John Ringo

"John became a professional science fiction writer and since his publisher assured him that all science fiction authors became immensely successful, he was given the standard "rich and famous" contract. Somewhat confused by the fine print, he nonetheless signed in blood."

- "John Ringo about himself"

Writer of Military Science Fiction, Fantasy (both urban and traditional), and other novels.


 * Posleen War Series: Starting with A Hymn Before Battle, set Twenty Minutes Into the Future when an alien federation reveals themselves... just before the invasion of another alien race, the Posleen. This series was Ringo's main break as an author.
 * Council Wars: Set a thousand years in the future, very briefly this is the story of a civil war amongst members of the titular council that sends the world into chaos, where nanotechnology serves (or served, in most cases, post-Fall) for the series' source of magic. Starts with There Will Be Dragons
 * Prince Roger (aka Empire of Man): A Military Science Fiction series co-written with David Weber. Some aspects of this series can be found in other, unrelated works, including but not limited to fake curse words and some character names/personalities. Currently on hiatus, due to author scheduling conflicts. Also known as The Series That Must Not Be Named, given Ringo's annoyance at how frequently he's asked if the series will continue. Ask about it at your peril. The series starts with March Upcountry.
 * Paladin of Shadows: Starting with Ghost, a modern military fiction series focusing on Mike "Ghost" Harmon, a former Navy SEAL, and all-around Anti-Hero. The first book is a self-admitted author wank piece with a significant focus on BDSM (see "Oh John Ringo No!", of which the man himself approves) that was originally not intended for publication, but between fan response to a snippet and the head of Baen Books (at the time, Jim Baen, who has since passed away) insisting that it be printed, it was published for release to the public. Works later in the series (starting with Kildar), however, tend more towards, as described elsewhere in the comments to the linked LiveJournal entry, "man builds stuff and gets lots of pussy".
 * Into the Looking Glass: Twenty Minutes Into the Future story tending more towards the "hard" side of Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness (It softens somewhat as the series continues), building off of currently known particle physics. An accident at a Florida university where investigations into high-energy particle physics was taking place results in multiple gates opening to another part of the galaxy, through which organic-based baddies launch an attack on Earth.
 * Special Circumstances: Urban fantasy focusing on a Christian housewife and mother forced into dealing with supernatural villains.
 * And the newest, Troy Rising, the first installment named Live Free Or Die. Next Sunday A.D., nice aliens extend their Portal Network into Sol System. Two years later, NASA has yet to get off its fat, subsidized ass and build an actual spaceship. A year after that, while stupid officials are still arguing over the portal's importance, bad aliens stroll in nonchalantly and conquer Earth in a single afternoon. But the bad guys never counted on "Tyler Vernon"... A literal Spiritual Licensee; Ringo was chatting with Howard Tayler about the First Contact days of Schlock Mercenary, and Howard said that John was more than welcome to write that story.

Mr. Ringo's website can be found here, for more details than in this (currently sketchy) article. It's mostly empty, being a work-in-progress replacing a defunct site.