Black Tide Rising (Black Tide Rising anthologies Book 1)

All the stories in this anthology were excellent! The only problem with them was that they were short stories. Many of them fit perfectly into the scenario laid down in John Ringo's books, and would be great reads expanded into full length novels!

I thought it a poor attempt at continuing the series. Even as short stories, I couldn't really get interested in them. Even John Ringo's story seem lame and contrived to just finish it off or give a starting point for a new series. Either way, I wasn't impressed enough to recommend it to Ringo fans.
I felt he was tired of this series about midway thru the third book. The writing was definitely different from the preceding novels.
And I am a big Ringo fan. I have all his books, and look forward to something new from him.

This book was just ok. Some of the entries were good but none of them were great. Most were shorter than I would have liked and few really took the time to develop their characters enough for me to actually care about what happened to them.
If you have read all the mainline novels by John this is better than nothing but at the same time it isn't exactly a "must read" and it does change the mythology of the main line novels somewhat.

A decent collection of stories, but very different from the main series. The stories in this book are the traditional 'zombie stories' you can find everywhere else. Dark, depressing, almost everyone dies, a few people are smart enough to survive. I enjoyed the main series because it was about recovering, hope, building something new. This book is nothing like that unfortunately. So decent if you enjoy zombie stories, not good if you were looking for something like the main series.

Overall, it was an interesting take in the 'universe' of 'Black Tide Rising'. It will be great to hear about adventures folks have in this universe as time progresses. It seemed as if some of the authors had read the "Black Tide Rising" series by John Ringo; they gave zeds characteristics and intelligence that were not present in the Ringo series. Eric Flint wrote a nice little story but displayed his bigotry and racism. If you aren't a fan of either don't read that one.

A hodgepodge of disconnected short stories The only connection is that all contain "turned" humans. No thread that leads forward or sideways from the excellent original series by John Ringo. Hundreds of possibilities were missed that could have made this a good series with connectivity.

I am sorry that John Ringo lent his name to this mess.

It aggravates the heck out of me that I read the book, returned it to my Kindle, and didn't bother to write a review. ON THE OTHER HAND, it did provide me with a reason to read the book again. So, I guess it's a wash.
I've read all of the novels in the series, and I love how Ring rationalizes zombies, with his two-stage viral attack. Conventional zombies just don't make sense; the only other example I know of is a short story by Larry Niven, called 'A Night on Mis-Spec Moor.' (I THINK that's the title; it's something close.) I don't know if that story was an inspiration for Ringo, but it wouldn't surprise me. Niven steals ideas, too. He took the idea of a comet hitting the Earth (Lucifer's Hammer) from an article written by Isaac Asimov, called 'Between Heaven and Earth.' And then there was that minor fluffle when the game 'Halo' came out, with people insisting Niven should sue because they had stolen Ringworld. As he pointed out, repeatedly, you CAN'T copywrite a world.
And here, we have the exact opposite. Instead of people stealing someone's story, like boosting a car, we have authors joining in the franchise, sort of hitching a ride in Ringo's limo.
There are two Ringo pieces here, but the rest of the stories are written by....well, I was going to say FANS, but in at least one case, I don't think that would apply.
Okay, let me address the fact that there is a big honken elephant in the living room. Ringo is a guns guy who writes for Baen. And so is Larry Correia. (And I presume they are buddies, but don't know) Now, Larry Correia, in addition to writing some of the most bodacious work EVAH (!!) is also the original Sad Puppy, who brought into light the idea that the Hugo Award was not going to go to him, Ringo, Kratman, Williamson, or any of that ilk, because of nepotism and failure to conform to the social narrative. And who is the poster boy for the other side, the darling of the establishment, mostly characterized by leadership at Tor publishing? A certain character named John Scalzi. He is not without talent, but he eagerly embraced the theme of us vs them, and I heard him speak the words from his own lips with my own ears denigrating the talent and character of the Puppies, Sad and Rabid.
So, what did our wondrous eyes behold, when this collection of short stories appeared? My goodness! It includes a work by John Scalzi, entitled 'On The Wall.' And it's not a BAD story! I've read other work by Scalzi; he can be butt-ugly stupid, and he can also write some pretty good stories. I have NO idea how it came about that he has a work in this collection; there is nothing that resembles a clue or back-story. His submitted bio is a one-liner, but if there were negotiations blah blah blah, I don't know anything about them. I think the way it happens, usually, is that someone who has the authority to do so says 'Hey! How about writing a story for this collection?' and the author says yes, no, how much, or some combination. Some folks I have heard mutter about how they don't like Scalzi's story, but as I said, it's not a BAD story. Not my style, really; it's the conversation between two watch-standers in a safe compound when a group of zombies attack the wall, and it's kind of funny; one guy whines about not being able to have a gun. I read really, really fast, and don't pay attention to names, so I had a bit of a problem identifying the speaker from time to time, but that's really not a writing issue. FORMATTING could have helped, ya know; putting one character's words in italics or bold, but that's really not a deal killer.
No, this is one case where the medium really IS the message; it's not whether Scalzi's story is another "Nightfall" or is as trivial as "Knock," it's that he has a story in the collection. And YOU get to decide what the message is. Is it: "we are noble; we invite even our enemies to play on our playground?" Or "Scalzi is such a literary whore, he'd do anything for money!" Or something else. I guess, like most good stories, and a lot of bad ones, it's going to be up to you. But I rather liked the liht tone of the story.
There we SO many good stories here! I got to read works by a few of my favorite writers, and by at least one of my favorite characters ( a helicopter pilot from the 'Ghost' series), and got to see others (who I am pleased to regard as internet friends) die horribly or succeed heroically..
I can't really point to a single story and say 'this was my favorite.' There really isn't a cull in the bunch. It's the aggregate hat I like the best, because the story of the Black Tide Rising isn't the story of a single person or family, although without the lit candle of Wolf Squadron, which begins as a family, the story might not be worth telling, in the whole. I like the fact that we got to hear stories of Reggie, a fire-arms accumulator, and think about all the kids who died without being kissed. See, I wanted to write a story in the Posleen universe, where a middle school counselor brings his 12 gauge to school and does something heroic to stop kids from being eaten. However, I came too late to that franchise; but I KNOW there are a lot of those stories out there that we would LOVE to hear! And, by opening up his playground, Ringo lets us hear them.

