John Ringo FenCon 2013

Years ago, a friend ask if I had read any John Ringo. I truthfully told him I hadn’t although I had seen his books on the shelves.  As my friend looked over my shelves of books and saw a lot of military sci fi, he said I would probably like Ringo.  I kind of blew my friend off.  Over the years, I’ve had lots of people tell me how great an author was.  After investing the time to read the recommended book, I found it wasn’t for me.

So I must admit to being embarrassed when I finally picked up A Hymn Before Battle and really enjoying it. I was so impressed I bought the next four in the series before I even finished the first book.

Then I was frustrated that John Ringo didn’t attend at WorldCon. He went to DragonCon instead. Well, you can’t have every author show at WorldCon. The frustration faded when I realized he was going to be at FenCon; a smaller local convention.

When John arrived he immediately started talking to the fans in line. He spend time with everyone. It was a nice insight to his other books and his upcoming books.  As I passed over my read copies, he signed and told me he felt Gust Front was so good, he didn’t know how to write the next one in the series.  He felt he accomplished some operatic greatness in that book and the next one would only pale.

An unusual admission but I think that says something about the author. Maybe that is what makes me enjoy his books.

AH