Frank Pournelle
JANNISSARIES IV: MAMELUKES by Jerry + Phil Pournelle with David Weber
THE FINAL NOVEL BY LEGENDARY AUTHOR JERRY POURNELLE, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR DAVID WEBER AND AUTHOR’S SON US NAVY COMMANDER PHILLIP POURNELLE (retired)
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NO REST FOR THE WEARY
Rick Galloway’s still not sure what inspired him to volunteer to fight Cubans in Angola, and he certainly never expected to end his African adventure shanghaied by a flying saucer when his CIA superiors cut him and his men adrift as the Cubans overran their final position.
He didn’t expect to end up on the planet Tran, God only knew how many light-years from Earth, raising drugs for an alien cartel under the auspices—more or less—of a galactic civilization administered and run by a slave class of humans for their alien masters, either.
But he did. And since then, he’s survived mutinies, civil wars, battles against Byzantine “Romans,” medieval knights, and Mongol raiders on a world where catastrophic “climate change” races unchecked through a 600-year cycle. Along the way he’s found love, lost it, found it again, and become a great noble . . . all the while knowing his alien “employers” will probably nuke his people back into the Stone Age when they’re done.
He’s managed his impossible balancing act for 13 years. He’s lost people he cared about, been forced to do things he’s hated, and tried along the way to make life better for the people trapped on Tran with him, and he’s tired. So tired.
But now, everything has changed . . . again. New Starmen have arrived on Tran, with dangerous gifts and star weapons of their own. Everything Rick Galloway thought he knew about his mission on Tran is about to be turned on its head.
And everyone expects him to fix it.
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The Janissaries series of military and political-based science fiction novels are set in an interstellar confederation of races, in which humans are a slave race entrusted with military affairs and law enforcement.
BOOK 1
Reluctantly volunteering for a dangerous mission, Captain Rick Galloway and his men are cut off in hostile territory when the CIA pulls out their support, an event that is further complicated when an alien spaceship arrives.
BOOK 2
For the first few years, Rick Galloway and his band of mercenaries were doing well just to survive. They’d been swept off a hilltop in Africa by a flying saucer and deposited on an alien world where the other inhabitants were human – – but from various and unfriendly periods of history, all collected by flying saucer raids. Rick has faced facts: this place is going to be home, permanently. To create a safe society for themselves and the families they are gradually building, they need to do more than just survive; they must convince the others that a unified, peaceful society is better than a collection of warring tribes. Force would not be Rick’s chosen method of persuasion, but on a planet where the other dominant culture is one brought straight from ancient Rome, force may be the only way.
BOOK 3
Kidnapped from Earth as they were about to die in battle, Rick Galloway and his band of mercenaries, like the other human slaves on the planet Tran, will not be missed. Subjects of the Shalnuksi slave masters, they are forced to harvest the priceless drug surinomaz. Now, even as slaves, Earth’s transplanted warriors are locked in battle against each other. But an epoch is ending. As the Demon Star sweeps toward its devastating apex, the slave masters flee the planet to await its annihilation in safety. Soon all life on the planet will cease, leaving it ripe for repopulation.
Preview for JANNISSARIES IV: MAMELUKES
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CO-AUTHOR PHIL POURNELLE SPEAKS WITH BROTHER ALEX, JOHN CARR AND BAEN PUBLISHING ABOUT CHAOS MANOR WHERE JANNISSARIES WAS CONCEIVED:
About Jerry Pournelle:
“Possibly the greatest science fiction novel I have ever read.”—Robert A. Heinlein on The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
“Jerry Pournelle is one of science fiction’s greatest storytellers.”—Poul Anderson
“Jerry Pournelle’s trademark is first-rate action against well-realized backgrounds of hard science and hardball politics.”—David Drake
“Rousing. . . . The best of the genre.”—The New York Times
“On the cover . . . is the claim ‘No. 1 Adventure Novel of the Year.’ And well it might be.”—Milwaukee Journal on Janissaries
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I ordered this way back in October 2019, and am still tremendously excited that it’s coming. Among the many reasons to mourn Jerry’s passing, knowing that this book was so close to completion was wrenching. Thanks so much for seeing it through.
