All posts by Machine Trooper

“Another Excellent Novel”

There are downsides to having a bestseller. It gives your book more exposure, which is certainly a net gain; but it also draws plenty of wild cards.

As in all businesses, customers are probably about 75% more determined to make their opinions known when they have a complaint than when they find a product satisfactory. In the book biz, you also have some jealous, petty and vindictive authors prowling Amazon to size up the competition who, I guess, assume they can elevate their own work by trying to make other author’s work look bad. And then there’s controversial books like False Flag, which are gonna trigger sheeple and SJWs, even when they are warned up front that a particular book will not be their cup of tea.

Case in point: shortly after the post about Roy Moore went live on this blog, somebody posted the first-ever one-star review for Hell and Gone, admitting within the “review” that they hadn’t read the book. Up until then, my debut novel had never drawn less than four stars from any Amazon reviewer. I smell a motive for this drive-by, but who knows.

So the vigilant haters have managed to drag False Flag‘s cumulative review score down to 4.2 stars, but comments like the following tend to improve morale:

Another excellent novel by Henry Brown

First of all let me state that this is the third novel by Henry Brown I have read featuring “Rocco’s Retreads” a group of different special warfare operators who are mostly retired from different branches of the active duty military.


It’s a direct follow up to Tier Zero– the novel where Native American lawman and ex spec ops warrior Tommy Scarred Wolf and some of his friends and family set out to rescue a group of females from the nearby Rez who had been kidnapped in a foreign country.

This time around, Tommy and some of the Retreads have been targeted by a sleazebag Statist DHS spook and his underhanded operators- including several who are basically Manchurian Candidate Brainwashees.
Tommy is now the Sheriff in the town where the nearby Rez is located and his friends are scattered to the Southwest. Rocco, Leon and Carlos are now operating a shooting range and firearms sales and supply shop; Mac has gotten involved with a sleazy race-card baiter in Federal Law Enforcement and Josh has retired to the life of a modern Mountain Man.


Essentially Josh and some of the others find out that Rocco’s Retreads have been flagged as Domestic Terrorists by the dirtbags from DHS and worse- the same scumbags are planning on a False Flag attack on a peace rally in Amarillo Texas following the senseless beating of an African American motorist.


Talk about being ripped from the headlines.


As the NeoFascists in Federal Government see it, by attacking the rally and pinning the rap on “Right Wing Militia extremists” it will give them the justification among the McSheeple to go after the Internet and gun owners.


Tommy, Josh and the majority of their friends and family decide to try and stop the False Flag attack.
When they call in a phony bomb threat and the “proper authorities” refuse to evacuate the facility…well, it’s time for Tommy’s pals in the Native American Militia to step forward and stop the slaughter of innocent people and try and save the country from the insidious forces within the corridors of power who see Freedom as a threat to their own lustful power grabs.


The book is sobering at times and downright funny at others. The descriptions of some of the peripheral characters (looters and so forth) reminded me of some of the more razor-sharp satirical Destroyer Novels written by the late great Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy as both rednecks and looters get scalded by Brown’s pen.


I would love to see these books made into movies someday. However they are so politically incorrect that its’ mostly a pipe dream at this point.
If you enjoyed the Destroyer novels or the old Phoenix Force and Able Team books the Retreads series is right up your alley.

If you’re willing to take just a few minutes to make a small-but-significant impact in the culture war, and you’ve read one or more of my books, why not drop a couple lines into a review and counter some of this sabotage? Amazon isn’t yet as bad as Twitter, Facebook, or Wikipedia, but they’ve proven to me they are sympathetic to these SJW trolls. They took down a review I posted (it’s long-winded; sorry) even though it was obvious I read the book, and I hadn’t violated any of their published guidelines; but they won’t take leftist hit pieces down, even when it’s obvious the troll hasn’t read the book. There’s not much I can do about that. By posting an honest review, however, you could dilute this well-poisoning.

Astounding Frontiers

The folks at Superversive have been putting together an electronic sci-fi periodical that has loads of potential.

I read some Amazon reviews and was surprised (yet again) at how different mainstream tastes are from mine: A few different people mentioned their dislike of serial adventures; while I find it pretty cool. At least some of the fiction in Astounding Frontiers is serialized.

