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David Weber

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File:Honor Among Enemies.jpg
Honor Harrington from Honor Among Enemies cover, by David Mattingly.

David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952. In his stories, he creates a consistent and rationally explained technology and society. Even when dealing with fantasy themes, the magical powers are treated like another technology with supporting rational laws and principles.

Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He challenges current gender roles in the military by assuming that a gender-neutral military service will exist in his futures, and by frequently placing female leading characters in what have previously been seen as traditionally male roles, he has explored the challenges faced by women in the military and politics.

His most popular and enduring character is Honor Harrington whose story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 13 novels and four shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2006 (other works are in production).

Published works

Many of Weber's books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25 or third of the work). Where the links below include '/library/' in the URL, they are the whole text of the book. Weber's publisher, Baen Books, is a pioneer in the sale of books in various electronic formats and all the linked titles below can be downloaded for payment if they are not available for free.

The hardback edition of War of Honor contained "The Honorverse CD", a compilation of texts which amongst other things held electronic copies of the entire Honor series to that point (including the anthologies up to Changer Of Worlds). The CD label explicitly states that the contents are freely distributable and the CD itself has been mirrored on various websites. This CD was only the first: there have now been seven other releases.

Honor Harrington series

Main article: Honorverse
(Note: External links are to online copies of the books at two sites run by Baen Books: baen.com and webscription.net. The complete and unabridged ebooks from the "At All Costs" CD are also available online.

Worlds of Honor Collections

Short Stories related to the Honor Harrington Series - edited by David Weber

Heirs of Empire series

War God Series

Other Novels

Collaborations

Steve White

These books are based on the Starfire games.

John Ringo

Empire of Man series.

With Eric Flint

In the 1632 series:

In the Honor Harrington series:

With Linda Evans

  • Hell's Gate [36]
  • Hell Hath No Fury

Common themes

David Weber's books, especially those set in the Honorverse, frequently criticize interference by politicians in military matters. Though his commanders do make tactical errors, strategic blunders are usually blamed on interfering politicians. In particular, Heirs of Empire might imply David Weber might share George Lucas' view that the best form of government is a benevolent dictatorship. The Honorverse books, by contrast, tend to espouse a pointedly libertarian viewpoint.

It must of course be remembered that David Weber is writing fiction and his personal views might be very different. His later books may also be influenced by the success of such themes in earlier books. Indeed, often the political views tend to be complex. While one power might be in notion a monarchy lead by a queen, in reality it is a parliamentary republic. While another power might be in notion a federal republic, in reality it is a oligarchy lead by a feudal upper class. A common theme in his Honorverse stories is political equations are often more complex then they sound. An Empire expanding territory might actually be far more democratic than the alternative republic that was previously governing it.

Common language

Many technical terms for advanced technology often appear in different settings. For example the word 'molycirc', as a form of computing technology, appears in the Honorverse, and Heirs of Empire series, as well as the anthology Bolo!; in addition, a number of sayings or expressions appear across series (such as "From your lips to God's ears!")

Common names

There have also been repeated use of several names across his novels. For example, a DeVries is found in both Path of the Fury and in the Honorverse series [there is a de Vries Bene Tleilaxu construct in Dune ]. The name Hauptman is also seen, though not as a cartel or family, but as a missile system in the Fury universe. A character with the last name Saint-Just figured prominently in Crusade, the Honorverse and was a leader in the French revolution. The name Foraker has also been used in the Honorverse and in the background of Starfire and the Empire From the Ashes series.

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