All posts by Machine Trooper

Non-Fiction/Documentary

What Will You Do Once Big Tech Gags You?

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For some time now I’ve wanted to build Virtual Pulp’s own online bookstore (rather than just pages of affiliate links). At least with our own cyber-needle in the online haystack, there’s a chance people could find our books once we’re censored off other platforms (until the money-changers also get into the act). But that’s just a measure that could benefit VP.

If people like us hope to continue selling books after Big Tech does what they are proving to us they fully intend to do, we need to throw in with each other and build a platform that they can’t control, with servers they can’t shut down, hosting they can’t deny, and payment methods they can’t yank out from under us.

How many more of our allies do we need to see censored, deplatformed, or demonetized before we accept that this is necessary? Necessary enough to start making it happen?

If somebody on our side had the skills to build a Paypal alternative, for instance, we could all start using it right away, but it wouldn’t have to compete with Paypal. By that I mean it’s doubtful it could seize a big chunk of the marketshare right away…but we wouldn’t have to try. When authors (and others) find themselves stripped of the ability to express their ideas (and/or feed their families) they will suddenly be motivated to recognize the situation and find a payment engine that is not converged. If we have our own established before it becomes impossible to establish, then no advertising is necessary–all they need to know is that it exists. (Of course that highlights the need for non-converged search engines.)

I’m neither a business savant nor a software engineer, but I know there are plenty of them out there who are not rabid cultural Marxists, and could help us make this happen. The most daunting obstacle to an enterprise like this is, as some of you know, herding the cats. Could we muster a little bit of solidarity for long enough to work toward a long-term safeguard that is desperately needed by all of us who think for ourselves? Could enough of us overcome our normalcy bias and stop chanting, “It can’t happen here! It can’t happen here!” to open our eyes and see that it is, in fact, happening here and we need to act fast?

Castalia House has begun making some preparations along these lines, and Virtual Pulp has backed some of their endeavors. But when it comes to selling books, most of their efforts have been focused on their own preservation, which is understandable. They are not responsible for rescuing anybody outside the walls of their own tent.

I hope to start working on the VP store this summer, and perhaps further down the road we will welcome other authors into our brand, if they want to join us and write the sort of stuff we want to publish. But the problem–and the solution needed–is of a scope that dwarfs Virtual Pulp (and Castalia House, Superversive, etc.) and anything we can accomplish by ourselves…by orders of magnitude.

For what it’s worth, I’m willing to participate in such an endeavor in any capacity I can be helpful.

How long are you going to balk at taking action–until it’s too late?

How do you assume this is going to be resolved? Maybe the power of your positive thinking will miraculously transform reality into a world where you won’t have to make sacrifices or run the risk of offending somebody. Maybe the likes of Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney and Mitch McConnell will ride to your rescue so you won’t have to lift a finger.

If you believed any of that, you probably wouldn’t have read this far. So what do you think?

Politics/Current Events, Reviews, Satire

Apalling Stories II – a Review

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I haven’t read the first Apalling Stories, but do intend to rectify that.

This is an anthology of short speculative fiction, all linked thematically by the insanity of political correctness and so-called “social justice.” Some of them are set off-world, some take place in Earth’s future, while others are pretty close to the space-time you and I occupy.

An argument could be made that some of the stories are depressing–like classic episodes of The Twilight Zone. At the same time, there’s no denying a significant element of gratification derives from following the character arc of the SJWs who outsmart themselves, feed on each other, and otherwise are hoisted on their own petards. It’s immensely frustrating to exist in this reality wherein the wicked prosper…where there seems to be no limit to their stupidity, depravity, or hypocrisy…yet never suffer the consequences of same. And the “champions” of our side either cower in the face of evil, or betray us outright.

Each story is well-written, by authors including the newest addition to the Virtual Pulp blog lineup, Paul Hair.

One age-old purpose of fiction is to present alternatives or possibilities–how it could be in a better world. Apalling Stories 2 shows us (often with delightful irony) what it might look like if “social justice” vermin experienced actual justice.

Military, Non-Fiction/Documentary, Politics/Current Events

Political Theater and the Book Business

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New Virtual Pulper Paul Hair interviewed me about “conservatives,” the culture war, and my books. Here’s part of it:

 HiT: Why’d you write The Retreads series and what’s it about without giving away too much of the plot(s)?

Brown: I didn’t anticipate making it a series, initially.

Between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, I had considered going back into uniform, but my knees and back were pretty well FUBARed from before, and my tolerance for Dumb S**t had shrunken considerably.

My subconscious mind must have been invested in the idea, though, because I often dreamed about being back in the Airborne.

One dream (not quite a nightmare) featured a fairly vivid firefight. I built a story around that scene and eventually titled the resulting novel “Hell and Gone.”

It’s about a team of Gulf War One veterans on a mission to recapture a tactical nuke. I didn’t know how common that “stolen nuke” plot was, or would become. I chose it, and many other elements of the story, based on unclassified intelligence reports I was privy to at the time.

For years, no agent or editor would read it. In 2010, I decided to take advantage of the digital revolution and outflank the New York Publishing Cartel altogether.

