I have, over the years, written a lot of stuff, most of which has never escaped my notebooks and/or hard drives.
Here is a novel entitled Temporary Duty. It was written in the Nineties and updated somewhat during the period 2001 — 2005, and some of the anachronisms show. Enjoy, or not, as you find appropriate.
Ric's Rulez 
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7 September 2009 at 12:17 pm
cranky-d
The aliens are possibly from a declining civilization. Also, they have apparently borrowed their technology from another race. The question is, is that other race still in the picture, and if so, are they the dominant race with the aliens we see as their servants?
The aliens may not even know how to fix the stuff they use. Or perhaps they feel such things are beneath them. Or they want to understand how Earth people treat their underlings.
Just when I think I have it figured out, I realize I don’t.
Have you considered just putting together pdf files of you stories and selling direct on the net? The investment is almost non-existent except for time, and the result is therefore almost pure profit.
22 June 2011 at 10:55 pm
Tom on the Rez
The aliens aren’t from a declining civilization. They’re up and coming folks, They’ve stumbled upon advanced tech, and are exploiting it as best they know how.
18 October 2009 at 1:49 am
Tom Kratman
Well, _I_ frigging liked it. (Though I haven’t read the new version. I will.)
Ric, have you tried Toni? Her tastes are a little different from Jim’s.
best,
Tom
22 June 2011 at 10:49 pm
Tom on the Rez
I really friggin liked it, and made it plain to Glenn Reynolds. He mentioned it on Instapundit.com. I loved it, just as I love Tom Kratman’s work. If you ever need a free editor(big problems with italics, but that’s it), please contact me.
12 January 2010 at 10:32 pm
Cedar
Yeah, Ric, If Toni won’t buy the book, try the pdf route – I can’t afford a lot, but I would pay out for your stuff.
Cedar
21 April 2010 at 1:19 pm
BravoRomeoDelta
Very good stuff, somewhat reminiscent of Lord Jim, I think. Really could easily be a trilogy given the structure. Am just starting to read the “director’s cut”.
A few things I would change about it though, but it’s still worth poking about with other publishers – with some editing work and a few tweaks, should be able to get a buyer.
27 June 2011 at 7:24 am
TP
Just finished the book ‘Temporary Duty’ and have to say it was an excellent read. Very reminiscent of Robert A. Heinleins work.
I hope that at some point you decide to write the sequel and answer a few of the questions.
Yours, Primitive_man
5 August 2011 at 1:18 pm
Martin L.
I just finished reading Temporary Duty on my Kindle and literally couldn’t put it down. I canot believe that you have not written/published anything else. You have a talent that should be put to use! Or in the phrase favored by Instapundit, “More please.”
15 August 2011 at 3:37 am
Blind Sight
Ric I remembered you from Baen Bar, great read, front to bakc in one read. Yeah I can see at least a sequeal. well 35% of my 2.99 that at least a dollar you made. thanks.
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #404 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#8 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Science Fiction > Adventure
#10 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Adventure
so looks like you are doing good on Kindle
20 August 2011 at 10:05 am
kaleissin (@kaleissin)
I’ve just read Temporary Duty, wouldn’t mind a sequel 🙂 Though I suspect that mr. Peters won’t be the right character for a sequel, as he’ll be way, way to busy in his new job.
The style reminds me of Nathan Lowell’s Trader Tales series except Peters is less of a Marty Stu than the hero in those.
I’m in Europe and for that reason paid 5.24 dollars at amazon.com for the privilge, how much of that reaches you? Maybe you should have a version up at smashwords too, I understand they take a much smaller cut.
20 August 2011 at 1:03 pm
Ric Locke
You could’ve saved not quite $1 (Euro 2.99 = $4.30 or so) by getting it from amazon.com.de, in English yet. German sales are low for that very reason.
Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, and the other eBook sites all take roughly the same amount out of sales, so there isn’t much to pick from as regards revenue. Smashwords wants to pretend to be a publisher, and requires authors to jump through publisher-equivalent hoops. I object.
A not-quite-sequel is in the works, currently stalled due to Real Life[TM]. As you say, Peters is entirely too busy to be directly involved, though he does get a walk-on.
Thanks for buying and liking it!
22 August 2011 at 8:10 pm
David Neal
Came looking for a sequel but since that’s still on the stove I will just say that it was a real page turner! Look forward to reading more of your work soon.
