Gunfighter: A Modern Warrior's Life

Hannukah Giveaway From Hatchette Books

I am pleased to announce, that, once again, the fine folks at Hachette Books have asked me to host a holiday giveaway.  As a matter of fact, this giveaway is especially cool in that it has three parts.   Hachette Books is giving away three sets of holiday-specific books for Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa.

The first part will be a five book giveaway for Hanukkah ,since it begins tomorrow.  This giveaway begins today and will run through Monday, December 14th.  All you need to do is to click HERE, at The Great Gunfighter Giveawayand leave a comment about your favorite Hanukkah songs and traditions.  That's it.  You'll be entered.... and here is the kicker, you don't even have to be Jewish to win, because you know that your Holiday-loving pal Gunfighter is all about equal opportunity.

The books in the prize pack are:

Start-up Nation By Dan Senor, Saul Singer

The Monuments Men By Robert M. Edsel , Bret Witter

Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish By Shana Liebman

The Woman Who Named God By Charlotte Gordon

 A Lucky Child By Thomas Buergenthal , Elie Wiesel

 

I will announce the winner on Tuesday, the 15th.

Many thanks to the folks at Hachette for asking me to host for them... anything that I can do to put more books into someone's hands is a double blessing.

Now, get busy and click that mouse, because comments are closed, here.

Book Review: Pursuit of Honor

I recently finished reading Vince Flynn's latest novel, Pursuit of Honor, and I would like to tell you a little bit about it. 

Flynn's main character, Mitchell Rapp, is a CIA counter-terrorist operative who spends his time covertly doing violent and bloody things that most people can't imagine themselves doing.  What I mean by that is the Rapp finds out where terrorists are and he kills them.  Sometimes he kills them after using "enhanced techniques" to interrogate them... which is to say he sometimes tortures them.  If you are waiting for me to get weepy about that, keep waiting. 

 

Anyway, in this novel, which picks up immediately after the end of the last, is about finding the terrorists that got away in the last book, so that Rapp can do what he normally does, but there is a fly in the ointment (isn't there always?).

 

In this story, Rapp's fellow operative, Mike Nash, is starting to burn out, and his family life is suffering along with him as he wrestles, morally, with the things that his job requires him to do, and living the secret life that he does.  These feelings are not only affecting NAsh's marriage, but also his ability to think clearly in the field.

 

I won't give any spoilers as to how Rapp and Nash go about dealing with the terrorists who are still at large America, other than to say that you'll like that part of the story if suspense, action, skulduggery, and cloak & dagger adventure are your thing.  Nor will I give anything away as to how Rapp is able to help Mike NAsh find a solution to his personal woes, but he does both with great effect.

 

Vince Flynn writes a good story most of the time, and he has done a fair job here, but as a reader, I would warn him that he should probably leave off with his political tirades masked as soliloquies by Mitch Rapp.  Truthfully, Mr Flynn, it gets tiresome... so give it a rest, because you are beginning to sound like something of a crackpot. 

Book Review - True Blue

Several weeks ago, the fine folks at Hachette Books were kind enough to ask me if I wanted to review an advanced copy of David Baldacci's new police mystery, entitled "True Blue".  Despite the fact that I almost never read police stories (never mind what I do for a living), I decided to give it a go.  Since today is the official release date for the book, there is no better time than now for a review.

OK, let's get to it, shall we?  I enjoyed this book.  I did... and that surprised me.  I fully expected a lot of crappy and archaic terms that someone got of a badly-made police movie from the 1950's... but that isn't what happened.  Baldacci seems to have really done his homework especially as it regards the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department.  This simple fact helped me enjoy the book more that I would have thought, because I have so many pals on the Department (special shout out to my protege M, in 1D). 

In this story, Baldacci tells the tale of Mason "Mace" Perry, a hot shot former police officer who was set-up, convicted of a crime that she did not commit, and imprisoned.  Her sister, Elizabeth, is Washington DC's Chief of Police (hello Cathy Lanier!), a true leader in this ever politicized town.  When Mace is finally released from prison, she figures that the only way she can get back on the force is to bring to justice, all of the people who set her up, thereby restoring her honor (and her eligibility to wear the blue again).  She'll have a long way to go, because as soon as she get's out people start getting murdered.

