John Ringo: my new favorite author

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chopinbloc

chopinbloc

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okay, i know this isn't a book forum but i just have to share with you guys how pleased i am with this author. john ringo writes mostly military science fiction but even if you are not a fan of this genre you will probably enjoy his writing because of the fluidity of his style, vivid characterizations and exciting plots. what i like most about him, though is his unabashed support of liberty and specifically, firearm ownership. he is a veteran of the united states army which makes the military side of the writing especially accurate and his love for and understanding of the soldier's psyche is unrivaled in science fiction. i started with his posleen war series which was excellent but the reason i'm writing this post now is the book i'm reading right now. in the road to damascus mr. ringo shows just how dedicated he is to the ideas of liberty and the rkba. the book is about a colony named jefferson (for reasons which should be obvious) its slide into tyranny and the eventual armed rebellion sparked by opression. the author uses the book as an allegory, in many ways of the damage that leftist thought is doing to our country and the inevitability of armed conflict if the trend continues. here is an excerpt from the jeffersonian constitution:

The right of the people to keep and bear arms for self-defense and defense of the homeland shall never be infringed, limited, rescinded, interfered with or prohibited by any decree of law,r decision of court or policy by the executive branch or any of its agencies. And this time we mean it.
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in any case, the book has been one of the most entertaining reads i've ever encountered. i hope you like his stuff too.
 
Yes, Ringo writes very entertaining military SF. Check out his "March" series with David Weber - excellent combat, love that tongue-in-cheek humor.
 
Oh, yes, that was a good one... :D

For a while I was beginning to be worried that as the older generations of writers died off books would become increasingly PC, but that is definitely not the case here. :evil:

May I also recommend Michael Z. Williamson, who is also a member here on THR (madmike)? If you have not read Freehold yet you have some good reading ahead. His other books are also good.
 
Not Ringo, but 1632 by Eric Flint is also good; entertaining at least.

I just got through reading Watch on the Rhine of the Posleen series. Good read. Showed the damage done of raising entire European generations to be pacifists. As was said, the March Up Country series is also very good. I read Road to Damascus also. Good book, but one of those that gets you pissed off in the middle.

I read the book The Postman recently. Worth reading. The only similarity to the movie is that a one sentence description could describe both plots. Then the similarities end. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was good also.

Not sure where to go from here though. There is a new Honor Harrington book out in Ocotber I guess.
 
LOL,I'm halfway through the Road To Damascus right now!& I finished book three of the Posleen books last month.Very good.

Now if David Drake would just write more of the Hammers Slammers type stories.That's what I'd really like to read.

Eric Flint,John Ringo,David Weber,& (bows)David Drake-they're all good.
 
Try David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Delightful military/Navy Science Fiction.

Honor fights a couple of duels with the 10mm pistol, the traditional deuling weapon for centuries in the Star Kingdom of Manticore. She shoots an even more ancient 1911 in .45ACP for fun.
 
Anyone who likes Mr. Ringo's work will also love 'Freehold' and 'The Weapon' by Michael Z Williamson, AKA our very own Mad Mike. Mr. Williamson is a serious gunnie, a supurb author and a general all around nice guy. Outside of SF, he also has three novels out about a pair of US Army snipers. Good reads all.
 
Anyone remember a bad movie about an android names Solo played by Mario Van Peebles? There is a book that was made from that is pretty good. Not sure of the actual name of the book.

The original Tarzan is good though I haven't read it in many years.
 
I remember that book, I think it was called "Solo" as well. The robot had chrome skin, right? Might be getting it confused with several other similar stories. It basically learned to accept a primitive native tribe as its own. Pretty similar plot to the movie, IIRC.
 
No guns, but I absolutely love the Council Wars series (aka the Dragonverse). I've gotten the first two autographed, and I plan to finish the series that way. ^_^
 
"Quote:
The right of the people to keep and bear arms for self-defense and defense of the homeland shall never be infringed, limited, rescinded, interfered with or prohibited by any decree of law, decision of court or policy by the executive branch or any of its agencies. And this time we mean it."


So mentally ill people, felons and 5 year old children can all have firearms?
Or should legislatures, courts and executives impose those limitations?
 
Anyone who likes Mr. Ringo's work will also love 'Freehold' and 'The Weapon' by Michael Z Williamson, AKA our very own Mad Mike. Mr. Williamson is a serious gunnie, a supurb author and a general all around nice guy. Outside of SF, he also has three novels out about a pair of US Army snipers. Good reads all.
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Amen to that.