  • Did you know that Tarzan and Conan movies were inspired by their prose adventures?
  • Did you know the full-length novels written about those characters were compiled from their pulp stories?
  • Did you know that those pulp stories were originally written as serials?

There were a lot more than just the barbarian and the ape-man, too. Characters like John Carter of Mars, The Shadow, Buck Rogers and more.

Anyway, I applaud Superversive for putting this series out. I hope to read and post some reviews right here in the future.

Roy Moore is a Threat to the Scam Being Perpetrated On Us

There are a whole lot of nagging questions inspired by the attempted assassination of Judge Roy Moore’s character. Maybe you’ve heard some of them:

  • Why so much interest in allegations with no supporting evidence; yet absolutely no interest in credible allegations with boocoup supporting evidence against left-wingers? (But we know the answer to that one, don’t we?)
  • Why can’t the Democrat/Media Machine seem to draft competent forgeries anymore?
  • After 40 years, what is finally motivating these accusers  to participate in this witch trial? (Other than the fact that Moore had a good shot at winning a Senate seat, that is.)
  • Why are Establishment RINOs just as hell-bent on destroying Moore as is the Democrat/Media Machine, when it would weaken their hold on the Senate?

That last one is probably the key question, here. The answer is that they don’t want to have, or keep, control of the Senate.

The “Republicans” prefer to be the minority party, and pretend to oppose Democrat policies when they have excuses for failure.

  1. “We can’t stop the Democrats without a majority in the House of Representatives.” (So we voted them into a majority.)
  2. “Well, alright, we have the House. But it turns out, we can’t stop them without both houses of Congress.” (So we gave them the Senate, too.)
  3. “Um, er…we do have a majority in Congress, now…but we can’t do our job unless we have Congress AND the presidency!” (And so we gave them that, too.)

Now they are completely out of excuses. These frauds got elected by promising to defund Obamacare, control immigration, give us Supreme Court Justices who will uphold the Constitution, and a whole bill of goods on top of that.kissingcretins

Now they’ve been given everything they asked for (just as they were under Bush II), and the jig is up. It’s become obvious they’re never going to make good on their promises. Folks like Judge Roy Moore must be destroyed, because they might actually do some of the things the Judas Goat GOP says it wants to do. Then what happens to the farcical political theater? Even coincidence theorists spoon-fed their cognitive dissonance by network news might break out of the trance at that point.

It’s not that our public servants can’t do their job because they’re incompetent boobs–it’s because they never intended to do their jobs in the first place. We foot the bill for their exorbitant salaries, lavish vacations and other substantial perks, but they don’t work for We the People. They serve a different master, and the real job of the GOP Establishment is not to represent us. Their real job description is controlled opposition to the Democrats. Read that “fake opposition.”

islam1Protecting our borders and controlling immigration are part of national security–one of a few legitimate powers granted to the federal government, just so you know. Have you noticed how a single circuit court judge can overturn the will of the people and insist that our country be left at risk, after Trump tried to temporarily restrict immigration from terror-sponsoring countries? How easy it is to defy the law, and a President of the United States! Why do you suppose no circuit court judge blocked any of Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders? (They would have had the law on their side.) Hmm. Names and faces in Congress, excuses, and talking points may change, but no matter who allegedly is in charge, we keep getting screwed.

TSAfools

With all the dumbing-down of our population committed by government schools, the poison put in our food and water, and the psychological conditioning through television, plus massive election fraud, the controlled opposition (“Republicans”) were not supposed to break the Democrat stranglehold on policy-making. Now they’re in the embarrassing position of holding the reins, but still obligated to follow orders and keep the same agenda moving along. More and more Americans are seeing the scripted political theater in our country for what it is, and the lapdog media can no longer keep the curtain closed like it once could.RINOcucks

One problem with a man like Roy Moore is that he would make it more difficult to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in accordance with the trusty ol’ GOP Establishment playbook. Worse yet: a Moore victory in Alabama might inspire replacement of other RINOs by public servants who might actually try to represent us in Washington. They’ve probably got no actual dirt on Moore, and have tried to bribe him and failed; so they fear he can’t be controlled. Unless they can torpedo him and prevent other serious primary challenges, some of their own dirty dealings may come to light.

RINOfaggots

A more frightening prospect for their hidden masters is that renegades like Moore may actually pursue justice against the Clintons, Obama, Jarret, Holder, Mueller and other high-level accomplices. And that could give American taxpayers a glimpse at the actual power structure and what it’s actually doing to us.

