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I finally got to meet John Ringo, great military SF writer. I've enjoyed his books. John Ringo is also famous on the Internetz for the phrase "OH JOHN RINGO NO!" because of A SERIES OF SEAL BOOKS he wrote, in which the protagonist did a lot of horribly sexist and offensive things. Definitely NOT a romance hero, 'kay?
This link is a short summary from FANLORE of how the phrase started. For those who want the whole darn thing in stereo, here is the whole livejournal review (VERY DETAILED) by the reader, hradzka, who coined this phrase and made it so famous. Here is the intro:
GHOST is Ringo's own admitted Lord King Badfic, his id run wild. By his own account, he was trying to write several books he was actually contracted for, but GHOST kept nudging at him, and finally he just wrote the damn thing to *make it go away* so he could get back to fulfilling his contracts. Ringo locked the spewings of his id away on his hard drive, until he mentioned in passing on an online forum that yeah, he'd written another book, but it was *awful* and would never see the light of day. Naturally, folks were curious, and when Ringo posted a sample, nobody was more surprised than him to find that the response was, more often than not, "Hey, man, I'd buy this."
So his publisher put it out, and the books are now doing pretty well for them. I'm sure this is a pleasant surprise if you're Ringo or his publisher, but it's also got to be a little embarrassing; he's committed the literary equivalent of charging money for folks to watch him roll naked in a pile of dead and smelly fish. And then being begged for encores.
This entry was so popular that John Ringo replied to give it the thumbs-up.
Anyway, OH JOHN RINGO NO! is on teeshirts and cups these days, used by those to express dismay at any boneheaded acts or books. I met the rascally John Ringo yesterday and told him to ravage me like Mike Harmon (the SEAL in this series). Here is the pic:
And then, after I* ravaged him, he signed his book:
Heehee. Loved it.
Just another OASIS-22 Convention encounter to remember. Anyway, I do recommend John Ringo's books but this particular series of SEAL, ahem, adventures are over-the-top crazy, so Buyers Beware and Be Ready to yell out OH JOHN RINGO NO! a lot.
Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
6 comments:
I had to LOL - how very perfect. :)
I have to differ with you. Ghost is a romance. it won romance of the year;)
Nice pic of John Ringo ravishing you! And no, Ghost was definitely NOT a romance. It's a male bodice ripper fantasy.
RoReader:
No really you've missed the point. Ghost won the preditors and editors poll for romance novel the year it came out.
Mostly because of ballot stuffing by Baen barflies it has to be admitted but it still won unfair and pentagonal. And Mr Ringo is still redshirting us all.
I have to confess to being one of those who demanded to read more of the "wanker" piece, as John called it, after the initial post. The shootout at the warehouse in GHOST hooked me. =)
Well, I voted for Ghost for Best Romance of the year, keep buying his books, and still haven't seen myself redhirted.
In his Princess of Swords novel, he slew just about every attendee at a convention except me.
Gosh, I'm stuck wondering what I said to offend him that he doesn't want to see me dead???
JJB
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