Casca the Eternal Mercenary

Gunslinger808

Gunslinger808

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One of the things I really like is reading, and one of my favorite series is Casca.
It was written by Barry Sadler (who wrote the Green Beret ballad) and was killed in 89 after being shot in Guatemala.

The series revolves around a fictious Roman soldier Casca Rufio Longinus (who stabbed the spear into Christ side) that was cursed by Jesus of Nazareth:
Soldier, you are content with what you are. Then that you shall remain until we meet again. As I go now to My Father, you must one day come to Me".
Click to expand...

It follows him as his increasingly tourtured soul fights as a mercenary for everyone from Palestinians to the Israelites over the Centuries.

In his travels he meets the likes of MoctezumaII, Hitler, Marco Polo, Temujin (later kinown as Genghis Kahn), and many others.

The other high points are battles he's involved with.
From fighting with the Legion and using the Gladius Imperius, to being found wounded and near death in Viet Nam.

I spend quite a bit studying battles/plans/weapons, and he never let me down, if it called for bronze point arrow heads for the era, they were there.
If it called for 55grn ammo with the wrong ball propellant, he was right on.

Truly a great series, and yes it never has closure as the author died.

EDIT TO ADD:
If my reviews don't suck too much, I'll do more.
 
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I read an interview of Barry Sadler where he stated that the face of Casca used on the book covers was his own image,a favorite game he liked to play was to find anyone reading the books in airports and strike up a casual travelers conversation. Invariably the conversation would turn to"and what do you do?",Mr Sadlers response was always(truthfully) "well I've done some soldiering in my time" he would then take his leave to let the traveler get back to his book and notice the face of Casca and the strangers were the same.
 
His picture:
BARRYSADLER.jpg


The Cover of Casca #1
casca.jpg
 
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I read, I believe, most if not all of the "Casca" series many years ago. At least the ones by Barry Sadler. I didn't know someone else had written them also until I looked for them on Amazon.

I really enjoyed them.
 
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I've read this series three times over the years and it never gets old. Sadler wrote 21 or 22 volums and another author wrote 4 or 5. I read one from the new author and it just wasn't the same.
 
Gunslinger808 said:
One of the things I really like is reading, and one of my favorite series is Casca.
It was written by Barry Sadler (who wrote the Green Beret ballad) and was killed in 89 after being shot in Guatemala.

The series revolves around a fictious Roman soldier Casca Rufio Longinus (who stabbed the spear into Christ side) that was cursed by Jesus of Nazareth:


It follows him as his increasingly tourtured soul fights as a mercenary for everyone from Palestinians to the Israelites over the Centuries.

In his travels he meets the likes of MoctezumaII, Hitler, Marco Polo, Temujin (later kinown as Genghis Kahn), and many others.

The other high points are battles he's involved with.
From fighting with the Legion and using the Gladius Imperius, to being found wounded and near death in Viet Nam.

I spend quite a bit studying battles/plans/weapons, and he never let me down, if it called for bronze point arrow heads for the era, they were there.
If it called for 55grn ammo with the wrong ball propellant, he was right on.

Truly a great series, and yes it never has closure as the author died.

EDIT TO ADD:
If my reviews don't suck too much, I'll do more.
Click to expand...

I would be very gratified if the average review at FanFiction.net was as thorough and complete as yours. It does a good deal more than just say, "Great story!" or reciting what the "reviewer" has just read in a scene.

I reviewed books professionally for about 30 years, and it's pretty hard to do a good job on some. As a summary, not a review per se, you did a fine job of summing up Sadler's series, which I've much enjoyed.

It is a major thing with me if the author does his research well. Too few do.

My son, who has done some soldiering, also likes this series.
 
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phulklip said:
I've read this series three times over the years and it never gets old. Sadler wrote 21 or 22 volums and another author wrote 4 or 5. I read one from the new author and it just wasn't the same.[/QUOTE]


I don't think it ever is. NONE of the various would-be James Bond authors since Fleming ever did it as well as he did.

When Peter O'Donnell retired in 1996, he killed off Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin and specified that no one else was to continue the series. I think he wanted to ensure that his characters weren't ruined, as they had been in films and one idiotic TV series, that transferred the British characters to California! He wrote a great series, BTW, which also appeared as a comic strip in over 50 countries. (Only one US newspaper carried it, and they did some censoring, as US rules require "family friendly" strips.)
Click to expand...
 
He wrote a couple other books also that I enjoyed quite a bit, don't remember the title but the main character was a sniper in 'Nam. Good twists. Mark
 
Gunslinger808 said:
One of the things I really like is reading, and one of my favorite series is Casca.
It was written by Barry Sadler (who wrote the Green Beret ballad) and was killed in 89 after being shot in Guatemala.

The series revolves around a fictious Roman soldier Casca Rufio Longinus (who stabbed the spear into Christ side) that was cursed by Jesus of Nazareth:


It follows him as his increasingly tourtured soul fights as a mercenary for everyone from Palestinians to the Israelites over the Centuries.

In his travels he meets the likes of MoctezumaII, Hitler, Marco Polo, Temujin (later kinown as Genghis Kahn), and many others.

The other high points are battles he's involved with.
From fighting with the Legion and using the Gladius Imperius, to being found wounded and near death in Viet Nam.