False Flag: #1 Bestseller

About this time last year, Hell and Gone climbed into Amazon’s Top 100 in the overall Kindle bestseller rankings.

That’s no easy task in the present-day book biz. This year the third novel in the series has followed suit. False Flag  reached #1 Bestseller in three categories as of Saturday afternoon, and threatened to take the top spot in a couple more–coming as close as #2 in post-apocalyptic fiction. (It’s actually more “apocalyptic” than “post-apocalyptic” anyway, but I’ll try to resist sperging about that.)

This dystopian thriller (ahem) is currently still on sale for 99 cents at the major E-Book vendors…

…And pretty much everywhere else that sells E-Books.

Hell and Gone was originally written as a one-off military thriller, with an old-school adventure flavor. Fans, however, suggested a sequel. I wrote one, shooting intentionally for more of a throwback men’s adventure/paramilitary fiction vibe, as the cover suggests. Tier Zero was what resulted. Fans thought the sequel was even better than Hell and Gone, and this time I intentionally built some springboards for yet another book.

FF#1bestsellermensadventure

With False Flag, I took the same characters and thrust them into a SHTF/apocalyptic scenario.

Unfortunately, politics are interwoven with every part of life these days. This book reflects that. As readers of my blog posts are no-doubt aware of, I don’t pull my punches that often anymore when sharing my observations. So even people who identify as “conservative” (whatever that means) find my outlook to be a little…raw.

Since I hate being sucker-punched with the obligatory left-wing political message in ostensibly apolitical books, I carefully worded everything from the title, “False Flag,” to its product description, so that nobody would be blind-sided when I call it like I see it. In fact, most drones from the SJW Hive Mind run squealing from my portfolio after little more than a couple seconds. Often, just a glimpse at my cover art is sufficient to reveal that I am alien to their echo chamber. For this book I heaped on overkill in the form of a Samuel Adams quote on the product page.

This was my way of ensuring that soy-consuming, rainbow tattoo-sporting, public transportation-advocating manginas and nancy-boys would not read my books…and therefore not be triggered.

But, just like Wikepedia, Goodreads, and…well…every platform on the Web, goose-stepping Commie Thought Police are patrolling 24/7, seeking to quarantine any heretical idea before it can bring The Narrative into question.  They don’t avoid material that “triggers” them–they purposefully seek it out, as part of their holy mission to protect others from exposure to unauthorized wrongthink. Such trolls, however, take my honest warnings as a weakness to exploit; and individuals of this moral caliber have no qualms about “reviewing” a book they haven’t read.

Here’s the one-star “review” one such hero left for False Flag, and my response to it:

Midwit Sage (AKA “Amazon Customer”): If you took out the extended political and poorly disguised racial ranting you would barely have a short story. Good enough for the preachers choir but hardly good story telling. It’s no wonder the author couldn’t get a real publisher to touch his work…Tom Clancy has nothing to fear!

Yours Truly: If you took out the vague, politically-butthurt insults of this “review” by a drive-by Thought Cop who probably didn’t even read the book, you would barely  have enough left over to classify it as a cyber-knee-jerk. But thanks for demonstrating how someone of your integrity and sophistication reacts to this not-really-published work.

Now why, I wonder, would they use the term “poorly disguised racial ranting?” Obviously they’re trying to scare potential readers off by implying  sinister racism. But why not just come out and accuse me of full-blown racism, then? SJWs are certainly not shy about crying “racist” for any and every (or no) reason. It might have something to do with the difference between slander and libel.

More Retreads novels are germinating in my mind, but there’s a couple other books I want to work on before I get back to this series.

Meanwhile, if you haven’t jumped into the series already, now’s a great time to start.

Of course there are paperback versions of all the Retreads novels, and the first two are also available in Audible Books (links below) for those who are on the go. I do want to put together an audiobook for that title, if I can find the time. Same deal with revamping our book section here on the site–it’s on the to-do list; just need to catch a break from Real Life Stuff to get ‘er done.

FF#1bestsellerpolitical

 

100th Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution

Some suspect that the blatant Marxists among us have something planned starting November 4th. It certainly is possible, considering how deranged they are. Some or all of the recent media-circus tragedies  might even be a lead-up to overt actions. And, if the Globalist Deep State/Media Machine  had managed to install Hillary, these recent crises would certainly not “go to waste.” We would now be seeing even more draconian implementation of Orwellian surveillance, and civilian disarmament.