Ringo, Flint, Williamson are the new that SciFi needed. The old guys Niven, Pournelle and Heinlien set the stage for these guys.

I love Ringo's Posleen series (Aldanata) it rocks.
 
So mentally ill people, felons and 5 year old children can all have firearms?
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minors usually aren't recognized as having other constitutional rights such as freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. there is even a precedent for minors to have a curfew. one could stil prevent minors from having weapons without adult suprevision. afik, most places don't recognize a minor's ability to own anything anyway.

as for mentally ill people. remember that for most of this nations history there was no law restricting sales of firearms whatsoever. one of the problems with preventing mentally ill people from owning firearms is that the definition can change pretty quickly. is ADD a mental illness? what about epilepsy? am i mentally ill if i've consulted a marriage counselor, physchologist or psychiatrist? what if i had a bout of depression after the loss of a family member years ago. am i still mentally ill? is addiction a mental illness? any addiction? what about caffeine, nicotine or alcohol? see, with a little work ANYONE could be classified as mentally ill.

now for the felons. most of the population of prisons (i think it's something like 80-90%) are there for non-violent, victimless "crimes". part of the battle we are fighting is the creeping control over the population by creating new classes of criminals. just having any quantity of acid, meth or heroine (even a quantity small enough that you wouldn't know you had it) is a felony in most states, i think. regardless of the fact that non violent, victimless offenses should not be felonies in the first place, it is too easy to become a felon while trying to obey the law.

that said, it should not be necessary to prevent a person from purchasing a firearm. if a person is dangerous enough not to be trusted with a gun (murderer, rapist, child molester, armed robber) he should be hung. if a person is so unstable that we fear he may hurt himself or others, he should be committed - with due process and review by a jury of his peers.

don't swallow that crap the socialists are feeding you about how some folks just can't be trusted. if that's true why do we trust them with cars and chainsaws?
 
Other good suggestions (all of the above are excellent BTW, I've read all except "Road To Damascus"):

"The Man Who Never Missed" by Steve Perry. Unbelievably good.

"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. Card's earlier work is better than his later; this was by far his best. An insight into the mind of a general and how one can be made.

"Snowcrash" and "Cryptonomicon" both by Neal Stephenson. Snowcrash is among the very best pieces of SF ever. Cryptonomicon is "barely science fiction" at all but in it's own way is an extremely important book. It does for cryptography and the first amendment what John Ross did for the second amendment in "Unintended Consequences"...read Cryptonomicon and you'll understand why the US Government wanted to jail Phil Zimmerman.

"Startide Rising" by David Brin (author of "The Postman") - Startide Rising was Brin's best ever. If you like rooting for the underdogs, this mixed crew of humans, dolphins and a chimp (the latter two altered to sentience) is one hell of a romp.
 
"minors usually aren't recognized as having other constitutional rights such as freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. there is even a precedent for minors to have a curfew."
Those are court decisions, which the proposed amendment says should not be applicable.
Many felons are on supervised probation. Many of those felons are drug addicts. Supervised treatment is effective about 15% of the time. Some more intensive drug treatment programs (E.G. "Drug Court) are about 30% effective. So, the majority of meth addicts, on probation for felony offences, are not likely to be "cured". Personally, I would just as soon they not have guns.
Ever since Mickey Rooney appeared in the movie "Bill" there has been a push to get mentally retarded and mentally ill people out of in-patient hospitals, and into the general population. Some require medication, and are supervised very loosely. They can be "off meds" and engage in disastrous conduct before you know it. Personally, I would just as soon they not have guns either.
Often we gun advocates focus on the "right to bear arms" and forget about the 'well regulated" caution that proceeds it.
OK. I will put on my asbestos underwear now.
 
"Snowcrash" and "Cryptonomicon" both by Neal Stephenson. Snowcrash is among the very best pieces of SF ever.
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+1 -- there are Five Pillars of SF/F in my world. They together occupy and support the number one position as 'best book ever' One is the entire Harry Potter series (but especially 1-3). The second is Snow Crash. (The third is S. Andrew Swann's Moreau series. Start with Forests of the Night, if you can't find the recent omnibus edition - which is well worth it for its very insightful introduction on the subject of human nature. Go read this. Now. If you're not afraid to let yourself, you'll have tons of fun on this one. The fourth is an old obscure book, and I can't remember what I settled on for number five at this hour. :p )
 
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