sequence, beginning with The Sea Hag (1988), further volumes projected; Ranks of Bronze (1986); Vettius and his Friends (coll of linked stories 1989); Surface Action (1990); The Hunter Returns (1991), adapted from Fire-Hunter (1951) by Jim Kjelgaard (1910-1959); The Military Dimension (coll 1991); The Jungle * (1991), based on (and printed with) "Clash by Night" (1943) as by Lawrence O'Donnell, a joint pseudonym of Henry KUTTNER and C.L. MOORE, and here ascribed, some think erroneously, to Kuttner alone; Starliner (1992); Car Warriors TM: The Square Deal * (1992); High Strangeness (1992); Igniting the Reaches (1994).As Editor: The Starhunters sequence of reprint stories, comprising Men Hunting Things (anth 1988), Things Hunting Men (anth 1988) and Bluebloods (anth 1990); the Space sequence, all with Martin H. GREENBERG and Charles G. WAUGH, comprising Space Gladiators (anth 1989), Space Infantry (anth 1989) and Space Dreadnoughts (anth 1990); A Separate Star (anth 1989) and Heads to the Storm (anth 1989), both with Sandra MIESEL and both constituting a tribute to Rudyard KIPLING; The Eternal City (anth 1990) with Greenberg and Waugh.

   See also: ALIENS; GAMES AND SPORTS; VENUS; WAR; WEAPONS.