We dodged a bullet there, but that wasn’t the only round in the magazine, by a long shot. There are harbingers of more to come.

This meme has been circulating around non-cucked social media for a few weeks. It is allegedly an “Antifa” call to action. It certainly does characterize the sort of tactics these Blackshirts employ, but I suspect this might be a disinformation effort from our side, or a straw man ploy from theirs.

antifaflyer

Take note of the word “patriots” in the instructions. It is highly doubtful a drone from the radical Leftist Hive Mind would call patriots what we actually are. Their M.O. is to turn reality upside-down by using Newspeak to frame the debate–even in their own circles. Blathering Newspeak is not just a habit for them, it’s effectively a method of self-hypnosis that makes them actually believe some of the ludicrous statements they make. And it renders them oblivious to their own glaring hypocrisy. In their depraved Hive Mind, evil is good and good is evil.

Whether consciously or subconsciously, an actual Antifa propagandist would be compelled to call patriots “Nazis,” “racists” or at least “fascists.” (It helps their deceptive efforts that actual Nazis, racists and fascists from the #FakeRight consistently try to mix in with us and assassinate our character by association.)

Also, putting these instructions on a flyer is just piss-poor OPSEC. Soros’ braindead pawns would do this, but I suspect his officers and svengalis are too clever to show their hand like this, where it is so easily intercepted and made public.

Just a heads-up, for what it’s worth.

A Political Ad I’d Like to See

Looks like the Democrats are really getting desperate.  A political ad in Virginia produced for the “Latino Victory Project” depicts a Republican voter in a pickup truck trying to run down (and by implication, murder) some minority children. The propagandists who made this were careful to display Gadsen Flag plates (in place of both front and rear license plates because, y’know, police in any state would totally let you drive around like that), a bumper sticker for the political candidate this ad was meant to demonize, and a Confederate Flag.

Just as the pickup traps the children against a fence, we are shown one of them waking up from a nightmare.

Message: unless you elect more Communists Democrats, this nightmare will come true.

nazipropaganda
Paid for by the Aryan Victory Project.

This is Joseph Goebbels level agitprop. Make the driver of the pickup truck a hook-nosed Jew and replace the minority kids with blond Aryan urchins, and this could have been played in theaters all across
National Socialist Germany.

More disgusting than the ad, perhaps, is the defense of it all across the Democrat/Media Machine.

With the bar now set so low, maybe it’s fair to say that anything goes. Plenty of concern trolls would object to the political ad scripted below, even though it is far more reality-based than the Virginia ad.

FADE IN:

EXT – POLLING LOCATION, DAY:

A pickup truck pulls into the parking lot, passing ACTIVISTS with multicolored hair and facial piercings holding up signs with slogans like “Trump is Hitler!” “If you vote Republican, you’re a Nazi!” and “Death to all Nazis!”

INT – INSIDE THE TRUCK CAB, DAY:

DAD looks worried by what he sees. His young SON sees the activists outside, and turns toward Dad.

SON

Who are they? Why are they yelling at us?

Dad forces a smile of reassurance for Son, and parks the pickup.

EXT – POLLING LOCATION, DAY:

Both truck doors open. Dad gets out on one side, and Son gets out on the other.

SON

Dad, why did you take a day off work just so you could stand in line here?

DAD

You remember when I said the law was originally written to protect Americans, right? Well, we have to try to elect honest folks who will obey the law and protect our rights.

ANGLE:

On the front door of the polling place, where three BLM THUGS with axe handles patrol back and forth in front of it.

Worried, Dad meets son in front of the truck and grabs his hand.

DAD

Stay close, Son.

A LOUD NOISE distracts both of them. The noise consists of horn-heavy MUSIC and lots of YELLING IN SPANISH. Dad and Son turn toward the source of the noise.

ANGLE:

On a bus pulling into the parking lot. A Mexican Flag flies from the antenna. The bus stops, and 20 MEXICANS poor out, still yelling in Spanish and laughing. They wear bandanas, gold chains, and La Raza T-shirts. The DRIVER gets out, notices Dad and Son staring, and marches up to them.

DRIVER

What’s your problemo, mamon? What you looking at?

