In Other News

W00T!!!

Grey Man

OldNFO has a third book out. Go check it out.

Darkness Falls

across the face of the Discworld.

Thank you Sir Terry Pratchett, for this and for all the other things that you wrote. Rest in peace.

Reading Room

Old NFO has a new book out.

Get it for your kindle here, or if you prefer the hard copy, here.

48

Yay me.

So I got myself this. You should get one, too.

ADD: Oh, and look...Feral Irishman got me something, too! (deliciously NSFW)

Vampire Books

The Tome of Bill.

Man, that's some funny stuff.

On The Reading List

So I bought this for myself on the 4th of July to have and to hold on the Kindle list.

At the same time I got this one.

The first thing I'm going to do is be blasphemous and say I overpaid for both of them. Principles of Personal Defense is exceedingly good in its explanation of the mindset one should adopt regardless of weapon choice but at 80 pages isn't worth the ten bucks it sells for. To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth is chock full of good bits but tends to ramble a bit towards the end of each section as the subject gives way to short personal stories.

With that said, they are good books and should be read by all who have a passing regard for firearms and 2A matters.

I also come away with the impression that the good LCOL was exceedingly fond of the M1911 and God's Own Caliber and h8ses the 9mm like mayonnaise on hamburgers.

Adventures in Literature

Someone that you know...or someone who knows someone you know...has written a book.

You should go check it out.

The Voyage Continues

The new Maxwell Saga book is out.

This Bayou Renaissance Man is quite the author, for a blogger. You should really check the whole series out if you haven't already. And if you haven't...why not?

Kindle

Lord what a timesink this is. I have it not only on my smarter-than-me phone, but also on BOTH my computers since it's included in Windows 8.

Now reading "The Stars Came Back" by Rolf Nelson, a co-blogger at The View from North Central Idaho. In the credits is frequent LRoaS commenter Rabid Alien. It's a good read, one that I highly recommend, and since it's already in format would be an excellent screenplay.

Next up is "Lines of Departure" by Marko Kloos, an author who's blog I have followed for some time and I'm glad to see him finally getting the attention as an author that he deserves.

There are several more books scattered in and about the Kindle list that still have a "new" or "0%" tag on them, so I really should be reading more and buying less.

Books and Bad Guys

Last night I did something that I've never done before. I deleted a book from my Kindle reader.

The book was called "Navy SEAL Sniper" and predictably it was about snipers. More to the point it was about the technical aspects of being a sniper, from the ammunition and weaponry to the mindset required to do the job. Because I'm an overweight over 40 casual shooter at best I found the material kind of hard to slog through, but when I got about halfway through the book the author started bemoaning the fact that there is no standardized training for police department SWAT team snipers. This is where I stopped reading and deleted the book.

I do not deny the need of snipers for training. What I deny is the need of police departments for snipers.

Friend and fellow blogger Mark of a Free Man ran a post once upon a time about a police force acquiring tactical armored vehicles for their SWAT teams (I would spend the time to dig for a link, but it's early and I've been up all night). His contention was that there was no need for a local police department to have such equipment, a sentiment I happen to share and for the very same reasons. In my opinion police departments need to base their training more on the teachings of Robert Peel and less on the teachings of Robert Rogers.

The long and short of it is this; when your only tool is a hammer all of your problems start to resemble nails.

Local police department SWAT teams (and this can be expanded to include sheriffs departments as well) are usually trained (to varying degrees of "training") and equipped at high taxpayer cost. Before too long you have a lot of money riding around in tactical black clothing and large Chevrolet vans, and it isn't too awfully long afterwards that the questions start coming from politicians and constituents alike...namely, what benefit are we getting out of the money we are spending?

Very soon afterwards all of a sudden a crop of nails starts sprouting up, and the next thing you know you are killing Grandma at 3AM over Japanese maples because some low-life scum sucking toad traded information that she was growing pot plants on her back patio for a reduced sentence.* If it wasn't a problem we wouldn't be talking about it, unfortunately the fact that we are talking about it is another excuse for the "us vs them" mentality. It has to stop because history shows this path leads to some very dark places.

Police departments need to be intimately attached to the communities they serve. Every police officer needs to remember that the person in his crosshairs (yes I'm being sexist. My blog, piss off) is a citizen of these United States, not a foreign combatant, and as such deserves the right to a trial if he/she can be apprehended instead of swift dispatch by the crack of a supersonic round.** Police are first and foremost civilians just like us, not military, no matter how paramilitary they act (refer once again to Robert Peel's teachings).

I will not deny that occasionally there is a need for snipers. I will only say that should such expertise be needed it should be gotten from the nearest Nat'l Guard unit or SBI or FBI office, and if you really need a bullseye shooter quicker than you can find one from those sources, surely someone knows a deer hunter that owns a scoped Remington 700 and never misses who can be deputized for the purpose. I'm quite certain that in most areas of the country one can be found in the very same police/sheriffs departments that are needing the services of a sniper at such short notice.