I spend quite a bit studying battles/plans/weapons, and he never let me down, if it called for bronze point arrow heads for the era, they were there.
If it called for 55grn ammo with the wrong ball propellant, he was right on.

Truly a great series, and yes it never has closure as the author died.

EDIT TO ADD:
If my reviews don't suck too much, I'll do more.
Click to expand...

I met "Casca" in the early to mid 80s. He visited B. Dalton Bookstores here in Corpus every few months.

Anyway, this is one of my all time most favored Fiction series, like: The Black Eagles--by John Lansing and also: The Sergeant by: Gordon Davis (aka) and cant think of his name just now ((Just remembered. E. Howard hunt)) but he had something to do with the Watergate Scandals.

The Black Eagles was a special forces team in Nam made up of Americans, Viets, Sough Koreans, Aussies, Brits and such. Mostly American but others recruited due to specialties and casualties. Team led by a Colonel Robert Mikhailovich Falconi. Russian mother and Italian Father.

The Sergeant: was a WWII fictional series and the best I ever read-by far--even if sometimes not fully accurate. The main three characters were: Master Sergeant Clarence (he would never forgive his parents for naming him Clarence) Joe Mahoney, and his "sidekick" Corporal Edward Cranepool whom he nicknamed and called him "cesspool" when he was angry with him for some infraction. The other main character was a German counterpart who was a Gestapo Major whom Mahoney had kicked his teeth out when Mahoney briefly served with the Maquis. This guy was as good at describing things like Lamour was with his Westerns.

Anyway, back to Casca. The series was revised by at least one new adventure published about 5 or so years ago and written by an Author I never hear of before. I THINK he was endorsed to carry on Casca--by Sadlers son: Thor Sadler???? Sadly, the book I bought was so darned boring I never read more than 1-2 chapters and I think eventually tossed it away.

On The Black Eagles, I THINK there have been around 24 books published--and The Sergeant had at least 9. Casca I think had(s) around 27??

By the way, the earlier Casca books with the mostly white covers-the are depicting Casca--is actually Barry Sadler.
icon_thumbsup.gif
icon_thumbsup.gif


Personally, id love to see all those series continued as well as a series with Zorro:
emoticon-zorro.gif

And: The Lone Ranger.

This Casca was the first one I bought never have known about the series before then. i instantly recognized the Authors name and bought it.
570390.jpg

When I first read the book, I read half of it in one sitting--its THAT good.

The Black Eagles:
This is the one that started it all for me:
7b9b81b0c8a0e4d8937ae110.L.jpg


The Sergeant:
I started very late into this series with Nr 8 "Bloody Bastogne." Cany find image of it.
sergeant6.jpg

sergeant9.jpg

Found it:
sergeant-bloody-bastogne.jpeg
 
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harleyvato said:
I read an interview of Barry Sadler where he stated that the face of Casca used on the book covers was his own image,a favorite game he liked to play was to find anyone reading the books in airports and strike up a casual travelers conversation. Invariably the conversation would turn to"and what do you do?",Mr Sadlers response was always(truthfully) "well I've done some soldiering in my time" he would then take his leave to let the traveler get back to his book and notice the face of Casca and the strangers were the same.
Click to expand...

That is true and he did this to me around 1985 or so--even went to my hometown and found my house thanks to the Manager at B. Dalton at the time. I actually gave him a ride in my car when my friend Greg and I were about to go out and eat. At that time, I had two of his books sitting on my dashboard. They were Casca Nr 4 and Nr 11. Nr 4 was Panzer Soldier and 11 was Legionnaire. He asked which was my c=favorite of the series-and I told him I couldnt choose but most likely the two I had in my car at the time. He grinned and I gave him a ride to the Hotel he was staying in. Only after dropping him off-did I realize who he was.
 
shouldazagged said:
Excellent review, Gunslinger, very well thought out and written. By all means do more: you already have me wanting to read the Casca series, of which I was unaware.
Click to expand...

If you want to know about specific entries in the series? let me know. Ive read and reread and re-reread them all over the years. The only Sadler story I read that wasnt great--was the one where he was a tribesman on some Island. Cant recall the title off hand?
 
the ringo kid said:
If you want to know about specific entries in the series? let me know. Ive read and reread and re-reread them all over the years. The only Sadler story I read that wasnt great--was the one where he was a tribesman on some Island. Cant recall the title off hand?
Click to expand...

The Cannibal?

After the Civil War. In California. Gets Shanghaied, I think. Crew mutinies and they end up in the Fiji Islands. He ends up Chief of the tribe.
 
Alpo said:
The Cannibal?

After the Civil War. In California. Gets Shanghaied, I think. Crew mutinies and they end up in the Fiji Islands. He ends up Chief of the tribe.
Click to expand...

Quite possible, ill have to look it up after I get back from the gun show today, to find out.
 
Before he's on the ship he's eating with a friend at a Chinese restaurant in San Fransisco. He looks at the longish/roundish piece of meat on his plate and asks his friend, "What is this?"

Friend, busily eating, mumbles, "Pii Aw Gone".

He says, "What's that mean in English?"

His friend, swallows what was in his mouth, belches and says, "That was English. Pig Organ".

"Which organ?"

Friend says, "From the pig's point of view, probably the most important one". :eek: :p
 
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