Dad tightens his grip on Son’s hand, stepping in front of the boy to shield him. He says nothing, but notices the Mexican flags on the bus and tatooed on several of the Mexicans strutting up to the polling place.

DRIVER

(mocking) Uh-oh. We just canceled out your vote, pendejo. What you gonna do about it?

Dad scowls, but remains silent. Son peeks out from behind his human shield and Driver leers at him.

DRIVER

Hey, Gringo-Boy. Your daddy can’t protect you. Tell him he needs to make way–this ain’t your country anymore.

Dad pulls Son behind him, away from Driver, past the BLM Thugs, into the polling station.

INT – POLLING STATION, DAY:

Dad and Son enter. Dad sees the Mexicans signing random names on the voter rolls and receiving ballots from the POLL WORKER, a middle-aged buzz-cut woman wearing a shirt that says “I get drunk on the tears of white cis-gendered males.”

DAD

Aren’t you supposed to check IDs?

POLL WORKER

What are you–a racist?

FADE OUT

TITLE:

“Who’s country is this?”

“Who’s do you want it to be?”

“Vote ____________________ for Congress…while your vote still counts.”

The Idealist’s Dilemma

Unless drastic course corrections are made, the republic known as the United States of America will cease to exist in the near future. There might still be a country with that name; it might still have a red, white, and blue flag and a bald eagle for its symbol; and certainly politicians will pay lip service  to ideals like freedom. But living here will be an entirely different experience than what our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents enjoyed.

I offer the following parable as an analogy, to help get across the point I want to make:

Ike the Idealist learned about fighting in kindergarten.  Not only did he learn how to do it, he learned about how not to do it. Basically, he learned that the only honorable way to fight was by Marquis de Queensbury rules.  Kicking was cheating. Biting, scratching, and pulling hair were how girls did it, which was out-of-bounds. Eye-gouging was unheard of. And, of course, using a weapon was cowardly.

Through elementary, middle and high school, these rules were reinforced. Any time Ike had to fight, he did so honorably according to these mores. He considered any departure from this combat etiquette to be despicable.

Then one day, as an adult, Ike surprises some dirtbag in the process of stealing his car. Ike asks what’s going on, and the car thief replies by throwing his dent-puller, hitting Ike in the face, breaking his nose. Then the thief closes the distance between them. Ignoring Ike’s attempts at civilized discourse, he proceeds to beat Ike about the head. Eventually, Ike realizes that the thief can’t be reasoned with, and violence is in order. He assumes the classic pugilist’s pose and punches back.

The dirtbag knees him in the crotch, stomps on his foot, and pulls a knife. While Ike reels from the pain, and shock from such heinous disregard of the rules, the dirtbag stabs him repeatedly. Ike could have kicked the knife out of his hands, but kicking would violate his principles, so that was unthinkable. He peppers the dirtbag with jabs, hooks, and the occasional right cross.

Ike thought the fight should have been more like this.
Ike thought the fight should have been more like this.

The dirtbag tackles him and they both go down. Ike grabs the wrist of the hand gripping the knife, so he won’t be stabbed again. At one point that hand is right in front of his mouth, but Ike just can’t bring himself to violate his principles and bite it. Meanwhile, the dirtbag gouges out an eye with his thumb. Ike doesn’t know what to do, because grappling around like this is most undignified, and he just doesn’t want to engage in such distasteful behavior.

With sober, reasoned dialectic, he protests the dirtbag’s flagrant violation of Ike’s ideals.  The thief slips on a pair of brass knuckles with his free hand and, between those and his elbow, breaks Ike’s jaw and knocks him out. He drives away in the car with barely a minor bruise or two, leaving Ike bleeding out in the street, half blind, with multiple injuries. Most likely, Ike will die right where he lays.

But at least Ike the Idealist can take comfort in the fact that he never sank to the enemy’s level.

wearenotok

I started confronting this dilemma after the election of President Trump when he promised to use Executive Orders to undo some of Obama’s damage. The Executive Order has been abused, beginning in earnest with the Clinton Administration. Obama used it to the point that the USA became a de facto monarchy. All legislation is supposed to originate in the House of Representatives. That is part of the law that all elected officials swear to uphold and abide by. By principle, Trump should not use this dictatorial outflanking tactic to reverse Obama’s illegal actions against our country.

