Berserkers

Saberhagen died 2 years ago, so no more Berserker stories, under his name at least. The collection of stories in this book are decades old and now classic. Of all the fantasy and science fiction that Saberhagen wrote, he is best associated with the Berserker stories. If you haven't had the chance, read these. They are timeless tales. But one thing has happened in the years since their first publications. If you compare the stories here, especially those of space naval actions, with what David Weber has written, then you can see that Weber would have been able to write some superb Berserker stories. With better verisimilitude than Saberhagen. Who knows? Maybe one day Weber can get permission from Saberhagen's estate to continue the Berserker saga, not unlike how Keith Laumer's Bolos kept rolling on. And, by the way, Weber did write an entire Bolo book. So we can only hope...

If you haven't read Fred Saberhagen's stories about the Berserkers, you haven't read some of the best science fiction ever writen. Buy this book--you won't be disappointed!

Saberhagen's Berserkers have been scaring you pitiful humans for years. Powerful, insensate, planet-sized warships dedicated to wiping out all life everywhere. Now, I come to you as a representative of a powerful machine civilization to offer you peace. Berserkers are only a myth. We robots are perfectly friendly. There is no need to fear. Hemphill, put down that blaster! Argh! Help, goodlife! Save me!

This compendium contains Saberhagen's tauted Berserker stories chronicled from the perspective of a benign historian of an advanced pacifist race. Individually the stories vary in their expose of humanity's battle against ancient war machines whose sole purpose is the extinction of all life. The berserkers have spent millenia cutting a swath through the galaxy until they finally come upon human occuppied space. Humanity, being the least evolved race and therefore having retained the barbaric ability to kill and make war, are, ironically, the only beings capable of defending life. These stories are almost legendary classics among science fiction and have bred numerous reincarnations from Star Wars' Death Star to Star Trek's Borg. From Dr. Who to Babylon 5, these tales have been inspiration to the current generation of science fiction.Unfortunately, Saberhagen's own talen's fail when tackling a longer format, and I cannot recommend the subsequent novels. This book though is pure gold.

Berserkers are killing machines leftover from an interstellar war. Saberhagen's treatment of the theme has earned classic sf status. This omnibus volume combines Berserker and The Ultimate Enemy, which is not a bad thing of you don't have them. The most amazing thing to me is the astonishing leap from the initial appearance in a game-theory story (The Fortress Ship) to the emotional power of the second story, Goodlife, dealing with a boy raised by a Berserker ship. Avoiding formula, Saberhagen uses the stories to explore the boundary between life and non-life, most of the best stories keying on some essential gulf, in a couple instances, reserving the essential revelation to the last sentence. Try The Peacemaker or Patron of the Arts. The Johann Karlsen cycle is completed in the first volume, including the classic Stone Place, Mask of the Red Shift, In the Temple of Mars, and the Face of the Deep. The stories from Ultimate Enemy are linked only by the Berserkers themselves, but most are very good, and Wings Out of Shadow, The Game, Pressure, and What Do You Want Me to Do to Prove I'm Human Stop, are classics. My only criticism is that there are a couple of other short Berserker tales that could have been included to provide a complete ominbus of Berserker short fiction. One of my favorite SF series.