You can read the entire interview (it’s very brief) over at Hollywood in Toto. They’ve got some other good stuff there, too.

Crime, Historical

Len Levinson Strikes Again!

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I haven’t even had a chance to read the last release from the maestro of men’s adventure fiction…and he’s got another one out. Here’s the press release:

 GRIP OF DEATH, another all-new novel by Len Levinson has just been published by Rough Edges Press, it was announced today by Jennifer Lawrence, new president of the Len Levinson Fan Club, during a press conference beside the outdoor swimming pool in the sprawling backyard of her Malibu Beach estate.

Ms Lawrence recently replaced Scarlett Johansson as president of the Len Levinson Fan Club. Ms. Johansson was forced to resign due to term limits, much to her regret. “I don’t see Lenny nearly as much as I used to,” she complained bitterly during a recent interview on the Jimmy Fallon Show. “I miss him terribly, his wit, astute advice and stimulating presence.”

In attendance at the press conference were the usual eminent literary critics, distinguished journalists representing major and minor outlets, celebrity porn stars, and delegates from the National Book Awards and Nobel Prize for Literature.

Ms Lawrence explained charmingly to the esteemed gathering that GRIP OF DEATH is set in New York City during the first year of the Civil War. Someone is murdering prominent Wall Street financiers. Is the culprit one or more disgruntled investors? Insane Marxist revolutionaries? Or possibly a Confederate conspiracy to destabilize the Union banking system?

To complicate matters further, a crime wave engulfed New York City following the outbreak of the Civil War, as if that conflict loosened the darkest passions in the hearts of men and women. Robberies, burglaries and assaults were commonplace, including garrotings on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight!

The Detective Precinct is under political pressure to figure out who is killing financiers, but the best detectives have enlisted in New York regiments.

Out of desperation, Deputy Chief of Detectives Timothy Flanagan hires a former army officer wounded at the Battle of Bull Run (only three months ago), and a former Southern Belle stranded in the great Empire City. Flanagan calls her his secretary because women can’t be detectives, but she carries a revolver and does actual detective work.

The ex-officer is a staunch outspoken abolitionist, and the ex-Southern Belle hates abolitionists, blaming them for the invasion of Dixie Land. Naturally they loathe each other on their deepest levels, but must work together to solve the crime.

Their investigation takes them from Fifth Avenue mansions to the dangerous slum called Five Points, from Gramercy Park to Battery Park, from fashionable men’s clubs to elegant and not so elegant whorehouses, gambling dens, the glittering Broadway theater district, the colorful Bowery, and the Peyster Street docks where a man’s life isn’t worth a dead fish.

Along the way the reader will encounter actual historical figures such as banker J.P. Morgan, Lieutenant George Armstrong Custer, newspaperman Horace Greeley, Chief of the Union Intelligence Service Allan Pinkerton, Confederate Senator Robert Barnwell Rhett, real estate tycoon William Backhouse Astor, Archbishop John Hughes of the New York Archdiocese, young Billy the Kid, artist John Frederick Kensett, poet Walt Whitman, a not-very-succesful actor named John Wilkes Booth, members of a criminal gang known as the Dead Rabbits, and the controversial mayor of New York City, Fernando Wood.

Will the Detective Precinct solve the case? They dare not fail. The future of the war and fate of the nation is at stake!

“This is Len Levinson’s great American Civil War novel,” declared Ms. Lawrence. “One could say it is his GONE WITH THE WIND. It is suspenseful, reads smoothly and replete with interesting oddball characters like any other Len Levinson novel. I hope to play the Southern belle in the film version but so does Scarlett Johansson and every other actress in Hollywood.”

Ms. Lawrence pointed out that Len now is author of 85 published novels. He has been acclaimed a “Trash Genius” by THE PAPERBACK FANATIC magazine, was subject of an extensive interview in PAPERBACK PARADE magazine, has been described as “the gold standard” and “the king” of pulp fiction on various Facebook posts, and was introduced as “a legend” at a panel during the 2017 Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention.

WEB OF DOOM is now available as an ebook and trade paperback on Amazon.

Politics/Current Events

Did Politicians Only Recently Become Two-Faced?

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The State of the Union (SOTU) has re-focused attention on the recent history of Democrats, who only a few years ago publicly claimed to support the kind of border security/immigration policy they now insist is immoral.

Of course hypocrisy is nothing unusual for the left wing. Contrast their behavior toward Justice Kavanaugh to their reaction (or lack of it) to Lt. Governor Justin “F*** That Bitch” Fairfax in Virginia.* It’s just the tip of the iceberg.

 

While Tucker Carlson claims to be “genuinely confused” at how the ruling class calls Trump a racist for trying to implement the very policies they are on record as advocating, Sean Hannity tells us (with a straight face) that it’s only because they hate President Trump that they contradict themselves–they just can’t bring themselves to support anything he supports, hence their irrationality.

This is just another case of Cux News handling damage control for the Deep State. Democrats previously pretended to want border security for the same reason previous Presidents promised to move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem…and the same reason Paul RINO and Mitch McCUCKell promised to defund Planned Parenthood and end Obamacare.

