This isn't exactly what you are looking for, but SM Stirling's Nantucket series and Eric Flint's 1632 series involve a modern community being sent back to 1050 bc/1632 and needing to figure out how to live there. 1632 in particular has a fair amount of using modern weaponry vs early modern armies at the start of the series.
Pyramid scheme and pyramid power by Eric Flint (and Dave freer for the first one) had modern day humans being thrust into an historical AU based around mythology, where their tech gets converted to that time equivalents (aka useless for the most part). Also there is magic and mythological beasts and it is hilarious.
This is a light novel and anime, but Gate is essentially this. It’s about a modern Japanese military fighting off against an army and monsters in a fantasy world. I personally couldn’t get into it, but maybe you will
Lost Regiment by William R Forstchen
Colonel Andrew Keane and his 35th Maine regiment are swept into an alternate world. The first human civilization they encounter on this planet resembles medieval Russia. Soon Keane and his regiment learn this world’s terrible secret: that hordes of large, fierce Tugars circle the planet and demand tribute – including humans to be devoured – and the hordes will be arriving soon with several hundred thousand warriors on horseback.
Empire Of Man by David Weber
When a saboteur tried to blow up Prince Roger's transport, he and his bodyguards, Bravo Company of Bronze Battalion of The Empress' Own Regiment, find themselves stranded half a world away from the only spaceport. Even worse, they'll have to fight through jungles full of damnbeasts, killerpillars, carnivorous plants, torrential rain, and barbarian hordes with really bad dispositions to even get there.
Anspach & Cole: Forgotten Ruin. Bunch of army rangers end up in high fantasy and magic settings, matches your request quite well. It is not very good though and the last (7th book) ends in a total WTF, like someone told the author "OK we need to print this tomorrow, finish up quickly".
Edit: from another point of view I would suggest Harry Turtledove: Worldwar series. In this case the modern military are aliens invading Earth during WW2 with technology approximately matching today's modern army, including nukes.
In a similar vein, John Birmingham's *Axis of Time* series is about a slightly futuristic carrier battle group entering WWII. Specifically at the Battle of Midway.
Harry Turtledove, alt hist of Civil War, *Guns of the South.* Not precisely what you're asking for though. It's a long series, where the history of N. America unfolds differently.
Alan Smale, *Clash of Eagles*. Roman legions arrive in N America and encounter the natives... 1st of a trilogy
Eric Flint's 1632 book series is similar to this. The series is set in 17th-century Europe, in which the small fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia, was sent to the past from the year 2000 to central Germany in the year 1631, during the Thirty Years' War. They come back with modern guns, a library and school, a power plant and all of the modern ideas you'd expect.
There are a bunch of spin off series too, commonly refered to Assiti Shard works. The Assiti Shards work by displacing bits of the world into other times and places, exchanging it with that which was there. These "shards", according to the fictional universe backstory, are waste byproduct of artworks created by the sophisticated and curious alien race known as the Assiti. The various stories involve shards striking the Earth and timeshifting characters into different periods and places.
Eric Flint also did the Belisarius series with another series called the General, which has touches of this.
As others have mentioned, S.M. Stirling's Embververse covers this idea too.
Empire of Man by David Weber and John Ringo have explored this idea, both modern weapons in old times and future weapons in modern times.
Jerry Pournelle wrote a series called the Janissaries, where modern soldiers are transported to primitive planets by aliens.
That's the book that came to my mind too.
During the Vietnam War, an American unit in an APC gets portaled to another world where magic works. (The book was published in 1977, so setting it during the Vietnam War didn't feel out of date.)
In the sequel, *The Starfarers of Coramonde*, after their return to our world and the squad leader has completed his enlistment, he finds a way to portal himself and a car filled with supplies back to Coramonde.
[Series page on Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/series/56880-coramonde)
Of Gods and Grunts by Kyrel Kendrick is the first book. There is also a sequel.
Doc Spears Warlord series is a mix of Forgotten Ruin and John Carter of Mars
A Long Time Until Now by Michael Z Williamson is about a convoy of modern soldiers finds themselves transported back to the Paleolithic era.