21 September 2011 at 6:11 am
Lars Madsen
It all depends on your country settings. I’m from Denmark so I had to buy the international/US kindle. Therefore I only paid 2.99 US dollars for the book. Maybe you can change you regional settings too.
26 August 2011 at 12:22 pm
Bob
Ric,
Literally JUST finished Temporary Duty. Outstanding read, and will gladly pay to read anything else you write. Really enjoyed it. Was going to comment on specifics, but don’t want to spoil it for anyone.
One thing I didn’t understand, and even did some searching to try to find an explanation, is what the significance was for Peter to start calling Dee, Deela. With the reference to “Deelis” figured it had something to do with the change from Peters to Peteris, but even searching that way, I couldn’t find it.
Great stuff, though. Looking forward to more, and will be a regular reader (and sometimes donator) to the blog.
Thanks
16 March 2015 at 4:12 pm
Yuris
The Grallt naming conventions are somewhat explained in the alternate ending of the book (still available “on this here” blog) but there are insights in the official version as well. Basically, the more status and respect a person has, the more syllables his/her name would have. So Deela has started as “Dee”, one syllable. Later on she gained enough status for Peters to suggest an extra syllable, except Peters thought of her as “female”, so he used a more feminine “Deela” instead of “Deelis” (Grallt females are technically males, right?). Later on, Dee has advanced in rank and became Deelanis and after “she” became the First Trader her name had changed to “Predeelanis”. This naming convention is very similar to the prefix/suffix rules in Russian language (ha!) where a base word gets altered or sometimes ends up having an absolutely different meaning purely by adding a certain amount of prefixes and/or suffixes to it.
Here’s the proof: At some point in the book, Peters calls the then-First Trader “Thuven” even though “his” official name is “Prethuvenigis”. “Peet” becomes “Peetir” and so on…
I’ve been into Ric’s work lately, so much that I’ve started a fan site, temporaryduty.org not so long ago. My thoughts about the naming scheme weren’t formed completely before I noticed your post and started typing this reply. Thank you for this smack on the forehead, I’ll make sure I’ll add this info to my site as soon as I can. I know it’s been a while but hopefully you’re still watching this blog….
5 September 2011 at 2:31 pm
Jason
I too loved it. I rarely seek out additional info about the authors I stumble across and I was even more shocked to find that this is Ric’s only book. The connections between all of the characters seemed so deep and meaningful. I also served multiple years on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier so the military side of things rang true. As other have stated I would also shell out good money for follow up stories.
6 September 2011 at 10:34 am
Jason
I just read the alternate ending. I’m glad that you changed it for the Kindle edition. The alternate was just way to depressing. Not that I need a happy ending every time it was just painful to see such an awesome adventure come to such a terrible end. I’ve been recommending this book to anyone that will listen.
7 September 2011 at 7:34 pm
Marsha Ashley Wilcox
I love this book. I can’t believe I’m actually hitting The Author’s Blog! I haven’t even finished it yet (I’m savoring, and doling it out slowly — b/c I’m broke & this book has to last til payday), but I want more. Got it on Kindle. Thank you! Write ON, man!
8 September 2011 at 2:17 am
Melvyn Barker
I just finished Temporary Duty last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I look forward to the sequel. You’ve created a fascinating universe with lots of room for more stories that I’d love to read. Thank you. Please keep writing.
Melvyn
19 September 2011 at 11:58 am
Wendy
Just finished reading your book. I really enjoyed it. Lots of details are still missing and I would love to learn them in a sequel.
I had a bit of an issue with a few concepts relating to current world, such as a terrorist broadcasting out of Jerusalem – just can’t happen if you know anything about Israel.
Or Ferassi letters looked Russian — Cyrillic doesn’t look all that “block like” compared to Latin letters (русский алфабит не так уж отличается от латинского…)
but the book was worth skipping the little annoyances.
21 September 2011 at 6:07 am
Lars Madsen
Cheers, Ric
I bought your book and I’ve just read the part where the sailors learnt from Peters how to order beer in the Trade language.
“Beer, please.”
“Beer, please.”
“Beer, please.”
“Beer, please.”
I haven’t laughed that much from a novelle in a long time.
Thank you.
Skål,
Lars Madsen
5 October 2011 at 7:54 am
Carole K
I loved this book. Please write another!
