Doomsday Inn by Berber Lothbruk – a Review

Subtitle: Survival, Civilization, and the Socio-Sexual Hierarchy.

You could just as easily pitch this concept as “Red Pill Masculinity meets prepper fiction.”

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) takes the power grid out, stranding a random cross-section of people at a rustic old motel in the mountains. Fortunately for them, the motel owner is a prepper, and the place is wired to go off-grid during just such an emergency. But that doesn’t mean the reset of civilization will be a picnic.

The people at the motel find themselves colonists, of a sort, in this dangerous new world. But most of the problems and dangers they will face are caused by human nature, stripped down to its raw essence when the SHTF.

Here’s an excerpt provided by the author:

“I think we’ve just suffered an EMP—or electromagnetic pulse,” Luke said. “For those of you who haven’t heard about an EMP, it’s basically a weapon that ruins all modern electronics in a specified radius. I have no idea how large the radius is in this instance, so I don’t know how much of the country has been affected. I do know a high-altitude atomic blast above the state of Kansas would affect all the continental United States as well as parts of Canada and Mexico.”

“What does all that mean?” the white woman asked, with an irritated tone.

Luke took a deep breath. “Almost nothing in the USA…civilian or military…is hardened against an EMP. I don’t know how to sugar-coat this: we’ve just been bombed back to the Stone Age.”

“You said you don’t know how much area is affected,” one of the Middle Eastern men pointed out.

“True that,” Luke replied. “But there was some evidence in recent days of hostility from China. They have the capability of detonating a high-altitude nuke above Kansas. It could possibly be a different nuclear-capable nation, or a terrorist organization. So, I have my hunch, but can’t say for certain whether it’s limited or nationwide.”

“We just heard a car start,” the other Middle Eastern man said.

Luke nodded. “In general, pre-‘solid state’ electronics are safe from an EMP. So, some older vehicles, or vehicles that have been hardened against an EMP, will still run.”

The group exploded with questions and demands. One he was able to discern had to do with whose vehicle they just heard starting. He ignored it and most others to focus on a comment from the white dad.

“There are children here,” the obese slug said. “You can’t go slinging careless remarks like ‘we’re in the Stone Age now’ or ‘all our electronics are fried.’ People are scared enough without wild exaggerations. You don’t know what’s going on.”

Luke looked directly at him. “I’ll sperg it out for your benefit, then: technically, we’ve been bombed back to the ‘60s or ‘70s. However, nearly all the electronics in existence back then has been replaced with ‘solid state’ technology. The old ‘obsolete’ stuff has been scrapped. That means that even the technology people had in the mid-20th Century is gone, now. We can’t fall back to that stage of civilization because all that infrastructure, and the know-how to build and maintain it, has been abandoned. You could say we’ve just been set back to the 1800s, but we’re not even there, really. We’ve got no horse-drawn wagons, no steam locomotives, and I’ll bet none of you know how to churn butter or knit a sweater. All that is lost, too. Civilization just got reset. I know it’s tough to swallow, but I’m telling you like it is now, because you’re going to have to adapt fast if you want to live.”

In one aspect at least, this is like the “adult westerns” and “men’s fiction of the 1980s: It has graphic sex. For those who haven’t read that old-school men’s fiction, I don’t mean “tasteful love scenes” written in a flowery style that leaves some detail to the imagination, and people don’t even have bodies but only “frames.” Nope. This is how you might hear intercourse described in the barracks or the locker room. It’s not as raunchy as some of Lou Cameron’s (writing as Ramsay Thorne) Renegade series, but it’s more than what most readers are probably used to.

I cut my teeth on Len Levinson novels, so “mature audience” stuff isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for me. It’s easy to skip over these scenes (I think there’s about five of them, give-or-take). But frankly, some of Lothbruk’s colorful metaphors and phrases during the sex scenes are hilarious. Feminist heads will explode from reading these…or pretty much any other part of this book.  No demographic is handled with kid gloves, in fact The author, like his main character, just doesn’t care who it offends.

What sets this apart from vintage men’s adventure is it is modern “red pill” outlook, that is in sync with the Manosphere like no other fiction I’m aware of. It’s very conscious of the socio-sexual hierarchy, hypergamy, game, frame, “the rationalization hamster” (though I don’t think it is called that in the book)…and the alpha of the colony winds up with a “harem” before it’s all over. Plus, there’s some R/K selection and generational theory sprinkled in.

