Claws That Catch - John Ringo and Travis Taylor

I have to say that I love just about everything that John Ringo has written. All series. Even though they really are wildly different they are similar in many ways. Ringo is a master storyteller. I think that is the true test of a good author. It makes you want to keep reading even when your eyes are about to fall out of your head you've been reading so long.

I had to wait to read Claws That Catch. Waited much longer than usual. I normally pick up his books within the first week if not the first day. Anyway, his series with Doc Taylor, the Looking Glass series, is great. It is science fiction. And with a real scientist as a second author.

Dr. Travis S. Taylor:

Travis Shane Taylor is a born and bred southerner and resides just outside Huntsville, Alabama. He has a Doctorate in Optical Science and Engineering, a Master’s degree in Physics, a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, all from the University of Alabama in Huntsville; a Master’s degree in Astronomy from the Univ. of Western Sydney, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Alabama.

Dr. Taylor has worked on various programs for the Department of Defense and NASA for the past sixteen years. He is currently working on several advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space based beamed energy systems, future combat technologies and systems, and next generation space launch concepts. He is also involved with multiple MASINT, SIGINT, IMINT, and HUMINT concept studies.

I don't know what it is with these two guys, but they seem to have the best time together. I've sat in several panels with these two at conventions and they just seem to play off each other well. It comes across in the writing, too. It is fun and bit more than just a little tongue in cheek.

Synopsis

It's Not Over Til The Skinny Lady Sings . . .

Working off of a piece of intelligence from the alien Hexosehr, 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.