Check Keith Laumer's link at http://www.baenebooks.com/s-70-keith-la ... ?pagenum=1savadrin wrote:i... i haven't read through this whole thread, and i'm new to safehold. what are bolos and where can i find these books about them?
Bolos are self-aware massive fighting machines that humans invent and continue to improve as humanity expands from Earth to settle the galaxy, and encounters new and deadly enemies. (Imagine a thinking tank weighing thousands of tons, over 100 feet tall and just as wide, with 8 treads and awesome weapons.) Over the course of the novels they become more intelligent until they're practically human - and to their commanders who ride inside them, they're often their best friend.
The fighting is awesome and the results are often gut-wrenching, because bolos, despite their awesome firepower, think like humans, but they don't know fear and and will stop at nothing to win, often with personally catastrophic results. Imagine King Haarhalhd dying at the end of OAR, and you get the idea.
Several other authors including RFC have written excellent novels or short stories about bolos, which I also recommend. (There's just no such thing as a bad bolo novel/story.) I think they're almost all available at the link above. I have 12 novels and short story collections, but I'm not sure if that's all of them.