Expeditionary Force Series Reading Order

Aliens hit us on Columbus Day. That event was as bad for humanity as the arrival of Columbus was for the peoples of the… Aliens hit us on Columbus Day. That event was as bad for humanity as the arrival of Columbus was for the peoples of the Americas, so the name fits. Hi, I'm Joe Bishop. The day the Ruhar hit Earth, I was home on leave in the North Woods of Maine, back from a tour of duty in Nigeria with the US Army. We wanted to hit the Ruhar back, of course, but the whole plucky-band-of-humans-defeats-alien-invasion thing falls apart when the enemy can rain missiles and maser beams and railgun darts down from orbit, and we can't shoot back. We had no chance to win. Our civilization would have been knocked back to the Stone Age, except a rival group of aliens arrived to kick the Ruhar off our homeworld, and we were saved! Yeah, not so much. A year later, I was on a Ruhar colony world, serving our new saviors with the United Nations Expeditionary Force peacekeeping mission. Like every other patriotic human in the UNEF, I had gone off-world to kick ass, to get payback for the Ruhar ravaging Earth. We were 1100 lightyears from home, with aliens controlling our supply line, including all of our food, when we realized we were fighting on the wrong side of a war we couldn't win. The Ruhar weren't the enemy, our "allies" were. Humanity would be enslaved, or go extinct, unless we had a little help from a friend. Even if that friend is an ancient alien AI. Who is an arrogant jerk. What could go wrong? This tenth-anniversary edition of the first volume of the furiously funny military sci-fi phenomenon features all-new artwork and an afterword by the author. read more

Col. Joe Bishop made a promise to take the captured alien starship Flying Dutchman back out, and he intends to keep it.… Col. Joe Bishop made a promise to take the captured alien starship Flying Dutchman back out, and he intends to keep it. But he doesn't agree when the UN decides to send almost seventy elite Special Operations troops, hotshot pilots, and scientists along with him. Because the mission is a fool's errand, and he doesn't expect to return. At least this time Earth is safe. Right? Not so much . . . read more

While the crew of the starship Flying Dutchman have been trying to assure that hostile aliens do not have access to Eart… While the crew of the starship Flying Dutchman have been trying to assure that hostile aliens do not have access to Earth, the UN Expeditionary Force has been stranded on the planet they nicknamed "Paradise." The Flying Dutchman is headed back out on another mission, and the UN wants the ship to find out the status of the humans on Paradise. But Colonel Joe Bishop warns that they might not like what they find, and they can't do anything about it without endangering Earth. read more

After saving the world many times, the Merry Band of Pirates have accepted the inevitable: Earth is doomed. All they can… After saving the world many times, the Merry Band of Pirates have accepted the inevitable: Earth is doomed. All they can do is try to bring a few thousand people to safety, before vicious aliens arrive to destroy humanity's homeworld. No. There is one other thing they can do: hit the enemy so hard that the aliens will regret they ever heard of humans. read more

The elite crew of the pirate ship UNS Flying Dutchman had a simple mission: determining whether the Thuranin are sending… The elite crew of the pirate ship UNS Flying Dutchman had a simple mission: determining whether the Thuranin are sending another starship to Earth. Along the way, they became sidetracked by securing a future for the UNEF troops on the planet Paradise. When asked whether Earth was now safe, their ancient alien AI responded 'Not so much'... now they have to deal with the consequences. read more

"The remnants of the Expeditionary Force stranded on the alien-controlled planet 'Paradise' get a chance to prove themse… "The remnants of the Expeditionary Force stranded on the alien-controlled planet 'Paradise' get a chance to prove themselves, in a simple off-world training mission with a ship full of teenage alien cadets. When the mission goes horribly wrong and the survival of everyone on Paradise is at risk, the Merry Band of Pirates may have to come to the rescue. Unless they get killed first..." -- Page [4] of cover. read more

"The battle-scarred star carrier Flying Dutchman is finally on her way back to Earth, after an exceptionally successful… "The battle-scarred star carrier Flying Dutchman is finally on her way back to Earth, after an exceptionally successful series of missions that have once again Saved The World. The ship needs a serious refit, and her exhausted crew just wants a break from constant clandestine warfare against a vicious and superior enemy. Wishes come true, right? Not for the Merry Band of Pirates"--Cover, page 4. read more