According To Hoyt

Book Promo

If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. If you feel a need to re-promo the same book do so no more than once every six months (unless you’re me or my relative. Deal.) One book per author per week. Amazon links only. Oh, yeah, by clicking through and buying (anything, actually) through one of the links below, you will at no cost to you be giving a portion of your purchase to support ATH through our associates number. I ALSO WISH TO REMIND OUR READERS THAT IF THEY WANT TO TIP THE BLOGGER WITHOUT SPENDING EXTRA MONEY, CLICKING TO AMAZON THROUGH ONE OF THE BOOK LINKS ON THE RIGHT, WILL GIVE US SOME AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR PURCHASES MADE IN THE NEXT 24HOURS, OR UNTIL YOU CLICK ANOTHER ASSOCIATE’S LINK. PLEASE CONSIDER CLICKING THROUGH ONE OF THOSE LINKS BEFORE SEARCHING FOR THAT SHED, BIG SCREEN TV, GAMING COMPUTER OR CONSERVATORY YOU WISH TO BUY. That helps defray my time cost of about 2 hours a day on the blog, time probably better spent on fiction. ;)*

FROM PATRICK CHILES: BattleSpace.

In space, the Cold War turns hot.

Long before he commanded the Arkangel on its mission to the outer planets, Vladimir Vaschenko was a new cosmonaut defending his country from the high ground of space.

At the height of the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union were in a race not only to the Moon but for military domination of Earth orbit. Through intricate dances of deception and evasion, with astronauts and cosmonauts doggedly angling for advantages over each other, two top-secret spacecraft clash high above Earth. In a battle that neither side would ever acknowledge, the young Lieutenant Vaschenko and an American adversary known as “Cowboy” would be tested in ways neither man could expect.

In this new adventure set in the world of Frozen Orbit, readers will learn how Vladimir Vaschenko earned his status as a hero cosmonaut, why his exploits remained forever classified, and how he came into possession of a certain piece of beloved English fantasy literature discovered decades later aboard the abandoned Arkangel.

FROM SABRINA CHASE: Sky Tribe (Guardian’s Compact Book 3).

Engineers always find a way!

Jens-Peter Oberacker thought the secret research facility for magical craft would be peaceful and quiet–the perfect place to finish his engineering research paper. He didn’t expect a violent gang of thieves to have their eyes on the ships, or having to escape to save his life. Worse yet, he’s now being blamed for the entire thing!

On the run in the last, badly damaged ship, an unexpected encounter with a housemaid on a mansion rooftop saves him from immediate disaster. But why would she lurk on a roof at night? And where did she learn her utter fearlessness of heights?

Perhaps unwisely, Jens-Peter ignores these questions—and the housemaid’s unexpected knife—desperate to find someone, anyone, who can clear his name. And let him finish his paper…

FROM RON CORRIVEAU: The Least Significant

Catherine and Marcus are meant for each other.

They share a deep bond unknown to them.

But on the night of their engagement, a thief on the run from another world removes the essence of Marcus from his body and takes it over to hide among the people of Earth. With his spirit displaced to another dimension, Marcus waits in a vast emptiness as Catherine joins the authority tracking the thief, hoping to reunite Marcus and his body. As time begins to run out and the thief inches closer to being caught, Catherine learns a truth more fantastic than she could imagine.

FROM C. V. WALTER: Bound to the Alien Engineer.

Mindy’s best friend Molly was a maintenance technician on the Bradbury 12. When Molly went missing, Mindy started looking for answers but all she found were more questions. They were supposed to meet up at Geniuscon, a science fiction convention that attracts people from every walk of life, and she knows Molly’s son Aidan is going to be there. Determined to get in touch with her friend, Mindy tracks down Aidan and meets some of his new friends, the guys cosplaying as big, blue aliens.

The first time he heard her voice, Alvola knew Mindy was the one. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t understand the language or touch her skin, the sound of her voice made his body sing. Determined to meet his mate, Alvola volunteers for the mission to Earth to pick up Aidan and meet with the scientists and engineers that will be their first official contacts with humanity. When Alvola actually meets Mindy in person, his mission becomes to keep her by his side, no matter the cost.

FROM TERRY R. LACY: Savannah 1.0: The Quest for Love.

Dan Mitchel is a lonely guy, plagued with OCD and terminal social awkwardness, at times so severe he seems robotic. Raised by a cold, overbearing mother, he fails at every romantic relationship and resigned himself to growing old alone–until he buys Savannah, a companion-bot, the first one able to pass as human. In many ways, his problems are finally over, but in others they are just beginning. Can a robot teach a man what it means to be human?

***

“I may be terminated over Monday’s incident.”

They had watched both Schwarzenegger movies, and he’d explained that a “terminator” was a killer robot. She had enjoyed both of them, but had cheered for the terminators, calling herself “Team Robot.” He’d found it funny, and cheered with her. But it was her only reference to the word, so she looked confused as she asked, “They’re going to kill you?”

