"The Greatest Danger"

"The Greatest Danger," Lee Allred's contribution to SM Stirling, Ed., Drakas! (Riverdale, NY, 2000), does these things for me:

moves Stirling's Draka onto British territory;
shows them in their true and full horror;
unexpectedly shows them suffering a local defeat;
presents philosophical/theological discussion of the superman and God.

That is quite a lot. I have three more Drakas! stories to read and have also started to reread Stirling's Conquistador. By the very nature of the premise, these characters from different Earths could meet in any new volume - but only if that generates a worthwhile narrative.

We read these works both on their own merits and for their place in an sf tradition. Thus, Robert Heinlein has showed up in Drakas! and Poul Anderson in The Stone Dogs.

British Territory

During World War II, 1939-'45, the Germans occupied the British Channel Islands.

During the Eurasian War, 1939-'46, the Draka ousted the Germans.

The official British observer of the Draka occupation of the Channel Islands was RAF Flight Lieutenant Sally Perkins - coincidentally the name of a neighbor of ours who died recently.

This information is in "The Greater Danger," Lee Allred's contribution to Drakas!, the anthology edited by the creator of the Draka, SM Stirling. Since I am still reading the story, I have yet to learn the significance of its title.

Poul Anderson's Manse Everard fought in World War II, then visited London 1944 as a Time Patrolman. That War ended four years before my birth but is still very present to its survivors and their descendants.