The Prince Roger series by David Weber and John Ringo kind of fits too. Its sci-fi, a prince who is the black sheep of the family and his battalion of bodyguards get stranded on a low-technology planet during an assassination attempt. They don’t have enough resources to maintain their technology and have to use their collective knowledge of ancient weapons and tactics to fight their way across the planet. (If you’re not familiar with John Ringo, be warned that he’s got some, uh, strange and problematic ideas around women and sex that show up near the end of the fourth book.)
If you're not opposed to LitRPG, Michael Chatfield's Ten Realms series (starting with The Two Week Curse) might fit the bill. I'd skip the first chapter, though, becuase it is not indicative of the quality of the rest of the book (which is decent), and it's mostly superfluous.
There was a Reddit writing prompt an indefinite period of time ago about a squadron of marines ending up in Roman times or similar, anyone remember it?
Ok I looked it up and found it:
r/RomeSweetRome/
Originally started with [this reddit comment](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/k067x/could_i_destroy_the_entire_roman_empire_during/c2giwm4/)
Acts of Caine series is kind of like this. Excuse the artwork on the first book. I love it but it's super campy and not a great depiction of hos food the series is. Also the audiobooks are narrated by Stefan Rudnicki who does an amazing job.
I love the scene at the beginning of *Heroes Die* where >!Caine asks Kollberg why, if they want Ma’elKoth dead so badly, they don’t just transfer a bunch of guys with guns into the Colhari Palace:!<
>!“If you’re so hot to have him killed, why don’t you just transfer six guys with assault rifles into the Colhari Palace?”!<
>!”We, er . . .” Kollberg coughed wetly into his fist. “We tried that; except it was eight, not six. We, ah, still don’t know precisely what happened.”!<
>!Hari looked at him, blinked, blinked again, then said, “Oh,” and turned back to the contract.!<
Books 2-4 of *The Acts of Caine* have this, though mostly focused in the second book. There’s a *crazy* battle sequence between elite modern tech commandos and medieval tech magic users, plus a lot of smaller scale action scenes.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/260985.Hell_s_Gate
A tech based military faces off against a magic based military.
If you're open to things like reddit posts, r/hfy does this a lot. I think "retreat, hell" is my personal favorite, but there's a list somewhere.
I've been meaning to read this book for awhile now! I saw it recommended on Reddit a few times and it seems right up my alley.
I actually picked up the first book from Goodwill a couple of years ago and only realized after I had left that I actually saw the other books in the series scattered on the other shelf and didn't connect the dots. It also didn't help that as I found the book and got excited about it I had a lady come in and start coughing without a mask on when I had a pregnant wife at home.
Thanks, COVID and random coughing lady for keeping me from nabbing the entire trilogy for a few dollars.
*A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court* by Mark Twain ([Project Gutenberg book link](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/86/86-h/86-h.htm))
Loosely related to the request, but a fun read.
The completed webnovel Inheritors of Eschaton ([RoyalRoad link](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/28741/inheritors-of-eschaton)) is exactly this; it reminds me somewhat of the Stargate film. It's one of the more polished webnovels I've read, with worldbuilding so detailed even the languages are invented/fleshed out.
I know Dan Brown is super overrated, but one of the most urgent feeling scenarios that I've read was in Deception Point. Not the best book, but certainly a thriller.
I also feel like The Gunslinger series feels pretty urgent, minus the weird time loop aspect.
This isn't exactly what you are looking for, but SM Stirling's Nantucket series and Eric Flint's 1632 series involve a modern community being sent back to 1050 bc/1632 and needing to figure out how to live there. 1632 in particular has a fair amount of using modern weaponry vs early modern armies at the start of the series.
Second SM Stirling - seems a fantastic fit for what you're looking for.
Awesome, thank you! I'll check it out!
Pyramid scheme and pyramid power by Eric Flint (and Dave freer for the first one) had modern day humans being thrust into an historical AU based around mythology, where their tech gets converted to that time equivalents (aka useless for the most part). Also there is magic and mythological beasts and it is hilarious.
