Drakas!

Book Description

THINK ABOUT HISTORY. NOW MAKE IT WORSE...

The Domination of the Draka begins as a British possession in Africa, but soon becomes far more. Absorbing refugees after the American Revolution, and later the Civil War, the Draka become a people bred to rule with an iron fist. They permanently enslave the peoples of Africa, when they do not simply kill them.

But this does not slake the Draka thirst for power. Sweeping across the world, the Draka empire engulfs nation after nation, shackling into servitude all who are not Draka. Europe, Asia, and finally all the Earth and its colonies throughout the Solar System fall before the might of the Draka.

But empires are not faceless monoliths; they are made of individuals, complex humans with their own hopes and dreams. And so one might ask: Who are the Draka? What sort of people does the Domination rule? The Draka would have many different answers...

...and this is their story.

Customer Reviews:

A good collection.......2004-06-07

I enjoyed some of the stories better than others in this collection, but I suppose that is to be expected. Having said that, I enjoyed the book even if it was just to get another taste of the Drakas.

It is my fervent hope that Stirling continues to write about these intruiging people.

From the Past to the Future.......2004-05-24

"Drakas!" is a collection of short stories written by multiple alternative history authors concerning S.M. Stirling's alternative timeline of the Drakas. The Drakas were founded when the Loyalists left America after the American Revolution and went to South Africa instead of Canada as they did in our time line. Along the way, they were joined by some of the Confederates after the Civil War. Eventually, they conquered Africa and created a super state. Then they set their site on the rest of the world. A couple key features of Draka society inlcude the advancement of a super race, which includes genetic engineering, and the enslavement of all others.

In "Drakas!," several authors take their turn telling stories in S.M. Stirling's world. Stirling has arranged these stories in chronological order, starting with stories that take place shortly after the American Civil War. The first story concerns Custer and is written by William Sanders. The story features an additional twist in which Custer chose not to attack the Indians at Little Big Horn and goes on to meet his fate in the Draka Domination.

My favorite alternative history author, Harry Turtledove, wrote a compelling story for the collection. His story is set in the modern era where the Draka finally turn their attention to the United States after conquering the rest of the world. In my opinion, Turtledove's story ranks as one of the better stories in the collection and it offers humanity its best hope in the Draka timeline. Another established and well known alternative history author, David Drake, writes a particularly gruesome story of a much worse World War II, which is not for the faint of heart.

An author I am not familiar with by the name of Roland Green wrote a compelling story. In his story, a couple of Draka officers consult with the Japanese in their war with Russia in the early 1900's. Their particular area of specialty is in the area of dirigibles. The story has compelled to me find other works by Green.

While I enjoyed Stirling's original trilogy well enough, I enjoyed some of the stories in this collection even more. Part of the reason is that many of them were written in a style that is more accessible than that employed by Stirling.

Once the stories have worked their way through the equivalent of our timeline, the collection shifts focus to several stories that "cross" timelines. Some of these are enjoyable, while others are incredibly vague. A few of them are simply repetitive and don't offer anything new to the series. In my opinion, this was the weaker part of the collection.

I recommend Drakas! to any fan of alternative history. Be careful though, as with Stirling's original works, the stories can be very graphic in terms of violence, human enslavement, and to some degree sexually. Some knowledge of the original trilogy helps, but the uninitiated will have not have to difficult a time catching up. At the very least, you may come away with a few new authors to check out.

Good, but no soul..........2003-06-22

Although the individual tales of 'Drakas!' had potential, they simply weren't long enough to let us become familiar with the characters and plots, and how much we truly love to hate the Draka as individuals and as a culture, since they don't exactly qualify as people in the strictest sense of the word. There were many stories, but there were be too many 'draka in our world' tales, all regarding Gwendolyn Ingolfsson (see/read Drakon) and small moves of her plans. Without giving it away, the last tale seemed overly vague and took several re-reads regarding a Samothracian battle.

A decent book overall, but knowing what the other books were about, I probably won't read 'Drakas!' again.

Think about history. Now make it worse..........2003-01-03

"Drakas" happened to be my first introduction to the story of the Draka, and although I'd recommend reading the trilogy first ("Marching through Georgia", "Under the yoke" and "The stone dogs") I immediately became fascinated by the idea of how a "nation of loosers", as the young Eric von Shrakenberg (main character of the trilogy) so nicely puts it, became rulers of the world.

For the Dominaton of Draka was a nation built by loosers. First the loosers of the American revolutionary war, who were given a new start in South Africa, and later royalists who fled revolutionary France, loosers of the American civil war, misunderstood and unappreciated philosophers and artists of Europe (like F. Nietsche and O. Wilde) etc.

