John Ringo is a classic Science Fiction author with a distinct libertarian bent. He intermixes speculation on alien technology and interaction with a "primitive" earth with an extrapolation on how the various cultures of Earth would survive (or not) such interactions.


In "Live Free or Die", Earth is presented with a hyperspace gateway and a non-committal (though rather ominous ) warning: welcome to the rest of the galaxy - we make no guarantees on who might be next to visit! The militant Horvath then show up and start demanding tribute from Earth in the form of rare metals - after destroying several of Earth's major cities just to show they can.

Enter weblog writer and odd-jobs practitioner Tyler Vernon, who just happens to feature at a Comic convention alongside an alien trader from the Glatun Federation. While the Glatun doesn't believe Earth has anything the Glatun need or want (for trade), he does engage with Vernon on a philosophical level enough that Vernon convinces him to give Earth a shot at trade. His night job as a shelf stocker for a local grocery store yields a truck full of various odds and ends and Vernon manages to parlay a win into enough discarded technology to instantly vault him into position as the richest man in the world.

Vernon isn't satisfied with his wealth, however. He knows that it means nothing without access to the markets - both terrestrial and intergalactic. So he engages in a bold move of both invention and necessity: to free Earth from the Horvath overseers.


I'm not going to spoil the ending, but the book has two more sequels in the series and all are a great read - certainly on par with Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" but with much more attention to the real science behind space travel.

I think it would also be fun to invite Ringo to a guest day here in the Gulch.