Despite her sister's repeated warnings, Mace sets out to investigate one of the murders on her own, and then she meets Ace Georgetwon lawyer Roy Kingman.  Combining forces, Mace and Roy begin to... well, I think that I will let you find out the rest on your own, but believe me when I twell you, this is where the wild ride begins! 

In this book you will find murders, police procedure, lawyers (good and bad), spies, government deception, crime in the name of  "National Security" (and haven't we had enough of that?!), corruption, and all sorts of action.

If you live in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, I think that you will enjoy the book, even though Baldacci could have been a little more descriptive of the specific locations he used to tell his story, but truthfully, I don't think that any of this impinges on the story itself.

If you like police mysteries, you'll like this book.  Give it a read, I don't think that you'll be unhappy.  As I said, today is the official relase date for the book, so it is available at local bookstores and online.

GF

Please Note:  While Hachette Books provided a copy of the book, I have not been compensated in any other way.

Hitler's War - A Book Review

Dear Dr. Turtledove,

I have been reading your books with great joy for nearly twenty years.  The first book of yours that I read was the wonderful "Guns of The South".  That started my journey through your work that, up until fairly recently I have enjoyed immensely.  Since 1992, I have taken one of your novels (whichever is most recent at the time) on vacation when my wife and I would travel to someplace away from our busy lives,and spend days having the time to read quietly... whether it was on the sandy white beaches of Montego Bay Jamaica (which is where I read the first two Worldwar novels), or Disney World, where I just finished reading "Htiler's War".  Your books were always a great avenue for my interest in history as well as the fanciful, and well-researched and thought-out alternatives of the way things could have been.

I wish that I could say that I loved you most recent effort, but that would be dishonest.  To be blunt, sir, this story, while starting at an interesting point, was formulaic to the point of being repetitive crap.  Your point-of-view characters all sound identical to each other, and identical to so many other characters in your other novels. 

I always had the impression that you used the similarities of your characters as a vehicle to illustrate the sameness of humanity, no matter our religion, nationality, or social status, but it has come to the point of tedium.

In this particular novel, the characters were so thin, they may as well been made of tissue paper.  The plot, which should have been interesting, is plodding.  The arc of the story was hollow.  I realize that this will turn into another long series in which you take three or four volumes to tell the tale, but I shan't be reading the rest.  I shan't finish because I don't think that you care.  Either you don't care about getting this story told, or your publisher just wants to drag things out... which would explain the ending of "Hitler's War".

I am fully aware, Dr. Turtledove, that you are a professional writer, and as such, you need to write regularly to make a living.  I appreciate that, but I wish I had the impression that you were at least making something of an effort to entertain your fans.

In the past several years, you have retold the American Civil War in several different ways.  Likewise the Second World War ad nauseum.  Perhaps it is time to write about something else. 

Cordially,

Gunfighter

Stream of Conciousness?

I listened to Led Zeppelin and The Who on the way into the office this morning... at volumes suited to making the ears bleed. Don't hate me because I like it loud.

I drove past a guy changing a flat tire while I was driving through that Springfield Interchange... I kept driving. Does the fact that I always stop to help a woman with a flat tire make me a sexist?

Adam Lambert has more talent now, than Kris Allen will ever have in his life... even if he lives to be 723 years old. He was robbed.

I used to be a Republican, but couldn't stand the stink inside of the party after the 1994 take-over by the crackpot wing... which is still in charge. I wish them confusion in the wilderness.

I have little time or patience for people who think that killing Al Qaeda leaders/operatives is a bad thing. What else do you do with a rabid dog? You can't reason with it, so you have to kill it... and just because these particular rabid dogs walk upright on two legs, doesn't mean they have to be treated humanely.

I'm listening to the theme from "Rocky" as I type this.

My new tattoo is healing nicely, and I have to tell you that IT. FREAKIN'. ROCKS. Believe it!

"If you carry a gun, you always have to be thinking about who it is ok to kill" Yes, that's true, but not necessarily wrong.

I still have the origami Jesus that one of my Sunday school students made for me two years ago. He is pinned to the wall of my cubicle, right next to my Jerusalem cross (from Jerusalem, no less)
I have shooters everyday this week, but I just put in a leave request for Friday. I'm playin' hooky. Well, not really, I have a Doctor's appointment, but it will feel like a hooky day when I don't get out of bed at 0415.

