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Stephen Michael Stirling is a Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. His novels often describe military situations and militaristic cultures.

Stirling was born in Metz, France on 1953-09-30 to an English mother and Canadian father. He has lived in several countries and currently resides in New Mexico in the United States with his wife Jan.

Aside from the military, adventure & exploration focus of his books, he often describes societies with cultural values significantly different from modern western views, especially with a more liberal attitude to sexuality (lesbian characters often figure), in a sympathetic or at least neutral way. One of his recurring topics is the influence of the culture on an individual's outlook and values, with a particular emphasis that most people and societies consider themselves to be (mostly) moral.

In the past he has frequently collaborated with other authors, including David Drake, Jerry Pournelle and Anne McCaffrey.

Stirling is probably best-known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent Island in the Sea of Time time travel/alternate history trilogy. His novels Go Tell The Spartans and Prince of Sparta are set in Jerry Pournelle's "CoDominium" future history.

Stirling, along with Eric Flint, was tuckerized as a Secret Service agent in John Birmingham's alternate history WWII novel Weapons of Choice (2004).

Bibliography

The Lords of Creation

What if Mars and Venus really were inhabitable and inhabited, like in many SF stories from the early sixties and before? In this series Mars and Venus have been terraformed a long time ago and "seeded" with Earth life, including several different human species. On Earth everything is the same until the start of space exploration, but then the Cold War turns into a real space race... The Sky People is set on Venus, In the Halls of the Crimson Kings on Mars.

  • The Sky People (11-2006)
  • In the Halls of the Crimson Kings (2007)

Nantucket series

In Island in the Sea of Time the island of Nantucket is transported by an unknown phenomenon ("The Event"/"The Change", in the series) back in time into the Bronze Age circa 1250s BC (corresponding to the late Heroic Age of Greek mythology). The trilogy describes the conflict between the different factions of the island's population — some trying to dominate the world for their own benefit, others trying to better it — and the different Bronze Age civilizations.

By the end of the third book, Nantucket is the dominant member of a sizeable and expanding network of allies, rather reminiscent of the British Empire (though Britain itself is here but one of Nantucket's protectorates and a source of "warrior tribes" to be enrolled as mercenaries in its armies), and the "Nantuckars" seem well on their way to re-enact Manifest Destiny three thousand years earlier.

The Emberverse series

Dies the Fire (2004) shows the effects of The Event on the rest of the planet, the world Nantucket left behind — a world where electricity, guns, combustion engines, and steam power no longer work.

A second trilogy is planned, set 25 years after the Change.

  • The Sunrise Lands (2007)
  • The Scourge of God (2008)
  • The Sword of the Lady (2009)

Fifth Millennium series

These are a collection of post-holocaust fantasy novels, in which civilization was destroyed (probably by a nuclear war) in something near our present time and new civilizations have grown to take their place. The novels are set in about the year AD 5000. There are elements of magic or psionics present, but they are fairly low powered. Two additional novels in this series (Lion's Heart and Lion's Soul both by Karen Wehrstein) overlap these novels but were not authored or co-authored by Stirling. Shadow's Daughter by Shirley Meier is also part of the series.

  • Snowbrother (1985)
  • The Sharpest Edge (1986) (with Shirley Meier) (Later re-written and expanded as Saber and Shadow)
  • The Cage (1989) (with Shirley Meier)
  • Shadow's Son (1991) (with Shirley Meier and Karen Wehrstein)
  • Saber and Shadow (1992) (with Shirley Meier)

Draka series

The Draka novels postulate a dystopian slave-holding militaristic (white) African empire (founded by American Loyalists escaped to South Africa after the American Revolution and later joined by defeated Confederates after the American Civil War) and follows its historical development through the 19th and 20th centuries. The Draka culture is remarkable for combining a strictly race- and class-based hierarchical society with near-complete gender-equality (including female soldiers in integrated military units in combat roles). Compared to current western society, nudity and sexuality are much less taboo among Draka.

The first three books chronicle the Draka expansion, starting with their invasion and conquest of Europe during the end of WWII (up to that point, the European part of the alternate history is pretty much unchanged) and leads over into a cold war/covert war scenario where they face off against an American-led free World. The final book (The Stone Dogs) takes this war into space (and thereby into Science Fiction), and describes the final, apocalyptic nuclear battle between the two antagonist factions.

  • Marching Through Georgia (1988)
  • Under the Yoke (1989)
  • The Stone Dogs (1990)
  • Drakon (1995) (Alternate Earth scenario, Drakas try to invade our world)
  • The Domination (2000) (Omnibus edition of first 3 works)
  • Drakas! (2000) (Anthology edited by Stirling)

General series

These are a retelling of the life of Belisarius, set on a colony planet with roughly late 19th century technology. These novels are currently available in omnibus editions. (2005).

with David Drake

  • The Forge (1991)
  • The Hammer (1992)
  • The Anvil (1993)
  • The Steel (1993)
  • The Sword (1995)
  • The Chosen (1996)
  • The Reformer (1999)

Falkenberg's Legion series

Note that earlier volumes in this series, starting with The Mercenary, were solely the work of Jerry Pournelle. These form part of the larger "CoDominium" series, that also includes The Mote in God's Eye and The Gripping Hand by Pournelle and Larry Niven. (In 2002, all the Falkenberg books, including these two, were published in a single volume, The Prince.)

with Jerry Pournelle

  • Go Tell the Spartans (1991)
  • Prince of Sparta (1993)

