Which military sci-fi trade paperback? Why, the bestselling A Sword Into Darkness, of course! I’m closing in on 5000 sales since launch (I’ll probably hit it by this evening, and I’m feeling magnanimous). So I’ll make it easy since I have laundry and writing to do:
The astrodynamic destroyer USS Sword of Liberty (DA-1) and her sister-ships are pretty dang cool, but I’m prepared to allow that they may not be the coolest ships to ever sail the spaceways. So, in 140 characters or less (approximately), what is the coolest spaceship to ever grace science fiction and why?
Post your answer on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or here on the blog by Monday, and I will send the winning answer and maybe a runner-up or two a signed trade paperback copy of A Sword Into Darkness anywhere here on planet Earth, so long as you have an address. Postage is on me.
So, what’s gonna win? The Millennium Falcon? The Enterprise, and which variant? Serenity? Or some bad-ass mama-jama I ain’t never heard of before? Well, they’re all in the running! Don’t forget to justify your answers!
The Improbable Author 
Serenity. Yeah, I know, but go with me on this 😀 It was supposed to be a ship that was falling apart, but it would always come through in the end. The ship had no AI or anything, but it was a character in itself, and just showed how much we want to personify the machines we rely on, as though they will work just that bit harder when needed because they protect us.
Good reasoning, and no counter-argument from me. Thanks!
Harliqueen, you are a runner-up WINNER! E-mail me at amaysingstories@gmail.com and I’ll gift you a Kindle copy of “A Sword Into Darkness”!
All of these ships have nothing on Battlestar Galactica. The last hope for humanity travelling through the black, far from remains of human civilization. It’s more than a cool ship, ready to launch its fighters against overwhelming numbers of cylons. It’s the last pocket of human culture. So say we all.
Simonas, you are a WINNER! E-mail me your mailing address to amaysingstories@gmail.com and I’ll mail you your signed copy of “A Sword Into Darkness”!
Moya (Farscape) rules b/c 1) her Pilot was physically linked to her 2) DRDs are adorable 3)she LIVED 4) gave birth to the warship Talyn
that was <140 characters, as requested. Else I could have gone on 😉
Rhonda, you are a runner-up WINNER! E-mail me at amaysingstories@gmail.com and I’ll gift you a Kindle copy of “A Sword Into Darkness”!
Outside of a SENTI Class Starship,You know I’m a big fan of Serenity/Firefly, Galactica definitely rocks along with the Millennium Falcon.but I would have to go with Ann McCaffrey’s B&B (Brain & Brawn) ships in her Crystal Singer and the Ship that Sings,and the City that Fought. They used a black hole in the drive system. The Brain of the ship was a deformed human encased in a titanium shell and controlled all of the ship. The Brawn partner did all of the physical work and maintenance.
G W Pickle, you are a WINNER! E-mail me your mailing address to amaysingstories@gmail.com and I’ll send you your signed copy of “A Sword Into Darkness”!
Cannon Space Guard ship, The Dragon Never Sleeps, Glen Cook.
It’s crews were selected from the very best soldiers/sailors of their generation (think a thousand years of recruiting from each generation) who effectively volunteered to serve for eternity. Said crews would be uploaded into the ships computer matrix and downloaded into young bodies to serve. The very best would rise in ranks over thousands of years till they became Dictats commanding a ship, from there they would be re-uploaded as command advisers when they didn’t want to carry the burden of command anymore.
Guard ships write the laws, dictate the law, interpret the law and enforce it. They are beholden to no world or system, just to the code. All knowing if they break it, the other ships will hunt them down.
Because they have oversight over thousands of worlds they have access to the latest research and have the most advance tech possible in the hands of soldiers and sailors with thousands of years of combat experience.
John Tae, you are a runner-up WINNER! E-mail me at amaysingstories@gmail.com and I’ll gift you a Kindle copy of “A Sword Into Darkness”!
Gay Deceiver (“Number of the Beast,” Heinlein)
BWHartley, you are a runner-up WINNER! E-mail me at amaysingstories@gmail.com and I’ll gift you a Kindle copy of “A Sword Into Darkness”!
Tom…
Many thanks! I got the eMail telling me the book was available on Amazon, and I’ve donwloaded it to my Kindle.
Ben Hartley
My heart says Serenity, but the Phoenix Exultant, the Heart of Gold, and Vanguard all earn honorable mentions.
Joel, you are a runner-up WINNER! E-mail me at amaysingstories@gmail.com and I’ll gift you a Kindle copy of “A Sword Into Darkness”!
Fresh from finishing CRASH by Guy Haley, I’d need to concede the winner to ESS Adam Wickiewicz. The ship is so awesome that it plans from the detail of when to … well… crash on the new planet. The detail of concentric sarcophagi of cryosleep chambers to the final revelation of growing sentience, to anthropological dialogue is too good. It is closely followed by Nostalgia for Infinity in Alastair Reynolds’ revelation space universe.
Arzvi, you are a runner-up WINNER! E-mail me at amaysingstories@gmail.com and I’ll gift you a Kindle copy of “A Sword Into Darkness”!
I know this is jumping in after the contest is over but I have to submit two, just for discussion purposes. First is the INSS MacArthur from The Mote in God’s Eye. It survived a dive into a star and managed to collect an alien vessel for it’s trouble. Later, they dove into a gas giant to jump to the Motie system. Granted, despite all that it didn’t survive the ‘pest infestation’ but I still though of it as pretty badass. It was based upon a model so I always had a visual of it in my mind while reading, plus the novel was one of those rare few that are actually concerned about real physics.
The second is more space opera but Nemesis from Space Viking always struck me a pretty impressive. Yes, it was just a sphere but Piper’s combat description of it corkscrewing through battle while spewing missiles and countermeasures provide quite a bit of character. And it had a giant sword blazoned upon it!