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Old 09-18-2008, 07:51 AM   #1
harmyn
 
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Default The Old Car Wars Novels/Stories - Any good?

Out of curiousity, the old Car Wars/Car Warriors books that came out in the 80's, any good?

I remember enjoying some of the short stories in ADQ (even in recent rereads) and as a kid I liked the choose your own adventure style books where you actually could roll some dice and track damage on scrap paper as you read through it, but I am not certain on the novels.

Would love some thoughts on those.
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Old 09-18-2008, 08:26 AM   #2
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Default Re: The Old Car Wars Novels/Stories - Any good?

The Square Deal by David Drake was an OK story. I own the others but haven't read them yet. Really should dig them out.
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Old 09-18-2008, 10:01 AM   #3
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Default Re: The Old Car Wars Novels/Stories - Any good?

Cool, thanks for the info. I just ordered Square Deal and From H-e-ll through Amazon. Figured I would give them a try. They had another one too, but I wasn't up to paying $16 for a used paperback.
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Old 09-18-2008, 11:26 AM   #4
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Default Re: The Old Car Wars Novels/Stories - Any good?

Quote:
Originally Posted by harmyn
They had another one too, but I wasn't up to paying $16 for a used paperback.
That's the trouble they are getting harder to find. Took me awhile to get mine because they didn't talk much about them when they came out. So I ended up getting most of mine through used sources.
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Old 09-18-2008, 02:40 PM   #5
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Default Re: The Old Car Wars Novels/Stories - Any good?

I've never really been interested in comic books, and thought the Car Warriors series was just okay. The plot doesn't make much sense, and there's too much going on between pages and panels. The art's pretty good, though, and the setting is conveyed fairly well.

Back from Hell was well-written and had a few interesting ideas, but Double Jeopardy gets a lot of basic Car Wars setting details wrong. I haven't read The Square Deal beyond its first few pages (in the bookstore, not long after it came out), but if I remember correctly it, too, got a basic Car Wars detail wrong, depicting a coaxial MG and RR.
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Old 09-18-2008, 07:28 PM   #6
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Default Re: The Old Car Wars Novels/Stories - Any good?

I am planning to update the two indices below next month. I need to add Death Race to the Media Page. :o)

SWAT HQ: Auto-Combat Fiction
http://www.serv.net/~owenmp/fiction/index.html

SWAT HQ: Auto-Combat Media
http://www.serv.net/~owenmp/vadr/media.html


January 28, 2018 Update: After moving to a new ISP since 2008, the two URLs above are no longer functional. Here are current hyperlinks.

SWAT HQ: Car Wars Fiction Index
http://www.seanet.com/~owenmp/fiction/index.html

SWAT HQ: Automotive Combat Media Checklist
http://www.seanet.com/~owenmp/media/index.html
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Old 09-19-2008, 03:09 AM   #7
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Default Re: The Old Car Wars Novels/Stories - Any good?

Quote:
Originally Posted by harmyn
Out of curiousity, the old Car Wars/Car Warriors books that came out in the 80's, any good?
_The Square Deal_ is an excellent story, altho' it's nowhere near the "actual"
CW tech. (David Drake has allowed as how it was difficult for him to understand
CW, as for example" recoilless rifles weren't"....) Haven't read any of the
others.

Pity there's no chance of an anthology of the ADQ stories being published.
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Old 09-19-2008, 05:21 AM   #8
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Default Re: The Old Car Wars Novels/Stories - Any good?

An anthology would be great, but can't even begin to imagine how they would pull that off, even if they were interested in it.

I had no idea there were even comic books out there, think I will stick with the two novels for now, and then look into getting the third if I can find it cheaper anywhere.

And Owenmp, thanks for the links to the short fiction. When I get my power back I am going to have to read over some of those.
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Old 09-21-2008, 08:11 PM   #9
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Default Re: The Old Car Wars Novels/Stories - Any good?

Ib Melchior's short story "The Racer," published in the 1950s, is the basis of "Death Race 2000".

A hardcover book I found last year at a branch of Half Price Books, a chain of used bookstores in the U.S., includes "The Racer" in its collection of short stories.

This book, titled "Reel Future", is out of print but it can be found from multiple sellers on Amazon.com.

Reel Future. The stories that inspired 16 classic science fiction movies.
Forrest J. Ackerman (Editor) and Jean Stine (Editor)
Hardcover: 538 pages
Publisher: Barnes & Noble Books (1994)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1566194504
ISBN-13: 978-1566194501
Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 1.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
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Old 09-23-2008, 03:20 AM   #10
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Default Re: The Old Car Wars Novels/Stories - Any good?

Quote:
Originally Posted by harmyn
An anthology would be great, but can't even begin to imagine how they would pull that off, even if they were interested in it.
An e-book, to start with -- little overhead, no worries about massive stocks
to liquidate down the road. The really hard part would be getting hold of all the
people who wrote stories, so they could be paid.

I know at least one Big-Name Publisher who's making some decent dollarage
on e-book version of LOOP material.
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