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BattleTech Universe
BattleTech: First Strike
Masters of War!
Three hundred years. An age of chivalry and brutality. Of star empires.
Princes and generals. Soldiers and spies. An age where heroes rally to hold back the darkness. And even the most unlikeliest of hands may determine the fate of millions. An age of duty, loyalty, and terrible choices.
An age...of war.
First Strike collects some of the best BattleTech short stories from some of the game's favorite authors. There are stories by Randall N. Bills, Blaine Lee Pardoe, Jason Schmetzer, Jason Hardy, Jeff Kautz, Dan C. Duval, Loren L. Coleman, Kevin Killiany, Victor Milan, Phaedra Weldon, Steven Mohan, Jr., Dayle A. Dermatis and Louisa Swann.
Three hundred years. An age of chivalry and brutality. Of star empires.
Princes and generals. Soldiers and spies. An age where heroes rally to hold back the darkness. And even the most unlikeliest of hands may determine the fate of millions. An age of duty, loyalty, and terrible choices.
An age...of war.
First Strike collects some of the best BattleTech short stories from some of the game's favorite authors. There are stories by Randall N. Bills, Blaine Lee Pardoe, Jason Schmetzer, Jason Hardy, Jeff Kautz, Dan C. Duval, Loren L. Coleman, Kevin Killiany, Victor Milan, Phaedra Weldon, Steven Mohan, Jr., Dayle A. Dermatis and Louisa Swann.
516 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 15, 2010
21 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Loren L. Coleman
106 books39 followersLoren L. Coleman (born 1968) is a science-fiction writer, born and grew up in Longview, Washington.
He is known for having written many books for series such as Star Trek, Battletech/Mechwarrior, Age of Conan, Crimson Skies, Magic: The Gathering and others. Former member of the United States Navy, he has also written game fiction and source material for such companies as FASA Corporation, TSR, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast.
In early 2010s, he began writing The ICAS Files series, science fiction short-stories. [wikipedia]
He is known for having written many books for series such as Star Trek, Battletech/Mechwarrior, Age of Conan, Crimson Skies, Magic: The Gathering and others. Former member of the United States Navy, he has also written game fiction and source material for such companies as FASA Corporation, TSR, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast.
In early 2010s, he began writing The ICAS Files series, science fiction short-stories. [wikipedia]
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 14, 2021
I'm not sure if these different BattleCorps anthologies are just collated based on the year they were published or if they have any sort of theme in mind. I say this because it really felt like the stories collected in this book seemed to do a particularly great job of celebrating other roles in the BattleTech universe including those who fight in other aspects of war including mercenary soldiers, tank crews, aerospace jocks, and even the training crew of a naval WarShip. We still had some good BattleMech action.
The greater focus of this collection is on the Inner Sphere, although we do have a few solid Clan stories. I just really loved the sheer range and diversity of stories and how this really captured a lot of what made BattleCorps so great - how so many writers just dove into the BattleTech universe and imagined their way into exploring so many different aspects of this story setting.
There were very few stories I didn't like and there were certainly many that I really loved. A very great collection.
The greater focus of this collection is on the Inner Sphere, although we do have a few solid Clan stories. I just really loved the sheer range and diversity of stories and how this really captured a lot of what made BattleCorps so great - how so many writers just dove into the BattleTech universe and imagined their way into exploring so many different aspects of this story setting.
There were very few stories I didn't like and there were certainly many that I really loved. A very great collection.
December 26, 2024
Good read
I really like these short stories they cover a great variety of different characters in the battletech universe from petty criminals to high born Lords and everything in between just great mixture.
I really like these short stories they cover a great variety of different characters in the battletech universe from petty criminals to high born Lords and everything in between just great mixture.
December 12, 2019
Good book, but I believe the quality of the stories was superior in the first volume. My only complaint were the plentiful typos that slipped through the editing process.
July 27, 2012
It was an okay book. I enjoy playing Battletech, and I have enjoyed some authors' work in the Battletech universe, but not all. I picked this up because a friend of mine submitted one of the shorts within.
"Battletech: First Strike: Battlecorps Compilation Vol 2" is a collection of 18 short stories by a variety of Battletech fans/authors. As with most any mix of authors, some of the stories were blase, some plots/endings were not at all surprising (basically formula stories that had been written before in other SF universes), and some were pretty good, with characters whose adventures I'd like to follow further. However...
...the editing was absolutely atrocious. It seems that Loren Coleman was in a rush to get this out the door, did not perform adequate checks, and the overall quality and feel of the book suffers. Sprinkled liberally throughout the book are repeated examples of misspelled words, mis-used words, bad grammar, lack of spaces between words, confusing dialogue or sentence structure in paragraphs, and so on. Two of the worst examples of the poor editing appear at the bottom of page 179 (where there is a note from I presume the editor to the author in brackets that was not removed for the final publication; truly, inexcusable) and the bottom of page 328 (in the "About The Authors" section), where the sentence reads: "He still resides in Baltimore with my wife, Katherine, daughter, Morgan, and two dogs, Roxy and Taco". Who's wife?!? The author's or the editor's?
For the stories, I'd give this a 4-star as a decent collection of short reads (there are more good stories than blase). But for the editing skills exhibited herein, I would give this 1 star. So I'm being kind, giving this 3 stars.
"Battletech: First Strike: Battlecorps Compilation Vol 2" is a collection of 18 short stories by a variety of Battletech fans/authors. As with most any mix of authors, some of the stories were blase, some plots/endings were not at all surprising (basically formula stories that had been written before in other SF universes), and some were pretty good, with characters whose adventures I'd like to follow further. However...
...the editing was absolutely atrocious. It seems that Loren Coleman was in a rush to get this out the door, did not perform adequate checks, and the overall quality and feel of the book suffers. Sprinkled liberally throughout the book are repeated examples of misspelled words, mis-used words, bad grammar, lack of spaces between words, confusing dialogue or sentence structure in paragraphs, and so on. Two of the worst examples of the poor editing appear at the bottom of page 179 (where there is a note from I presume the editor to the author in brackets that was not removed for the final publication; truly, inexcusable) and the bottom of page 328 (in the "About The Authors" section), where the sentence reads: "He still resides in Baltimore with my wife, Katherine, daughter, Morgan, and two dogs, Roxy and Taco". Who's wife?!? The author's or the editor's?
For the stories, I'd give this a 4-star as a decent collection of short reads (there are more good stories than blase). But for the editing skills exhibited herein, I would give this 1 star. So I'm being kind, giving this 3 stars.
October 21, 2011
I love battletech and these shorts were very good, except that the editing was pretty bad.. there were some basic mistakes and it was clearly rushed to the printers too soon.
the stories were great though and I really liked alot of the angles that they used.
the stories were great though and I really liked alot of the angles that they used.
July 21, 2011
An okay collection of short stories in the Battletech Universe
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews