Action/Adventure Aficionados discussion

Which authors do a good job of describing the weapons that our actions heroes use? Do you like a fair amount of detail into guns and stuff or do your eyes start to cross? Are you interested in swords and such?

That's a good question. I liked the self-propelled Howitzers firing guided projectiles in Event. I've accepted that Gray's signature gun is a Sig Saur .357, but sometimes all I need to know is "gun, bullet" if the weapon name is longer than the combined length of the sentence introducing it, then I'm not sure it's all necessary. Swords seemed to me to almost be a Symbol of the weilder, so if it's an important weapon, then I'm all for a lot of info on it. If it's "just a sword" then it's just a swoord.

I did like the grappling hook in Ice Station though and I like a lot of the techno-geeky-weapons in Sigma Force.

Can I vote both ways?

Sure!

I think some writers are better at describing weaponry and making it relevant that others. I've noticed that Dean Koontz always goes into extensive details about the guns that are used in the books by him that I've read. That's how I learned about some of the gun models.


I like to read about high tech weaponry and I love archaic weaponry like swords.

I'm a shooter, grew up in the mountains and started learning gun safety and shooting from my dad and grand dad when I was 4. I've continue to enjoy shooting all my life and still do, so I like ACCURATE detail about firearms. I'm also a died in the wool nerd and Dungeons and Dragons player so I'm also interested in "ancient" or historical weapons. I like it when a writer knows the difference between a "long sword" and a "broad sword" (a mistake a lot of writers make).

Before I went into the army I was reading the Don Pendelton Executioner books. He usually gave accurate weapons descriptions. Since then the series has been "farmed out" to other writers and I haven't followed it (got one that left me cold and didn't go on). For Modern writers Larry Correia does a good job of accurately describing weaponry in his books. There are others, Vince Flynn does a good job though it's not so center stage as in other writers.

Too much info? LOL

Not at all! I like to know a writer does his/her research!

I think Reilly does a pretty good job describing the weapons, but not with too much detail. While I am familiar with the basics of most guns I don't need two or three paragraphs to describe what a character is using. Just the basics with a little flair!

I agree, Alice.

He sure got a lot of milage out of that magnetic grapling hook. I GOT to get me one of those!

That grappling hook is the must-have accessory for the modern action hero!

That and the cast iron skillet from "Tangled."

True that! A skillet is an old school, proven buttkicking accessory

and a cool hand like Monk's.. but.. I'd rather not have to get my hand chopped off to get that!

That would be a "Sigma Force guy.

You keep dropping all these tantalizing details about those books. Darn you!

Yes, I'm hoping your like me... "I can resist anything but temptation."

I have very little resistance to good books!

Sandstorm... sandstorm.. sandstorm... (and there were things in there that might not count as a weapon but were AWSOME.. in a kind of destroy things kind of way.

I promise I will read it soon.

I like to name the weapon for the die hards and give just enough information as it relates to the scene. As in, it's a semi-auto pistol, or match grade sniper rifle. If the weapon is crucial to the scene I might spend a bit more words on it, but if it's just part of the scenery, then there's really not much need to spend time on it. Unless of course you're trying to easily up your word count (lazy), or your primary audience is composed of gun-nuts (Stephen Hunter).

I like for the arthur to give me enough information to have a basic understanding of the weapon being used. But I don't need to know all the specifics and the over the top technical terms.

@ Pax, LOL.

@Nancy, I agree. It can get boring to read a full on specifications document on a weapon. Keep the story moving!

Well, it can depend on how it's handled. Of course it could also be that there are audiences who like some things better than others. Larry Correia handles it well. He gets detailed about weapons and still does a good "humorous action adventure" (sort of like the TV movie "comedy drama" or buddy flick). Some dislike the books because of the details others I've noticed don't seem to notice it that much (and then there are souls like me who like that part LOl).

I've read some books that were so centered on details that they were simply written for a "niche audience" (The Executioner books for example). Others have the detail but still appeal to a wider audience (Stephen Hunter or more so Vince Flynn or Tom Clancy).

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Well, it can depend on how it's handled. Of course it could also be that there are audiences who like some things better than others. Larry Correia handles it well. He gets detailed about weapons a..."