They knew they’d never have to deliver on their big talk. They never had any intention of backing up their words with action; but they could pose, blaming somebody else in the Uniparty power structure for their lack of results.

Then along came the unpredictable outsider, Donald J. Trump. Infuriating just about everybody in politics, he actually intended to keep his campaign promises. Their excuses for not carrying through on their own BS rhetoric evaporated, showing the emperor(s) had no clothes. Once the obstacles they touted were shown to be bogus, they themselves were exposed as the true obstacles. In fact, they had to blatantly take ownership of their obstruction lest the unleashed orange renegade actually manage to put America first.

Of course, the presstitutes in mass media work overtime to memory-hole the inconvenient facts, and that works on the average ignoramus. For the above-average ignoramus, there is Cux News. Carlson, Hannity, Dobbs and Ingraham know they can’t get away with simply rewriting history like the other networks. Their viewers aren’t holding to the pop culture programming enough to believe that Oceana has always been at war with Eurasia. What they believe they can accomplish is make you swallow the premise that the traitors and criminals in Washington aren’t evil scumbags guilty of duplicity–but they’re simply well-intentioned but misguided “liberals” bumbling around in a fog of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

*UPDATE: For some reason this didn’t post when I had it scheduled a few days ago. Since then, some of Fairfax’s fellow travelers have reluctantly decided that sexual assault is wrong, even when a Democrat politician perpetrates it. As long as the Democrats get to maintain power, that is.

 

Non-Fiction/Documentary, Politics/Current Events

Who Is Allowed to Be Proud?

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Regular visitors to Virtual Pulp know we get rather irritated by identity politics. We don’t worship “Muh Westurn Siviluhzayshun” or latch onto “white power” narratives. We also hold to the Biblical view on pride: that it is an ugly sin–not an admirable virtue. However, it’s hard to argue with this meme.

Full disclosure: I saw this on Chateau Heartiste–a site just brimming over with those aforementioned irritations, but sometimes worth reading.

Military, Non-Fiction/Documentary

Americans Are Too Soft For War

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I’ve been posting some blog-length commentary at MeWe recently, while neglecting this site. It’s high time I hit two birds with one lemon…or make lemonade out of the bird life handed me…aw, nevermind.

The discussion was about the nearly two-decade debacle in Afghanistan, and what is required  for victory there. Here’s me:

One part of the problem (and I mean JUST ONE) is the wussification of America. Up until 1945, we fought wars to win them–and winning usually meant unconditional surrender. If that entailed nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or firebombing Dresden and Hamburg…so be it.

Third-worlders with primitive mindsets (which, whether you want to believe it or not, applies to most of Asia and the Middle East) respect that. You might say it’s the only thing they respect. They see restraint and mercy as weakness–and act accordingly.

(My debut novel, Hell and Gone, touches on this a bit. The first draft was written before the ground campaign in OIF kicked off.)

If you you believe some crisis or other is so important that our young men (and now young women, God help us) should be sent into a place where they will be shot at and bombed, then you better be willing to stomp the living hell out of the opposing force there–collateral damage or not. Vietcong hit and run behind the border of a neighboring country? We’re coming after them, and we might just have to deal with their sympathizers in your government who are harboring them. Cowards want to snipe at our patrols, then go hide in a Mosque? Raze that building to the ground and douse the rubble with napalm. An enemy asset is an enemy asset.

We’re dealing with people who (in Vietnam) fire on medics and use children in terrorist bombings. In the Middle East they’ll do that too, then hide behind their women and children to avoid reprisal. Hell, look at what they do to their own people. The only way to pacify a population in such places is to beat them senseless, then bash their skull in if they look like they might want to get up and fight some more.

People in the USA don’t have the stomach for what it takes to achieve victory over there (unless you redefine victory, as in Gulf War I). We’re too soft and comfortable over here, and can’t even imagine the brutality of those people–much less the barbarism that would be required to make them peaceful.

If we’re not willing to do what’s necessary to achieve victory (and we’re not), we have no business deploying troops over there. Let’s concentrate on defending our own country against the primitive third-worlders hellbent on bringing their barbarism inside our rapidly disintegrating safe haven–and the politicians committed to importing them.

Non-Fiction/Documentary

Black People, White People, and Racial Identity

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I’ve never liked identity politics. Maybe you don’t either. But as much as we don’t like it, we are gonna have to deal with it, because it’s becoming more and more of a factor all the time, whether we like it or not.

Jared Taylor and Tree of Logic have a pretty interesting conversation on the topic (and many sub-topics) of race. One of the interesting points made is how every race on earth has a desperation to view (and present) themselves in a positive way–sometimes making incredible leaps of logic to do so.

…EXCEPT Caucasians. White people behave the exact opposite way–making incredible leaps of logic in order to erase any contributions white people have made to civilization.

Of course, this is paralleled in any kind of discussion about the sexes. You can only say good stuff about women; and can only say bad stuff about men. And men (white knights and manginas, that is, who count for 90% of the male population) are the most vocal man-haters.

There are two rising subcultures (with some overlap) which are defying this zeitgeist now. Both of them have problems, but it is what it is.