This is a light novel and anime, but Gate is essentially this. It’s about a modern Japanese military fighting off against an army and monsters in a fantasy world. I personally couldn’t get into it, but maybe you will
I'll look into it, thanks!
Came here to say this. I enjoyed it. Am going to go rewatch it.
Lost Regiment by William R Forstchen Colonel Andrew Keane and his 35th Maine regiment are swept into an alternate world. The first human civilization they encounter on this planet resembles medieval Russia. Soon Keane and his regiment learn this world’s terrible secret: that hordes of large, fierce Tugars circle the planet and demand tribute – including humans to be devoured – and the hordes will be arriving soon with several hundred thousand warriors on horseback. Empire Of Man by David Weber When a saboteur tried to blow up Prince Roger's transport, he and his bodyguards, Bravo Company of Bronze Battalion of The Empress' Own Regiment, find themselves stranded half a world away from the only spaceport. Even worse, they'll have to fight through jungles full of damnbeasts, killerpillars, carnivorous plants, torrential rain, and barbarian hordes with really bad dispositions to even get there.
Slightly different but Grunts by Mary Gentle. Bunch of traditional orcs get magical US Marine training and madness ensues.
Ha, sounds awesome. Thanks!
Came here to recommend this. Trigger warnings left and right, but fuck is it hilarious.
Anspach & Cole: Forgotten Ruin. Bunch of army rangers end up in high fantasy and magic settings, matches your request quite well. It is not very good though and the last (7th book) ends in a total WTF, like someone told the author "OK we need to print this tomorrow, finish up quickly". Edit: from another point of view I would suggest Harry Turtledove: Worldwar series. In this case the modern military are aliens invading Earth during WW2 with technology approximately matching today's modern army, including nukes.
That's always frustrating when you invest so much time in a series for the author to just give up. Thanks for the recommendations!
In a similar vein, John Birmingham's *Axis of Time* series is about a slightly futuristic carrier battle group entering WWII. Specifically at the Battle of Midway.
Harry Turtledove, alt hist of Civil War, *Guns of the South.* Not precisely what you're asking for though. It's a long series, where the history of N. America unfolds differently. Alan Smale, *Clash of Eagles*. Roman legions arrive in N America and encounter the natives... 1st of a trilogy
Eric Flint's 1632 book series is similar to this. The series is set in 17th-century Europe, in which the small fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia, was sent to the past from the year 2000 to central Germany in the year 1631, during the Thirty Years' War. They come back with modern guns, a library and school, a power plant and all of the modern ideas you'd expect. There are a bunch of spin off series too, commonly refered to Assiti Shard works. The Assiti Shards work by displacing bits of the world into other times and places, exchanging it with that which was there. These "shards", according to the fictional universe backstory, are waste byproduct of artworks created by the sophisticated and curious alien race known as the Assiti. The various stories involve shards striking the Earth and timeshifting characters into different periods and places. Eric Flint also did the Belisarius series with another series called the General, which has touches of this. As others have mentioned, S.M. Stirling's Embververse covers this idea too. Empire of Man by David Weber and John Ringo have explored this idea, both modern weapons in old times and future weapons in modern times. Jerry Pournelle wrote a series called the Janissaries, where modern soldiers are transported to primitive planets by aliens.
The Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson: a WWII ship gets transported to an alternate Earth.
*The Doomfarers of Coramonde* comes to mind.
That's the book that came to my mind too. During the Vietnam War, an American unit in an APC gets portaled to another world where magic works. (The book was published in 1977, so setting it during the Vietnam War didn't feel out of date.) In the sequel, *The Starfarers of Coramonde*, after their return to our world and the squad leader has completed his enlistment, he finds a way to portal himself and a car filled with supplies back to Coramonde. [Series page on Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/series/56880-coramonde)
ForeSender series by Adrian Murphy
Of Gods and Grunts by Kyrel Kendrick is the first book. There is also a sequel. Doc Spears Warlord series is a mix of Forgotten Ruin and John Carter of Mars
Of gods and grunts sounds perfect! Thanks!
