First to Fight:
Starfist Book One
by David Sherman and Dan Cragg
Del Rey, New York, October 1997
380 pp. paperback
US $5.99, Canada $6.99
ISBN 0-345-40622-2

The popularity of military sf continues to remain strong, and it seems like most publishers have mil sf books out. One of the latest is a new collaboration called First to Fight: Starfist Book One. The authors, David Sherman and Dan Cragg, are veterans of both the military and the publishing business. That was a hopeful sign that First to Fight would rise above the typical action-adventure genre offerings and present something fresh and out of the ordinary. But like a lot of mil sf out there, the action takes center stage, leaving the characterization standing in the wings.

But that's not especially unusual in the action-adventure genre, of which military sf has at least one boot. There is a strong central character, Confederation Marine Gunnery Sergeant Charlie Bass, who lives true to his own personal code of honor. But, he's something of a cliche, at least in this first book. He's got a chest full of medals and ribbons, has been busted back more than once for disciplinary reasons (and gets busted back in the first chapter, to illustrate who he is) and is easily the baddest sumbitch in the whole Confederation Marines. He is a living legend.

As an introduction to the series, First to Fight isn't bad. If you've seen the movie Full Metal Jacket, you might catch some resemblances. The first part of the book follows a new recruit as he enlists, goes through basic and advanced training and joins the 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team, a hardship duty unit. Once the story gets to the 34th FIST, however, the focus changes from the cherry and swings around to recently demoted Staff Sergeant Bass.

The story follows Sergeant Bass and his unit as they provide a peacekeeping presence on a colonized planet of malcontents and social outcasts. While the authors make some attempt at providing the planet's inhabitants with justification for their actions, it is clear that they are the Bad Guys. Throw in some screw-ups by those supporting the Marines and a meglomaniac who plays his allies like the pawns they are. Sprinkle some just-out-of-bootcamp Marines, a desk-jockey "pogue" who gets taken along for the ride and stir them up in a desert with little water and few supplies. It's no spoiler to say most of them get out alive and that the bad guys lose. That is, after all, what this kind of story is all about.

First to Fight is the first collaboration between Sherman and Cragg, and while it doesn't pose an immediate threat to Pournelle, Drake, Moon, Weber and company, it isn't a bad debut. There are glimpses of depth to Bass' character, and the supporting cast of newbie and veteran Marines has some interesting potential. But, given the nature of today's publishing reality, a "not bad" debut just may not be enough to guarantee additional books in the Starfist series.

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Gordie Meyer thinks military sf is a lot like pizza. It may not all be great, but it's almost always at least edible.