I would describe the prepper fiction of James Wesley Rawles as novels built around reviews of survival gear (based on the one book that I read). Berber Lothbruk’s prepper/survival fiction is built around diverse characters, their interactions, and their roles from an anthropological perspective. I thought the story had a strong concept, and was executed pretty well.

However, publishing has been corrupted like everything else and the industry is now by, for, and about women. And not just tradpup/legacy publishing from the Big Five. Most (like 99% of) independent authors conform to the Blue Pill Storytelling Doctrine. Even from right-leaning authors, you’re mostly spoon-fed the same old Strong Independent Womyn tropes, virtue-signaling to the LGBTWTF Mafia, etc. Thanks to all that, masculine men rarely read anything that’s not either online, or 100+ years old.

So, even without considering the usual SJW thought-policing at Amazon, the bovine feminized cancel culture that permeates our society is probably going to bury this book so far down into e-book obscurity that it can never be discovered by readers who might actually enjoy it. Doomsday Inn took a big “social proof” hit with it’s very first review–a one-star rating by  a woman who has probably never been exposed to anything so unapologetically “misogynist.”  With the very first review so negative, Doomsday Inn is likely doomed for good. However, there’s no doubt I will read this one again when the mood strikes.

“You know, it had potential. There are loads of these types of books but the story here had a good angle. The writing isn’t bad, either…

…When I got to: “she had a damn nice turd-cutter” I decided that was more than enough. That was disgusting…

…It included a misogynistic tone which, although the male characters were portrayed as fairly rough around the edges, bled through past what the characters were thinking…”

The Chosen One by Paul Hair – a Review

I’m not sure how intentional Paul Hair was  about paying tribute to Indiana Jones with this story, but I couldn’t help making comparisons while reading it (specifically to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Raiders of the Lost Ark). However, it’s more than just a pastiche or fan fiction.

The author uses pulp adventure to thematically concentrate on the old axiom: “Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Which, I guess, would have made it a candidate for a spot in some of the classic adventure magazines in the heyday of pulp fiction. Except that Hair weaves in some more modern elements–like a couple typical Current Year college students assisting on the quest.

Plot-wise, The Chosen One is almost formulaic…until you get to a big twist that I honestly wasn’t expecting. Having communicated with Paul a little bit (he does blog here, occasionally) I wouldn’t figure him as an author who likes moral ambiguity. But I just don’t know for sure which character’s perspective he endorses.

There is some ideology that pops up in the story, but it’s on the subtle side, compared to his flash fiction. When I get political in my prose, I tend to use a sledgehammer. So do some of the other authors who contributed to this anthology. That’s not how Paul tackles it, unless I’m just dense. You might find yourself pondering and questioning long after you finish reading the story…which could be the author’s core purpose in writing it.

Some of the tales in Appalling Stories 4 are super-quick reads. But this one’s got some meat on it. I thought it was a fun read.

Riots and Street Fights, In Fact and Fiction

This is more of a preview than a review, of the last tale in Appalling Stories 4, that I originally titled “Street-Fighting Man.” But the editor thought it should be simply “Hockey Man” since that is what the main character is called, when guised as his alter-ego.

Nick Polgar leads a double life. By day (normal days, anyway) he codes at a cubicle in silicon Valley for a typical SJW Big Tech junta. But when there is some head-busting to do during demonstrations (which turn into urban melees), he rampages through the streets as “Hockey Man.”

The former “goon” and “enforcer” on the ice armors up and wields a hockey stick in battle, putting his brawling experience to use against Antifa Blackshirts and other communist rioters–just like the ones burning America’s cities down lately in real life.

This yarn is more straight-up action than the others in Appalling Stories 4, and probably one of the longest in the anthology, too.

Let Them Eat… by Chrome Oxide & Anonymous-9 – a Review

In this dystopian yarn set in the near-future California, we get a dialog between a politician and his assistant about some economic issues.

Writing satire is becoming increasingly difficult. In order for it to not be confused with straight political drama, or the transcript of a Project Veritas recording, you really have to push it over the top.

“Arnie wondered if there could be a relationship between the decreasing income and increasing number of wealthy people and businesses leaving the state. He made a mental note to set up a committee to investigate.”

“No politician has ever lied to the public and I don’t intend to start. Trust me.”

Can’t you just picture Leslie Nielsen deadpanning lines like those? Those are just two of a cluster that got increasingly funny until I was literally laughing out loud.