Not all warriors are soldiers. Most soldiers aren't warriors.

When blogging becomes a chore, instead of a joy, you ought to quit doing it.... unless someone is giving you money for it.

Time to pull out the ammo for today.

Book Review: Russian Amerika

The premise of this book begins with the fact that Czar Nicholas, of Russia, survived and beat back the Russian revolution in 1917.  This means that at the time of the story, 1987-88, the Czars are still ruling Russia.  In this world, North America is made up of The United States, The Confederate States, The First People's Nation, New France (Quebec), British Canada, The Republic of California, Deseret, The Republic of Texas, New Spain (Mexico), and Russian Amerika (Alaska).

The story opens with a charter boat Captain who runs afoul of the Czar's intelligence apparatus, and ends up in an Alaskan gulag, before the Russians can work him to death, he and other prisoners are rescued by a heretofore unknown liberation group made up largely by Den Indians (what we might refer to today as Athabaskans).

It turns out that the Den aren't too happy about life under the Czar and his brutal Cossacks, and they have decided to do something about it.  Their armed resistance was a growing nuisance to the Russians until they discovered that the charter boat Captain that they had rescued was a former officer in the Czar's "Troika Guard" (think Foreign Legion).  Major Grigoiy Pietrovich Grigiyevich was a godsend who eventually became the commander of the Den army, who, after some help from the Republic of California, and The United States led the Den army to victory and independence.

OK, not a bad book, not a great book, not a particularly well-written book, but not to shabby either.  It was fun enough to read... although the author's (Stoney Compton) grasp of the use of Russian patronymics could be a little sharper.  The premise was a bit different than many of the alternate histories that we often see, so the gets points for that.  Compton loses points for making the book overly romantic in that all of the good guys are sterling characters and all of the Russians are moral degenerates.

As I said, it was fun enough to read, especially if you enjoy the genre.

GF

Book Review: The American Revolution 100

An excellent book on the basic histories and personalities that anyone serious about studying our revolution must know!

Not only does the author rank the people, battles, and other events according to their importance to the fighting and winning of the revolution, he also peels away the cookie-cutter veneer on some historical personages that we have been propagandized into believing by a disinterested and lazy educational system.

Further, Lanning makes no bones about discussing the myth of American battlefield superiority over the British.

This book belongs in your revolutionary collection, even if it is the only book there.

Read it.

Book Review: Extreme Measures

Last year, I reviewed a Vince Flynn novel called  Protect & Defend and told you all how much I enjoyed it.  Well, author Vince Flynn has released his latest offering, and it doesn't disappoint.

In his newest novel, released October 21st, Flynn once again delves into not only the dirty, vile, morally indefensible world of radical Islamic terrorism, but also gets into the morass of Washington, DC politics.

Flynn's main character, Mitchell Rapp, is a clandestine CIA operator, a counter-terrorist operator who works out in the field, killing or capturing the avowed enemies of the United States, and he is good at what he does.  When the novel opens, we find Rapp and another operator interrogating two senior Taliban/Al Qaeda prisoners about a terror operation that is about to take place inside the United States.  Not surprisingly, the terrorists believe that they can hang tough and not answer questions due to post-Abu Ghraib political pressures. 

They didn't count on meeting Mitch Rapp.

Rapp was having some success getting information from the prisoners, when the base commander, looking to protect his own ass, put a stop to the harsh interrogation, and had the Military Police arrest Rapp and hold him in custody.

The CIA get's Rapp out of jail and whisks him back to Washington, where he and operative Mike Nash have to do major damage control, appearing before Congress, taking heat from chair-warming bureaucrats etc...  While all this is happening, the terrorist cell that is plotting an attack arrives in the United States and heads to Washington, DC.

I don't want to give too many spoilers here, so I'll end here... except to say that during the attacks, my favorite Capitol Hill watering hole, the Hawk 'n Dove was destroyed.

Anyway, in Rapp's inimitable fashion he goes about hunting down and killing as many of the perpetrators as possible, along the way, making a very high-powered ally out of a political enemy.

