Sadler, Barry
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1940-1989) US soldier, songwriter and author; his most famous song, "Ballad of the Green Berets" (1966), commemorated the Special Forces in Vietnam; he was imprisoned for 30 days in 1980 for voluntary manslaughter, after shooting a fellow songwriter who had been molesting a female neighbour. As an sf writer he was known exclusively for his series of Military SF adventures starring a mercenary named Casca – cursed with Immortality by Jesus Christ (see Wandering Jew) – who serves in wars throughout history. The series begins with Casca: The Eternal Mercenary (1979) and moves, more or less in chronological order – though Casca #21: The Trench Soldier jumps ahead to World War One – to the final Casca #22: The Mongol (1990). The sequence is incomplete. Sadler moved to Guatemala City, Guatemala, in the mid-1980s and was shot in the head there in 1988; newspaper reports suggested various motivations, from robbery to political murder. He died in a US hospital after months in coma.
Sadler appears in Mitchell J Freedman's Alternate History tale, A Disturbance of Fate (2003), in which Robert F Kennedy survives an assassination attempt in 1968 and becomes president; Sadler himself becomes president in 1984, and – far more confrontational than Ronald Reagan might have been – instigates a new Civil War; he dies in prison in 1991. [JC]
Barry Sadler
born Carsbad, New Mexico: 1 November 1940
died Murfreesboro, Tennessee: 8 September 1989
works
series
Casca
The numbering is accurate but imposed here: some titles were initially unnumbered, while the numbering of some others ignored some earlier titles.
- Casca: The Eternal Mercenary (New York: Charter Books, 1979) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #2: God of Death (New York: Charter Books, 1979) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #3: The War Lord (New York: Charter Books, 1980) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #4: Panzer Soldier (New York: Charter Books, 1980) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #5: The Barbarian (New York: Charter Books, 1981) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #6: The Persian (New York: Charter Books, 1982) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #7: The Damned (New York: Charter Books, 1982) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #8: Soldier of Fortune (New York: Charter Books, 1983) [Casca: pb/Daryl Millsap]
- Casca #9: The Sentinel (New York: Charter Books, 1983) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #10: The Conquistador (New York: Charter Books, 1984) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #11: The Legionnaire (New York: Charter Books, 1984) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #12: The African Mercenary (New York: Charter Books, 1984) [Casca: pb/Daryl Millsap]
- Casca #13: The Assassin (New York: Charter Books, 1985) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #14: The Phoenix (New York: Charter Books, 1985) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #15: The Pirate (New York: Charter Books, 1985) [Casca: pb/Daryl Millsap]
- Casca #16: Desert Mercenary (New York: Ace Charter Books, 1986) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #17: The Warrior (New York: Ace Charter Books, 1987) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #18: The Cursed (New York: Jove, 1986) [Casca: pb/Cliff Miller]
- Casca #19: The Samurai (New York: Jove, 1988) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #20: Soldier of Gideon (New York: Jove, 1988) [Casca: pb/]
- Casca #21: The Trench Soldier (New York: Jove, 1989) [Casca: pb/Cliff Miller]
- Casca #22: The Mongol (New York: Jove, 1990) [Casca: pb/]
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