Mike, your right about Clancy. When Red Storm Rising came out, me and the other guys who worked in CIC (Combat Information Center) on my ship kept checking to see how many weapons he got right. He only got two wrong and I'll leave it to someone else to point those out! (It's all Unclas, don't worry, look em up on Jane's!)

I know, he keeps quoting Jane's. Have you read any Harold Coyle?

I haven't had the pleasure, give me a book name...I've got a growing and hungry TBR to feed.

There's Team Yankee (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...), Bright Star (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...) or Sword Point (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...). There are several others.

HOOT MAN! Ask for a book, and my, man-Big Mike the Paladin comes through! Time to go shoping! (I did get a lot of kindle bucks for my birthday!

I still have some of his on my "To Be Read List" and my shelves, albeit in paperback. LOL

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "@ Pax, LOL.

@Nancy, I agree. It can get boring to read a full on specifications document on a weapon. Keep the story moving!"

You really haven't gotten the full effect of this until you've *done* a military sci-fi book complete with engineering drawings! Truly an experience.

That sounds kind of interesting, actually.

Some of the later books in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber are truly classic in this regard. There is one, in particular (and of course can't think of the title right now) where there are some major 'breakthroughs' in military armament and the author very definitely gets into the details.

Way above my head, of course ... but I can't help but wonder when you see some of the things that exist now that were 'science fiction' in the early Star Trek/ Star Wars movies and series ... how much of this may actually exist in another 100 years.

And I still like the Magnetic Harpoon/Grapling hook that Scarecrow was using all over Antartica in Ice Station. It was sort of like the whip and hat Indiana Jones took with him in the first Raiders Movie.

I'll be starting the Honor Harrington series in the next couple months.

It's one of my favorite sci-fi series. I have all but the last 2 or 3 and do re-read often. I prefer the earlier books of the series, some of the later ones get rather bogged down in the political aspects of the various world governments. Wonderful characters, though and vivid battle scenes.

It was the way he wrote Honor that finally drove me away from the series. I'll be interested in what you think Lady D. I liked them at first but by the time I'd gotten into the series I was thinking... well i won't say what I was thinking here. I want to see what you think.

Sharon, it sounds good. I don't care much for expansive political discussions, so I appreciate the warning.

Er, I'll definitely post a review on the first book. Knowing me, it might take years to read more than one book. But I'll get back to you if I happen to buzz through this series, Mike.

No big deal. A lot of people love it and I started out liking it pretty well. I just burned out, won't go into why. :)

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "It was the way he wrote Honor that finally drove me away from the series. I'll be interested in what you think Lady D. I liked them at first but by the time I'd gotten into the series I was thinkin..."

Oh no! I hope they don't drive me away. I just finished the first one and have high hopes for the series. A little too techie and political but I really liked the characters. Which book started the downward slide for you?

I gave up after Honor Among Enemies. When I reviewed it I said I'd probably go on with the series, but I haven't gotten back to it yet. :
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

It left me "very cold" and about that time I started the Lost Fleet books and never got back to HH. I may eventually try the next, but I won't buy it. I sold the ones I had as the series wasn't going to be among my favorites, no rereads. Just me.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I gave up after Honor Among Enemies. When I reviewed it I said I'd probably go on with the series, but I haven't gotten back to it yet. :
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

"

That's about where I started having trouble with the series as well. The books before that are the ones I still re-read and enjoy.

Yea, I don't know what to say. I found a couple of things. One, that when I read them out of order, there was too much of the sub-plot stuff that I missed so i didn't get the full affect. Two, The characters are built slowly here and there, so by the time he gets the series rolling he's already turned them into real people and got them working.

I am not going to say their all a "five" read, (I think their high threes, and fours, but most books I like tend to be threes or fours anyway. Fives are special for some reason and 2's and low threes are where I start to question their value. A 1's a don't read.) I found Sandstorm interesting and fun, and I liked it a lot, and I found the last oracle the best, though it's in the center of the string.

The Black order is next (after the one your reading) and I thought it was better than the one your reading, (next after judas strain) the one preceding the one you read (before Judas Strain), I thought might be the weakst, (followed by the one your reading). I'd say, taken in order the start getting stronger from there.

