{Read} {PDF EPUB} ~download Claws That Catch by Claws That Catch: Prologue. Dedicated to EE “Doc” Smith and (cue music) The Solar Beam! For Captain Tamara Long, USAF. Born: May 12, 1979. Died: 23 March 2003, Afghanistan. You fly with the angels now. Lewis Carroll (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872) "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!" He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought -- So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through The Vorpal Blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. Comments from the Peanut Gallery: Previous Page Next Page. ISBN: 1-4165-5587-0 Copyright © 2007 by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form. Claws that Catch. Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I enjoyed reading this book and I did find it better than the two first books in the Looking Glass series but I have to say that I did indeed, after having read the third book in the series, have higher hopes for this one. The book starts of well with the new Vorpal Blade II being made ready for a new mission. I’m so happy to get rid of this refurbished submarine crap. Naturally the ship ends up in one or two “situations” which require the marines to break out their “noise-makers” although these situations are much fewer and farther between than in the previous books. Quite a lot of the book is spent in preparations and a fair amount of the book is spent on the tension between the new CO and the kind of new XO (our hero Weaver). Naturally the CO learns his mistakes in the end but the road there is sometimes a wee bit frustrating to read. I find it unlikely that a person so restricted in thought that he gets a fit at the mere thought of having a woman on board his ship would be deployed as CO to the first ever human starship. Especially in such a dire situation. That was just silly. The guy is just plain stupid at times. The thing that drags the book down the most however is this silly “entertainment system” stuff that they find on the alien artefact in the second half of the book. I cannot be more specific without spoiling some of the plot but I did not enjoy that silly idea at all. I really wanted to scream when reading it. Otherwise the book is well written as one would expect from John Ringo. The, sometimes, dry humour and action scenes are quite enjoyable and I liked the surprise addition to the human “fleet” at the end. Unfortunately it looks like this is a book series that John Ringo has abandoned and left hanging, pretty much in the middle of the main story arc, when there was much more to tell. The last book was published in 2008 so I guess it’s safe to say that no more are coming. ( ) the next Adventures of the Vorpal Blade II. Two Guns is married, Dr Weaver is a sidelined character and Miriam [the genius linguist who hears the voice in the ship] has taken over from Mimi for weird/genius female role. The ship finds a big artifact, and in order to deny it to the Dreen, figure it out. Turns out to be a big, solar system sized entertainment system. They turn it into a weapon to fight the Dreen. And there are some bio- engineered purple crab thingies that turn out to be Dreen eaters. So the Dreen are fought off, again, and the Alliance of humans, cheerick and hexohaurs[or whatever] have a bit of breathing room. I got this as a free download off of Baenbooks, and I have to say, I am glad I don't own this in pbook format. What a waste of paper that would be. ( ) Claws That Catch. Humans have come a long ways since the looking glass gates first appeared and an alien menace turned a motley crew of scientists, sailors and force recon Marines into battle-hardened space adventurers. Now with other species running scared, it​s up to humans to take the lead and mold a weapon capable of checking the Dreen¾a galactic cancer that has so far proved unstoppable. Their arsenal A hodge-podge of powerful technologies begged, borrowed and/or looted from across the galaxy and cobbled together on what has to be the strangest ship ever to ply the starways: the good ship Vorpal Blade II! Great Ideas! Cool Space Ships! Evil Alien Butt Blasted to Smithereens! At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "If Tom Clancy were writing SF, it would read much like John Ringo." ¾ Philadelphia Weekly Press . _[T]his thoroughly enjoyable ride should appeal to techno-thriller fans as well as to military SF buffs. ¾ Publishers Weekly on John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor​s Into the Looking Glass . Об авторе. John Ringo is author of the New York Times best-selling Posleen War series which so far includes A Hymn