Saberhagen's Berserkers (was Re: Bogey Classes FB)

In message <v01550100b18d21383cf0@[199.240.131.184]>
> jfoster@kansas.net (Jim 'Jiji' Foster) wrote:

> At 16:45 5/23/98, Samuel Penn wrote:

_The Forge of God_ introduces them from the point of view of
humanity in the 1980s. It's not giving too much away to say that we don't fare
too well:)

Basic premise is that their is (or was) a race out there which got paranoid
about other civilisations, so built lots of probes which were sent out to wipe
out any other civilisations they discovered. One of these probes finds
Earth...

The followup is _Anvil of Stars_, which deals with a few humans
who (with a bit of help) go off in search of the Planet Killers home system.

I've only read one of Saberhagen's stories, but from what I can gather, the
two authors deal with the same idea in different ways. Bear is more into
dropping mini black holes into planets and using neutronium missiles to set
off supernova than he is into big machine controlled warships.

'A Teardrop Falls' is a short story by Larry Niven btw, set in Saberhagen's
universe (or it might be Berserker's meet Known Space, I can't recall), which
is a good Berserker story.

If what you're after is BIG warships, then try Iain M Banks
_Culture_ series. Specifically _Excession_, which involves
lots of BIG machine controlled warships doing what they do best.