But in all cases the police need to abide by this very basic tenet: "the police are the people and the people are the police".

*The war on drugs is yet another subject, but while we're touching on it...still think you don't have a dog in this fight?

**I will also acknowledge the fact that some folks just need a good killing, and in these instances the police are in the completely un-enviable position of having to make split second life or death decisions. It's a fine line and it's easy to be the armchair quarterback. Hand me the remote, will ya?

On The Itenerary

The first thing I did after coffee time was get the car washed. They always do a good job with it here. I'm bringing it back in another week or so for a hard-wax, there's a car show at the end of the month and I want her to look her best.

After that I needed some flour and wanted some Drifter Pale Ale, so off to the store I went. Imagine my discombobulation to discover that in the spot clearly marked "Drifter Pale Ale" was this instead. Search as I may, there was no Drifter to be found.  So I got this instead.

I was not disappointed. In fact, I will have to compare it side-by-side with Drifter to see which is preferable. Either one is a good brew.

This afternoon I have this to keep me busy.

Tonight Boy is dragging me off to skating rink hell, where I will likely do some homework and then wander about the internets on my newly-batteried laptop while he pretends that I am not there until such time as he wishes his friends to see him in a convertible Mustang.

Life is good.

Book Report

I recently finished Glenn Beck's book Control: Exposing The Truth About Guns. Not a bad read, full of facts and figures, until the very end...where he trades blaming one inanimate object for the ills of youth to blaming another, namely violent video games.

When I were a youngster it was that damnable Dungeons and Dragons, and after that it was the evil rock and roll music, and before that it was demon rum, or maybe Mary Jane, whatever she has to do with anything.

There may be many factors, and video games might be one of them, but I think everything from upbringing to medication to the fact that some people are just born bad plays into it. Ultimately it is up to each and every one of us to decide what path our lives are going to take.

Sorry Glenn, you were doing so well...

Reading List

On the advice of Tin Can Assassin:

The Last Pendragon by Holly Chism. It's an Arthurian tale with a twist set in the modern world.

The biggest "WTF?" moment for me was when their location was given as in the Blue Ridge Mountains "not too far from Raleigh" (3-4 hours as the Mustang speeds, depending on blue light density) but as the tale progresses it sort of makes sense. No spoilers, read the book.

And for the record, even though I'm in the neighborhood (sort of) I certainly did NOT go to Chapel Hill to find the bookstore owned by dragons (although that would be totally cool - and OK, one spoiler but you still have to read the book to see where it fits), but if I had, it would have been nice to have had better directions.

Anyway, if you have any interest at all in the legend of King Arthur check this one out, it will be well worth your time.

Also please note the addition of the anti-soma blog to the blogroll. You can find more of her books there.

Book Reports

I've been remiss, there are several books I've finished that I should have told you about. Allow me to correct my oversight now.

All of these books can be had through the Amazon Kindle store, but a few (Terms of Enlistment, any of the Sabrina Chase books) can be had straight from the author's websites which usually nets them a little more coin. I've put up links to the authors websites where appropriate. I usually get them from the Kindle store just because its easier to download them to my 'droid.

In the order which they appear on my Kindle app (love that thing, but I really could stand a bigger screen. Problem is that would take a bigger device, and the 'droid is already pushing my limit where communications devices are concerned. But I digress):

The Scent of Metal by Sabrina Chase. So far I've liked everything by Sabrina Chase, and this is no exception. Pluto is no planet, but what it is may surprise you. Highly recommended.

The Flux Engine by Dan Willis. Steampunk in the old west starring Wild Bill Hickok, a rollicking fun read that would be great for anyone who likes the steampunk genre.

Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos. Marko is well known for his essays (particularly "Why the Gun Is Civilization") that have been bandied about on and off the net, mostly attributed incorrectly, but this is his first novel. Long time readers of The Munchkin Wrangler know what to expect as far as style; Terms of Enlistment is a good solid mil sci-fi read that will not disappoint.

"The Long Way Home", "Queen of Chaos" and "Raven's Children", the Sequoyah Trilogy by Sabrina Chase. Did I mention that I have liked everything so far by Sabrina Chase? More space novels, this one follows a space pilot with an interesting past that has a secret to tell someone...if she can just figure out who that someone should be.

Space Eldritch, a compilation that I got from one of Larry Correia's book bombs. I didn't really care much for it.

Old Habits by Christopher Taylor, I started reading this one when he was publishing it on his now defunct website and got sucked into the story. I was very glad to see him actually publish this one. It's the story of a thief who finds himself in strange circumstances trying to track down his loot in a medieval magical world.