And yet…in a few more months, this particular satire might be indistinguishable from reality, too.

This tale can also be found in Appalling Stories 4.

Free Gershwin by Mike Baron – a Review

Appalling Stories 4 is full of yarns that seem to be getting more and more relevant as the year 2020 grinds on. This one is no exception. Themes include the Islamification of America, the cowardice and complicity of”woke” capital in the US decline, and the commercialization of classic western art/culture.

Our hero is just a guy who appreciates Gershwin’s music, but doesn’t appreciate it being cheapened into a ditty for TV advertisements.  Let me assure you: this guy takes his music seriously, and he’s not one to give up easily.

Quick and funny. This protagonist sure can turn lemons into lemonade. I wonder if he reads George Hayduke while listening to George Gershwin.

Fisking Commie Thought Police “Reviews” Episode 1

It didn’t take long for one of the self-appointed Thought Cops (who perpetually lurk around Amazon in their tireless crusade against wrongthink) to point and shriek once Appalling Stories 4 was published.

I have pretty much given up posting reviews at the Bulldyke Merchant, or commenting. I’ll do it here since Bezos can’t put his thumb on this little scale. Here we go:

“There is often a point in a teenager’s life when he wants to shock everybody with how edgy and offensive he can be.”

Here in the first sentence this individual has already resorted to personal insults. She is obviously outraged that somebody with the wrong ideology was allowed to publish a book.

“Now imagine physically-grown individuals who never grew past emotional adolescence who think that stuff is still cool.”

Okay, imagining… Oh, wow! There’s Spike Lee! And Martin Scorcese!

“Now imagine that for hundred and ninety-plus pages.”

Well, at least she looked at the product page before she began to screech.

“The tone of each story consistently equivocates scrofulous sneering for wit, ham-fisted sanctimony for satire, and a conviction of supercilious superiority so thick that it practically drips off each electronic page.”

Translation: “I stalked one of the authors and learned from their blog/social media status that these unwoke counterrevolutionaries had the audacity to publish something! Of course, it is my civic duty to torpedo such thoughtcrime however I can, since we’re at least one election cycle away from being able to burn books like these and arrest the authors. Meanwhile: notice my literary panache as I string together several multi-syllable words, with some alliteration thrown in for good measure! Aren’t you impressed? It is I who is the clever, witty, talented one!”

“Many writers here clearly were aiming for George Carlin but fell short by several orders of magnitude.”

Picking up a strong boomer vibe here. Boomers are the best at everything, you see–comedy, film making, outsourcing jobs overseas, normalizing sexual perversion–but especially literary satire! Nobody measures up to the boomer legacy, but naturally these unwashed rube authors must have been trying to.

“The greatest doom for a satirist is that their writings disclose to the world that they are no better than the opponents they wish to mock, at which point the gig is up- flipping through these stories, one tends to come to the conclusion that the gig was over before it began.”

But enough about George Carlin, John Lithgow and Garry Trudeau.  I guess when you foam at the mouth during a tantrum, the spittle can land on anybody.

“If it is subversive stories you wish to read, your money might be better spent watching a Richard Pryor special or reading one of George Carlin’s books.”

Yup: boomer for sure–and evidently has tingles for George Carlin. Probably owns the full Carlin stand-up collection on DVD and quotes from the routines at Starbucks and after yoga.

“If you wait a couple of decades, maybe these authors will have finally become adults with something to say, instead of edgy little kids merely seeking your attention.”

She’s straining to hide her hysterical outrage behind the same rudimentary attempt at an insult. We have ourselves a one-trick pony, here, folks. Notice this verbose “reviewer” offered no specific criticism or mentioned any details about the stories at all. But she has learned from past mistakes–never admitting that she hasn’t actually read the work in question.

Stay tuned for more fisking in the future.

Adios America by Paul Clayton – a Review

This is a dystopian story about a man with bleak prospects, backed into a corner, but who still has the will to live.

The main character is an older man trying to escape mandatory euthanasia in an American future much like what Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Occasio-Cortez envision. In an ironic turnaround from our present reality, Americans pay coyotes to smuggle them into Mexico. At least that’s what the protagonist is planning and saving for.

Like his wife, he was supposed to report for termination when he reached a certain age. Unlike her, he went on the run instead. Now homeless, he almost has enough money saved up to bribe the coyote.