I just finished this book yesterday, it is a GREAT READ!! However, I must admit a certain depression while reading it and knowing there would be no more Jerry Pournelle stories or novels. I do have memories of many years of entertainment that Jerry gave me, most of my adult life, it’s a great body of work and I encourage anyone who has not yet partaken of the experience to do so.
Enjoyed Mamelukes a lot. I had waited patiently…
It seems so clear that it needs a sequel, no? There are so many questions intentionally left hanging.
Phil did an amazing job on this book and we couldn’t be more proud! Check out his reading of Mamelukes on Baen’s Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=297620381275
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=297620381275184&ref=watch_permalink
I just finished Mamlukes. Definitely a satisfactory final installment although not really a conclusion. The final passages of the book are reminiscent of the conclusion of THE PRINCE. Jerry is of course trying to present a controversial, political narrative. I perceive an opportunity for Jerry’s sons and daughter to continue the series. If they do as well as Jennifer did with OUTIES, I would be greatly pleased.
Is there a map of the world of Tran? Where could I find it?
Just finished Mamlukes last night. “Highly Recommended” isn’t enough for this book.
As James indicated above, I’m in for Books IV – X.
A new sequel is requested! Perhaps as stated above the family can continue the series with help from other writers? Or how John F. Carr assumed the responsibility for H. Beam Pipers Lord Kalvan series? The plot twists and turns over the course of the books, how events = consequences. I would like to revisit the world of Tran again.
Have been a fan of Jerry since the 70s. This series has been 40 years in the making and this book could not come soon enough. Love how Jerry, Phillip and David Weber have finished (?) this one.
Like Travis’ comment above. I know some of the hardback books have maps in them of Tran but I rarely use anything but a Kindle to read anymore and Kindle and maps are like hypergolic fluids. Is there anywhere out there where I can get a map to download and figure out the geography of Tran better? I thought I knew it but the whole Nikesian world is so new that I franjkly got a bit lost.
this is not new material. I read this some time ago. before the june 2020 publishing date.
Hi,
I am reading and enjoying it now. The book could really use a map to at least give an idea of where everything is in relation to each other. Could we get one online somewhere?
Thank you
Hi Paul,
While working on the novel, Jerry made the first three chapters available on his website, so that material has been available for many years.
Any chance that perhaps short stories in the Janissaries Universe? I see opportunities for stories about Tran shortly after Mameluke through centuries in the future. The effects of the Industrial Revolution, the Sear, short term Galactics interaction (if any), reconnecting with Earth, and Tran’s effect on the Galactics universe. Baen did this with the 1632 universe. Fingers crossed
I too would like to see the series continue with his son leading it. Any chance that this will become an audiobook as well?
I had read the first three chapters from the website and was looking forward to it. Then of course Jerry passed on. His son Philipp and David Weber completed the novel and published it. I was somewhat leery of buying it as it really wasn’t a Jerry Pournelle book any more and I had read some bad reviews. But it was a Janissaries book and I really did want to follow up on Cap’t Galloway and Co. As it turned out I really enjoyed the book. Once I started I found I just kept on reading. Maybe not Hugo Award material but when a book catches your interest and you just keep reading- the author’s have done their job well. What I found interesting is when I would run into parts of the book that just didn’t seem to be Jerry Pournelle. I suspect these were the parts written posthumously by Phillip and Weber. (I won’t spoil your fun by telling you what parts).
There were a couple of parts that I thought just didn’t work- the eventual reason for Ganton’s estrangement as shown in the first three chapters previously published on-line or the ending which was too obviously taken from one of Jerry’s other series. (No I won’t give you the details-buy the book and you will find out for yourself)
The book also looks like it was written for a sequel. I want to know to what happened to that San Francisco Cop that effectively abandoned the mission and just vanished. I also want to know what will happen to Gwen and the University. What will Ganton think of Rick’s next role?
Huh? What am I talking about? Buy the book and find out.
I had the same questions! 🙂
I agree with most of these comments. I definitely would like to see a sequel, and I agree that there was enough left hanging for there to be one — including the hints that there is a still-greater threat to the West beyond the Westmen. I agree about the ending, although the ending fits the novel, I must say. I enjoyed the novel, too. It doesn’t match the first two novels, but it’s good.
I just finished the book, and (apart from very much enjoying it), it BEGS for the series to be continued. Please do so!