March Upcountry

david weber john ringo

A Bad Neighborhood

"Always Faithful." That was the IMC motto, and the Marines of Bravo Company, Bronze Battalion, of the Empress' Own Regiment, lived by it... even if they did occasionally wonder why they bothered. After all, Prince Roger MacClintock, Tertiary Heir to the Throne of Man, was a real piece of work. A spoiled rotten, arrogant, whiny, terminally handsome, thoroughly useless young pain in the butt.

But that was before the Royal Brat and his bodyguards were marooned on Marduk by an assassination attempt. Before they found themselves facing 120° heat in jungles where it rained five or six hours a day...during the dry season. Before they had to march halfway around the entire planet, through damnbeasts, Capetoads, killerpillars, and atul-grak. Before they encountered treacherous local potentates, barbarian migrations, and an ocean full of sea serpents that could swallow a topsail schooner whole.

Under the right circumstances, even the most spoiled brat can grow up fast, and it turns out that under his petulant, spoiled exterior, Prince Roger is a true MacClintock, a scion of the warrior dynasty that created the Empire of Man a thousand years before. The Marines assigned to guard him have discovered a new belief in him — and in their motto — and they're determined that they will get him off of Marduk alive.

Of course, the planet has other ideas...

Genres science fictionfictionmilitary fictionspace operaaudiobookmilitary science fictionfantasyadventurescience fiction fantasyspace

608 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1,2001

Series

Empire of Man

This edition

Format: 608 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published: May 1, 2002 by Baen
ISBN: 9780743435383
ASIN: 0743435389
Language: English

Characters More characters

Prince Roger Macclintock

He is the youngest child of Empress Alexandra VII, ruler of the Empire of Man, from her second consort Lazar Fillipo, the Earl of New Madrid. A handsome and tall 22-year-old, Roger is poorly regarded by almost everyone except his valet, Kostas Matsugae....
Captain Armand Pahner

The commander of Bravo Company, Bronze Battalion of the Empresss Own Regiment, the elite bodyguards who protect the royal family.more...
Dnall Cord

Cord is the first Mardukan Roger and his marines encounter on Marduk. and is the Shaman in his tribe, the XIntai, the first society Roger and his marines encounter on Marduk.more...
Eleonora Ocasey Is Rogers Chief Of Staff And Former Tutor Who Holds Multiple Doctorates In Sociology Political Sciences And

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Kostas Matsugae Is Rogers Valet And Manservant Who Becomes The Companys Caravan Chief.

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Eva Kosutic Is The Senior Nco In Bravo Company And An Extremely Competent And Experienced Combat Veteran. A Native Of The Planet

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About the author

david weber

David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.

Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.

One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander. Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.

Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).

http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...