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Berserker
The Berserker Attack
Our wars were behind us. Earth had a unified government and for the first time mankind was moving out from the planet of its birth. New worlds were settled and with the wealth of the galaxy at hand, poverty was eliminated. Then out of a clear summer sky came the first Berserker attack.
149 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
About the author
Fred Saberhagen
301 books473 followersFred Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his ''Beserker'' and Dracula stories.
Saberhagen also wrote a series of a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular ''Empire of the East'' and continuing through a long series of ''Swords'' and ''Lost Swords'' novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an It was while he was working for Motorola (after his military service) that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. "Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, ''The Golden People''.
From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter.
Saberhagen also wrote a series of a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular ''Empire of the East'' and continuing through a long series of ''Swords'' and ''Lost Swords'' novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an It was while he was working for Motorola (after his military service) that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. "Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, ''The Golden People''.
From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 9, 2021
This thin collection contains four of Fred Saberhagen's "Berserker" stories, "Masque of the Red Shift" (a riff off of Poe's Masque of the Red Death), "In the Temple of Mars," "Brother Berserker" (an interesting time travel piece) and "Smasher." The first two of these are also contained in Saberhagen's larger collection called "Berserker." The first three tales are absolutely top notch and it's hard to pick a favorite. The last one is weaker but still entertaining.
I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Saberhagen's prose. He is a fine writer.
I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Saberhagen's prose. He is a fine writer.
January 21, 2019
First read 10/20/2009
Second read 8/2/2014
This was 4 short stories (well 3 short stories and a novellette). They were okay but depended on prior knowledge of the series to make sense of much of the "political" intrigue.
Overall a decent read.
After a gap of almost 5 years I reread this, and upgraded my rating to 4 stars. It has a good bit of human interest built into the series of stories, and with the limited length, still allows for the character building.
Second read 8/2/2014
This was 4 short stories (well 3 short stories and a novellette). They were okay but depended on prior knowledge of the series to make sense of much of the "political" intrigue.
Overall a decent read.
After a gap of almost 5 years I reread this, and upgraded my rating to 4 stars. It has a good bit of human interest built into the series of stories, and with the limited length, still allows for the character building.
September 13, 2024
I really like Fred Saberhagen's “Berserker” genre, which posits that humanity has settled a large swath of the galaxy but has encountered a relentless race of machines dedicated to destroying all organic life—the Berserkers. I've read a number of Berserker stories by Fred, as well as some by other authors writing in his universe. Overall it's a mixed bag, with the stories usually fun to read but some of them are little less engaging than others. This book generally falls into that middle of the road category, with one caveat.
It starts out with two linked stories presented in chronological order, Masque of the Red Shift and In the Temple of Mars. (Hat tip to both Poe and Bradbury there.) These read as fairly standard space opera fare, and are decent additions to the Berserker canon. Some of the details of these stories indicate that humanity has spread to the edge of the galaxy in at least one area, and hence that there are many polities who have to face the Berserker threat—sometimes more successfully and more cooperatively than others.
[SPOILER: The next, and longest story in this set of four is called Brother Berserker. I remember reading another Saberhagen book years back, in which he essentially took the historical Battle of Midway in June 1942 and rewrote it as a space battle between a human fleet and the Berserkers. In the historical battle, one entire squadron of torpedo planes was shot down attacking a Japanese carrier, and the only survivor was a Lieutenant Waldron who watched the battle swirl around him as he bobbed in the ocean wearing a life preserver. (Since the Americans won, he was later rescued.) In Saberhagen's retelling, it's a Lieutenant Nordlaw—“Waldron” very obviously spelled backwards—who witnesses the space battle floating in space in his suit after his ship is destroyed. I wouldn't have minded the story so much if it hadn't been so obvious that he was just repurposing an historical event. He does the same in this story. One of the main characters is named Vincent Vincento, which as soon as I read it made me think of Galileo Galilei, which is exactly who he is supposed to represent. Vincento is on his way to the Holy City to face ecclesiastical charges of heresy for his notions about the mechanics of the universe—as Galileo was forced to go to Rome to recant his beliefs before the Church. The Berserkers have sent a robot back in time to kill him and change the human timeline in such a way that they will not be able to successfully defend against the Berserkers centuries in the future. Humanity, however, has also learned how to conduct time travel and sends agents back to stop the assassination. The story also features a monk by the name of Brother Jovann, who is able to stop the threat—a Berserker killer robot poorly disguised as a wolf. This all happens near the town of Oibbog. It doesn't take much to recognize that Oibbog is a near acronym for Gubbio, where according to legend a monk named Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardoni, better known later as Saint Francis of Assisi, tamed a wolf that was praying on the locals. The real life stories of Galileo and Saint Francis actually happened about three or four hundred years apart from each other, and Saberhagen has conflated them here for dramatic effect; but again I'm conflicted because it seems to be both a clever idea to repurpose a historical story, but it's not nearly as deftly executed as it could have been. [END SPOILER]
The fouth and final story in this collection is Smasher, and it is what leads me to rate this book at four stars rather than just three. This is good classic hard science fiction set in the Berserker universe with a great back story, a believable alien world, tight writing, and a somewhat clever plot twist at the end. I wish all the Berserker stories could be as good as this one.