It’s the job of Congress to chop down these treasonous hedgerows. But of course Congress has proven repeatedly that it will not do its job. Make themselves rich at our expense? Yes.  Help unelected bureaucrats destroy our country while arranging golden parachutes for themselves? Yes. Do their job? You must be a crackpot for even asking.

That’s why I didn’t protest Trump’s use of Executive Orders to bypass the obstruction of the Deep State and plug some of the holes the last four Administrations drilled through the bottom of the boat.

In America of the current year, the full half of the glass is that the left’s stranglehold on the flow of information is slipping. Millions of people are aware of the globalist Deep State actively working to destroy the republic. They are aware of the utter corruption of the lapdog (“mainstream”) media, Hollywood, the music industry, etc. And a significant portion of those people are not happy about the betrayals and deception we’ve suffered for generations at the hands of those whores and traitors.

But instead of embracing the fundamentals that made our republic the most prosperous country in history, with unprecedented individual liberty, the wakening masses are instead seeking the answer by fetishizing “muh Westurn Civilizayshun,” and embracing identity politics. It’s truly disturbing how fast middle America seems to be becoming as race-obsessed as the minority subcultures have been since the 1960s.

obomunistflagpoopers

If our public servants in government would just do what we pay them for, most of our problems would rapidly fade. But, as a rule, they’re not going to do anything that will  slow our descent into a 3rd world police state. We’ve let a ruling class take power who see us as their subjects, and will break or ignore the laws they swore to uphold in the maniacal quest to accumulate more wealth, control, and power for themselves.  They’ve infiltrated both parties and turned them into enemies of our freedom. We can’t vote them out because there are so few true alternatives, and there are so many people voting who approve of what they’re doing. Just a few more years of unchecked immigration, and the America-hating Marxists will have every election sewn up for however long elections are still held here. Evidently, even President Trump doesn’t have the guts to stop the invasion and send enough invaders back home to keep this from happening. If the wall ever does get built, it will be too little, too late.

damnflag

They’re stealing our car. They’ve backstabbed us multiple times and gouged out our eye.  And mainstream “conservatives” (whatever that means) are fighting back by drafting statements of support for the police and military. Wow–congratulations. That might have been a courageous stance to take during Vietnam (half a century ago).

If the people would rise up against the traitors and put them out of office, by whatever means necessary, it’s possible we could clean house, drain the swamp, and restore some of what we’ve lost. But that’s not going to happen, either. The government schools have done their job in spreading ignorance. And where ignorance runs out, apathy takes over.

blackbloc

That’s not to say civil war (or revolution, depending on how sloppy your semantics are) isn’t coming, because it is. But a significant component of the bloodshed to come will be racially motivated. Race will be the idol of every side. Preserving or restoring a representative government designed to protect individual rights will not be a priority for anyone with a voice loud enough to be heard. Look around–it’s already not. Attempts to educate simply inspire mockery from the bovine, low-IQ lemmings who surround us.

When the war comes, there is no fence you can safely sit on. We’ll have to pick sides. You can bet that I, for one, will not align with the Globo-Homo Hive Mind. But who does that leave me for allies? Generally, guys who have forgotten how to perceive anything beyond “muh Magic DNA.”

It shouldn’t be this way. It didn’t have to be this way. But it is.

Neither me, nor any other American idealist, can shout loud enough to derail this suicidal zeitgeist. So what do we do?whatisneeded

Some people believe the Income Tax is unconstitutional (hence illegal). Most of them pay it anyway. Some of us recognize random roadside “papers, please” checkpoints by law enforcement to be a violation of our rights (rights that law enforcement officers swear an oath to protect). But if you need to keep your job, don’t want to go to jail and be railroaded by the weaponized “justice” system, you grit your teeth and play the game.

Increasingly, I have to swallow ideals simply to provide for my family and retain what personal freedom I still have. Does that make me a hypocrite, or merely a pragmatist? Inside, I still cherish my ideals, and lament their abandonment. But who cares?

Nobody who matters. (Or, at least, not enough people who matter.)