I wish you could get into the Sigma Force books as much as I did, but I liked em! Even though I thought this story was weaker in the Judas Strain or that one was better than the Judas Strain, I still liked the entire series. But that's me. Everyone could hate them and if I like them, I'll still say I like them, and recommend them. (why not? It's an honest report from me.)

I don't know what mistakes you found, but no writer is perfect and you might want to check his references, he actually lists them in the back of his books for the more questionable things he claimes are real and some of the history-plot games he writes. He'll also tell you what he made up and if he embellished it any. (It's on the audio too.) I did audio books for all of them except the Devil Colony. And felt that the change of narrators affected me and I had to adjust.

I'm sure you've come across books that weren't your cup of tea, while others enjoyed them? Better luck next time. I like them and yes, I think of the six books, you did draw one of the weaker two... of course taking them out of order also sort of set them up to have holes in your knowledge of the story that might help you enjoy the story more. That's harder to tell.

(of course, I worried that Event would be the book that I liked that others didn't. Maybe you should try that one. I thought these were universally appealing, as much as any book or series could be. Our tastes may be on one axis, similar, while on another of this Caresian grid, polar opposites...(if you follow that mathmatical to literary alegory well enough.)

I'd say keep reading, but if your minds alread pre-disposed... C'est le vie. There are a lot of good books out there that we agree on. If there's something about the material that you don't like, maybe it comes from a different place in matters of faith and religion, or politics and war, or ethnic and social convention who knows what, that could make the read sour for some people and sweet for others.

Bottom line. I liked them. Still like them, and still recommend them as a good A/A read.

No, my mind isn't made up. I'm just (like I said) a bit underwhelmed. I have Altar of Eden (not a Sigma Force book) and Black Order out of the library. I'll give them a complete shot.

We all have different tastes and I know how it feels to really "love" a book and then have someone not get what you see in it. (For example)I'm into the second Stephen Hunter book (just starting it) and note that he's not a writer a lot of people seem to have a lot of experience with, though there must be enough that he gets published...so, to each their own. Don't know how I'll fell, but if I like his work, I'll like (and I hope I do as I ordered the complete Bob Lee Swagger library LOL).

I'm the same way you are, if I like something I like it regardless of how others fell.

Thank you Mike. You are wise. (and on that note, I still recommend Event!) (P-{D>

Yup, I'm a fan of Hunter.

Clive Cussler hasn't got as much play here as Rollins, but his stories have their own flare to them. I think they got a little wild for Shockwave, but I enjoyed Sahara, Inca Gold and Treasure.

The best one was "Raise the Titanic."

I probably need to try Cussler again. I could never get into Dirk Pitt. I kept expecting him to rip open his shirt and have a big DP underneath. But I only tried one book some years ago.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I probably need to try Cussler again. I could never get into Dirk Pitt. I kept expecting him to rip open his shirt and have a big DP underneath. But I only tried one book some years ago."

That's funny. He does write about the beautiful people. Dirk Pitt is sort of like a James Bond, in that he's rarely outclassed. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't for me. When I'm in the mood for somehting I can count on to be fun, help me chuckle. Get my mind working (but not over stimulated) that's enjoyable, not too cerebral, Cussler works.

At least Dirk Pitt has better luck than the Scarecrow.

I was introduced to him back when I was looking for audio books for my wife. She liked most of his books. I never got into them...as I said, I should probably try them again. But then it's not like I'm short of "stuff" to read. LOL.

I know...Holy Necro-Thread...but I'm new here so this this thread is new to me lol.

Like Mike, I have been around firearms. I hate it when a writer gets something just terribly wrong. I will let them get by with calling a magazine a clip, but it stops me cold when I read plain old mistakes.

Guns and bullets are not magic (even for Harry Dresden!). They are not evil or good, just tools. It becomes apparent when an author has never even held a gun. That's cool, just do some research or talk to someone who has lol.

The amount of detail I use when I write about them fits the scenario, hopefully. I have gun nuts emailing me asking for more detail (or claiming that I disparaged their beloved GLOCK) and anti-gun people asking me why good guys need guns. I figure that if I am between both extremes, I may be somewhere close to a balance lol.

Splitter

My dad and granddad began teaching me gun safety and shooting when I was 4 years old. There have been guns in my house all my life...and not once has ever crawled off by itself and done something "bad". If something "bad" is going to happen, it requires a human.