FROM CELIA HAYES: Lone Star Sons: Being The Entertaining and Mostly If not Always True Adventures of Texas Ranger Jim Reade and his Blood Brother Delaware Scout Toby Shaw in the Time of the Republic of Texas

The time – 1842
The place – the Republic of Texas, a place threatened and besieged on all frontiers!
Jim Reade lay on his back in the desert dust, incuriously seeing that ominous shadow circle, lower and lower until every finger-like dark feather became distinct against the burning sky . . . He hurt in every bone, from his head to his fingertips, and all the way to his booted toes. . .the sun had blazed on his exposed face and hands for many hours, and there was a mass of congealed blood which had oozed from his forehead, running back into his sweat-matted hair.
Jim Reade, a volunteer Texas Ranger, is the sole survivor of an ambush in the contested Nueces Strip. Rescued by Indian scout, Toby Shaw, the two young men join forces in pursuit of a mysterious wagon carrying a treasure in silver and gold – a treasure with a curse upon it!
Sworn blood-brothers, Jim and Toby meet with other challenges and mysteries, including a trove of documents sought after by spies of three nations, a girl vanished in the midst of a vicious feud between two families, a den of murderous robbers on the Opelousas Trace … and a tiny baby left an orphan in the desert!
Lone Star Sons – the classic Wild West rides again, in this collection of adventures intended for younger readers by the author of the Adelsverein Trilogy.

FROM CEDAR SANDERSON: The Case of the Perambulating Hatrack.

She was trouble, and from the moment she sailed into his office in search of a PI, Soldagh Dennessey was caught in her wake.

In a city where the streets started mean and went worse, Soldagh had carved a relatively solitary existence out between the goblins in their dens of minty iniquity, and the gnomes who’d snitch on their own mothers for rent money. Rough as it was, he’d come from worse family, and had no intention of going back.

As the case grows tangled and terrifying, Soldagh is starting to suspect the past he’s been avoiding lies at the bleeding heart of the matter. And only the few friendships he’s made and an unexpected ally might be enough to save them now…

AND IN CASE YOU’VE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK. (AND YES, NEW STUFF SOON, BUT WE’RE A MONTH FROM SIGNING FOR A NEW PLACE, PROBABLY SIX WEEKS FROM HAVING THIS READY TO GO ON THE MARKET, AND THINGS ARE SYMULTANEOUSLY GOING TOO SLOW AND TOO FAST. (AND I STILL HAVE TO TRAIN DRAGON)).

FROM SARAH HOYT: Other Rhodes (Rhodes Mysteries Book 1).

Lily Gilden has a half-crazed cyborg in her airlock who thinks he’s Nick Rhodes,
a fictional 20th Century detective. If she doesn’t report him for destruction,
she’s guilty of a capital crime.

But with her husband missing, she’ll use every clue the cyborg holds,
and his detective abilities, to solve the crime her husband was investigating
when he disappeared.

With the help of a journalist who is more than he seems,
Lily will risk everything to plunge into the interstellar underworld
and bring the love of her life home!

ALSO FROM SARAH A. HOYT (THAT CHICK DON’T KNOW WHEN TO SHUT UP): Barbarella.

The Siren of Space returns for a series of all-new adventures by a dynamic new creative team! Multi-award winning author SARAH HOYT and rising star artist MADIBEK MUSABEKOV are at the controls as Barbarella leaves space dock on a new mission fraught with unseen layers of danger, duplicity and perhaps a dose of romance! Camelot is home to the rich and powerful class seeking escape from an increasingly crowded and decaying galactic empire. Desperate clandestine transmissions from an enslaved underclass bring Barbarella to investigate, uncovering secrets that lead to more secrets—and the distinct possibility that someone knew she was coming. High concept sci-fi meets the greatest aspects of the human soul in a series that will reveal wonders that both terrify and delight, plus covers by fan-favorites LUCIO PARILLO, DERRICK CHEW, BRIAN BOLLAND and more!

Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.

We recommend that if you have an original vignette, you post that as a new reply. If you are commenting on someone’s vignette, then post that as a reply to the vignette. Comments — this is writing practice, so comments should be aimed at helping someone be a better writer, not at crushing them. And since these are likely to be drafts, don’t jump up and down too hard on typos and grammar.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Your writing prompt this week is: WOBBLE

As most of you know, I am working on Bowl of Red. Which means when Foxfier posted this:

I am now hearing “Dragooooooon in shiiiiiining armor” to the tune of “bridge over troubled water.”

Tom started singing it in my head. But of course, he was just repeating that line.

So then Foxfier, who is perhaps having a slightly evil day suggested:

…..make a Challenge Post to filk the entire song.

And there it is. Go.

Promo tomorrow. Sorry, guys, I was actually ill over night (long story. Probably through stupid garden tricks. I’m allergic to everything under the sun, so wading in to weeds and spreading seeds all over me might not have been the brightest move.)

So, promo and vignettes tomorrow. I kept hoping to wake up more, but still zonked and it’s five thirty.

So, something to do while we wait for things to go truly crazy.

In Portugal when I was growing up, used mostly by the left, there was something called “a zeal strike”, mostly employed when you couldn’t strike, because some meany government wasn’t letting you do so, or because your customers had had about enough. (Or both.)

I believe Heinlein called it White Mutiny (insert obligatory Ree of racisssssm, even though white in this case is in the same sense as “white magic” as opposed to “black magic” none of which have anything to do with humans, since all humans are shades raging from beige to brown. It actually of course relates to light and darkness. But hey, the idiots who hate the light tend to fixate on words and imagine all words have only one meaning, and that the one they obsess about, so whatevs.)

The idea is to do your job, exactly, by the book, applying every single comma and period of the regulations. You’d be amazed what an effect it has.

Look, most of us don’t do things by the book as we’re supposed to do them. Mostly because, particularly in say an office environment, the rules for doing something are so cumbersome that nothing would ever be finished (if it was ever started.)

