Are Baen books really that bad?

[jcsalomon]

Originally Posted by Waylander

I was perusing the Guardian Books section yesterday, as it is the only newspaper with a decent book section not behind a paywall, and came across an article about the rise of new Space Opera. The article was the usual tone from this particular journalist, who seems to sneer at anything other than lit-fic and poetry. However, near the end I came across this: ‹snip›

The claim made in Space Opera strikes up again for a new era that Baen’s books have a political bias has been refuted quite nicely in this thread. But I would also like to point out that the claims the essay makes about Baen publisher Toni Weisskopf’s writings are demonstrably—and possibly actionably—false. (Basically, she wrote a somewhat rambling blog post calling for inclusivity and engagement across all segments of SF/F fandom; the Guardian article falsely characterizes it as a diatribe against SF/F whose politics she disagrees with.)

[susan_cassidy]

I liked John Ringo's Posleen series at first, but the last couple of books didn't really do it for me. I love the Prince Roger series, the Looking Glass series, and the Council Wars series. The Cally's War spinoff from the Posleen series was pretty good.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Joykins

Well, that's the first time I've seen a blog entry rendered unreadable by sidebar material covering the text.

Horrible. But I easily fixed it by using Pocket.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I think the discussion of ideological fiction was spot on. I have been reading Ringo's zombie post-apocalyptic series, which I've found tolerable despite the ideology, and a Michael Moore fat joke made by a 14 year old girl . Still, I wonder about my coworker who I believe rates Ringo as one of his favorite authors.

John Ringo came quite close to falling into the category of "authors who write books I hate myself for liking." And then I thought of the people I knew who were like the narrator and how I really can't stand them.

This was my impression of The Last Centurion.

It's written in a breezy, foul-mouthed, funny conversational style which is a good thing because if it wasn't there would be no way I would have finished the thing. It was initially time-suckingly readable despite the (conservative) political ranting (and there were issues that I did and didn't agree with the narrator about there)--but then as things went on I realized the narrator was one of those annoying people who always thinks they know everything and Ringo set up the plot situation so that he was also Always Right and you know how irritating that can be. And there's some pretty vicious stuff here thrown at liberals and at Hillary Clinton (present under a thinly disguised pseudonym as "the B*tch" who destroyed the US Mao-style. I did wonder at one point whether the narrator was being set up as unreliable because of some remarks he made about his Persian concubine (don't ask) which seemed contradictory, but no, I think Ringo expects us to think this jerk is the ultimate hero

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Horrible. But I easily fixed it by using Pocket.

I don't know what that is but I read the html source until I got past the offending part.

[ottdmk]

I haven't read a lot of Baen books. However, I'm quite fond of Rick Cook's Wiz Zumwalt series and Legacy of the Stone Harp by Anderson & Sebanc.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Joykins

I don't know what that is but I read the html source until I got past the offending part.

http://getpocket.com

Very handy for clipping articles for later. Also reduces webpages to simplified plaintext in a pinch.

You can do simliar things with Readability and a few other sites. Also Google Webcache has an option to view text-only versions of pages.

[Penforhire]

I'm with Joykins. I tend to call John Ringo one of my guilty pleasures, as if his work should not be mentioned in polite company. The entire meme of "Oh John Ringo no" hits the mark, despite my liking some of his work.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

I'm with Joykins. I tend to call John Ringo one of my guilty pleasures, as if his work should not be mentioned in polite company. The entire meme of "Oh John Ringo no" hits the mark, despite my liking some of his work.

Ringo used to write good military SF. These days he writes xenophobic, ultra right-wing, political diatribes which I personally find extremely unpleasant.

He, though, is in a small minority. I very much enjoy the overwhelming majority of Baen's output, and have bought every one of their monthly bundles since they started publishing them in the late 1990s.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

These days he writes xenophobic, ultra right-wing, political diatribes which I personally find extremely unpleasant.

Can you give an example of a title in this category?

[Waylander]

I agree, what titles are you alluding to?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

Can you give an example of a title in this category?

"The Last Centurion" would be a prime example.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by HarryT

"The Last Centurion" would be a prime example.

+1. I tossed this after a chapter or two. I am looking forward to the next 'Troy Rising' book, though, if there is going to be one. Me likes my BIG space battles

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

+1. I tossed this after a chapter or two. I am looking forward to the next 'Troy Rising' book, though, if there is going to be one. Me likes my BIG space battles

Have you read Mark Van Name? His first one doesn't necessarily have LOTS of space battles, but I remember the second one leaning in that direction. He's a Baen author. I can't remember the titles of the series he wrote, but can look it up if you want!

[Joykins]

I love milSF too, which is why I tried Ringo. Apparently, I just picked the wrong book...