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Hell's Faire


ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH ...

With the defenses of the Southern Appalachians sundered, the only thing standing between the ravening Posleen hordes and the soft interior of the Cumberland Plateau are the veterans of the 555th Mobile Infantry.

Dropped into Rabun Pass, with a couple of million Posleen behind them and fourteen million to the front, the only question is which will run out first: power, bullets or bodies.

But they have a hole card: far to the north the shattered SheVa Nine, nicknamed "Bun-Bun," is undergoing a facelift. Rising from its smoking ashes is a new weapon of war, armed with the most advanced weaponry Terra has ever produced, capable of facing both the Posleen hordes and their redoubtable space-cruisers. Capable of dealing out Hell as only SheVa Nine can.

But when push comes to vaporization, if Mike O'Neal and the other members of the 555th are going to survive, it will come down to how much Posleen butt Bun-Bun can kick.

Prepare to eat antimatter, Posleen-boy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Ringo had visited 23 countries and attended 14 schools by the time he graduated high school. This left him with a wonderful appreciation of the oneness of humanity and a permanent aversion to foreign food. He chose to study marine biology and really liked it. Unfortunately the pay was for beans. So he turned to quality control database management, where the pay was much better. His highest hopes were to someday upgrade to SQL Server, at which point, he thought, his life would be complete. But then Fate took a hand: John has become a professional science fiction writer, and is in the early stages of becoming fabulously wealthy, which his publisher has assured him is the common lot of science fiction writers who write for Baen Books. In addition to his own enthusiastically received military SF series—A Hymn Before Battle, Gust Front, When the Devil Dances, and now Hell's Faire—he is collaborating with New York Times best-selling author David Weber on a new SF adventure series: March Upcountry, March to the Sea, and March to the Stars, with more to come.

With his bachelor years spent in the airborne, cave diving, rock-climbing, rappelling, hunting, spear-fishing, and sailing, the author is now happy to let other people risk their necks. He prefers to write science fiction (both alone and in collaboration with David Weber) raise Arabian horses, dandle his kids and watch the grass grow. Someday he may even cut it. But not today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe he'll just let the horses eat it.

Illustration by David Mattingly
Cover design by Carol Russo Design


ORDER Hardcover

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, May 2003

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 0-7434-3604-0

Copyright 2003 by John Ringo

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com

Production by Windhaven Press
Auburn, NH

Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webwrights.com


Dedication

For the Barflies.
Here.
It's done.
Now lemme alone!

BAEN BOOKS by JOHN RINGO

A Hymn Before Battle
Gust Front
When the Devil Dances
Hell's Faire

with David Weber:
March Upcountry
March to the Sea
March to the Stars

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