John Ringo is a New York Times bestselling author of science fiction and thriller
novels with over two million novels in print, translated into seven languages
and enjoyed worldwide. To date, he has written or co-written nearly thirty
published novels, which is made even more impressive when one considers that his
first novel, A Hymn Before Battle was published way back in 2000. When you do
the math it becomes very clear that the word "prolific" when used in reference
to John is a bit of an understatement.
Yet to truly understand John is to try
and understand his background. By the time he graduated high school, he had
already visited 23 countries and attended 14 different schools. And that
involves such world-altering changes as moving from Tehran, Iran where he
attended a tony private school and being unceremoniously dumped in the backwoods
of rural Alabama and the delightful public school system. John learned to adapt
to rapidly changing situations at a young age. All the travel and constant
cultural changes left him with a wonderful appreciation of the oneness of
humanity and a permanent aversion to foreign food.
After graduation, Ringo
joined the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of Specialist Four as a member of the
82nd Airborne Division. Feel free to let out a lusty "Hoo-ahh" at any time while
reading this paragraph. During his four years of active duty, he was assigned to
both the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Battalion,
505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, plus two years of reserve duty with the
Florida National Guard. Scurrilous rumors that he discovered the combined joys
of military grade munitions and deep sea fishing while serving with the Florida
National Guard have never been confirmed and are not meant to be discussed in
polite company.
While in uniform, he was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge,
Parachutist Badge, Army Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Armed Forces
Expeditionary Medal (Grenada), Cold War Victory Medal and the National Defense
Service Medal. And even though he is a trained paratrooper, he still feels that
four wheels on the ground are the best way to travel from point A to point B,
especially if he is provided with a jar of good cigars and a case of
Frappucinos.
After his discharge from active duty, he did what many soldiers
have done over the years and enrolled in college. He thought that marine biology
sounded interesting and picked up an Associate's Degree, only to discover
quickly that marine biology is a slow road to starvation and homelessness, as
what few jobs were available in the field were quite jealously guarded by those
that have them against those that don’t. So he became a database manager to
support his then wife and two young daughters. His life had settled into a
fairly sedate pattern when, in 1999, he had the idea for a science fiction story
that involved an alien invasion and a military response that became the novel A
Hymn Before Battle, the title an homage to the poem "Hymn Before Action" by
Rudyard Kipling.
Go ahead and ask him about Kipling if you ever run into him. Really. It's one of the safer subjects to bring up and hasn't (so far) resulted
in any riots or other minor altercations.
He submitted the novel to publisher
Jim Baen of Baen Books, who quickly bought it. The success of the book, and the
books that followed, allowed Ringo to quit his database management job and
devote his life full-time to writing. Since 2000, he has written with David
Weber, Michael Z. Williamson, Julie Cochrane, Linda Evans, Travis Taylor, and
Tom Kratman in addition to the ever-growing number of titles of his own, the
latest of which, The Last Centurion, has been a runaway best seller and could
end up being even more controversial than Ghost. He also has penned a number of
op-ed pieces for the New York Post, been a guest commentator for Fox News, and
is currently working with a screenwriting partner in adapting three of his
novels to the big screen.
With his younger years spent in the Airborne, cave
diving, rock-climbing, rappelling, hunting, spear-fishing and sailing, John is
now happy to let other people risk their necks. He prefers to read, and of
course write, science fiction, hang out in cigar bars and look for new ways to
pledge his remaining bits of soul. Which goes a long way to explain his interest
in taking over the movie industry.
—Kelly Lockhart