I mean, I know as a mere housewife, if I brought every rule and exacting measure to bear, dinner would never be cooked. I know this because I’ve taught two boys to cook (against their will, initially.) Hand them a recipe and it all becomes “But it calls for cilantro” “Sure, but cilantro tastes soapy to me, so use parsley.” “But the recipe calls for cilantro.” Or “But it says a quarter teaspoon of salt, and we don’t have a quarter teaspoon measure. I can’t do it.”

Just as effectively, they will not do what is not written down, even though it is absolutely obvious it should be done. I mean, you know, the kid had had soufle before. He SHOULD have known it didn’t contain eggshells, and also that you have to separate the egg whites before you beat them. (It was very quiche like. A crunchy quiche.)

Or take when I worked in an office, as a translators, and the secretaries starting rolling over their foreign language calls to me. That was not part of my job, and honestly was a pain in the neck, but the company refused to hire an international secretary (Well, technically I was supposed to be that, but my boss wasn’t doing his job, so it became my job. And this was a known thing.) So the poor people just rolled the calls to me. It was a bit of a pain in the neck, as I’d be in the middle of a translation from the German, and suddenly have to speak French to someone who wished to speak to one of our engineers. Or vice-versa.

I did it, mostly, because otherwise the wheels would come off our communications with our branches abroad.

But if I were on a zeal strike, I’d have two choices. Either ignore them, while I was hip-deep in a technical translation, or do exactly what it said in the add for the position when they hired me, and tweedle my thumbs between phone calls, because my boss was supposed to be doing the technical translations.

Either one of those would pile the pain way up and down the line, till the whole thing came to a grinding halt.

Of course, that’s the bad side of a Zeal Strike.

If you apply it up and down the line, the country will seize and stop, or at least stop working in any understandable way.

Particularly since so many of the rules and regulations imposed by the kakistocracy are fundamentally incompatible with the real world.

However, what else can you do when our institutions are under the illusion we are widgets and can be forced to play a part in their internal and irrational psychodrama? Not to mention their attempts to appease the people who put them in power: the PRC?

Be zealous, my friends. In the limits of the possible, be as zealous and stupid as you can be.

Let’s show these idiots where they get off.

Let’s show them they made the mistake of messing with the least tameable species on Earth: Americans.

Be ungovernable, be persnickety, be inventive. Be Americans.

Normal human beings don’t aspire to power. Or I should say, normal human beings don’t aspire to power over everything and everyone.

Oh, it’s fairly normal in kids.

I know it will shock you, but I wanted to control the way other kids played with my toys (to some point, because thanks to several relatives abroad I had better toys than run of the mill in the village, and they had a way of ending up broken when other kids played with them) so I would enforce “the one correct way to play.” Weirdly — ah — I didn’t have many friends till I got over that, which was when I realized it was just too much work to control everyone and make them do things my way and also that wild fun ensued when I didn’t. I was, I think, about three years old. And this was with very few opportunities to play with other kids, since I was — BY FAR — the youngest in the family and sickly to boot in a society that hadn’t yet internalized antibiotics, (by which I mean the main way to combat illness was isolation.)

So how is it even possible to get to be an adult and want to be a totalitarian dictator who wants to control EVERYTHING: what people see and do, and think and– everything.

Honestly, I think it comes from fear.

The reason infants and children try to control everything is that they can’t separate themselves from what’s around them, psychologically. They want to control everything so that they can’t be suckerpunched by what feels like other parts of themselves. They feel like they should control all that so it never happens.

And adults who want to control everything have the same problem to some extent. It’s both an immense arrogance of thinking they know how everything should be done/turn out, and a terrible fear of something out there that will turn and bite them. The arrogance comes from insufficiently separating from their environment. (There’s a word for this, but I’m not being scientific, here.) And the fear mostly comes because their best laid plans backfire, and people don’t do what they’re told reeeeeee. This is mostly, btw, because unlike the image in the head of these deranged idiots, people aren’t widgets or chess pieces to be moved around at will and the more you try to control them, the more they rebel.

Because it’s impossible for anyone to control everything or even be aware of everything, what the person who tries to control everything — be it a family or a group or a company or a country (and more so with the size increases — gets is lied to. Repeatedly. So they think they’re in control, when in fact people are just doing whatever and trying to survive. In the case of countries, trying to survive around increasingly crazy rules and ideas.

Look, this is brought to mind because as highlighted by Razor Fist, Fauci had fears that AIDS was transmitted by air and aerosol back in the eighties, and contemplated masks as a solution.

I think airborne disease is Fauci’s own particular mental demon, and at some point — probably long before he studied any science — he calmed himself with the idea that airborne disease could be combated with masks, and that would make all safe. Kind of like my obsessive fear of wolves (partly due to mom’s doing “voices” when telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood) was calmed at about age 3 by convincing myself that wolves couldn’t climb stairs. By the time I realized that was nonsense, I was safely past the point of fearing wolves picking locks and coming into the house at night.

Now, if by some strange series of events — and note I really don’t want that kind of power — I found myself in charge of animal control in the entire country, and there were some kind of animal attack going on, it would be completely possible for me, in a panic to default to stairs as a solution, and order that all humans should live atop a flight of stairs.

Sounds crazy? Well….

Every authoritarian and totalitarian leader we know of had some kind of bizarre panic fear, which he imposed on those poor people he chanced to rule. Don’t believe me? read their biographies. I mean Hitler’s is perhaps the best known, but every one of them, great and small suffered from something that both drove them to rule and made aspects of their rule bizarro-insane and the kind no human being would ever consider.

