Blog in Exile: What even is Military Science Fiction?

"A military in space, usually with some political layer," is one answer. "Science fiction without the fantasy" is another. Game of Thrones in Space would not be MSF, partly because, you know, dragons and ice zombies, and partly because the main characters are decidedly not part of the warrior caste. (Jaime Lannister being the notable exception, but all of his character growth comes from him no longer being able to rely on his martial prowess.)



TvTropes defines MSF as "Science Fiction that focuses on the military," haha, before explaining:

The Protagonist in this genre is normally part of the chain of command (or becomes part of it in progress), while an ensemble cast is The Squad. The story is usually set against the backdrop of a large-scale (space) war but war is optional. The Science Fiction part mostly manifests in futuristic weaponry and vehicles (first of all, Cool Starships), while the organization structure is mostly based upon contemporary US or Commonwealth military. It should come as no surprise that a high percentage of MSF writers are military veterans.

Wikipedia defines the genre as:

a subgenre of science fiction that features the use of science fiction technology, mainly weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters that are members of a military organization involved in military activity; occurring sometimes in outer space or on a different planet or planets.

And David Weber, whose novel we'll be discussing shortly, has said:

It is science-fiction which attempts to realistically portray the military within a science-fiction context. It is not 'bug shoots'. It is about human beings, and members of other species, caught up in warfare and carnage.

So here are a few examples of MSF that you've probably already encountered:

-Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. This was Horatio Hornblower In Space looooooooong before Weber published On Basilisk Station. Kirk, facing a midlife crisis, has an old ship and a trainee crew against a more advanced vessel crewed by relative primitives. The action consists of the two ships battering the hell out of each other. Ultimately the day is saved due to a combination of Kirk's superior tactics and Spock's heroic sacrifice.

-Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I'm using these examples to explain what I mean by there being some political angle in these works. I don't mean subtext, although both films do have political subtext. Rather, in both cases, the action is set off by the political machinations of the villain(s); In Star Trek, Klingon and Federation hardliners arrange an assassination or two in order to continue their war, while in Star Wars, Palpatine's plans come to fruition with the destruction of the Jedi and the formation of the Empire.

-Aliens, arguably, although Weber might classify it as a "bug shoot." (Starship Troopers the film is an outright parody of the genre; the book is a straight example.) It's true that here the aliens are just "monsters," but at the same time the story is more "adult" than, say, the original Star Wars. 

-Certain Star Wars books, most notably The Thrawn Trilogy and anything with X-Wing in the title. When I gave my definition of MSF as "Science-fiction without the fantasy," this is largely what I had in mind. The Force is shoved into the deep background in the X-Wing books - to the extent that it comes into play at all - and in the Thrawn Trilogy, it's not a catchall - in fact, the author does two separate things to prevent Luke from going all god-mode on us: first, he created a type of alien creature that can completely negate the Force, and second, tapping into the Force opens Luke to the influence of one of the villains. The final book in the trilogy ends up splitting the stories up entirely, with Luke battling an insane Dark Jedi in one location, while Thrawn fights the rest of the heroes in a much more traditional MSF battle.

One thing that's sometimes present that I particularly like is the communications lag. I utterly love the communications lag. Your local starship captain hero(ine) can't just radio for help or clarification or advice. The protagonists are out there on their own, with nothing but their training and their ship to rely on. That already adds greatly to the weight of their responsibility; you can also use the communications lag for dramatic purposes, by having a critical piece of information arrive too late to make a difference.

So anyway that's a brief overview of the genre. Now let's jump in.