Anthologies usually contain some stories you like and others you are not wild about. Black Tide Rising is an above average collection of stories in John Ringo's Zombie Apocalypse universe. Almost all stories excepting those by Ringo are in the early outbreak stages of the zombie plague. None of the short stories were poor. I completed all which is unusual for me.

Ringo has three contributions. All are good but the best was his interpretation why apocalypse novels are popular.

The stars of the anthology are:
"How Do You Solve a Problem About Grandpa? by Michael Z. Williamson,
"Battle of the BERTs" by Mike Massa
"200 Miles to Huntsville" by Christopher Smith
"Not in Vain" by Kacey Ezell

I'm not a big fan of short-stories, and perhaps that is reflected in my lack of enjoyment of this book. Each of the stories here was moderately interesting, but generally felt too short or underdeveloped. The one I found most engaging (and probably not coincidentally the longest) - Up on the Roof - has an engaging start but then ends without going anywhere. The one that felt most compelling and complete - Battle of the BERTs - was hard to synch with the timeline in the original books. Bottom line is that, if you like short stories or really want to know more about how other people fared in the Black Tide universe, this book offers a lot. But if you were hoping for something that complements and engages the original storyline or offers similarly expansive tales, this book won't satisfy.

This is a collection of short stories generally taking place in first few day of Ringo's ZA., Most stories fit in well with the theme and universe. A few like 200 miles to Huntsville are generic world is ending stories, which could fit in any anthology. Others like Battle of the Bert's are decent shorts taking place just one block over from where our heroes of the series are. It a quick read. Got it yesterday and finished before midnight.

An anthology set in Ringo's Black Tide Rising series. I enjoyed all but 2 of the stories, and anytime you can say that about an anthology, I figure you've got a winner. Hope to see more of these characters soon.