When it comes to swallowing ideals, I suspect we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

anglosaxons

I don’t want to associate with folks who blame Jews for everything wrong in the world, or value skin color over content of character. But what choice do I have in the conflict taking shape around us? Demographic groupings which are already consumed by identity politics, and already consider me their enemy–that’s who. Demographic groupings which are 80-95% sold out to anti-American causes (and BTW: what choices do the 5-20% outliers of those demographics have, in the brewing conflict?). Demographic hive minds which only care about what they believe will advance their collective interests. Their “radicals” are already demonstrating their willingness to rape and murder. Their “moderates” have no problem cheating  and stealing. Their “liberals” are already in the habit of lying to advance the agenda they think will shepherd them to Utopia.

That’s how it stands now. How much worse will it be when bullets are flying and they face the threat of starvation or true oppression?

How important will my ideals seem when my choice is to be shot on sight by that side, or perhaps survive another day by holding the line with the side that shoots them on sight?

No, it’s not that bad.

Yet.

But we’re fast running out of options for a peaceful solution.

If I was a Five-Star Admiral in World War II, there’s a good chance I would be bent out of shape about all the losses suffered at Pearl Harbor. But as much as I wished I still had those ships and sailors, I would have to accept reality. And my strategic planning would have to reflect that reality. The debacle at Pearl Harbor could have been avoided in a dozen different ways. But it wasn’t. And lamenting it would not restore my Pacific Fleet to what it was before.

That’s where American idealists are right now. We’ll have to set our course according to the reality we face, and not dwell on what we’ve lost and how avoidable it was, if only _________ or __________ or __________. Frankly, I don’t know how successful I’ll be at this from day to day.

Proelium Veritas by John Murphy – a Review

Vaughn Killian had risen to the top of the candidate class for Black Saber by the end of the first novel in the series. Now he’s ready to graduate…but the Brass isn’t happy with him.

Even in an elite unit like this, there’s an emphasis on by-the-book procedures. Killian is more of a field soldier–hands-on, seat of the pants. While that’s the kind of guy you want in combat, maybe he takes it a bit too far. And it turns out his instinctive warrior ways have backfired on him: because of his disregard for regulations, he’s being held back as cadre to train other candidates while his classmates get deployed. This is the last thing he wanted.

Nonetheless, he’s about to see action anyway. It seems the Carthenogans have somehow discovered the location of Black Saber’s secret training facility, and have dispatched a force of barbaric neandergrunts to capture some personnel and wipe out the rest.

With this second book, the storyline becomes increasingly complex. Murphy bounces around an ensemble cast to weave espionage, political intrigue, combat, and personal drama into the narrative. By book’s end, it’s still a mystery how some of these plot threads will tie together…and where all they will take us before they do. However it all weaves together in the third novel (???), it’s shaping up to be something huge.

It’s probably impossible for any author to write something I can’t nitpick in some way (myself included). But my biggest complaint here has to do with storytelling technique. Specifically: the cliffhanger ending. I think some plot elements could have been tied up a little better…there could have been a bit stronger sense of resolution…and likely we’d still want to read the next book. As is, it kind of feels like a much longer novel that was cut in half.

You may have read military sci-fi with similar elements before (Ender’s Game is one that comes to mind), but chances are you haven’t read a series with as much going on as this one.

Every Blade of Grass by R.A. Mathis – A Review

In this third novel in the Homeland series, there’s a turning point in Civil War II. Some Americans saw the writing on the wall, and bugged out just before “The Second Founding.” They organized while in hiding, and are now coming out to tangle with the forces of the new regime.

The state governments have been dissolved, and what was once the continental USA  has been divided into 10 regions under the totalitarian government of President Tophet. But in Tennessee, there are enough surviving patriots (even in the legislature) that resistance to the takeover is made official. Tennessee will not lay down without a fight.

Sergeant Cole has found the organized resistance–in this instance led by LTC Lee, his old battalion C.O. But concern over his family leads him to undertake his own mission to find them even as the flames of civil war spark to life across the country.

There is significant character development in this book–not just of Cole, either. Eduardo Garcia has quite the interesting character arc, which culminates here.

Author Mathis has masterfully woven a tale of one possible future history of the USA in the Homeland trilogy, which doesn’t bog down in technical details at all, or read like an advertisement for gold, survival supplies, or anything else. What this third novel does deliver is hope. The collapse of the USA as we know it may be inevitable, but it’s comforting to imagine there will be enough people with the wisdom, courage, and competence to mount an effective resistance.

I recommend you read the entire series. And speaking of that: the three novels have been combined into one omnibus edition now.