StarFist is a series of military science fiction novels written by David Sherman and Dan Cragg. The novels are set in the 25th century[1] and are written from the viewpoint of the men of the Confederation of Human Worlds Marine Corps 34th FIST (Fleet Initial Strike Team). An additional spin-off series, titled StarFist: Force Recon, by the same authors was started in 2005 with the publication of Backshot.
Dan Cragg was a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army, serving for twenty-two years with eleven years in overseas stations, five and half in Vietnam; at retirement Cragg was a sergeant major. He is also a writer of military non-fiction, including Inside the VC and NVA, and many others based around the Vietnam War. He lives in Virginia. Cragg published the first of the StarFist series with coauthor David Sherman.[2]
David Sherman was a United States Marine veteran, whose military experience influenced his work from the start of his writing career.[3] [4]
The Confederation of Human Worlds in the 21st century established its capital city at Fargo, North Dakota, which grew into a large metropolis with a multitude of skyscrapers and government buildings. The military headquarters of the Confederation in Fargo, North Dakota is called the Heptagon. A space navy, an army with air force capability transport space navy ships to whatever planet they are ordered to, and a Marine Corps make up the force. Humans have colonized numerous worlds out several hundred light years and are faced with conflicts involving surrounding extraterrestrials.[5]
A short time after the authors submitted the manuscript of Double Jeopardy the series publisher, Del Rey, decided to cancel the series.[6]
StarFist: Force Recon describes the experiences of the men and women who carry out intelligence-gathering and small-unit raids behind enemy lines. The Confederation Marine Force Recon mission is very similar to that of United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance, with which co-author Sherman, a former US Marine, is familiar. The new series did not sell as well as the parent series, and the publisher allowed the series to end after three novels: Backshot, published in 2005; PointBlank, published in 2006; and Recoil, published in 2008.
Backshot, the first book, was published in 2005. This story introduces the second platoon, Fourth Force Recon Marines, which are the unit that the series focuses on. The Marines are dispatched to the far-off agricultural world of Atlas, a member of the secretive Union of Margelan, itself a member-state of the Confederation of Human Worlds. The Margelan government is developing a secret technological project in Atlas; the Marines are ordered to discover what it is, and, if it is a weapon of mass destruction, to either destroy it or seize it for the Confederation. Once planetside, the Marines stumble upon many difficulties and intrigues on their way to their objective.[7]
PointBlank is the second book in the series, published in 2006. The protagonists are once again second platoon, Fourth Force Recon Marines, and they are dispatched to Ravenette, a world which is waging a secessionist war with the Confederation. The Confederate forces on the planet are desperately fighting off a siege by the separatist forces, heavily outnumbered, and it is up to the Force Recon Marines to try to even the odds through black ops warfare - assassinations, demolitions and raids, in order to undermine the enemy's offensive capabilities.[8] This book's events happen simultaneously to the main series novel Flashfire's.
Recoil is the last book in the series, published in 2008. Second platoon is dispatched to the far-off world of Haulover, where local forces are fighting a losing battle against the skinks, an extraterrestrial enemy which for years has been violently raiding the frontiers of human space. Once again the Force Recon Marines are employed as force multipliers, using their special skill set in spectacularly bold ways.[9] This book's events happen simultaneously to the main series novel Wings of Hell's.
The novels were criticized for their all-male cast of soldiers, using contrived inter-service rivalries as a plot device, and a "tendency to telegraph their denouements". But as the Publishers Weekly review of STARFIST: Lazarus Rising stated, at the end "The politically correct may have trouble with the lack of female soldiers à la Honor Harrington, but the traditional male audience at which this is targeted will have no complaints.".[10]
The books have been praised, however, for their verisimilitude with actual military experiences - being called "exciting",[11] "hyperrealistic",[12] and in a specific installment, "state-of-the-art military SF".[13]
Regarding Force Recon, the writer Thomas Evans reviewed the first two volumes of the series, lauding Backshot's story, plot development and its differences from the main series of books;[14] although he mentioned also liking PointBlank, he affirmed it "did not quite grab me as much as I had hoped".[15]