It aggravates the heck out of me that I read the book, returned it to my Kindle, and didn't bother to write a review. ON THE OTHER HAND, it did provide me with a reason to read the book again. So, I guess it's a wash.
I've read all of the novels in the series, and I love how Ring rationalizes zombies, with his two-stage viral attack. Conventional zombies just don't make sense; the only other example I know of is a short story by Larry Niven, called 'A Night on Mis-Spec Moor.' (I THINK that's the title; it's something close.) I don't know if that story was an inspiration for Ringo, but it wouldn't surprise me. Niven steals ideas, too. He took the idea of a comet hitting the Earth (Lucifer's Hammer) from an article written by Isaac Asimov, called 'Between Heaven and Earth.' And then there was that minor fluffle when the game 'Halo' came out, with people insisting Niven should sue because they had stolen Ringworld. As he pointed out, repeatedly, you CAN'T copywrite a world.
And here, we have the exact opposite. Instead of people stealing someone's story, like boosting a car, we have authors joining in the franchise, sort of hitching a ride in Ringo's limo.
There are two Ringo pieces here, but the rest of the stories are written by....well, I was going to say FANS, but in at least one case, I don't think that would apply.
Okay, let me address the fact that there is a big honken elephant in the living room. Ringo is a guns guy who writes for Baen. And so is Larry Correia. (And I presume they are buddies, but don't know) Now, Larry Correia, in addition to writing some of the most bodacious work EVAH (!!) is also the original Sad Puppy, who brought into light the idea that the Hugo Award was not going to go to him, Ringo, Kratman, Williamson, or any of that ilk, because of nepotism and failure to conform to the social narrative. And who is the poster boy for the other side, the darling of the establishment, mostly characterized by leadership at Tor publishing? A certain character named John Scalzi. He is not without talent, but he eagerly embraced the theme of us vs them, and I heard him speak the words from his own lips with my own ears denigrating the talent and character of the Puppies, Sad and Rabid.
So, what did our wondrous eyes behold, when this collection of short stories appeared? My goodness! It includes a work by John Scalzi, entitled 'On The Wall.' And it's not a BAD story! I've read other work by Scalzi; he can be butt-ugly stupid, and he can also write some pretty good stories. I have NO idea how it came about that he has a work in this collection; there is nothing that resembles a clue or back-story. His submitted bio is a one-liner, but if there were negotiations blah blah blah, I don't know anything about them. I think the way it happens, usually, is that someone who has the authority to do so says 'Hey! How about writing a story for this collection?' and the author says yes, no, how much, or some combination. Some folks I have heard mutter about how they don't like Scalzi's story, but as I said, it's not a BAD story. Not my style, really; it's the conversation between two watch-standers in a safe compound when a group of zombies attack the wall, and it's kind of funny; one guy whines about not being able to have a gun. I read really, really fast, and don't pay attention to names, so I had a bit of a problem identifying the speaker from time to time, but that's really not a writing issue. FORMATTING could have helped, ya know; putting one character's words in italics or bold, but that's really not a deal killer.
No, this is one case where the medium really IS the message; it's not whether Scalzi's story is another "Nightfall" or is as trivial as "Knock," it's that he has a story in the collection. And YOU get to decide what the message is. Is it: "we are noble; we invite even our enemies to play on our playground?" Or "Scalzi is such a literary whore, he'd do anything for money!" Or something else. I guess, like most good stories, and a lot of bad ones, it's going to be up to you. But I rather liked the liht tone of the story.
There we SO many good stories here! I got to read works by a few of my favorite writers, and by at least one of my favorite characters ( a helicopter pilot from the 'Ghost' series), and got to see others (who I am pleased to regard as internet friends) die horribly or succeed heroically..
I can't really point to a single story and say 'this was my favorite.' There really isn't a cull in the bunch. It's the aggregate hat I like the best, because the story of the Black Tide Rising isn't the story of a single person or family, although without the lit candle of Wolf Squadron, which begins as a family, the story might not be worth telling, in the whole. I like the fact that we got to hear stories of Reggie, a fire-arms accumulator, and think about all the kids who died without being kissed. See, I wanted to write a story in the Posleen universe, where a middle school counselor brings his 12 gauge to school and does something heroic to stop kids from being eaten. However, I came too late to that franchise; but I KNOW there are a lot of those stories out there that we would LOVE to hear! And, by opening up his playground, Ringo lets us hear them.