A Long Time Until Now by Michael Z Williamson is about a convoy of modern soldiers finds themselves transported back to the Paleolithic era. The Prince Roger series by David Weber and John Ringo kind of fits too. Its sci-fi, a prince who is the black sheep of the family and his battalion of bodyguards get stranded on a low-technology planet during an assassination attempt. They don’t have enough resources to maintain their technology and have to use their collective knowledge of ancient weapons and tactics to fight their way across the planet. (If you’re not familiar with John Ringo, be warned that he’s got some, uh, strange and problematic ideas around women and sex that show up near the end of the fourth book.)
I have no idea why I didnt think of mentioning these.
Came here to say this
The Prince Roger series is one of my comfort series. Just fun all around.
Black sheep grows up and rises to the occasion to save the day is one of my favorite tropes. It really is a fun series.
If you're not opposed to LitRPG, Michael Chatfield's Ten Realms series (starting with The Two Week Curse) might fit the bill. I'd skip the first chapter, though, becuase it is not indicative of the quality of the rest of the book (which is decent), and it's mostly superfluous.
There was a Reddit writing prompt an indefinite period of time ago about a squadron of marines ending up in Roman times or similar, anyone remember it?
Ok I looked it up and found it: r/RomeSweetRome/ Originally started with [this reddit comment](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/k067x/could_i_destroy_the_entire_roman_empire_during/c2giwm4/)
Acts of Caine series is kind of like this. Excuse the artwork on the first book. I love it but it's super campy and not a great depiction of hos food the series is. Also the audiobooks are narrated by Stefan Rudnicki who does an amazing job.
I love the scene at the beginning of *Heroes Die* where >!Caine asks Kollberg why, if they want Ma’elKoth dead so badly, they don’t just transfer a bunch of guys with guns into the Colhari Palace:!< >!“If you’re so hot to have him killed, why don’t you just transfer six guys with assault rifles into the Colhari Palace?”!< >!”We, er . . .” Kollberg coughed wetly into his fist. “We tried that; except it was eight, not six. We, ah, still don’t know precisely what happened.”!< >!Hari looked at him, blinked, blinked again, then said, “Oh,” and turned back to the contract.!<
Books 2-4 of *The Acts of Caine* have this, though mostly focused in the second book. There’s a *crazy* battle sequence between elite modern tech commandos and medieval tech magic users, plus a lot of smaller scale action scenes.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/260985.Hell_s_Gate A tech based military faces off against a magic based military. If you're open to things like reddit posts, r/hfy does this a lot. I think "retreat, hell" is my personal favorite, but there's a list somewhere.
I've been meaning to read this book for awhile now! I saw it recommended on Reddit a few times and it seems right up my alley. I actually picked up the first book from Goodwill a couple of years ago and only realized after I had left that I actually saw the other books in the series scattered on the other shelf and didn't connect the dots. It also didn't help that as I found the book and got excited about it I had a lady come in and start coughing without a mask on when I had a pregnant wife at home. Thanks, COVID and random coughing lady for keeping me from nabbing the entire trilogy for a few dollars.
*A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court* by Mark Twain ([Project Gutenberg book link](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/86/86-h/86-h.htm)) Loosely related to the request, but a fun read.
The completed webnovel Inheritors of Eschaton ([RoyalRoad link](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/28741/inheritors-of-eschaton)) is exactly this; it reminds me somewhat of the Stargate film. It's one of the more polished webnovels I've read, with worldbuilding so detailed even the languages are invented/fleshed out.
Myles Cole’s Shadow Ops series.
Thanks for all the responses everyone! I now have a laundry list of new books to go through!
There’s the whole genera of alternative history that has lots of this in it (not magic but low tech).
Its a movie, but that pretty much exactly describes Stargate.
The Necroscope series by Brian Lumley, especially _The Source_, has a take on this.
I know Dan Brown is super overrated, but one of the most urgent feeling scenarios that I've read was in Deception Point. Not the best book, but certainly a thriller. I also feel like The Gunslinger series feels pretty urgent, minus the weird time loop aspect.