Before Battle , , When the Devil Dances ( New York Times best seller), and Hell's Faire ( New York Times best seller), and is the hottest new writer since David Weber. Among his other novels for Baen are Into the Looking Glass , the fantasy adventure Princess of Wands , the Council Wars series, which began with There Will Be , and the Kildar techno-thriller series, which began with Ghost . His collaborative novels include Von Neumann's War with Travis S. Taylor, Cally's War ( New York Times best seller) and Sister Time with Julie Cochrane, the New York Times best selling Prince Roger series with David Weber, which began with March Upcountry , and The Road to Damascus with Linda Evans. A veteran of the 82nd Airborne, Ringo brings first-hand knowledge of military operations to his fiction. He had visited 23 countries and attended 14 schools by the time he graduated high school. Отзывы. Дополнительная информация. Где читать книги. Смартфоны/планшеты. Ноутбуки и настольные компьютеры. Устройства для чтения книг. Продолжение серии. When a 60 kiloton nuclear explosion destroys the University of Central Florida, terrorism is the first suspect. But terrorists don't generally leave doorways to another world in their wake. Or, rather, a generator of doorways to multiple other worlds. With time of the essence, the Secretary of Defense scrounges up the nearest physicist with a high level security clearance. With doctorates in everything from nuclear physics to electrical engineering, William Weaver, PhD, is the egghead's egghead. On the other hand, with skills in everything from mountain biking to screaming electric guitar, he's also fast enough and tough enough to survive when the alien gates start disgorging "demons." As a snap decision, he appears to be the perfect choice, smart, tough and capable. Now if he could only patch things up with his girlfriend, get his boss off his back and get his cellphone bill paid. Oh, yeah, and figure out why the heck these gates keep opening. Okay, so sometimes he's got priority issues. As the gates spread and evil aliens spread with them, it is up to Weaver and SEAL Command Master Chief Miller to find a way to stop the proliferation and close the hostile gates. The problem being that the only way they can see to save the earth is destroy it. Then there's not going to be any more girlfriends or cellphones or bosses . . . Okay, two out of three of those are bad. They're really, really bad. Bad on toast. Bad like the Pacific is watery. Every day a Monday, bad. One and a half at the very least. Worst two out of three. Gotta prioritize. Guess Weaver and Miller are just gonna have to save the world. LTC William Weaver, PhD. ("Call me Bill. ") and SEAL Chief Miller, the heroes who saved Earth from alien menace in Into the Looking Glass, are back and this time Bill's got hisself a ship! The former SSBN Nebraska has been converted, using mostly shade-tree mechanics and baling wire, into a warp ship, Naval Construction Contract 4144, ready to go where no Adar, SEAL or academic has gone before! Yay for the heroes! But who cares for the poor Security guys, Force Recon Marines who are kept in the dark and fed manure all day That is until they land on an alien planet, get partially wiped out and then load back up again. It's a dog's life in the Space Marines but somebody's got to save the academics and the universe¾at the cost of horrendous casualties. Ranging in topics from the best gun to kill armored space monsters to particle physics to cosmology, Vorpal Blade is a return to the "good old days" of SF when the science problems were fun, the women were smart, tough and beautiful, and the beasts were ugly. The monkeys are out in the space lanes and ready to rock. As soon as they find the duct tape. Gateway HD 36951 lies in ruins. All survivors slaughtered. A single, truncated message sent back to Earth. Something very bad indeed is afoot, and the A.S.S. Vorpal Blade (reanuclear submarine converted to warp-drive space ship) is sent to investigate. But the ferocious, voracious enemy Dreen wait for no man (or other carbon-based lifeform), and the Blade and her crew are soon the only hope for an alien species pushed to the brink of extinction. Turn back and abandon a new ally or face a heavily-armed Dreen destroyer head on. For the Blade's rough-and-ready crew, it's no contest. And now, with an infusion of technical know-how from humanity's new ally, chaos itself has become a weapon! New York Times and USA Today multiple best-seller John Ringo joins with NASA and DOD consultant Travis S. Taylor ¾ author of Warp Speed and The Quantum Connection. