David Drake

"I feel as if I’ve spent my working life throwing darts at a map and convincing myself that I’ve traveled to the places the darts hit."

"If a rocket screams across the darkness, the counterinsurgent can hunched down in his slit trench and pray that the glowing green ball with a sound like a steam locomotive will land on somebody else instead. Prayer probably won’t help, any more than it’ll stop the rain or make the mosquitoes stop biting. But nothing else will help either."

"Nilsen looked up slowly. His face was as doubtful as that of a political prisoner who has just been informed that the revolution has made him president."