And that ladies and gentlemen is the main reason for distributed rule. As we found in 2020 and arguably part of this year, that distributed rule is already fatally wounded, so that a minor and rather insane bureaucrat who has failed at his stated mission every single time can control the entire nation, put us all under house arrest and make us use face diapers. Because HE is morbidly afraid of airborn diseases and his childish brain is sure masks are the solution.

In the same way, I’d bet you a lot of people in the supreme court fear “riots” and therefore sold the country up the river to avoid that.

We all have monsters of the Id. Mine is actually — no longer — wolves. And no, you’re not entitled to know what it is.

But my monsters of the id affect no one but me. I will spin out of control when I encounter them, but mostly those who live with me get subjected to a storm of shouting and tears. I neither want nor would accept total control of anything. Not even my family. The boys are perfectly able to fend for themselves, and so is my husband. We rarely disagree on direction to go, but when we do we discuss it like rational human beings.

I don’t want to live others lives for them, because they don’t need my fears, and heaven knows I don’t need theirs.

We must, with all possible alacrity, return to distributed rule in all aspects. Not just by curtailing elected official, but by clipping the wings of non-elected bureaucrats.

Because otherwise the end is death and insanity. Or insanity and death. First one, then the other.

Humans are social apes. We stay sane by reality checking each other. And there is no one so healthy that they can remain sane while allowed to run roughshod over everyone else and treat everyone else like things to be moved about and disposed of.

Freedom. Liberty. Being left alone.

No more centralized rule; no more faceless bureaucracy.

No Mas Comunismo.

It has dropped!

Like every time I change genre, let alone medium, I was very nervous, and it was probably a mercy I didn’t realize it was coming out yesterday but thought it was another week.

Anyway, the reviews are decent.

https://www.grahamcrackers.com/products/barbarella_1_2021_cover_a.htm

and:

https://comicalopinions.com/barbarella-vol-2-1-review/

I expect there will be the usual, you know “I didn’t read it, but I don’t like her” reviews, but it’s not like I ever cared much about the opinions of the demented.

I find it kishmetic and bitter sweet that this is coming out while Cuba struggles for freedom.

And oh, on demented:

Yesterday we had the house inspection (and then drove back, getting home late, so this morning I feel like I’m coming down with something, but it might just be the air conditioning in the car blowing on me the whole way) and it went very well. So we’ll be moving in a month. Meanwhile I have books to write and edit. And a house to pack and paint and fix.

So?

So — this morning I install and train dragon. Must happen.

Also on more demented:

Yesterday, driving on the highway, there was an American flag on the road. Like lunatics, we went back, stopped with hazards on and yours truly ran out and rescued it. (Like a lunatic, yes.)

We can’t fly it — the experience tore it up a bit — but we’re going to frame it between two pieces of plexigas and it will be THE art on the wall of our living room.

We chose to regard it as a good omen.

Symbols are important, and that’s a powerful symbol for both of us, and leaving it in the dirt of the road, getting run over felt indecent.

So, what else?

Nothing much. I have things to say about centralized rule and such, that I was discussing with husband during drive. But right now? I’m going to put work clothes on and go pack, even if I’ll take it slightly easy, in deference to feeling yucky.

More tomorrow.

I’m becoming excessively fond of MeWe. It’s providing almost as much fodder for posts as FB used to, only from the other side. Maybe. I mean, these are at least purported non-leftists.

The problem, of course, is that due to both the American people’s tendency not to agree with anyone, including themselves individually, there are more sides to this argument than there are to an infinitely folded pocket universe.

Anyway, this person was self identified non-lefty, genus impatientus, species moronic. No, seriously, I didn’t realize how moronic, until I was talking about it to friends and realized what he had used as examples of countries that were rebelling against tyranny. When I went “Say what?”

So, it was late, and we were making last minute plans for trip today, and I was feeling a little irritated, when I came across this post on MeWe (where I was for legitimate reason of doing writing sprints with my writing-children.)

“In countries like Taiwan and Cuba people are revolting even though it might mean death, while here we sit still for fear of being cancelled and losing our jobs.”

I did mention I was feeling a little irritated, right? And also that it was late and I’d been doing sprints, which means I was dog-tired. So for Taiwan I read “Hong Kong” as one does. (Well, this one does.) But because I was irritated, I answered with “Well, they’ve been under tyranny for decades, so now they revolt. I don’t think we’ll take as long as they did.”

And then he comes f*cking back with “It’s been almost 100 years.” At which point I fired two warning shots. Into his head.

Okay, I didn’t. That’s a Chicago reference. And besides, the only super power I routinely pray for is the ability to reach through the screen and b*tch slap the living daylights out of people who badly need it.

Like this one.

Instead, I was rude to him on the subject of “What the hell are you talking about? Do you think you’ve been in the kind of tyranny Cuba has experienced for 100 years?” Advised him not to blow smoke up my nether orifice, and left.

It wasn’t till I was talking to friends later, that I realized he thought TAIWAN was no rebelling against tyranny. What tyranny? No, seriously. I mean, dude, what?

Sure, they don’t have US-type freedoms, but look, governments can be different without being utter tyranny.

Which brings us to “it’s been almost 100 years.”

Sure it has. As Bill Reader is fond of saying “If America finally succumbs, Woodrow Wilson and that bastard FDR will have their fingerprints all over the murder weapon.”

He’s not wrong.

But there’s tyranny and tyranny, you know. It’s a sliding slope to hell. But mostly the American frog has been boiled. And to an extent, for a while, there were benefits to it.

Before you start shouting and get all up in my face, look, Heinlein was right. The Constitution was designed for a rural nation not involved in world affairs. For the industrial giant of the 20th century corners had to be cut.

