Birds of Prey

First edition cover
Author	David Drake
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction, Alternate history
Publisher	Baen Books
Released	August 23, 1984
Media Type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages	348 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0671559125 (first edition, paperback)

For other meanings of the term, see Birds of Prey (disambiguation). David Drake (born September 24, 1945) is a successful author of science fiction and fantasy literature. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Alternate history (fiction) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Baen Books is a publishing house that publishes science fiction and fantasy novels, including numerous military science fiction genre works. ... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... Paperback may refer to a kind of book binding by which papers are simply folded without cloth or leather and bound - usually with glue rather than stitches or staples - into a thick paper cover; or to a book with this type of binding. ... Birds of Prey can refer to: Birds of Prey (game), an Amiga flight sim by Argonaut Software Birds of Prey (comic), a comic book published by DC Comics Birds of Prey (television series), a television series produced by the WB and loosely based on the comic book Birds of Prey...

Birds of Prey is a novel by science fiction / fantasy author David Drake, first published in 1984. It is related as a historical novel set in the late Roman Empire, in the second half of the Third Century of the common era. There is a science-fictional twist to the story, starting with hints of a time warp on the very first page and slowly revealing to the reader — and the protagonist — what is really going on behind the scenes. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... // For other meanings see Fantasy (disambiguation) Fantasy is a genre of art that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. ... David Drake (born September 24, 1945) is a successful author of science fiction and fantasy literature. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. ... Octavian, widely known as Augustus, founder of the Roman empire The Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government. ... The Time Warp is a dance featured in the cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, performed during the chorus of the song of the same name. ...

The story is told in a very vivid style, suggestive of cinematography to some readers. Many readers report finding the book's graphic portrayal of violence unpalatable. Cinematography is the discipline of making lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema. ... Violence refers to acts of aggression and abuse which causes or intends to cause criminal injury or harm to persons, and (to a lesser extent) animals and property. ...

Plot summary

The novel relates an episode in the life of Aulus Perennius, a middle-aged operative of the Bureau of Imperial Affairs, an agency which has evolved into an intelligence service over the life of the Empire. He is accompanied by his protégé Gaius, a dashing young cavalry officer with an unfortunate tendency to act without thinking, and an odd figure named Calvus, tall, slim, bald, incredibly strong, and rather clueless. (The story hints that Gaius is Aulus' biological son, but never makes a clear statement on the matter.) Secret Agent is a 1936 British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. ... This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary. ...

At the beginning of the story Aulus' own mentor, head of the Bureau of Imperial Affairs, has summoned him back to Rome on a matter urgent enough to pull him out of a deep-cover operation just as it was coming to its critical phase. At the direct behest of the emperor the Bureau has been ordered to provide Calvus with any sort of support requested, and Calvus has asked only for the services of the Bureau's best agent — requesting Aulus by name. Look up Mentor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC (mythical), early 1st millennium BC (archaeological) Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ...

Invoking the authority of the Bureau, Aulus orders an ancient trireme out of dry-dock storage to be outfitted for a trip to Cilicia in southern Anatolia, technically a part of the Roman Empire but at that time under the control of Odenath, to provide some unspecified service for Calvus. En route they are beset by pirates and other parties; the story of the journey takes up the greater part of the book. A liburnian was a galley, a warship propelled by oars. ... Cilicia as Roman province, 120 AD In Antiquity, Cilicia (Κιλικία) was the name of a region, now known as Çukurova, and often a political unit, on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), north of Cyprus. ... Asia Minor lies east of the Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. ... Septimius Odaenathus, or Odenatus (Greek: (Hodainathos), Palmyrene אחינל = little ear), the Latinized form of Odainath, was a famous prince of Palmyra, in the second half of the 3rd century AD, who succeeded in recovering the Roman East from the Persians and restoring it to the Empire. ...

Calvus, though taken for a male, is actually a female (of sorts) sent back from the far distant future to destroy the seed creche of monstrous aliens who, by her time, have multiplied into millions, emerged from their underground creches, and are in the process of destroying the human race. As a desperate measure a set of six mutually telepathic sisters, including Calvus, are specially bred to be sent on the mission together. (The book hints that the future human race has evolved to be somewhat different from ourselves, and that the six sterile drone-like sisters are uncommon only in their preparation for this particular mission.) In popular fiction and conspiracy theories, life forms, especially intelligent life forms, that are of extraterrestrial origin, i. ... Drone can refer to many things: // In music A drone is a continuous note or chord. ...

Calvus is the only one of the siblings to arrive at the proper time in the past; there are strong hints that the presence of a handful of extinct creatures such as dinosaurs and sabre-toothed cats in Aulus' time are a side effect of the unintentional displacement of the other siblings into the far distant past. Orders & Suborders Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Theropoda Ornithischia Thyreophora Ornithopoda Marginocephalia Dinosaurs were vertebrate animals that dominated the terrestrial ecosystem for over 160 million years, first appearing approximately 230 million years ago. ... Species Smilodon californicus Smilodon fatalis Smilodon gracilis Smilodon populator The large extinct cats known as smilodon lived approximately 3 million-10,000 years ago in North America and South America. ...

The time-travel technology did not allow Calvus to take any weapons or other gadgets along, so she herself serves as the weapon. She has a limited ability to influence the thoughts of humans other than her sisters — which is how she induced the emperor to issue orders for the Bureau's cooperation — and at the end of the story she destroys the creche by self-destructing as a nuclear or thermal bomb. Before then, through her association with Aulus and separation from her sisters, she learns to experience her humanity almost in the way ordinary humans do.

Characters in "Birds of Prey"

• Aulus Perennius – a middle-aged Roman spy
• Gaius – a young cavalry officer, Perennius' protégé
• Calvus – who also accompanies them, turns out to be female

This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary. ...

Major themes

The book to some extent explores the themes of social order, the client-patron relationship, gender roles, and time travel, but for the most part is a tale of action and adventure rather than a vehicle for philosophical musings. Social order is a concept used in sociology, history and other social sciences. ... A servant is a person who is hired to provide regular household or other duties, and receives compensation. ... Generally, patronage is the act of supporting or favoring some person, group, or institution. ... A bagpiper in military uniform. ... Time travel is a concept that has long fascinated humanity—whether it is Merlin experiencing time backwards, or religious traditions like Mohammeds trip to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven, returning before a glass knocked over had spilt its contents. ...

Release details

• 1984, USA, Baen Books / Pocket Books (ISBN 0671559125), Pub date ? August 1984, paperback (First edition)
• 1984, UK, Simon & Schuster (ISBN 0671559095), Pub date ? August 1984, hardback
• 1991, USA, Tor Books (ISBN 0812536126), Pub date ? April 1991, paperback
• 1991, USA, Tom Doherty Assoc (ISBN 0812513568), Pub date ? April 1991, paperback
• 1999, USA, Baen Books (ISBN 0671577905), Pub date ? February 1999, paperback