Live Free or Die (Troy Rising, Book 1) [Hardcover]

John Ringo (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 2, 2010 | Series: Troy Rising

Beginning a New Series by a New York Times Best-Selling Author. Will the People of Earth Bow Down to Alien Overlords—or Will They Live Free or Die?

First Contact Was Friendly

When aliens trundled a gate to other worlds into the solar system, the world reacted with awe, hope and fear. But the first aliens to come through, the Glatun, were peaceful traders and the world breathed a sigh of relief.

Who Controls the Orbitals, Controls the World

When the Horvath camw through, they announced their ownership by dropping rocks on three cities and gutting them. Since then, they've held Terra as their own personal fiefdom. With their control of the orbitals, there's no way to win and earth's governments have accepted the status quo.

Live Free or Die.

To free the world from the grip of the Horvath is going to take an unlikely hero. A hero unwilling to back down to alien or human governments, unwilling to live in slavery and enough hubris, if not stature, to think he can win.

Fortunately, there's Tyler Vernon. And he has bigger plans than just getting rid of Horvath.

Troy Rising is a book in three parts-Live Free of Die being first part-detailing the freeing of earth from alien conquerors, the first steps into space using off-world technologies and the creation of Troy, a thousand trillion ton battlestation designed to secure the solar system.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Prolific military SF author Ringo (the Posleen War series) imbues this near-future epic with a somewhat self-indulgent air, mixing lengthy and sometimes interminable discussions of science and economics with do-or-die action. Three years after the alien Grtul drop a transport gate in our solar system and welcome Earth to the galactic community, a Horvath warship shows up and destroys several major cities before extorting protection payments. Fast-thinking entrepreneur Tyler Vernon exploits the literally universal appeal of maple syrup to make a fortune, defies the Horvath, and reveals his ideas for keeping Earth safe, but intergalactic war threatens to derail his plan. This extended thought exercise is infused with plenty of old-fashioned two-fisted can-do attitude, a heavy dose of science, and occasional bursts of dry humor, but shallow characterization and an ambling plot detract from the overall experience. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

This irresistible action-sf tale launches another series, deriving partly from a webcomic (Schlock Mercenary) and partly from Ringo’s amazingly fertile imagination. In the near future, humanity enjoys (or suffers from) first contact with an entire galactic federation, one of whose unfriendly races goes to war with Earth for our heavy metals. A more benign race works through crusty Vermonter Tyler Vernon to exploit nonhuman technology in developing a space program and defenses. Eventually, Earth lives up to the title (New Hampshire’s state motto), with Vernon taking his mobile asteroid, in essence a Death Star in good-guy hands, on humanity’s first interstellar war cruise to settle some alien hash. --Roland Green

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Baen (February 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439133328
• ISBN-13: 978-1439133323
• Product Dimensions: 1.3 x 6.5 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #377,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a professional author of... Well, I used to say "science fiction." Then came There Will Be Dragons, which is sf with a distinct fantasy twist. Then came Ghost which is techno-thriller crossed with porn. Then came Princess of Wands, a Christian soccer mom battling demons through the power of God. Who knows what's next? Children's books? (I've actually got that one mapped out. You see, there's this girl who is raised by dolphins... You think I'm joking, don't you?)
:-)

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#61 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#95 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#61 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#95 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 83 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Indispensable Man January 30, 2010

By P. Gibbs VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Live Free or Die starts as a First Contact story. An alien race visits our solar system and "builds" a Gate for interstellar travel to and from our system to other Gates in the galaxy. The captain of the ship informs us that alien races, both friendly and hostile, can now travel to and from Earth using the Gate. The action starts during the subsequent five years when first a "friendly" race (the Glatun), engaged in interstellar commerce, arrives using the Gate. They are followed a few years later by a more predatory race, the Horvath, who use trade the same way the Mafia uses a protection racket. They destroy three cities, Mexico City, Shanghai and Cairo, to demonstrate how mean they are and then demand all of the stocks of Earth's heavy precious metals, mainly gold and platinum, as payment for the Horvath "protecting" Earth from hostile aliens.

Enter our hero, Tyler Vernon, who is struggling to survive in New Hampshire amidst the worldwide depression caused by the Horvath stealing Earth's precious metals. Tyler is an entrepreneur and seizes the opportunity when he meets a Glatun free trader at an SF convention. Just asking the question, "What could he sell the Glatun that would be valuable to an advanced alien race?" starts something big for him. How big was determined by a second question, "How could he become the indispensable source for that export item?"

As anyone who has traveled to New Hampshire knows, the motto for the State is "Live Free or Die." It's on every license plate. Tyler and a bunch of his neighbors take that philosophy seriously. What starts out as a commercial venture eventually turns into the war for Terran independence from the Horvath and Tyler Vernon leads the fight as the richest man on Earth from trade with the Glatun.... How he manages to drive the Horvath from our solar system while saving Earth is a great start to multi-volume epic story. Don't worry, there is no cliff-hanger at the end to ruin the pleasure of an uplifting novel of human courage and ingenuity.

Ringo is writing SF the old fashioned way on a grand scale. The book harkens back to the best science fiction of the 1950's and 1960's. There is no ambiguity about who are the good guys in this story.