Stop. don’t throw things at me. I am a constitutionalist. I believe the sky can boil away, the stars could turn to dusk and not a comma will be obsolete in that immortal document.

BUT that’s not what people in the early 20th century believed. Read the stories they told themselves, the books of the time. Centralization of decision was necessary for the every increasing “savings” of more and more mass production. And they thought it would be like that forever. So…. well, the only distinction was “do you or don’t you want mass graves with that?” Heinlein HIMSELF believed that was inevitable.

It was assumed the era of the individual had passed. Dead. Gone. Ever more massive super-states were the trend of the future. So, the constitution was SLOWLY shredded to get us there.

A funny thing happened on the way to that future. Turns out superstates aren’t more efficient. Chaotic economic activity is better at everything particularly innovation. And it turns out that the Constitution is actually the path to the future.

Of course, you and I know that. Knew that all along.

So–

Sure, we’ve been under increasingly shredded Constitution and suffering abuses and infringements for 100 years, but let’s be real, okay?

We have not been — weirdly still aren’t. Weirdly, because it’s what the Junta wants — under the kind of oppression Cuba has seen.

Yes, normal people here sit on their asses, instead of rebelling against a government that wants to force everyone to take an unneeded vaccine and keep their mouths shut so they don’t get cancelled and lose their jobs.

Do you know the difference between them and Cuba? They still have something to sit on, and jobs they can lose. (Not to count those who have no clue anything is wrong. Fortunately I think there are fewer of those than we think.)

Cubans have nothing. And they have nothing to lose. They might get crushed, but what difference does it make, between slow and fast suicide.

Now, I don’t think we’ll get to that point without revolting. That’s because our culture is very different, but also because our focking idiots have forgotten to boil the frog slowly and have turned the temperature to a million while laughing evilly in public. Even a frog isn’t stupid enough to sit in that bath too long.

But it will be a while longer. Even political addicts expect the next elections to work. (Sweet summer children.) Because they sort of have in the past.

But the point is, don’t tell me Americans are uniquely passive or some crap. It’s easy to fight when you have nothing left to lose. We have too much left to lose. And at some point everyone will realize we’re losing it.

Not long now. How bad it gets after that is anybody’s guess, but the people who want to take everything away from us are afraid. That’s the measure of how bad it will get: their frantic panic.

Keep in mind that in a century we had precisely two presidents that didn’t go along with the left. Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.

Two. Three terms.

The first put paid to sacred cows of the left that EUROPE is still mired in: managed decline is the only option! Controlled wages/prices/everything. Communism wins in the end.

The second just ripped the masks off the bureaucratic swamp, the geriatric kakistokrats of the left, their collaborators on the right, and the complete mess that is our electoral system. (I notice no one argues any longer when I say mostly the democrats win by fraud. But they did argue 8 years ago. Bah.)

I’m watching in fascinated horror as the MSM now reports on Hunter’s corruption. This is of course part of the palace war between Jill Biden and Commie LaWhorish. Commie is firing for effect.

But she’s too stupid (no, seriously, that woman is denser than the cores of some planets) to realize that every time she does that she’s burning away what remains of the credibility of the media the left needs to keep them in power/return them to power/make us believe they have legitimate power.

Is the situation grave? Sure it is. It’s dangerous, but not serious. Not serious because everyone on the left and the agencies bending to them are complete and obvious clown shoes. I mean, the WSJ now reports that yes, the Hunter laptop is real — duh — even though they denied it before. Our vaunted FBI REALLY IS THIS STUPID. It’s not so much that there are no adults on the left, but that there is no evidence of brain activity on the left.

The leftist ideology suffered a fatal stroke when the USSR fell and Reagan upended all their cherished notions. Since then it’s been hooked up to life support — race! Climate! Race Again! China! More Race! — but it’s all artificial, and the moment it’s disconnected, we’ll realize they’re dead.

The flurry of activity is really the corpse of communism being consumed from within.

All over the world, inchoately, blindly, people are revolting against the failing centralized model of government and living. And like some species of plants which can’t even think but turn to the sun, they might not know much about us and our current troubles, but they know the stars and stripes stand for freedom.

And sure, they’re getting crushed. So was our revolution initially.

But bless them, now they have nothing they’re trying to fight their way out.

I suspect in not very long we’ll join in and then the tide turns.

I have children and adopted/ish grandchildren, and hope of bio grandchildren.

I very much hope this moment can pass without fire and blood.

I very much am afraid it can’t.

So, do what?
So….

The American people will ultimately fight as they first did for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and for our prescient, miraculous Constitution.

And thereonto I pledge my life, my wealth, my sacred honor. And I’m not alone.

Which is why as we stir and wake, the tide turns.

Which is why the animated corpse of communism (yes, that’s a long way to spell Joe Biden!) is terrified, and going full Jackboots in record time.

We won’t experience what they have in Cuba, because they’re trying so hard to bring it here so fast.

Be not afraid. In the end we win, they lose. Because we are fighting for life and freedom.

And the world knows it.

In the end we win, they lose.

Under old glory, which they fear.

I’ll try to put up a real post but we’re doing a cannon ball run to be there for the inspection tomorrow.

Keep fingers crossed.

You ain’t Tokyo Rose. Before words come out of your mouth and memes out of your fingers, ask yourself “am I being used?”

For some reason, I keep running against this bilge on mewe. I think because honestly when I go to Facebook it’s mostly or private groups, a chat with a friend, or for echoing the blog posts. So time spent looking at my main page is….. short. Though to be honest, my time on FB is short and getting shorter.