6 October 2011 at 10:56 pm
Cris
I had a bit of an issue with a few concepts relating to current world, such as a terrorist broadcasting out of Jerusalem – just can’t happen if you know anything about Israel.
Or Ferassi letters looked Russian — Cyrillic doesn’t look all that “block like” compared to Latin letters (русский алфабит не так уж отличается от латинского…)
but the book was worth skipping the little annoyances.
+1
12 October 2011 at 12:01 pm
Barry L Scouten Jr
Really enjoyed this novel (several times) since purchasing from Amazon for my Kindle. I’m hopeful that you’ll be releasing more novels in the future! A series in this world would be fabulous.
Thank you for your perseverance in getting published!
17 October 2011 at 1:40 pm
DonB
More beer, please!
9 November 2011 at 12:39 pm
Peter Littlefield
Ric, I absolutely loved Temporary Duty, and am actively recommending it to friends and family. I loved your characters and found it to be a brilliantly relaxing read!
With the advent of Kindle and iBooks, I am finding it a lot easier to find sci-fi related fiction (especially military related), but am getting nowhere in terms of finding anything as unique and as enjoyable as this book.
Cheers!
Peter
from South Africa
20 November 2011 at 3:59 am
Lars Erik Duryee
try nathan lowells share series…might not be military science fiction but damn its a great serie
21 November 2011 at 11:05 pm
Tom on the Rez
The first few books are very good, but the main character is just becoming too perfect to be believed.
30 November 2011 at 11:47 pm
John Cunningham
I got our new Kindle Monday, and Temporary Duty was the first book I bought. I just finished it, and I give it the highest praise. it ranks, in my mind, with Heinlein, Niven, and Ringo.
PLEASE PLEASE A SEQUEL SOON!!
5 January 2012 at 11:42 pm
Robert White
Just finished Temporary Duty. Bravo Zulu!
An excellent and fun read, I sincerely hope you do more in the future.
Take care!
Bob
16 January 2012 at 8:51 pm
John Guarino
I too have just finished Temporary Duty, and found my way here looking for more works of yours. I especially appreciated the work ethic you ascribed to the EM, along with the rollicking adventure yarn.
I hope you and your family are doing well.
10 February 2012 at 11:50 am
McGehee
I thought I saw something about another Temporary Duty-universe book in the works. True? Ehen might we expect to be able to buy it?
6 March 2012 at 8:43 pm
John Cunningham
TD is outstanding!! Please, please, a sequel or five!!!
7 March 2012 at 11:49 am
Murgy
Found you via Sarah Hoyt. Reading TD kept me up til almost 2am! Darn you! (But it was worth it!)
So, how’s that sequel coming?
And why are you reading this when you could be writing, hmm? 🙂
Seriously, a good job – and I’m waiting (eversopatiently) for more!
5 May 2012 at 6:45 am
Joe Munoz
I just finished Temporary Duty and I LOVED it!
I’ve been a scifi fan since I was in Elementary School and your novel took me back to those teenage days when I was reading Burrough’s John Carter of Mars series, and Heinlen’s young adult novels, :Have Space Suit Will Travel,” “Red Planet,” “Tunnel in the Sky.” You’ve done a great job of bringing characters to life. I really hope there’s a sequel in the works, I want to know what Peters gets into next.
15 September 2012 at 3:37 pm
Rem
Another one here just finished reading, well more like skimming over Temporary duty. I will enjoy reading it in detail once i do have the time, and the job will let me.
Coming here to see if there were any additional materials, the alternate ending especially (while more entertaining i find it a bit less plausible; of course i tendency to discount gross stupidity and arrogance.), and possibly to beg for the start of a sequel.
Sadly i was made aware of the current condition of the authors condition and I must say I hope he beats the odds and prediction.
As a compromise however, would you consider a RPG setting or World building material, based on your current character constellation – it might detract form the suspense and sense of discovery while fast lining through the books, but if one does not read them it should not impede on that and it would allow me to run this scenario with various peoples and various timeliness.
I am most interested in social, political, geographic, historic, economic and military description of the ‘angels’, the Bur, and various other trade ships who seem to be more like nations unto themselves.
15 September 2012 at 5:16 pm
Rem
And now, upon reading some more in the interwebs i feel like a insensitive dickbag. Please, disregard my indiscretion.
15 September 2012 at 6:17 pm
Tom Kratman
Don’t sweat it overmuch. Ric would have laughed his ass off.