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Give a bunch of science fiction and fantasy authors a cover image. Ask them to write a military story about it. See what happens.
Dancing with Destruction, an SF&F anthology edited by Jason Cordova, is the result of one such creative experiment. It contains nine tales ranging from short stories to novellas with a combat theme.
The anthology assumes an omniscient alien species, the Elderwatch, is observing humanity. They watch across parallel universes and various timelines. The Elderwatch have no presence beyond a mention in the preface.
All nine stories are original, written for this anthology. The authors range from old and established, like David Weber and Blaine Pardoe, to relatively new on the scene, like Shane Gries. They cover the landscape in terms of the type of story presented and the time period in which the story takes place.
David Weber teams up with Marisa Wolf to offer a first contact story. It is told from a split point of view, with each side viewing the other side as the monster. Hard science fiction, this entry is set in the far future. Blain Pardoe offers a fantasy story set in the Korean War, with elder gods on both sides of the conflict.
Joelle Presby’s offering is an odd and entertaining tale involving conspiracy theorists, computer message boards and lizard people. It contains twists throughout and an unexpected ending. Jacob Holo and Edie Skye provide a tale set in the Sol Blazers’ world, with Captain Nathan Kade and crew riding to the rescue of a movie crew in the solar system.
Melissa Olthoff and Nick Steverson team up to write half of a braided pair of stories, with Kacey Ezell writing the other half. Both stories describe a battle set in the far future on a planet. Olthoff Nick Steverson describes the battle from the ground-pounders’ view while Ezell tells it through the shuttle pilot’s eyes.
Rick Partlow provides an alien invasion story set during the 1960s. Taking place in California, a National Guard unit on maneuvers finds Vietnam to be a safer environment. Jason Cordova's piece goes through the final exam of an explorer. Jason Anspach and Nick Cole have a novella set in the WarGate series.
Dancing with Destruction is a book for military SF&F buffs. If that is your genre, this book is for you. It provides a sampler of stories ranging from hard science fiction to urban fantasy, pitting small teams of soldiers against formidable odds.
“Dancing with Destruction,” edited by Jason Cordova, Baen Books, July 2025, 320 pages, $18.00 (Paperback), $8.99 (E-book)
This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.
Discussion (11)
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Any idea why I’m seeing stories/books with more than one author. I’m not a full on devotee of modern (post Reagan) science fiction and only dip into military science fiction when I see it reviewed or recommended in the places I haunt.
Is this a division of labor thing where Bill is good at plot and Bob is better at dialogue? Or is this a means for Bill to mentor Bob because he is a rookie with potential?
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You have discovered my weakness. I will have to muster myself accordingly.
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This is an anthology. They have been around since at least the 1950s, with regular releases of theme anthologies and "best of 'year' anthologies since then. (Anyone else remember Groff Conklin or Judith Merrill?) It's an SF tradition, one that Baen maintains. Baen F&SF is a throwback to the optimistic SF of the 1940s through 1970s. If you like Reagan-era and pre-Reagan-era SF you should read books published by Baen or written by Baen alumni (Sarah Hoyt, Dave Freer). For that matter Raconteur Press also publishes that flavor of SF.
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This has actually been around for quite awhile even pre-Reagan. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote several very successful sci-fi novels together. "Lucifer's Hammer" and "The Mote in God's Eye" being the two I remember reading and enjoying back in the day.
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I've seen both of these as well as old writers being propped up by newer writers, on purpose torch-passing, and spouses whose input may (or may not) be closer to editing than writing.
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