So that's what I've been reading. I liked everything but Space Eldritch, it just wasn't my cuppa tea but someone else might like it. Hopefully it gives you a few ideas.

Enjoy!

This Is Why

Larry Correia is my favorite author. The one-liners. Like this one:

"If I was angry, you'd know it as soon as your house blew up." (you have to scroll down a ways to find it)

More Kindle-ing

Poor Man's Fight by Elliot Kay

Space Eldritch, a compilation

Old Habits by Christopher Taylor

The Flux Engine by Dan Willis

I think at least two of them have been hawked by Larry Correia on his website, one of the others is a commenter at Ace of Spades (lots of moronblogger books on my Kindle), and the last one just looked interesting.

It's kind of nice having reading material at my immediate disposal, before I had to actually hike myself out of the chair, go to the bookstore and look through the stacks. Now all I have to do is log onto the Amazon Kindle site and browse to my hearts content, downloading whatever I want.

This could get to be an expensive habit.

Book Review: Amy Lynn

Author Jack July comments as Oldsailors Poet at Ace of Spades HQ. He can be found on the infamous Overnight Threads, where I have enjoyed many a comment from him.  Morons, we call each other there, but the commenters on the ONT are anything but. Many of them, it seems, are writing something, and sometimes those things make their way into print. "Amy Lynn" is one of those things.

At first it was only available in print format, and since I had just gotten the smarter-than-me phone with the Kindle app I was looking for electronic books. Then one ONT I found out that it was available as a Kindle book (Oldsailors Poet, Author of Amy Lynn available on KINDLE finally) and went over to take a look. It didn't really seem like a book I would be interested in, but still I downloaded it if for no other reason than to support a fellow Moron.

And then I read the book.

When we first meet Amy Lynn Braxton she is a 12 year old girl growing up in rural Alabama amidst heartbreak and tragedy - in other words, real life. Her older brother Kerry, whom she admires greatly, has just drowned and left her as the oldest child, as well as being the woman of the house following her mother's death some time earlier.

As she dances from tragedy to tragedy she is helped along the way by friends and family. We meet her family, her father Leon, her Uncle Jack and Aunt Carla Jo, her younger brother, and all the other characters in her life that influence her in one way or another, good or bad. Some of those characters come with their own stories, several which are tantalizingly brief and worthy, one can hope, of their own books.

We find that life is not always pretty - in fact it can be downright ugly and brutal - but joys can be found in many ways. Life is a journey after all, and we are privileged to follow along as Amy makes her journey, through tragedy it is true, but also through triumph. As I read the book I found it was less about growing up than it was about redemption. We all are shaped by the events in our lives, but in the end what happens to us is not nearly as important as what we do with them.  That is what makes all the difference.

And then one day Amy finds herself in the situation that she has unknowingly been preparing for her entire life. What she does next is both expected...and yet completely unexpected. She is left with the consequences of her actions and a fresh set of tragedies to deal with. She does so with the help of friends and family, just as she has all along, and so the tale ends with all the strings tied up (even if frayed at the ends and sticking out a bit here and there) and most of the conflicts resolved.  Most, I say, because in real life the story continues.

But that is a tale for another day. Life may continue, but the book, regretfully, does not.

And when I had reached the final page and saw written upon it "The End" I quite literally screamed in frustration. I simply must know what happens next. Must, I say. I MUST know.

I salute you OSP, you magnificent bastard. I have read your book. I pray it is not your last.

New Contest

Jennifer is having a contest for a book, Glock: The Rise of America's Gun (I will leave it as an exercise for the reader how an Austrian firearm becomes America's gun...but I digress).

Go on over there and see how to enter.

Kindle-ing

One of the reasons I got the smart phone was so that I would have an E reader, and I've been taking advantage of that.

The book I just got done reading was "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" by Matt Bracken which starts out with a semiautomatic rifle ban. It was a somewhat unsettling story, made even moreso in that the setting was familiar to me (having been stationed in both the tidewater VA area and southern Maryland). I also downloaded his Anthology which has a story that has been making the Internet rounds lately.

I will be downloading the next two in the series very soon. I'm sure that will put me on a list or two (not like I'm not already on one or two, being a vet and a CWP holder).

Other books/authors I have read recently:

Wings over the Pacific by Raymond Fiore. The only gripe I have with this one is it seems unfinished. Raymond Fiore also wrote Rileys Rogues which was a fun little space opera story.

Firehearted by Sabrina Chase. Fantasy with an "end of the Roman Empire" vibe to it. This one I downloaded and had to find out how to put it on the 'droid.

Rita Royale by Terry Anderson. Guy's apparently got a thing for lesbian warriors.

All three of the above are commenters on Ace of Spades HQ, which is how I initially found them. Talented Morons, who knew?

I could see myself spending a lot more money on ebooks but I can't see myself ever getting completely away from paper books. Still, having reading material so readily available is kind of handy.