Something I particularly liked about this story is the moral shortcuts the protagonist had to take to survive in a hostile society. I groan when a hero is so invested in some arbitrary code of conduct (or so foolish) that they refuse to take the weapon of a fallen enemy who was just trying to kill him moments ago.  Especially in a morally bankrupt police state, it would be impossible to survive (much less accomplish anything good and worthwhile) without breaking some rules.  Paul Clayton seems to understand that.

This character breaks some rules, and is smart about it. But his love of literature causes him to push his luck too far, just when he’s acquired what he needs to escape.

This is a quick read which you might could say is “hardboiled,” due to its grim pragmatism. It is just one of the tales in Appalling Stories 4.

Previously, I reviewed another Appalling Story: My Lai by David Dubrow. I intended to review others from the same volume in quick succession, but life got in the way. Nevertheless, I’ should get at least a few done soon.

D-Day: America Then and Now

On this day in 1944, the greatest amphibious invasion in history took place (ahem! after the greatest airborne operation the night before).

This was the culmination of years of planning and sacrifice-in-solidarity by Americans  who thought they were setting the world free.

America faces a greater existential threat right now, right here on the home front,  than any threat posed by the Axis Powers then.

Since 1917 Americans have been sent to fight other countries’ wars and die for everything except American interests. American fighting men served and put their lives on the line, believing they were preserving freedom. I was one of them.

Has the cause of freedom actually been served, though? Is the world, or even our country, a better place thanks to all the sacrifices Americans have made?

Americans enjoy less freedom now than ever before. We’re also less prosperous than previous generations, even when the GDP and Dow Jones numbers look good. What has happened to our industrial infrastructure, that was once the most powerful in the world? What has happened to our families? What has happened to morality? What has happened to our unity?

If China attacked us tomorrow like Japan did on 12/7/41, about half the country would be clamoring  for surrender. They would want, and work toward helping, the Communists win because they hate our country so much.

How would we pay for a war–borrow the money from our enemies (and continue giving millions of it back to them as foreign aid)? How would we get medicine and spare parts to our troops, when we’ve been duped into outsourcing all that production to our enemies?

What have our sacrifices earned us?

We’re on the verge of losing everything we still have left, and half the population wants to make it worse. In fact, they will attack you if you get in the way of the corruption and destruction.

The masses were deceived then, and are deceived now. But the America we live in now is not the America our grandfathers thought they were fighting for.

Guide to Social Justice Newspeak Part 2 (Illustrated)

This is the COVID-1984/Riot Edition of the Newspeak Guide. You might want to read the first installment, too.

You may have noticed a lot of people on TV and social media using language in confusing ways that is at odds with the definitions of the words you are familiar with. That’s because you are simply not caught up to the Current Year. Well, the Thought Police are here to set you straight:

CAUCASIAN: A white person. But in certain circumstances, also Hispanics, Asians, or Africans who don’t fulfill the elite’s expectations.

 

CONSTITUTION: It’s not the actual document that the fathers of our country wrote as a foundation for American government, you silly linear thinker. It’s whatever helps the elites achieve greater power at the expense of your liberty and property. It’s a living document. In fact, it’s so alive that there’s not even a hard copy of it–it only exists in the rationalization mechanisms of people who are intellectually superior to you (i.e: Democrats and news network personalities).

INJUSTICE: Using factual instead of emotional reasoning–like reciting actual statistics on crime, police brutality, and race…instead of dutifully skewing it to support the America is Racist Narrative. Injustice can best be corrected by stealing clothes, sneakers or big screen TVs, beating store owners to death, and setting other people’s property on fire.

PEACEFUL PROTEST: These occur when people of the correct political affiliation steal, kill, and destroy.

RULE OF LAW: This situation occurs when collectivist tyrants exercise dictatorial powers and enforce arbitrary or partisan rules by fiat; but the law doesn’t apply to them (especially not that law they swear to uphold and defend when they take office).  Rule of law means politicized law enforcement covers up crimes, tampers with and destroys evidence to protect partisan allies, while framing and railroading innocent political rivals with the assistance of secret courts…repeatedly lying about the entire process while still collecting 6-figure government paychecks and never being held accountable.

Obviously the uselessness extends well beyond 2016.

