Joe Bishop is a fairly typical US Army enlisted man. He joined the
army out of High School to get out of his small Maine home town,
which he loves but has had enough of, and to be able to go to college
in the future without crushing student loan debt. The time is the near
future, and unfortunately for Joe, the US has become involved in a
"peacekeeping" mission in Nigeria where there is not much peace to be
kept. After more narrow escapes and harrowing firefights than he expected,
Joe is enjoying some leave back home after the end of his deployment when
the Earth is attacked by aliens.
In the chaos after the aliens destroy the power grid, Joe finds himself
faced with a downed spaceship in his little town and improvising with
an impromptu group of other Army, reserves, retired, first responders &
armed citizens manages to implement a shaky plan involving dynamite and
an off-brand ice-cream truck painted with Barney The Dinosaur which actually
captures an alien soldier.
The aliens as it turns out are called the Ruhar and look something
like large hamsters. Unfortunately they have a larger technological
lead over Earth than Columbus & the Europeans had over the Native
Americans, and the nations of Earth have absolutely no chance of
forcing them out. "Fortunately", the Ruhar themselves have enemies
in William Tenn fashion, and shortly a Kristang taskforce shows up
forcing them out. "Fortunately", the Ruhar themselves have enemies
in William Tenn fashion, and shortly a Kristang taskforce shows up
at Earth driving out the Ruhar. The Kristang offer Earth an
"alliance" against the Ruhar which is enthusiastically accepted and
Joe and his unit soon find themselves shipped off to a Ruhar planet
recently conquered by the Kristang to run crowd control as the Ruhar
population is shipped offworld. Unfortunately, it begins to dawn
on the UN force (now isolated and out of contact with Earth) that
a Kristang "alliance" is more like being Kristang slaves, "crowd
control" is more like being Stasi police and the Ruhar are maybe
the good guys.
Earth has chosen badly, not that there was really another option,
and things don't look at all good for humanity in the future -- if
there is one. Then, while being held prisoner, Joe finds an Elder
AI, or it finds him. It ('he' for convenience) has an attitude,
and Joe calls him "Skippy" to remind him he's not God. Skippy
has a bargain for Joe: Get (the non-self-mobile) Skippy off the planet
and re-connected to the Elder AI network, and Skippy will help Joe
get the Kristang off Earth. What could go wrong?
The poster who recommended this series in a forum I follow
calls them puzzle books, and I think that's fair. They are not
Ellery Queen puzzles where the reader has all the information to
figure things out, but it is nonetheless engaging to see the characters
try to work their way out of increasingly complicated predicaments
while keeping all traces of Earth involvement away from any of the
impacted parties. In a way, these books remind me of Robert Sheckley's
"Protection" where accepting the help of a supernatural entity makes
one an increasingly appealing target for other supernatural entities
in an escalating sequence..
The bedrock of these books is the character of Joe Bishop, a man
who was happy to be a sergeant and is now a Colonel with the fate
of the world on his shoulders. Joe is not a brilliant man, and he
knows it. He is, however, perhaps the most level-headed man
imaginable. While willing to be the butt of Skippy's jokes when
it helps morale, he is a soldier who actually listened to the
training, feels it saved his life several times and thinks he owes
his subordinates more than his superiors gave him. He will risk
anything if necessary, and is willing to lay down his life if needed,
but with God's help (he is a low-key believer) and Skippy's that
so far has not been necessary.
The story is largely told by Joe in the first person, with some
third person sequences for events where he is not present. In
general this works, though Joe does have a bit of a tendency towards
foreshadowing, which I am not usually a fan of. The books are
smoothly written, with some minor editing exceptions for characters
named where other characters are clearly meant, a few clunky humor
scenes, and some repetition of information we already know as if
the author picked up writing after being away from the story for a
while. In general I would say they could be published as-is by
a traditional publisher, though apparently Alanson is doing well
enough to have quit his day job even without that.
I have read books 1-3.5 and am on book 4 now (these should show up in
future reviews). I continue to enjoy them and if you enjoy classic
Campbellian SF, you will too. (Of course they are sort of Humans-under-all
rather than Humans-uber-all, but Campbellian nonetheless).
OR
$4.99 with 50 percent savings
Print List Price: $9.95 
The Print List Price is the lowest suggested retail price provided by a publisher for a print book format of this title, available on Amazon (e.g. hardcover, paperback, mass market paperback).
Learn more
Learn more
These promotions will be applied to this item:
Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.
Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Unwell Hydration from Alex Cooper
Hydrate & focus with every sip Shop now
Shop this series
See full series- Kindle Price:$67.90By placing your order, you're purchasing a license to the content and you agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.
Shop this series
There are 18 books in this series.
Kindle Price:
$67.90
By placing your order, you're purchasing a license to the content and you agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Popular Highlights in this book
I was surprised that peacekeeping involved killing so many people, but it is what it is.Highlighted by 376 Kindle readers- Part of being super smart is knowing when to keep your mouth shut and let the other guy talk.Highlighted by 350 Kindle readers
- Rule Number One; no use of nukes, or other types of radiological weapons, on or near an inhabited planet, or even potentially habitable planet.Highlighted by 326 Kindle readers
- Rule Number Two was no chemical weapons, for the same reason as Rule Number One.Highlighted by 289 Kindle readers
About the author
What a great find
I don't usually give five stars, but here is one rating I am glad to give. I enjoyed the book because in many science fiction books, humans are portrayed too often as being intellectually capable of understanding complex scientific concepts and all too often neglect to understand that we are really monkeys who evolved into tool-making, tool-using versions of our ancestors. We know so little of what makes our existence tick and unfortunately, it will take us a very ling time (if we don't kill ourselves off in the process) to begin to understand a fraction of the universe. This book puts us in the position to understand just how unintelligent we really are in the whole scheme of things and I like how Craig went about it - with sarcasm, and self-deprecating humor and a little righteous indignation. The hero (not the beer can - although the beer can is also flawed) is flawed and just a plain guy with basic Boy Scout kind of common sense who finds himself in constantly in awkward positions. I plan on continuing the series and I hope it lives up to how the first book played out. Keep writing Craig
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2025
- Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2025
Top reviews from other countries
-
- Gustavo Sánchez MuñozReviewed in Spain on November 20, 2019
You'll get hooked to the series, be warned. But trust the awesomeness
-