What bilge? Oh, memes extolling the Chinese in relation to us. And all conservatives pick this crap up and echo it, because it happens to “side rail” against things they hate (and which it’s valid to hate.)

But the memes are crap. The aggrandizing of the Chinese bastards is crap. They’re either outright lies or laughable lies. And the memes, somehow, never hit the Chinese where it hurts: the fact their economy is so f*cked most of their people live like Medieval peasants; the fact their army of little emperors cried when they went up against India; the fact that they are having trouble feeding their own population; the crumbling empty cities they think are “investments”; their population collapse; Xi’s pretensions to world leadership; their slave camps. Which you know, tells you exactly where the meme factory is and who is propagating it.

The problem being when conservatives seize the memes and distribute, they are actively collaborating in the aggrandizing of China and putting down the US. They are also convincing the Chinese their victory over us will be easy. (This is good and bad, but if you have friends and relatives in large cities, think about the chances of it ending up with one of those catching a nuke because the idiots get cocky, okay?)

Chinese are masters of propaganda and psychological warfare, while Americans are so bad at it that it hurts. If you loved 2020 keep collaborating with the enemy.

If not, listen up:

Yeah, sure, the fact that the usurpers of our governmental institutions are making our armed forces participate in inclusivity and CRT training, and prioritizing bullshit SJW goals over preparedness IS a problem. But that doesn’t mean we’re not still the best fighting force in the world. Sure, it’s damning with faint praise, but comparing us to China and saying they’re “prepared for war” and “will win” is bullshit. You know it’s bullshit, I know it’s bullshit. It’s bullshit so rank I can smell it through the internet.

The Chinese have Little Emperors — single descendants of multiple families — who are no more prepared to risk themselves in war than I’m prepared to fly unassisted. Their army is bullshit.

Why is it bullshit? Because they don’t have a fighting force. The only fighting strength they ever had was the ability to submerge any enemy in a wave of people. But they can’t. Because the communists destroyed that too.

Their weapons are bullshit. I’d like independent confirmation of their “achievements in space.” Why? Because, well, the USSR achievement in space was a) what they could steal from us b) flimsy and c) mostly trumped up. In the sense that they only publicized their wins, while it might be one in ten that succeeded.

Look, by definition an authoritarian regime sucks at tech. I’m not saying anything about “capabilities of the people” (duh) but seriously? If you can’t report failed experiments, failed assemblies or builds that need to be improved, you’re going to have crappy tech. And you can’t report any of that, because in a centralized authoritarian regime you’ll be punished for failure, even if it’s not your fault. And you might get accused of doing it on purpose.

When nothing less than 100% success is allowed, the process is corrupt and the result is excrement. (Look at our “science” right now. No, seriously. We’re sliding that way.)

So, no matter how made you are at what the army and our government is doing, stop echoing Xi’s bullshit. And counter it every time you see it. This is war by other means, or in the ancient Chinese tradition, softening the enemy so they’ll surrender at first attack.

Yesterday, I came across probably the most egregious of this load of bullshit: It claimed we get MOST of our food from China.

No, I’m actually serious. It claimed that we get fish and meat from China.

I know we get some “food” ingredients from China. It’s very easy to find out which, if you remember what failed during the lockdowns and is still iffy.

Most of that, in most of the country (except for some parts but that’s explainable other ways. Like of course big cities when people mostly ate out, restaurant supply stores were overfull, and groceries empty, when restaurants closed) is extremely processed food (some of the low carb stuff, which I’ve started phasing out for obvious reasons, in favor or more locally available) or pet food. (And pet food now is not as much dependent on China as it was, since they killed a bunch of dogs and cats by doing Chinese trade bullshit.)

China, in point of fact, imports vast amounts of its food from the US. VAST. Without us they couldn’t feed their people even at the pitiful subsistence level they manage.

The US is largely food self-sufficient. And feeds half the world. Now we get out of season stuff from Mexico and other points South, and shrimp from tropical waters, but that’s about it.

Now, sure, you get a lot of your food from Chinese owned corporations.

That is because they have bought several American corporations like Smithfield Hams. But they did that not because they’re feeding us from their surplus, but because they want to make sure their people get food if/when they f*ck with us enough that food becomes scarce here. That’s all.

As for why our corporations (and politicians) are letting themselves be bought with what amounts to monopoly money? Because they’re stupid. And they believe the propaganda with which you’re collaborating.

You see, the Chinese money is worth what the Chinese government says it is. And that’s part of the reason why the local sh*theads believe you can just print money without diminishing the value of money. Look at the Chinese. They do it!

Yeah. There is one TINY problem with that. This type of scam goes on until it doesn’t. If the economy behind it isn’t worth what is being printed/distributed/used…. sooner or later it all implodes.

And the Chinese economy isn’t worth spit, and will be worse less as we stop buying their stuff. (Which honestly has already started. And will get worse as their vice-roy makes our economy worse.)

Again, totalitarian regimes are above all terrible at communication. Which is all that money is. Money is communication. It’s a way to signal “more of this. Less of that.” When you cut that off and interpose yourself, you cut the bonds of the economy and leave production and demand to flap lose in the wind. Which is why the Chinese build ghost cities that crumble within years. (To be fair, so do normal Chinese cities.)

So, yeah, they’re buying us up with monopoly money, and lending us monopoly money, and our people are too stupid to understand that. But they are at danger and they know it. Which is why they buy American companies and land. Because they are desperate for something solid to own that won’t turn to vapor when the morning sun hits.

If you remember the early oughts, husband kept trying to explain to me how perception was reality or whatevs, because that’s what it looked like. Companies popped up overnight, and got massive IPOs without having produced a single thing, and seemed to be thriving. He interviewed and was actively headhunted by a bunch of these, so I read their brochures and researched them and kept telling him “That’s nice, but there’s NOTHING there. They’re fairy gold.”

And true enough, when the fog cleared, they were nothing.

For a strange illustration of this — it’s not what he thought he was doing — read Simak’s They Walked Like Men, where aliens are buying up the Earth using …. themselves. They’re shape shifters who turn into money, then revert to their form.

In the book, the time comes when everyone is homeless, because they’ve sold their house which stands empty. Until someone goes “Hey, you know what? The money disappeared anyway. Let’s go get our houses back.”

Which is what I envision at the end of China’s bullshit.

They think that because we deal fairly we’re weak. But in the end it is they who are weak, because all their streams of information are corrupt. And they’re so used to living in a semblance of reality that they don’t understand REAL reality. Which will bite their ass when the fog evaporates.

If we let the fog evaporate and stop collaborating with the enemy.

Because you know what? The left echoes these memes because since the USSR died China became their beau ideal, to show us communism can work. (More like fascism, but sure, whatevs. If you like slavery, China has slavery.) And the right echoes it, because they don’t like certain practices in our country.

When what we need to do is stand up for and by America. Sure, our government are occupiers, our political class is corrupt, our institutions need a fine scouring (which is a weird term for burning and salting the ground, I get it.)

But–

But we’re still the best in the world, and the last great hope of mankind.

D*mning with faint praise? Oh, sure. But broken and with our feet in a bucket, we’ve preserved civilization before, and I’m betting we can do it again.

The current sclerotic Junta is not a patch on Woodrow Wilson or FDR who were COMPETENT evil. They are in fact the decaying results of the left’s illusions. They are a paper tiger. And behind them, America remains, as strong and stubborn and able as ever.

Perfect? Oh, hell no. And yeah, there’s a reckoning coming, and we can’t avoid it.

BUT we’re still miles better than China or any of our other vainglorious, ridiculous “rivals.”

We have no rival, because we have no equal.

Oppressed people screaming for freedom — as in Cuba — lift high the stars and stripes.

Will you not do likewise?

Book Promo

If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. If you feel a need to re-promo the same book do so no more than once every six months (unless you’re me or my relative. Deal.) One book per author per week. Amazon links only. Oh, yeah, by clicking through and buying (anything, actually) through one of the links below, you will at no cost to you be giving a portion of your purchase to support ATH through our associates number. I ALSO WISH TO REMIND OUR READERS THAT IF THEY WANT TO TIP THE BLOGGER WITHOUT SPENDING EXTRA MONEY, CLICKING TO AMAZON THROUGH ONE OF THE BOOK LINKS ON THE RIGHT, WILL GIVE US SOME AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR PURCHASES MADE IN THE NEXT 24HOURS, OR UNTIL YOU CLICK ANOTHER ASSOCIATE’S LINK. PLEASE CONSIDER CLICKING THROUGH ONE OF THOSE LINKS BEFORE SEARCHING FOR THAT SHED, BIG SCREEN TV, GAMING COMPUTER OR CONSERVATORY YOU WISH TO BUY. That helps defray my time cost of about 2 hours a day on the blog, time probably better spent on fiction. ;)*

FROM SARAH A. HOYT: Deep Pink (Magis Book 1)https://amzn.to/3xAWOzo

DEEP PINK IS NOW ON PAPER (Yes, yes, sequel soon.)

Like all Private Detectives, Seamus Lebanon [Leb] Magis has often been told to go to Hell. He just never thought he’d actually have to go. But when an old client asks him to investigate why Death Metal bands are dressing in pink – with butterfly mustache clips – and singing about puppies and kittens in a bad imitation of K-pop bands, Leb knows there’s something foul in the realm of music. When the something grows to include the woman he fell in love with in kindergarten and a missing six-year-old girl, Leb climbs into his battered Suburban and like a knight of old goes forth to do battles with the legions of Hell. This is when things become insane…. Or perhaps in the interest of truth we should say more insane.

FROM MARGOT SINCLAIR: Not Exactly Murder: Vol. 1.

It’s the mid-90s in Charleston, South Carolina, and the city is only beginning to feel the effects of the “Third Yankee Invasion.”But Charleston is still Charleston. Large shabby pockets remain ungentrified, and the real estate has yet to be bought up by retired CEOs “from off.” The old families live in the old houses and maintain the old rituals. Eccentricity and ancestor-worship abound.Not Exactly Murder is an explosive and hilarious romp through a recent past when Charleston was still decadent and quirky, and when port city crime oozed through every street.The first in a four-book series that establishes a new genre. Let’s see, what to call it?”Southern Women With Guns”or”Elmore Leonard meets Janet Evanovich meets Dixie”Whatever you call it, you’re in for a ride.

FROM DENTON SALLE: Sworn to the Light: The Avatar Wizard – Book 1

“Power comes from either the Light or the Dark, lad. Nothing is neutral.”

Jeremy has a problem: he randomly turns into a black and white bear cub. The transformations panic his mom, but his father says he knows a wizard who can help. That scares his mother even more.

The volkh wizards once ruled like gods in their power, building the great golden city of Miklagard, establishing kingdoms, and trading with legendary places like Sheba, Chin, and India. Then the Dark arose and the wars destroyed much of the world. Kingdoms fell, cities burned, and the volkhvy were merciless in crushing it.

