'Diaries of a Dwarven Rifleman' by Michael Tinker Pearce & Linda Pearce

[Michael]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

The description is at the link above so I won't repeat it here. At the Clarion West mixer last summer I was asked for an 'elevator pitch' for this book. I thought a moment and said, "Hard-science Science Fiction set in a medieval fantasy world as written by Louis L'Amour." That sums it up pretty well but it's much more than that. In this post I'm going to discuss the stuff behind the scenes, as it were; a look behind the curtain.

The basic premise is that Dwarves and Goblins were created from humans by an evil overlord in the ancient past to work his mines. The Dwarves discovered how to use blasting powder as a weapon and rebelled against the overlord and killed him, freeing both themselves and the goblins. Once free the dwarves fled north through the 'human' nations and discovered that Battlemages could detonate their blasting powder at a distance rendering their make-shift guns not only useless, but a danger to them. Fleeing into the deep mountains they established their own kingdom. Determined never to be enslaved again they learn to make guns that magic cannot effect- powerful large-bore air rifles. Fielding elite regiments of riflemen they are able to keep their freedom against the encroaching 'Tall Folk' and the Goblins. The 'Tall Folk' are unable to match the dwarves technology and military prowess and over the centuries settle into a sometimes uneasy peace and establish trade. This is the world the protagonist is born into.

The dwarves have their own magic, shaped to serve the needs of their creator to help build his evil empire. Their abilities to work stone, metal and wood are supplemented by magic.

The Dwarven and Human cultures in the book have a Norse background, and their ancient tongue is a corrupted form of Old Norse. Nordic values and the values of the Hävamal are woven through their culture. The races share variations of a religion based on this background.

The reason that I liken this to hard-science Science Fiction is the painstaking research that went into the book. I did a lot of math working out the Dwarven technology and the battle scenes in the book. The air rifles are based on solid math and science- they would work in reality (I hope to be able to make one some day!) Guns often work badly in fantasy, because once they are introduced in a world the technology would eventually, inevitably spread until everyone used them. I took special pains to insure that the technology used would be pretty much impossible for the other races to duplicate given the magic, social, commercial and political make-up of the world.

More of this is implied in the story than is explained; this is mostly 'deep background' and we took care to avoid 'data-dumping.' The information that is conveyed in the story is done naturally as part of the story, in the appropriate places and we reveal no more of this than is needed to advance the story.

'Diaries of a Dwarven Rifleman' is part of a continuing series that so far includes the novel, a short-story and a novella. I hope that you'll have a look.