War World – The Worlds of Charles E. Gannon

War World is an offshoot of the Co-Dominium universe created by Jerry Pournelle. Situated in the backwater of Byer’s Star system, the major story arc begins when the system is cut off during the revolt of eugenically-bred (and some cyborg) super-soldiers. The system ultimately becomes their uncharted refuge, but needless to say, the population of Haven (the main world in the Byer’s Star system) aren’t pleased by this turn of events.

How did I get involved? Well, back in 1991, I had the good fortune of having a manuscript rejected by the wonderful, old-school editor John Carr. I say it was my good fortune to have my ms rejected, because John loved the story (even though it was too long for the anthology he was compiling at that time; Jerry Pournelle’s High Tech Wars).

However, he asked me if I could do something for the War World shared-world universe that had a similar “space ops” feel, complete with zero-gee action and etc., etc. Never one to turn my back on any opportunity-and particularly not if it gave me the chance to work with an editor as profoundly insightful and encouraging as John Carr—I immediately sat down and started crafting stories for the anthology.

Ultimately, the fourth War World anthology—Invasion—had two novellas by me (one was “The Gift of the Magi;” the other was the introduction to the book), as well as a short story-segue that led into “Magi.” I wrote other fiction for that universe which never, alas, saw print, since War World (and all the rest of Jerry’s landmark SF anthologies, such as Imperial Stars, There Will Be War, High Tech Wars, etc.) closed their collective doors shortly thereafter.

However, John Carr has not only carried on his SF authorship by continuing the adventures of H. Beam Piper’s Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen series, but is now doing the same thing with the War World franchise. After a 2009 release of a new novel—The Battle for Sauron (with co-written with Don Hawthorne)—John is now crafting a new series of War World books that chronologically trace the evolution of the story arc of Haven from its first settlement through to events beyond the last of the already-published stories.

My contribution to the first volume–War World: Discovery —is entitled “Down the Rabid Hole, or, The Report on Lost Colony 4a.” A new narrative piece in the growing mosaic of Haven’s history, it sets the stage for a new post-Invasion story arc set on the planet’s East Continent—where slow-brewing trouble is now bubbling fitfully.

In the 2011 anthology, War World: Take-over, I penned a story entitled “Pound Foolish”. It tells the tale of how the fuel station on the moonlet Ayesha came into exsitance. It happened the hard—and rather disastrous—way, of course, and hence the axiomatic origins of the title: “Penny wise, but pound foolish.”