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "If Tom Clancy were writing SF, it would read much like John Ringo." ¾ Philadelphia Weekly Press on New York Times multiple best-seller John Ringo. Похожие электронные книги. When a 60 kiloton nuclear explosion destroys the University of Central Florida, terrorism is the first suspect. But terrorists don't generally leave doorways to another world in their wake. Or, rather, a generator of doorways to multiple other worlds. With time of the essence, the Secretary of Defense scrounges up the nearest physicist with a high level security clearance. With doctorates in everything from nuclear physics to electrical engineering, William Weaver, PhD, is the egghead's egghead. On the other hand, with skills in everything from mountain biking to screaming electric guitar, he's also fast enough and tough enough to survive when the alien gates start disgorging "demons." As a snap decision, he appears to be the perfect choice, smart, tough and capable. Now if he could only patch things up with his girlfriend, get his boss off his back and get his cellphone bill paid. Oh, yeah, and figure out why the heck these gates keep opening. Okay, so sometimes he's got priority issues. As the gates spread and evil aliens spread with them, it is up to Weaver and SEAL Command Master Chief Miller to find a way to stop the proliferation and close the hostile gates. The problem being that the only way they can see to save the earth is destroy it. Then there's not going to be any more girlfriends or cellphones or bosses . . . Okay, two out of three of those are bad. They're really, really bad. Bad on toast. Bad like the Pacific is watery. Every day a Monday, bad. One and a half at the very least. Worst two out of three. Gotta prioritize. Guess Weaver and Miller are just gonna have to save the world. Mars is the staging ground. Earth is the target. A storm of invasion gathers as the Red Planet pales and Earth scientists _ amateurs and professionals alike _ race to discover what it portends. Worse news: the horde of self-replicating probes suspected as the cause _ implacable and all-consuming in its own right _ may be only the tip of a full-scale assault. Ideas ¾ the only useful weapon when facing an adversary an order of magnitude more advanced than you are. But against such an enemy, thought without action is as futile as war-making without a plan. Humanity​s hope? The _straddlersÓ: intelligent soldiers who know their science ¾ and fighting scientists who have no scruples about using their smarts to kick some alien butt. Yet even with the right people finally on the job, the hour is late. For Mars glows red again. And the swarm is nearly upon us! At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). Multiple New York Times and USA Today best-seller John Ringo rocks our world as hard as he did with his ground-breaking "Posleen War" series, teaming with NASA and DOD scientist Travis S. Taylor, a specialist in advanced propulsion and space telescopes ¾ and popular author of Warp Speed and The Quantum Connection ¾ to usher in a new saga of invasion, resistance and heroism! "If Tom Clancy were writing SF, it would read much like John Ringo." ¾ Philadelphia Weekly Press on New York Times best-seller John Ringo. The war with the Republic of Haven has resumed . . . disastrously for the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Admiral Lady Dame Honor Harrington, Steadholder and Duchess Harrington, the single victorious Allied commander of the opening phase of the new war, has been recalled from the Sidemore System to command Eighth Fleet. Everyone knows Eighth Fleet is the Alliance's primary offensive command, which makes it the natural assignment for the woman the media calls "the Salamander." But what most of the public DOESN'T know is that not only are the Star Kingdom and its Allies badly outnumbered by the Republic's new fleet, but that the odds are going to get steadily worse. Eighth Fleet's job is to somehow prevent those odds from crushing the Alliance before the Star Kingdom can regain its strategic balance. It's a job which won't be done cheaply. Honor Harrington must meet her formidable responsibilities with inferior forces even as she copes with tumultuous changes in her personal and public life. The alternative to victory is total defeat, yet this time the COST of victory will be agonizingly high. Lady Dame Honor Harrington isn't alone. Her life touches others¾and their lives touch hers¾directly, or indirectly, whether as a naval officer, steadholder, or duchess. In this collection, Jane Lindskold gives us the story of a prince on the brink of maturity and an extraordinary young Grayson woman named Judith¾a victim of