This book broadens the picture, gives a few new faces to the Draka. We hear the story of a broken General Custer, branded a coward for retreating at Little Big Horn- a looser of the American west become Draka. We witness the horrors of an alternate WWII, a WORSE WWII... We hear the dying words of an American partisan, in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.

There are some very good stories here. If I should mention one drawback, I have to agree with other reviewers and say it has to be the stories set in the future. The problem with these is that instead of being able to compare Draka world to our world, with all the small likenesses and differences, you lose the familiarity with the world described. While one can discuss wether a society like the Domination of Draka could have sustained itself, and shake your head at their twisted views and practices, the futuristic stories move too far from our world to really be interesting in that sense. Still, the first three quarters of the book are so good, I will give it 4 stars out of 5, and a recommendation for anyone with the imagination and open- mindedness to hear a story of what could have been. And luckily didn't...

The fruit of idle curiosity.......2002-11-13

As much as I was entranced by the Domination (see my review for that book), Drakas! failed to satisfy my hunger for new Draka-reality stories. Don't get me wrong, the stories were entertaining, which should have been expected considering the credentials of the contributing authors. However, none of them came close to the gripping narrative of the original trilogy, especially the Stirling's matter-of-fact descriptions of the Domination's social order, which gave it such bone-chilling feeling of legitimate reality. In some instances, it appeared that the contributors simply did not take time to go deeper into the mindset of Homo Drakensis and the way it clashed with what we consider reality...

Dampyr #5: Under the Stone Bridge (Dampyr)

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Dampyr #5: Under the Stone Bridge (Dampyr)
Mauro Boselli , Luca Rossi , and Ashley Wood
Manufacturer: IDW Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1933239107

Book Description

In his most bizarre adventure yet, Harlan Draka is summoned - alone - by a mysterious message to Kampa Island. As he seeks out his summoner, Caleb Lost, and his hard-to-find "Theatre of Lost Steps," Harlan encounters Nickolaus, a likeable but not very trustworthy adversary who leads Harlan in circles. Unsure what is real and what is illusion on this frightening, ghost-filled island, Harlan finds himself a pawn in the plan to resurrect the most horrible creature in all of legend - the Golem!

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The Stone Dogs (Draka Novels)
S.M. Stirling
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0671720090

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Drakas!
S. M. Stirling
Manufacturer: Baen Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000O3RVUU

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Stone Dogs: A Draka Novel
S. M. Stirling
Manufacturer: Baen Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NIKXR4

Alcatel and Draka to combine fiber and cable business.(France): An article from: European Telecom

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Alcatel and Draka to combine fiber and cable business.(France): An article from: European Telecom

Manufacturer: Information Gatekeepers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from European Telecom, published by Information Gatekeepers, Inc. on February 1, 2004. The length of the article is 546 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Alcatel and Draka to combine fiber and cable business.(France)
Publication: European Telecom (Newsletter)
Date: February 1, 2004
Publisher: Information Gatekeepers, Inc.
Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Page: 5(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

CHINA: Joint venture construction plans for proposed $30,000,000 fiber-optic cable plant, DRAKA HOLDING NV [Netherlands], CHINA TELECOM & CGIC OF CHINA ... Opportunities in Asia & the Pacific

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CHINA: Joint venture construction plans for proposed $30,000,000 fiber-optic cable plant, DRAKA HOLDING NV [Netherlands], CHINA TELECOM & CGIC OF CHINA ... Opportunities in Asia & the Pacific

Manufacturer: Worldwide Projects, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from WWP-Business Opportunities in Asia & the Pacific, published by Worldwide Projects, Inc. on January 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1670 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: CHINA: Joint venture construction plans for proposed $30,000,000 fiber-optic cable plant, DRAKA HOLDING NV [Netherlands], CHINA TELECOM & CGIC OF CHINA [China] - Order #: 011002.
Publication: WWP-Business Opportunities in Asia & the Pacific (Newsletter)
Date: January 1, 2002
Publisher: Worldwide Projects, Inc.
Volume: 11 Issue: 01 Page: NA

Distributed by Thomson Gale

DRAKA HOLDING NV: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (Financial Performance Series)

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DRAKA HOLDING NV: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (Financial Performance Series)
Inc Icon Group International , and Ltd. Icon Group
Manufacturer: Icon Group International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Ring-bound

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 059704001X

Book Description

The goal of this report is to assist managers in gauging a company's financial performance vis--vis firms competing in the same sector, at the global level. In particular, this report covers DRAKA HOLDING NV, NL-1018 TX AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS.

With the globalization of markets, greater foreign competition, and the reduction of entry barriers, it becomes all the more important to benchmark a company's performance against other firms on a worldwide basis. Doing so, however, is not an obvious task. First, one needs to find firms competing in the same sector. Second, one needs to control for exchange rate volatility. Finally, one needs use comparable financial standards. This report overcomes these issues and gives full financial benchmarks vis--vis worldwide competitors who are present in the same narrow industrial classification. Benchmarks cover assets, liabilities, income and ratios. Since our reports are printed on demand, the figures available are for the latest quarter and are the most up to date available (4 reports are produced each year).

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DRAKA HOLDING NV: Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis

Manufacturer: ICON Group International, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B000166DAO
Release Date: 2003-12-02

Book Description

Though we heavily rely on historical performance, the figures reported in this report are not historical but are forecasts and projections for the coming fiscal year. The forecasts are updated quarterly. The source(s) for the various raw statistics include public filings, corporate releases, and various other data sources.
Given a company's financial structure, the resulting figures are benchmarked across "leading competitors". In choosing the leading competitors, Icon Group chooses only those firms with sound financial situations or those not undergoing radical restructuring, or where random volatility, mergers, or bankruptcy affects financial performance.
Since the calculation of competitors' labor ratios proceeds in a similar fashion, but are aggregated across all competitors, one can directly conduct a gap analysis. Here, Icon Group graphically reports, for each labor productivity area the larger gaps that the firm has vis-a-vis the leading competitors. A gap need not be a bad sign. Rather, it is simply a substantial difference that might merit further attention or signal a firm's relative strength or weakness for the coming fiscal year...

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DRAKA HOLDING NV: Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis (Labor Productivity Series)

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DRAKA HOLDING NV: Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis (Labor Productivity Series)
Inc Icon Group International , and Ltd. Icon Group
Manufacturer: Icon Group International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Ring-bound

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0597225001

Book Description

This book is designed for human resources managers and directors of personnel who are concerned with labor productivity. It gives benchmarks and gap analyses used to gauge a company's performance vis--vis firms competing firms in the same sector, at the global level. In particular, this report covers DRAKA HOLDING NV, NL-1018 TX AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS. With the globalization of markets, greater foreign competition, and the reduction of entry barriers, it becomes all the more important to benchmark a company's performance against other firms on a worldwide basis. Doing so, however, is not an obvious task. First, one needs to find firms competing in the same sector. Second, one needs to control for exchange rate volatility. Finally, one needs use comparable financial standards. This report overcomes these issues and gives full human resources benchmarks vis--vis worldwide competitors who are present in the same narrow industrial classification. Benchmarks cover labor-asset ratios, labor-liability ratios, and labor-income ratios. Since our reports are printed on demand, the figures available are for the latest quarter and are the most up to date available (4 updates are produced each year).

Book Description

GUERRILLA LEARNING IS CREATING A HOME ENVIRONMENT THAT FILLS YOUR CHILD WITH THE JOY OF LEARNING

Let your daughter read her library books instead of finishing her homework . Ask your eleven-year-old's beloved third grade teacher to comment on his poetry. Invite a massage therapist to dinner because your daughter wants to go to massage school instead of college. Give your child the freedom to pursue his interests, develop her strengths, cultivate self-discipline, and discover the joy of learning throughout life.

If you've ever felt that your child wasn't flourishing in school or simply needs something the professionals aren't supplying, you're ready to become a "guerrilla educator." Revolutionary and inspiring, Guerrilla Learning explains what's wrong (and what's useful) about our traditional schools and shows you how to take charge of your family's education to raise thinking, creative young people despite the constraints of traditional schooling.

Filled with fun and exciting exercises and projects to do with children of all ages, this remarkable approach to childhood, education, and life will help you release your child's innate abilities and empower him or her in the wider world that awaits beyond the school walls.

Customer Reviews:

Guerilla Learning How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School.......2007-04-29

As a certified teacher and a Homeschool mom I found this book to be a great work cumlinating many important aspects of Education in general. Many of the suggestions offered to Homeschoolers in the book are attainable and filled with basic common sense. The basic premis of the book is Learning happens naturally every minute of every day (Life is one big school) we as parents and eductors need to remind ourselves and others of this basic fact. For anyone interetsed in the foundations and history of American Education I suggest John Gatto's Book The Underground History of American Education. Knowledge Protects

Expected More But Not Disappointed.......2006-03-04

Like someone else said, I read this because we homeschool. I had heard what a great book this was but when I got it I was honestly a little disappointed. I'm sure if my kids were still in public school it would have been more useful but it just wasn't any help to us as homeschoolers/unschoolers.

I'd still recommend it to people who are disenchanted with the public school system but I know now not to recommend it so much to my fellow homeschoolers.

Guerrilla Learning: How to give your kids a real education with or without school........2005-09-06

I am new to the homeschool idea, and my daugther is 15 and hates high school. I found so many useful ideas in this book that I recommend it to anyone considering homeschooling and obtaining a better education for their kids in general.

Beautifully written ... for anyone with kids.......2002-06-22

"This book helped me relax and do less about my kid--less worrying, less trying to cram information into him when he wasn't responding as I wanted him to. Using the approaches recommended by Llewellyn and Silver, I now have fun observing my little boy, guiding him gently, and enjoying his forays into the world as he explores and learns on his own."

Something Amiss in the Classroom?.......2002-06-16

For most of us who grew up inside a public educational institution, it is difficult to imagine alternatives. Indeed, it may difficult to imagine anything at all. After twelve (in my case 19) years of absract inundation, most of us have lost the trees in a forest of abstractions. We inhabit a vacuous matrix of unispired, cynical defeatism, where teachers can't level with us as human beings and test questions bear no resemblance to reality. Until graduation day, that is. Then the world opens up before us, free for the plunder of active, self-interested engagement. What if we had never left that world from start? What if from birth to grave our lives were naturally interesting and piquant? What if we didn't educate ourselves for the test, but instead focused on the context of our life and followed our natural curiosities? Einstein (a college drop-out) certainly thought this was the right approach to education: "It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet strangle the holy curiosity of inquiry." This book a refreshing, imaginative, and likewise extremely practical guide to context-driven education. All my life I had been vexed with the notion that contemporary education is utterly wrongheaded and thwarting, but until now I had never had the language or facts to back up my intuitive, gut feeling. Whether you are thinking of making the great experimental leap and homeschooling your kids, or whether you simply want to better understand how to get the most out of your local educational institution, this book is essential. Although you cannot relive the wasted years, it will send you in the right direction for future learning, and help you give your children an education that will truly unlock their deepest potential. Isn't that what education is supposed to be about: unlocking our native potential and stimulating genuine growth? With this book the relationship between information and the world becomes transparent again, as it should have been from the very beginning.

Guerrillas Of Grace: Prayers For The Battle

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Earth-shaking Soul-Stirring Prayers
Truly inspirational
Real Life Prayer Poems for Ordinary People
A Wonderful Resource
Guerillas of Grace

Guerrillas Of Grace: Prayers For The Battle
Ted Loder
Manufacturer: Augsburg Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0806690542

Customer Reviews:

Earth-shaking Soul-Stirring Prayers.......2007-06-11

When I first heard the prayer "Let Something Essential Happen in Me" I knew I had to find out who wrote it -- if he wrote anything else and if I could get my hands on it. The answers were -- Ted Loder wrote it -- he published several collections of his profound prayers such as "Guerrilas of Grace" in which the aforesaid prayer is included and yes indeed I could buy it. I did. Fantastic!

Truly inspirational.......2007-01-16

At Thanksgiving last year, the hostess read a prayer from "Guerrillas of Grace" as grace for the meal. It touched me so much that I bought the book, and have been thrilled with the passion and devotion of these prayers. This is a refreshingly pure and simple approach to speaking to - and mostly listening to - God in our hearts.

Real Life Prayer Poems for Ordinary People.......2007-01-11

When Guerrillas of Grace was first published, I received a copy as a gift. My husband and I were in the throes of managing an unexpected move which changed our way of life dramatically. Ted Loder's prayers became our prayers. Since then I have purchased numerous copies. Some I have given away. Others that I loaned were never returned. If you find one prayer poem in this book that speaks to you or for you, it will become one of your treasures.

A Wonderful Resource.......2007-01-04

This book is a wonderful resource for prayer and reflection. I have used prayers from it to open meetings and Bible Studies. I highly recommend it.

Guerillas of Grace.......2006-02-26

The purchase was handled very timely. One book was ordered for a birthday gift and my recipient commented on how beautifully it was wrapped. All my friends, and myself, were very happy.
Thank you.

Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders Among the Border Guerrillas

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Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders Among the Border Guerrillas
Jessie Graham Flower
Manufacturer: Henry Altemus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KBLPLW

Grace Harlow's Overland Riders Among the Border Guerrillas

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Grace Harlow's Overland Riders Among the Border Guerrillas

Manufacturer: Saalfield
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FLI6BY

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