SCIENCE: Something you don’t understand, you ignorant, deplorable rube! Science means that effective medicine is dangerous; dubious vaccines are mandatory; being locked indoors for months breathing concentrated germs is healthier than getting fresh air, sunshine and exercise; abortions are essential but knee surgery is not; infected patients should be put in nursing homes among the most vulnerable people instead of using the thousands of empty hospital beds available; and people can catch the virus at the polls but not when involved in a riot. Oh yeah–there’s also 300 genders.

 

TERRORISM: This occurs when people of the wrong political affiliation peacefully assemble to petition their government for the redress of grievances. Especially if they also exercise their right to keep and bear arms.

A Tale of Two Georges

Is anyone surprised that the money trail to the agitators turning these protests into riots leads back to George Soros?

Leftist goons had pre-staged bricks, incendiary devices and other supplies in the cities where these riots were planned. The only surprising part of it is that there is some video evidence that has (so far) survived purging by the Big Tech Thought Police. As you watch them, you might be able to guess why.

Here is a tweet from a profane woman who confronts a carload of agitators apparently driving around passing out bricks.

Here’s one of Antifa members spraypainting  BLM (Black Lives Matter) slogans on a Starbucks.

In this one, cops stand by while white women deface somebody else’s property with BLM graffiti. It will be interesting to hear the coincidence theorists explain this one away–that it’s all just a spontaneous conflagration of incompetence and accidents with no planning or coordination whatsoever.

The Democrat/Media Machine realizes that stuff like this is leaking out and is scrambling to spin some damage control. The bald-faced liars on TV are trying to convince us that the out-of-state agitators hijacking the protests are “white supremacists” and “alt right.”

Possibly more credible than this “white nationalist agitator” narrative are an increasing number of references to an autopsy that determined George Floyd didn’t die of strangulation but of a preexisting heart condition exacerbated by drug abuse.  I don’t know if that’s true and it doesn’t matter a whole lot. If you abuse somebody with a heart condition the way Floyd was abused, you risk causing a cardiac event that he may die from.

We pay the salaries of law enforcement personnel to protect and serve US–not to have some Hitler Youth cop smash his knee into the neck of a citizen who is already handcuffed, for eight minutes. I don’t care if Floyd was accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill. No cops are kneeling on the necks of the Federal Reserve shareholders who are printing fake money by the trillions. Why is passing counterfeit chump change deserving of death, but passing fake money on a massive, national scale is legitimate?

I’ve also been hearing that the other three cops involved were not all white, which explains why you probably haven’t seen their photos–it doesn’t fit the “systemic racism” Narrative that is the battle cry of this insurrection. Apparently, all four cops have been arrested. The rioters initially justified their rampage because they hadn’t.  It was very difficult to find the photos I posted above and below. But two of the officers at the scene, for sure, were not white (unless you adopt the racial profiling protocol used by the MSM regarding the Trayvon Martin case).  If justice is not to be a mockery, then all four need to stand trial regardless of their race or ethnicity.

Do you want four uniformed goons like these knocking on your door at night on a “red flag” call?

That being said, what happened to George Floyd is obviously not an excuse to break into somebody’s store, steal their property, beat the store owner to death and burn the place down. But the Democrat/Media Machine disagrees with me. Watch the following clip from 14:07 to about 17:09.

The race pimps use incidents like this to push the “America is Racist” Narrative in addition to trying to dismantle what’s left of the rule of law. We’ve all heard of Rodney King, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and George Floyd. I’ll bet you don’t know the name of a single white victim of police, even though there are far more of them. Why do you suppose that is?

Police brutality is an issue, folks. Big city police have the attitude of occupational troops, and consider citizens “hostiles.” But statistically, it is whites who suffer the most. Last year, for instance, twice as many unarmed whites were shot by police than unarmed blacks.

The stories and video footage are harder to find, for obvious reasons, but here’s a cop gunning down a car accident survivor in cold blood (1:06), then calling in to dispatch afterwards (1:35) that he’s “got an armed response…(from) a male in the car who refuses to get out.” You can see the guy was trying to get out when the cop shot him. Ever hear about this one?

Most big city cops don’t choose that career because they want to protect and serve. They know that a badge gives them license to abuse power, and most judges will side with them. Going through the academy does not magically transform these people into altruistic heroes. All kinds of dirtbags are on police forces, including racists who happen to be white.  But that’s part of a bigger, broader issue with the people who we have allowed to hijack our government. It’s  not due to some fault with the Bill of Rights that these authoritarians routinely ignore.

Red-Blooded American Men Examine Pop-Culture and the World