Flight Engineer series

with James Doohan
  • The Rising (1996)
  • The Privateer (1999)
  • The Independent Command (2000)

Terminator 2 series

  • T2: Infiltrator (2001)
  • T2: Rising Storm (2002)
  • T2: The Future War (2003)

Other Novels

belonging to series by other authors

  • The Children's Hour (1991) (with Jerry Pournelle) (Part of the "Man/Kzin wars" series)
  • Blood Feuds (1993) (with Judith Tarr and Susan Shwartz and Harry Turtledove (Part of the "War World" sub-series in the "Co-dominium" series, originally created by Jerry Pournelle.)
  • The City who Fought (1993) (with Anne McCaffrey) (Part of the "Ship who Sang" series)
  • Blood Vengeance (1994) (with Susan Shwartz and Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove and Jerry Pournelle (Also part of the "War World" sub-series)
  • The Ship Avenged (1997) (Part of the "Ship who Sang" series)
  • Jimmy the Hand (2003) (with Raymond E. Feist)

not part of any series

Criticism of Stirling

Stirling is known to be outspoken and drastic when it comes to his political opinions. He agrees with the conservative "hawk" position on the Middle East and supports market-radical socioeconomic theory. He has also uttered the opinion that the state of the world would improve if Islam would disappear, which has been interpreted by some as approving genocide of all Muslims. However, he has made it clear that he is not a Christian and is not to be put in a basket with the evangelical faction of American neo-conservatives.

Especially outside the U.S., Stirling has been exposed to criticism concerning his Draka series, which in the eyes of some seems to glorify (or at least exaggerate the effectiveness of) a totalitarian, racist and genocidal society. Certainly, the Draka society in the books has unrealistically few drawbacks and weaknesses (except from a moral viewpoint) apart from a stated slower scientific progress (which does not really figure in or reduce their success in the novels). Also, their protagonists are described in a very positive light, as men and women of honor, even as they conquer and brutally subjugate a whole world.

Stirling's critics also accuse him of giving the Draka unfair advantages. For example, the WW2 Draka have weapons far too advanced for that time period. Stirling in no way sufficiently explains how the Draka could get so far ahead technologically from the rest of the world. For example, the Hond III main battle tank was described as having a 120mm smoothbore, high velocity gun firing a depleted uranium APFSDS round (armor piercing, fin stabilized, self discarding sabot). This description very closely resembles the American M1A1 which did not come into being until the late 1980s. The Draka also has an assault rifle with a 5mm round and a three round burst mode with a 75 round ammo drum. Consider that the US M16A2 has a 5.56mm round, a three round burst mode, and a 90 round drum magazine. The Draka also have their version of the American MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) which fire massive rockets filled with grenade sized submunitions which scatter over the kill box. All of these technologies are very advanced and don't belong in World War 2.

Stirling also tied up the Americans in Asia in World War 2 by making all of Japan's Asian territory heavily industrially developed, thus making the war in the Pacific much tougher, longer, and costlier than in reality.

He is known to be dismayed by this analysis of his work. He describes the Draka series as dystopias based on "supposthat everything had turned out as badly as possible, these last few centuries"*. The title page of one of his novels (Conquistador) has the quotation "There is a technical term for someone who confuses the opinions of a character in a book with those of the author. That term is idiot."

The main single reason that such criticism and accusations continue to be leveled at Stirling despite his repeated rebuttals seems to be the shocking way in which "The Stone Dogs" ends, with the Draka victorious and all but a small handful of humanity facing no other options than committ suicide or becoming chattel slaves for the rest of their lives, without the sligtest prospect or release and with their children genetiacllay altered so that the very thought of rebellion would be inconceivable to them.

Of course, there is no rule which says that every book must have a happy end, and certainly not books defined as dystopias. However, the classical structure of most well-known dystopias (such as Zamiatin's "We", Huxley's "Brave New World" and Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four") is to start off with the opressive regime already long since in place, and have a single dissident or at most a small handful of them courageously rebelling - in which case their being finally broken is hardly a surprise (if if the reader is still shcoked). To the contrary Stirling, througout the book, presents the Alliance for Democracy, the Drakas' arch-enemy, as a strong vibrant power, fully their match, whose victory would have been an entirely plausible result and the one which an averge reader would expect.

This makes the actual result presented by this writer all the more shocking to the reader, and opens Stirling - fairly or not - to the repeated accusation that he actualy wanted The Bad Guys (and Gals) to win becuase he likes them and is actually on their side (an accusation never hurled at Huxley or Orwell). Some of Stirling's critics in this respect also cite his earlier and lesser-known Fifth Millenium Series, which also depicts some struggles where homicidal sadists and rapists gain a devastating final victory over far more decent and sympathetic characters.

Stirling has also been accused of being markedly anti-Christian in his writing, particularly vis à vis Christians and Wicca (re: "Dies the Fire" series). This accusation is questionable, however, in that there are numerous positive depictions of Christian characters in the "DTF" series, e.g., the Hutton family, and positive references to surviving Christian communities, e.g., the monks of the Benedictine Abbey at Mount Angel. Furthermore, one of the heroic figures in his Draka trilogy was Sr. Marya Sokolowska, a devout Polish nun who was a major perspective character and resistance figure in "Under The Yoke."

External links

Alternate history writers | American science fiction writers | Canadian science fiction writers | American fantasy writers | Canadian fantasy writers | 1953 births | Living people

S.M. Stirling | Stephen Michael Stirling

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "S.M. Stirling".

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