Onward, Drake!

October 26, 2015
This diverse Festschrift for legendary SF author David Drake runs the gamut from lighthearted, humorous pieces to touching tributes, focusing largely on his military service. The book includes two stories by Drake, which act as perfect bookends for everything in between. The opener, "The Great Wizard, Cabbage," is a playful, light story of a boy in the wrong place at the right time; the book culminates in "Save What You Can," a much darker, action-packed story linked with the Hammer's Slammers series. Other works of particular note include "The Village of Yesteryear" by Sarah Van Name, which seamlessly blends the author's recollections of Drake from her childhood with a story about the ways that adults can seem slightly larger than life; Sarah A. Hoyt's slightly tongue-in-cheek "A Cog in Time," a tribute to Drake's shepherding of young authors; and editor Van Name's story about a Vietnam veteran and his memories, "All That's Left," which strikes a somberly beautiful chord. Each story pays tribute to some aspect of Drake or his work, celebrating the life and contributions of one of the field's masters.