Masadan brutality, who confronts insurmountable odds in a desperate effort to lead her sisters to freedom¾ or¾death among the stars. Timothy Zahn weighs in with a story of the heavy cruiser HMS Fearless; a brilliant young tactical officer on temporarily detached duty; Solarian con men; secret weapons that aren't quite what they seem to be; naval spies, spooks, and dirty tricks; courage and honor; and a surprising glimpse into one of Admiral Sonja Hemphill's most crucial technological innovations. John Ringo offers his unique blend of nonstop action and deliciously skewed humor in two offerings. The Peep planet of Prague and its brutally repressive StateSec regime will never be the same again after the unscheduled, unofficial, and thoroughly catastrophic visit by a pair of Manticoran Marines with a most peculiar taste in their holiday destinations. And then there's the question of what an explosively expanding navy does with the personnel who can't quite cut the mustard. Eric Flint tells us the story of an idealistic young StateSec officer who finds himself in the right place at the right time following the fall of Oscar Saint-Just. Young Victor Cachat could influence the loyalty of an entire sector . if he's only lucky enough to manage to stay alive long enough to try. And finally, David Weber gives us the tale of the first Grayson midshipwoman on her "snotty cruise" at a time when internal tensions threaten the entire future of the Manticoran Alliance and people are about to rediscover the Fact that the Peeps are far from the only predators hiding in the stars. Claws That Catch. Best-selling author John Ringo—a former member of the elite 82nd Airborne Division—and real-life rocket scientist Travis S. Taylor bring an unmatched level of authenticity to their action-packed . Claws That Catch is the fourth volume from their popular Looking Glass series. Humankind's only interstellar craft, the Vorpal Blade is dispatched to investigate an ancient civilization that may have left vital technology behind. But when the crew finds more than they bargained for, they'll have to scramble to survive. Claws That Catch. Working off of a piece of intelligence from our alien allies, the Vorpal Blade is dispatched to investigate rumors of an ancient and powerful civilization that may have been the creators of the “black box” that drives humanity's only space ship. Any remnant technology would be nice but what the Blade finds is much more than they bargained for. Worse, the ship is infested by an alien species of scorpion-like arachnoids that has the potential to wipe out a world. Worst of all, instead of being Astrogator, Captain William Weaver is now the XO and he is not getting along with the new commander. And the new commander does not get along with Weaver, the ship's female savant-linguist or most of the rest of the original crew. And what is that weird noise the ship makes every time it's in hard maneuvers? Leave it to the oddball geniuses of the Blade to sort it all out. And the Dreen are not going to like the answers. About The Authors. John Ringo brings fighting to life. He is the creator of the Posleen Wars series, which has become a New York Times best-selling series with more than one million copies in print. The series contains A Hymn Before Battle, Gust Front , When the Devil Dances , Hell’s Faire, and Eye of the Storm . In addition, Ringo has penned the Council War series. Adding another dimension to his skills, Ringo created nationally best-selling techno- thriller novels about Mike Harmon ( Ghost , Kildar , Choosers of the Slain , Unto the Breach , and A Deeper Blue ). His techno-thriller The Last Centurion was also a national bestseller. A more playful twist on the future is found in novels of the Looking-Glass series: Into the Looking Glass , Vorpal Blade , Manxome Foe, and Claws That Catch , the last three in collaboration with Travis S. Taylor. His audience was further enhanced with four collaborations with fellow New York Times best-selling author David Weber: March Upcountry , March to the Sea , March to the Stars, and We Few . There are an additional seven collaborations from the Posleen series: The Hero , written with Michael Z. Williamson, Watch on the Rhine , , and The Tuloriad , all written with Tom Kratman, and the New York Times bestseller Cally’s War and its sequels Sister Time and Honor of the Clan , all with Julie Cochrane. His science-based zombie apocalypse Black Tide Rising series includes Under a Graveyard Sky, To Sail a Darkling Sea, Islands of Rage and Hope, and Strands of Sorrow. A veteran of the 82nd Airborne, Ringo brings firsthand knowledge of military operations to his fiction.