Look, Flynn's novels aren't heavy.  They aren't politically correct, either.  They are exceptionally violent (although not mindlessly so). The characters swear, they talk about sex, they kill people, and they take their kids to LaCrosse practice.  Flynn's novels are not likely to win any fiction prizes, either, as they are fairly formulaic, but what they are mostly is a whole lot of fun.

I highly recommend this book.

Book Review: The Scourge of God

One of my favorite authors, S.M. Stirling is at it again, with his newest publication, The Scourge of God (A novel of The Change).

This new offering takes place in the year 2021, which is also known as CY (change year) 23.  In this world that Stirling has crafted, there was a "Change" that took place in 1998, wherein all electricity, mysteriously ceased working.  Internal combustion engines stopped firing, gunpowder no longer burned, and Nuclear power plants went dead.  In this world, all at once, the lights went out, and a new age began.

In the first three installments of what will eventually be seven (I think) novels, we saw exactly what this loss of technology and power meant to the world in general, and the United States in particular, through several point-of-view characters:  Mike Havel, former Marine and pilot who is transporting a wealthy man and his family on a private charter plane when "the lights went out"; Juniper McKenzie, a bard/busker who is a single mother as well as an active member of a group of Wiccans; and Norman Arminger, who is a not-very-nice member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. 

In these novels, Stirling shows us, in sometimes very stark detail, that despite our claims at "civilization",  we are no further removed from what we would call barbarism, than a few missed meals, and a few dark nights.  The characters in these novels not only survive, but thrive in a world very different than the one they knew.

In this newest installment, young Rudi McKenzie (the son of Mike Havel and Juniper McKenzie), and a band of young people from the various new nations that were born out of the chaos in the Pacific northwest, have set out on a quest to get to the center of the mystery of "The Change", which lies in the retrieval of a sword, from far-away Nantucket island.   The problem is that in order for McKenzie and his friends have to get to Nantucket, they have to traverse most of what used to be the United States, which means crossing the territory of the very hostile United States of Boise, bands of un-friendly "neo-Sioux", and the Army of the Church Universal Triumphant (CUT)

Mind you, this is no sword and sorcery novel (well, maybe it is, I guess that depends on your view of science fiction), but it will certainly appeal to people who enjoy that genre as well as anyone who enjoys "time displacement" stories as well.

I won't give any spoilers, but if I were a science fiction reader who had never had the pleasure of reading anything by Stirling, I would run... run, not walk, to your nearest bookseller and start reading S.M. Stirling's stuff.

You'll be glad you did.

Book Review: "A" is for ATTICUS

You know me.  You know about lots of things in my life because in my narcissism, I love sharing things with you.  Not only do you know of my love for my family, you also know that  I love some really crappy television shows, and politics.  You know that I own several kilts, ant that I have a few tattoos.  You know what I do for a living, and that I teach Sunday School and coach youth soccer.

You also know that I love to read.

I recently had the good fortune to review a new book from the Hachette Group called "A" is for Atticus, by Lorilee Craker. 

I have had the pleasure of reviewing lots of books, but this is a new thing for me, because it is the first time because I have ever reviewed a baby name book.  Truthfully, I had no real expectations from the book, because I figured that it would be another collection of names with some sort of focus.  I was about to be surprised.

As you know, there are a huge number of baby name books out there, and many of them have a particular focus, giving parents an incredible wealth of potential names for their soon-to-be-born children.  As you can imagine, all of these books start to look alike in a very short amount of time.

Those of you who have become parents since the dawn of the Internet, also know that there are innumerable resources for baby names online... and that there are computer models that track the popularity of names and identify trends in baby names.  

This book is a different because it is all about names from great books.  Think about that... how many times have you read a book and thought to yourself "THAT would be a great name for a child"? I have done that more than once, and if we, by some miracle of heaven, ever have a boy child, his name will be Hamish... the Scottish form of James (Bond... James Bond).

Thumbing through this book of names made me smile, alot.  Seeing the names of so many familiar characters can't help but remind you of the joy of a lifetime of reading.  If you are the reading sort and are planning to have children, you should give this book a try.  If you are someone that reads, and you would like to have something of a reminder of your old "friends" from literature, this book is a must.

This review is cross-posted at The Review From Here

GF

PS: Can you really get better than Atticus Finch?