Creator / 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"

John Ringo (born March 22, 1963) is an American writer of Military Science Fiction, fantasy (both urban and traditional), and other novels.

Major series of his:

• Legacy of the Aldenata: Starting with A Hymn Before Battle, set 20 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 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: 20 Minutes into the Future story tending more towards hard science fiction (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.
• Troy Rising: 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 Adaptation; 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.^note though the official Schlock Mercenary wiki says that the two aren't connected, as the two settings have drifted apart given a lack of communication between Messrs Tayler and Ringo
• Black Tide Rising: Zombie apocalypse series, focusing on a Crazy-Prepared family surviving the initial outbreak and rounding up survivors and supplies from boats and ships at the Atlantic seabord.

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.

Not to be confused with basketball player Paul George, or with cowboy Johnny Ringo of Tombstone infamy (though he is a distant relative of the writer).

---

Tropes related to the author:

• Author Tract:
  • Many of his books are used to talk about his conservative political beliefs, with varying degrees of (un)subtlety, and to take swings at things held dear by liberals.
  • Considering that Ringo is the one who coined the term "Get Woke, Go Broke", it does indeed apply.
• Contest Winner Cameo: Not a contest per se, but Ringo offered spots in his list of readers for Redshirting or cameos to those who purchased the now-discontinued OH JOHN RINGO NO t-shirts, whose profits went to the Helen Bamberg Foundation.^note The Foundation helps, among other people, women abused by the sex trade, which features prominently in several books of the Paladin Of Shadows series that spawned the OJRN meme.
• Creator Thumbprint: Cameos, Tuckerizations, and other inclusions of fans and family as characters can be found his work, from his very first published novel, A Hymn Before Battle, onwards.
• Dear Negative Reader: Nobly averted. Ringo responded to a fairly scathing dissection of the Paladin of Shadows series with a plug for the review and a note that "I agree totally and unashamedly." He then endorsed the sale of T shirts with the slogan "OH JOHN RINGO NO", raising $700 for the Helen Bamber Foundation.^note The Foundation's focus is on women caught in the sex trade, an issue that figures prominently in much of the series.
• Straw Character: One would have to dig deep to find a John Ringo work that doesn't have one of these, usually of the liberal variety. Ringo has himself acknowledged that he has problems with writing liberals in a panel on politics in Science Fiction at the 2010 Dragon*Con.

---