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Monster Hunters, Stand To! Woot! Woot!
Despite the best-laid plans for stealth, security, and situational dominance, every now and again, you gotta stand to.* Today, the eBook version of John Ringo’s Monster Hunter Memoirs: Saints was released. Waa-hooo! (That is not a sardonic, ironic, or snarky wa-hoo).
When John Ringo stumbled onto Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter Universe, he was like, “Oh, I so need a piece of this.” He coordinated with Correia and got permission to publish some books based on Correia’s universe. Correia later complained that Ringo spit out the first two books faster than he could edit them.
Correia and Ringo collaborating is like chocolate ballistically meeting peanut butter. Magic happens. Let me explain–no, there is too much–let me sum up. With nothing that even approaches a spoiler. Mostly. Ringo offset the timeline of the universe so as not to interfere with Correia’s stories. Ringo set his novels in the ’80s, thus:
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge
Oliver Chadwick Gardenier hates his parents. They are radical lefty academics whom he despises. Chad is a genius, so when mom makes a comment that his getting straight A’s with ease compared to the efforts his classmates have to make, he makes a snap decision that, for the rest of his academic career, he will get a perfect “C” average. “You know how hard it is to get a perfect C average?”
Chad’s shop teacher, a Marine vet, takes the miserable youth under his wing and teaches him to work with his hands, learn marksmanship and the Japanese Way of the Sword.
The young man earns the nickname “Iron Hand” for his sword work (which is not necessarily a compliment).
In an effort to thoroughly frustrate his parents and make them froth at the mouth, on graduation he enlists in the United States Marine Corps. After boot, he is assigned to the 1-8 Infantry, and journeys to the Middle East to get blown up with all the other Marines in Beirut. Chad is deader than fried chicken. But, he meets Saint Peter who tells him “you’re already in. You can go straight into heaven. But, the Boss thinks you’re the right man for a job back home. You can go back to do the job. It’ll be a miracle that you survived.”
I’m a Marine. No way I’m turning down a mission from God.
“You’re all blowed up; it’s going to suck.”
And your point is?
“Final thing: you’ll know your mission when you see the number 57.”
Chad goes back, a little hacked off at his vague mission recognition signal. (You know what it’s like walking down the condiments aisle of a grocery store?)
He works his butt off through medical treatment and physical therapy. He is medically discharged, little more than a cripple. He finds his number 57. His life becomes killing monsters.
His first assignment is in Seattle. Thus, Grunge.
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners
Chad’s predilection for doing the horizontal boogaloo with any female that’s even vaguely interested in the dynamic impact of glistening giblets leads Chad to have to get out of town, fast. He gets reassigned to New Orleans, where he basically comes into his own as a warrior.
New Orleans is the home of hoodoo. Chad finds the place so out of control that he is going out on missions as a singleton that in Seattle would’ve called for a team of four or five hunters. He excels. With the help of Light hoodoo workers — and of course, the loas — he builds a life meant to perfectly support him in his mission to become a human weapon against the forces of darkness.
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Saints
Chad mentions, attending a classic NO funeral, that the song played is “When The Saints Come Marching In.” He opines that the meaning of the song is that, in the final battle of good and evil, the warrior Saints will stand with the warrior Angels against the forces of hell. He looks forward to the opportunity. I’m betting that has something to do with the title of this, the final installment of Ringo’s journey into the Monster Hunter Universe.
I’m happier than a fat kid trapped in a candy store.
Iron Hand and Me
One aspect of Ringo’s story-telling genius is that one cannot help gaining a deep affinity for all of his characters, warts and all. You can’t help (well, I can’t help) comparing oneself to Iron Hand.
The guy’s, uh, copulative drive is formidable. I can dig that, although I’ve managed to work mine into my monogamy fetish. He doesn’t want any widows or orphans left after he dies, he assesses, a young and violent death. I figured, hell, no way I’m not keeping the Mongo genes in the human inventory. My brother insists that the fact that three out of four of my kids are daughters invigorates his faith that there is Karmic justice. I’m pretty sure my brother is an ass.
Hand’s Faith is undoubted and unassailable. He doesn’t need to know “why;” he’s a Marine and he figures the Big Guy has a plan, he’s a part of it, so drive on and complete the mission. I have that. If anyone’s “doing it wrong” it’s me and not the Big Guy. Don’t know too many other Roman Catholics that habitually wear Thor’s hammer around their neck.
The one thing that Hand relies on is indomitable will. If you refuse to lose, you will win. More than athletic ability, smarts, or Faith, it’s the obdurate refusal to cede. Check.
Finally, Hand loves bringing the good news to bad monsters. That’s probably the largest component of my love for Hand and this series. Nothing better than end-stating a monster, whether meat or metaphoric.
Stand to.
* It’s a great clip, but has some tactical flaws, I know. I mean, honestly, who bounds their only two SAWs forward together?
Published in General
I see what you did there.