It starts out with two linked stories presented in chronological order, Masque of the Red Shift and In the Temple of Mars. (Hat tip to both Poe and Bradbury there.) These read as fairly standard space opera fare, and are decent additions to the Berserker canon. Some of the details of these stories indicate that humanity has spread to the edge of the galaxy in at least one area, and hence that there are many polities who have to face the Berserker threat—sometimes more successfully and more cooperatively than others.
[SPOILER: The next, and longest story in this set of four is called Brother Berserker. I remember reading another Saberhagen book years back, in which he essentially took the historical Battle of Midway in June 1942 and rewrote it as a space battle between a human fleet and the Berserkers. In the historical battle, one entire squadron of torpedo planes was shot down attacking a Japanese carrier, and the only survivor was a Lieutenant Waldron who watched the battle swirl around him as he bobbed in the ocean wearing a life preserver. (Since the Americans won, he was later rescued.) In Saberhagen's retelling, it's a Lieutenant Nordlaw—“Waldron” very obviously spelled backwards—who witnesses the space battle floating in space in his suit after his ship is destroyed. I wouldn't have minded the story so much if it hadn't been so obvious that he was just repurposing an historical event. He does the same in this story. One of the main characters is named Vincent Vincento, which as soon as I read it made me think of Galileo Galilei, which is exactly who he is supposed to represent. Vincento is on his way to the Holy City to face ecclesiastical charges of heresy for his notions about the mechanics of the universe—as Galileo was forced to go to Rome to recant his beliefs before the Church. The Berserkers have sent a robot back in time to kill him and change the human timeline in such a way that they will not be able to successfully defend against the Berserkers centuries in the future. Humanity, however, has also learned how to conduct time travel and sends agents back to stop the assassination. The story also features a monk by the name of Brother Jovann, who is able to stop the threat—a Berserker killer robot poorly disguised as a wolf. This all happens near the town of Oibbog. It doesn't take much to recognize that Oibbog is a near acronym for Gubbio, where according to legend a monk named Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardoni, better known later as Saint Francis of Assisi, tamed a wolf that was praying on the locals. The real life stories of Galileo and Saint Francis actually happened about three or four hundred years apart from each other, and Saberhagen has conflated them here for dramatic effect; but again I'm conflicted because it seems to be both a clever idea to repurpose a historical story, but it's not nearly as deftly executed as it could have been. [END SPOILER]
The fouth and final story in this collection is Smasher, and it is what leads me to rate this book at four stars rather than just three. This is good classic hard science fiction set in the Berserker universe with a great back story, a believable alien world, tight writing, and a somewhat clever plot twist at the end. I wish all the Berserker stories could be as good as this one.
August 6, 2020
The different sections vary in flavor and appeal... The last two were my favorite. The first two were pretty run-of-the-mill space adventures. The third involved some interesting time travel and got into the history of their world and religion... Obvious parallels to our Earth, but very fun and interesting. The fourth had two female characters that actually played important roles in the story, which was refreshing after the overwhelmingly male cast of the first three, where females were only in supporting roles. That story somewhat explored the ideas of terraforming and evolution in the universe, which was fun.
July 25, 2018
My first foray into “Berserkers”, and I was mighty pleased! Four great short stories, each with a different take on the merciless life-exterminating machines. I may have to look up more stories about them!
October 4, 2024
This is a collection of 4 stories that have been published in other books. I ended up not actually reading it because I'd read all 4 stories in other books earlier this year, I was just marking it read as I'm going thru all the Berserker books. All the stories are decent to good.
December 20, 2020
Pre-Borg killing machines.
August 14, 2013
I'm a long-time fan of Fred Saberhagen's Berserker universe. The idea of homicidal machines roaming the galaxy, seeking to eradicate all life, isn't unique by any means, but Saberhagen wrote some of the earliest and best works around this idea.
This book is a collection of four novellas in the Berserker universe: "Masque of the Redshift," "In the Temple of Mars," "Brother Berserker," and "Smasher." Together they cover a wide range of settings from an ancient earth-like world (yes, time travel's involved) to a distant unearthly world where an unexpected Earth-born hero triumphs over murderous Berserker mobile units. These stories emphasize the wide variety of stories that Saberhagen wrote in the Berserker arc.
This book is a collection of four novellas in the Berserker universe: "Masque of the Redshift," "In the Temple of Mars," "Brother Berserker," and "Smasher." Together they cover a wide range of settings from an ancient earth-like world (yes, time travel's involved) to a distant unearthly world where an unexpected Earth-born hero triumphs over murderous Berserker mobile units. These stories emphasize the wide variety of stories that Saberhagen wrote in the Berserker arc.
August 11, 2015
A solid 4 story collection of 1960s science fiction loosely connected and set in Saberhagen's Berserker universe. Like most new wave literary SF of the era, the thematic tone is the key to enjoying the story, not the action, per se. Though the short plots are intriguing, the thought provoking moral and reflection on human nature and our place in the universe is what propels you to read the next one. Recommended for fans of classic SF.
August 25, 2011
Two short stories I liked, two I didn't.
I usually don't care for series where authors keep revisiting the same thing, but I haven't read any of the Berserker books in years. And the premise is open enough to allow many different types of stories. I may try again in a few years.
I usually don't care for series where authors keep revisiting the same thing, but I haven't read any of the Berserker books in years. And the premise is open enough to allow many different types of stories. I may try again in a few years.
August 28, 2014
Berserker stories are usually good reads and this one is no exception.
February 12, 2016
Saberhagen is one of my favorite authors, and the Berserker stories are the best if his works.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews