June 11, 2000 note: This was originally posted on 'alt.books.david-weber' in late May 1999.

I read the three Colin MacIntyre titles for the first time recently, and I noticed similarities with other books including some other David Weber titles. Actually, those titles were echoes of these books since these were published (and presumably, written earlier).

First, in Mutineer's Moon, we have an astronaut that encounters Galactics (especially, father and daughter). The father is a friend and the daughter hates the astronaut on sight. But, eventually, she falls in love with him. Does anybody else (for I possess no shame) want to admit that they read any Perry Rhodan novels? (I think I stopped after #10 or so).

The background of MM and the main action of Armageddon Inheritance is a long lasting war with zenophobic aliens. Does anybody remember a Murray Leinster title, The Wailing Asteroid? The human race were descendents of starfarers in that one as well. Of course, Apocalypse Troll has zenophobic aliens as well (though they appear to be more like the Rigellians in the background of Starfire game, background established before David Weber was involved).

Another item is the use of the paranoid fantasy that there is a secret power behind all the governments in the world. This fantasy shows up in many places, one relatively recent one was James P. Hogan's Giant's Star (one of the sequels of Inherit the Stars). That group had access to advanced technology as well.

The attack on the mutineer's Antarctic base in MM was somewhat reprised in the attack on Charon Station in Echoes of Honor (surprise used to sweep a nominally superior force off the board before they could get organized).

Another example specific to David Weber is the career of Adrienne Robbins. First, she breaks the "Nergal." After that, she is given another chance with the command of "Emperor Hardan"; which she broke. It appears that she was never given command of a single ship again <g>. That shows that Colin is smarter than the Manticorean Admirality - they allowed Honor to break FOUR ships before they wised up.

And there are more echoes of Heirs of Empire in Echoes...:

On page 172 of Echoes of Honor (Baen HC), McQueen thinks: "Well, if the game is simple, anyone could play, and think how crowded that would get!"

On page 22 of Heirs of Empire, an unnamed individual (but certainly the same individual in a similar scene on page 101), thinks: "But if the game were easy, anyone could play, and think how inconvenient that would be!

And of course, EoH and HoE (and BTW, note the similarity of initials) have a double tracked plot where one (small) group, thought dead by the main group, has its own independent adventures. And both books end with the small group sending a "We are alive and we bear gifts" message.