I fell in love with Correia’s writing with Monster Hunter International. I gave that a glowing review – and told Toni Weisskopf she needed to give Correia a hardback. (Didn’t on the next one.) Love the other series he has written, too. I reviewed five books in the Monster Hunter series, but not this collaboration with Ringo. (Cannot figure out why – probably I felt some other author needed the exposure more. If there is a new kid on the block that is really really good, I try to review that book. The old pros don’t need the exposure. The new writers do.)
I’ll have to review this one in the Galveston paper. I mean Correia and Ringo together? Waa-Hooo!!, indeed.
I’m a fan. Enough to order the tricked-out leatherbound edition of the Grimnoir trilogy. Due here soon, too.
I’ll add these to my reading list. I hope Ringo returns to the Legacy of the Aldenata universe someday, too. Also, The Last Centurion is another Ringo classic.
Funny, I’ve always felt that MHI (meaning the first in the series) was too wish fulfillment-ey for my tastes. Owen has always seemed too much like a stand in for the author to me. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the books but MHI in particular makes me roll my eyes at times.
I’ve thought the side books (Earl’s, Frank’s, Cody’s series) have all been much better than the main line of Owen. I can’t wait to start on this side story finale.
…and the Queen of Wands series…and the Black Tide series…and the Troy series…and the Looking Glass series…and, shoot, even the Prince Roger series.
Ringo has got to be the most brilliant yet incredibly frustrating writer. He’ll knock out the first few books in a series in rapid succession then just stops mid storyline and moves on to another fantastic world with awesome characters. If they weren’t so danged good I’d refuse to buy anything from him, but I always think “man, his last series was so great…maybe he’ll manage to finish this one this time”.
Maybe Ringo should keep writing in other universes; it seems the added structure of fitting into another’s ‘verse gets him to wrap things up in a timely fashion.
OK, @bossmongo, I’m in…Anything that makes you this happy, I gotta try it.
He may yet. He is still a youngster. Look at David Drake. He is still turning out gripping stories in his 70s. And yes, he returns to his old series from time to time.
Fair warning, MHI books are a love letter to fine firearms. His gun descriptions are incredibly detailed. Also, on the dude vs. lady spectrum of books, MHI is unapologetically over in the dude corner pouring a scotch while cleaning guns and roasting venison.
I love the books, because the heroes act intelligently, at least most of the time. Also, I’ve had bosses I wouldn’t mind tossing out the window…
Inconceivable!!
Well said, sir.
One can only hope.
Like I could wait until today. I got the e-arc version a couple months ago. It’s a fantastic ending to the trilogy. What really makes it is the part seen from Earl’s POV. Iron Hand is somewhat of an unreliable narrator, and it’s fun to go back and read all three books knowing this. Oh, and Karmic Justice would be a good title for the next stories that Ringo writes in this universe.
Speaking of karmic justice, here’s the T-shirt I got for Father’s Day this year:
I’ve been a huge fan of Larry Correia since Hard Magic. Like you I have been waiting for the latest Monster Hunter International to hit, preordering as soon as it was possible. John Ringo is also a favorite, although none of his worlds/characters have caught me the way the MHI team has. His skill and workmanship in entering the MHI world and making a patch of it his own are remarkable.
Oliver Wyman is as awesome a talent as Correia and Ringo, and it is proof of divine grace that they are combining to produce a body of work.
When I got the release date of Saints, I re-listened to Grunge and Sinners, carefully timed so that I could go seamlessly to the new book. I’m loving the ride. When it’s done I’ll climb back on and listen to all three in order, probably several times. This stuff is so good, I want to soak myself in it.
Likewise.
So, he’s literally on a mission from God? (Isn’t there some sort of rule about “Never go full Blues Brothers”?)
Yes, there is. But I betcha Hand could do a job on some Illinois Nazis.
Outstanding!
Team: can’t do it. I know Larry C advocates it. I feel like I’ve got to hold out and see the final, refined version of the art. Don’t want to see a snapshot in time of a work that doesn’t represent the author’s best effort. Then I read it. Then I judge it.
I can understand the attraction (temptation?), though.
The rule is “Always go full Blues Brothers”.
I often get ARCs (as a reviewer). I always review the published books. There are sometimes significant differences. I’ve caught an oops or two in Ringo’s book. (In the ARC version of one of the Troy Rising series it had Boeing and McDonnell Douglas as rivals – in the near future. Of course Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas, so that could not happen. I e-mailed Ringo about it. In the published version it was Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, which is probably what he had intended.) Also typos and misspellings in ARCs are to be expected, and I ignore them.
That’s pretty hilarious.
Easy mistake to make. Trust me.
I bite my tongue and avert my eyes from reviews until the mass-market paperback comes out. I buy too much to buy hardbacks, with very, very few exceptions, and I don’t care for e-books. Sigh. Nine more months, or so.
You got me hooked on them! Great on audible while I’m blasting around the country.
Oh, no reason.
Look, I’ll admit I read these things like a dog bolting steak.
I… I’ve got nothing to follow that up with.
Does explain why I’ll read ’em a couple-three times in a row when I first get them though.
It’s definitely temptation. Knowing that the full story is out there I almost always cave and pony up the $15 rather than wait.
Listening to it now. Ringo really is the master of telling a half story/half recap from the main character in order to skip the boring parts. No fiddly bits!