Master Anthony remains the greatest of the living volkh lords. Can he, will he help Jeremy stop this random changes? And at what price? Why is Jeremy’s dad so worried? Isn’t the war against darkness over?

Join Jeremy as he enters the world of the volkhvy. A world of mysteries and secrets. Where women walk in shadow and men call lightning at will. Where endless war against the Dark continues. If you liked Harry Potter and the Heroes of Olympus, you’ll enjoy this series set in a Rus fantasy world where the lines between Good and Evil are clearly drawn.

FROM LAURA MONTGOMERY: ON SALE: Simple Service: Science Fiction Colonization Adventure (Martha’s Sons Book 1)

They’re stranded beyond the known stars. Will his treacherous mission on an unforgiving world end in death?

Twenty-year-old Peter Dawe has learned to keep his mouth shut around his father. So the super-strong, genetically modified, human hybrid keeps his focus on his strict parent’s bidding to recover his family’s weapons. But after barely escaping a manhunt, Peter encounters real trouble when he runs into his self-indulgent brother.

Forced to take the vain and reckless fool back into danger with him for a second attempt to retrieve the remaining blasters, Peter fears his sibling’s undisciplined ways will get them both killed. But as the colony begins its descent into tyranny, treachery and betrayal could be far deadlier enemies…

Can Peter survive a desperate plan that puts a target on his back?

Simple Service is the first book in the immersive Martha’s Sons science fiction series. If you like gripping action, insurmountable odds, and alien worlds, then you’ll love Laura Montgomery’s rugged adventure.

FROM D. W. PATTERSON: Mach’s Metric: Future Chron Universe.

Originally published in 2018.
The wormhole drive could finally give humanity the stars, if it didn’t destroy them first. An accident had killed thousands by disrupting the entanglement of spacetime and its continued use could lead to further disruptions unless a solution could be found. Young Elias Mach, physicist and inventor of the drive, took on the challenge with the help of a supportive few. He would have to find a solution to the drive’s dire side-effects before it was too late.

If you like a fast moving story, characters that never give up, and science with a sense of wonder, this is for you.

“Mach’s Metric” is set in the future (2390s) and is the first novel in the Future Chron Universe. If you enjoyed “Mach’s Metric” consider reading the next story in the series “Mach’s Mission” for more Hard Science Fiction – Old School.

For more information about the Future Chron Universe, including a chronological reading order, see the author’s blog futurechron.blogspot.com.

(Also published as “Mach’s Metric Book 1).

FROM LEIGH G. WYNN: The Eye of Elektron (The Sumrectian Series Book 1).

Two souls from different realms. Bound by sacrifice. Torn by fate.

Dawn has sixty minutes…
to plan her death…
so that her brother may live.

Competition to be a portrait artist at Crimson Estate is fierce. One lives. One dies. And participation is not voluntary.

To save her brother’s life, Dawn ensures her own execution by painting a forbidden magical device—the Eye of Elektron. Banned from use by powerful Sumrects, the Eye of Elektron has not functioned since the failed human rebellion against Sumrectian tyranny eleven years ago.

Somehow, it comes to life in her hands…

And seizes the attention of an ancient evil and its archenemy, Ansel Cassadian, the most powerful Sumrect in a thousand years. Strangely, he seems to know everything about her difficult past—a past that holds the key to her future.

As evil threatens to destroy all she holds dear, Dawn must reawaken the Eye of Elektron in time to free the humans and save the Sumrect who risked his destiny to protect her.

If you enjoy fast-paced fantasy and slow-burn romance, then you’ll love The Eye of Elektron, book one of a brand new, action-packed, urban fantasy series. Scroll up and grab a copy to start the adventure now!

FROM JONATHAN DE SOUZA: Solist At Large: The Last Solist #1

Adelaide Taylor is the newest Solist to have gained her powers. A magical warrior of the ancient and lost Dawn Empire, she moved from California to New Jersey in secret. Enrolled in a very Catholic high school, she has to find her Companions-five teenagers that will help her to defeat magical threats to the human race. But, in the process of becoming a Solist, Adelaide has to hide the truth of her past from everyone else. Including the five people that she needs to trust the most.

And, there are secrets that Adelaide still has to discover about herself and the world she has become a part of…

FROM MACKEY CHANDLER: Common Ground and Other Stories

---

A collection of seven Science Fiction short stories by Mackey Chandler.
The lead story, Common Ground is big enough to be a novella. It was published in Jim Baen’s Universe e-zine. Sadly that has gone out of business. They had a goal of paying professional rates which made it more difficult. I’m somewhat spoiled because this was the first short story I ever attempted and it sold.
I won’t ruin your read with detailed spoilers – sufficient to say the seven shorts contain an alien with a very human foible, a joker Joyboy banished to selling shoes on the moon, a crotchety old man holding aliens at bay with a leaf blower, the ultimate Windoze -FAIL-, a self made billionaire who never lost his touch, a sword wielding Earth diplomat who was either very very good or incredibly lucky, and a future Mama’s boy dealing with family in an era of extended life times.

Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.

We recommend that if you have an original vignette, you post that as a new reply. If you are commenting on someone’s vignette, then post that as a reply to the vignette. Comments — this is writing practice, so comments should be aimed at helping someone be a better writer, not at crushing them. And since these are likely to be drafts, don’t jump up and down too hard on typos and grammar.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Your writing prompt this week is: ARROGANT