Live Free or Die cannot be pigeon-holed as a space opera. First, the book is about the importance of one indispensable man. Tyler Veron solves the practical economics of humans leap-frogging from NASA era technology to star-travel. If I tell you how it would be a plot spoiler, but it's great. The emphasis on the indomitable human spirit give a realism to this novel. Some things we must do or die trying. Second, Ringo cares about getting the science right, especially in how humans would exploit the raw materials of the inner solar system to build a space-faring civilization.

Historians in academia these days treat the great man theory of history with great distaste. So the fact that Charles Martel led the Frankish forces to victory at the Battle of Tours in 732 to stop the Islamic conquest of Europe is not supposed to be important for today's history students. Similarly, a student should not hold his breath waiting for a lecture on King John III of Poland ("John Sobieski") breaking the Siege of Vienna on September 12,1683 against a huge Turkish army. Sobieski was the acknowledged military genius of his age. He had a career of military victories that were the impetus for his being elected King of Poland. His leadership ended the threat of a Turkish military conquest of Europe.

The lessons we used to obtain from history are now being taught in the pages of science fiction novels. Read more ›

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable reading, author back on his game January 6, 2011

By LT

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This was a very enjoyable book to read. The book flowed well and the author is back to one of his strengths - developing characters.
The premise of the book comes from aliens putting a 'gate' in the earth system. The first set of aliens are good aliens interested only in trade. The second set take over and demand tribute. Earth is helpless.
Enter the hero, Tyler, who discovers an item that the good aliens are crazy about - maple syrup. He parleys this into a fortune which he uses to build an infrastructure to enable earth to resist the bad aliens.
One item I liked about this book comes from the author resisting the trap of having 'everything easy' once the hero gets some money and starts out on his quest. This is probaly a personal nit pick of mine but I hate the books where the hero discovers something - usually a technology - and then all things just fall into place, no problems are hard, the technology solves all ills, etc. In this book, without dwelling on them, the author has our hero facing bureaucracy problems from earth governments, politics from alien factions, resource issues, and just realistic issues in general.
Another good part of the book comes once the author finally gets a space ship - admittedly very old, bit run down, and only has tugs to use for transport. Then very well educated professionals show up willing to do anything just to get into space. The author did this well and in a humerous fashion without giving away details that may spoil the reading.
Instead of going on on this vein, I will summarize. This was an enjoyable book to read. There is good flow, character development, plot, etc that go into a good reading science fiction book. This is not a big battle action/adventure book. It is a good story to read....
And, it appears to be the first of a series. Read more ›

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Future Schlock February 1, 2010

By Arthur W. Jordin

Format:Hardcover

Live Free or Die (2010) is the first SF novel in the Troy Rising series. It is loosely based on the Schlock Mercenary webcomics by Howard Tayler, but is a prequel to that series.

Like the webcomics, it all started with aliens bringing a gate to other worlds. Earth doesn't even have a way to reach the Gudram Ring, much less use it to explore the galaxy (and beyond). And then the rapacious aliens arrive and extort tribute under the threat of kinetic weapons.

In this novel, Tyler Alexander Vernon is a short man who has a hobby of creating SF webcomics. He worked as an IT manager until his comics started making more money. Then the Gudram Ring appeared and science fiction seemed outdated by current events. His wife got a divorce and he is reduced to dwelling in a cabin in the woods of New Hampshire and working four part-time jobs.

In this story, Tyler is cutting wood when Mrs. Cranshaw calls again to harass him about her firewood. He promised it by next Sunday, but the old woman wants it earlier. They settle on four in the afternoon on Sunday and then Tyler gets back to work.

While working at Mac's Market, Tyler is asked to work an extra shift on Saturday. He has a convention gig on that day, so he begs off. He meets an Glatun at the convention and discusses trade. They make an appointment for the alien to test some samples and then try the nonpoisonous items.

The Glatun go crazy over maple syrup. It is a strong intoxicant for them and they offer a pickup load of superelectronics for six barrels of the syrup. After the trade, the freighter crew go home and become rich off those six barrels....

Tyler becomes an instant multibillionaire and engages an attorney to buy land with sugar maples as well as distilleries to refine the syrup. Then the Horvath try to force their way into the trade. The President of the USA uses American troops to gather maple syrup for the Horvath. Those involved in this trade within the USA and Canada are very stubborn people and a Maple Syrup rebellion starts over this issue.

This tale soon brings war from the Horvath and then their allies the Rangora. At first, only Earth is subjected to bombardment. Then the war spreads to the Glatun. Tyler uses his billions to build space fortifications.

The author has been compared to Heinlein, but in this story he is beginning to resemble E. E. "Doc" Smith. The space structures are not yet as large as the mobile planets in the Lensman series. But just give him a few more volumes.

Like both Heinlein and Smith, the author has created some believable aliens. Maybe too believable, since the Glatun seem to have the same sort of problems as humans. Moreove, the Horvath act much like the prewar Italian fascists in Ethiopia and the Rangora resemble the Soviets.

The President of the United States in this novel does not have a name. He is a stock character, a collaborationist much like Marshall Petain of the Vichy government. Instead of building shelters and evacuating the cities, he has American armed forces trying to tap sugar maple trees.

This novel concludes with many loose ends. The next installment in this series is Citadel. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Ringo fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of huge space structures, high energy weapons, and despicable aliens.

-Arthur W. Jordin Read more ›