Thursday, December 31, 2015

Jews are nuts

This does not surprise me:
Spiritual leader of failed political party Yachad tells memorial event, attended by children of murdered couple, that ‘immoral acts’ caused wave of terror, Israeli deaths
I once taught at an Orthodox Jewish school, Yeshiva K'Tana of Passaic, NJ. Principal Rosenzweig, on the eve of my lecture on WWII, came into the class and reminded the boys that the Holocaust was god's punishment to the Jews.

This was no anomaly.

My student's regularly questioned why they needed to learn 'secular studies' as they called it, gave little respect to women or gentiles, for that matter showed me little respect because I wasn't an Orthodox Jew (I'm conservative myself), and said 'nigger' with ease. 'What does Pontiac stand for?' Mayer Schulman once asked me, 'Poor Old Nigger Thinks Its a Cadillac.' Women were not allowed to show so much as an elbow or shake a man's hand. I once got in a heap of trouble because I suggested to one of my students, that little shit, Kaplan whose grandfather was the head rabbi in Passaic that the Big Bang was an act of god.

In class the students were misbehaved, disrespectful little pricks whose were kept in line by brutal hair-trigger discipline that ended with my calling home every night. I mean every night. After an hour commute home, I'd eat dinner and call these little bastards at home and tell their parents of the problem.

It was lovely.

At the end of the year I was not asked back, even though I would have returned.

Don't tell me I don't love teaching.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Jews are weak

As I write this, my oldest daughter is watching the latest production of The Diary of Ann Frank. Because that's what the world needs, another production about a 13 ear old Jewish girl waiting to die.

God almighty I hate the Holocaust. Not the event, that's not what I mean. I hate the Holocaust industry, the movement, the reverence of it. Right now, there are millions of Jews in the United States who haven't sent foot in a synagogue in years, but who will run to the theater to see the latest holocaust movie. How people can watch yet another movie about their cousins being rounded up and support gun control is beyond me, but that's politics, and this blog tries to remain non-political, mostly.

This is a minor, but persistent theme in my first novel, A Line Through the Desert. Time and again Sgt. Jake Bloom is confronted by Jewish weakness. In one scene his mother relates to Aunt Froma how Jake had a HS encounter with an Anti-semite. Aunt Froma asked if Jake called the ADL, Jake proudly relates that he punched Rocco Labriola in the face. Later that night, Jake tells his girlfriend how when he was a kid, his cousins Myron and Roger always wanted to play Fiddler on the Roof, while he wanted to play Raid on Entebbe.

More movies about Jews kicking ass, please. Soon I'll show my daughter Raid on Entebbe, and Vengeance, Defiance....

Notes on being back from the silly season.

Yeah, yeah, I know New Years is still to come, but I haven't bothered staying awake for that since 2000.

I Just approved World War 1990: Operation Eastern Storm. Its already out on Nook and will be coming in soft cover and Kindle within the week.

(Not) to Liberate Mars is proceeding apace, with the blow-out blockbuster space battle almost completed. I'm working on a story about a government troubleshooter before Arrival (that's the invasion) getting refugee centers and food processing facilities set up. I dunno I think that sort of thing is fascinating. As noted before, there will be stories about a heavily armed Girl Scout Troop hiding out in the mountains, a story about a town trying to survive the winter, a story about a Russian captain, a series of stories about a pair of naval officers before, during and after the war, etc.

Centauri is coming along with half a dozen stories finished, two more needing to be finished and at least two more needing to be written from scratch.

On the history front I am about to sign a deal with an agent for my book Pershing in Command. Mostly just tidying up to do there, plus the conclusion.

Lots of stuff coming out in 2016, so stay tuned!

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Rock Hall of Fame....yourrrr aaaaa jooooke...

...Sing that to the tune of AC/DC's Rock and Roll Train....there you go.

Cheap Trick is getting in, for some reason, Chicago (seriously?),  Steve Miller? I like Steve Miller, but the facility in question is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, not the Rock and Roll Hall of Catchy Songs and Pretty Good Bands.

Of course, I leave off Deep Purple, they get in.

Who doesn't get in?

Maybe I just have a baseball fan's mentality about this, but the HOF should be for immortals. You've got the pioneers from the 50's who lay the groundwork right? Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry of course, then Elvis. Then you get the Rock Mount Rushmore: The Beatles, The Beach Boys, the Rolling Stone and The Who. They were immensely talented, innovative and original. From there you have massive and influential bands; Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Kiss (not really talented but there is no denying their success). I'd add Nirvana just for the pure impact, Let's call them the Sandy Koufax of Rock and Roll, short career but huge.Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen changed the way we think about the guitar.

There are bands who are just a notch below the above mentioned acts in terms of popularity but who are immensely talented. Queen, probably the most versatile, Rush, nerd rockers extraordinaire. I think Def Leppard myself but I've always loved them. Jimmy Hendrix of course. Pearl Jam, though if you ask me they haven't done a good album since Animal, but there is no denying their longevity. Bee Jees?

Rock and Roll kind of lost me about 1995 so I'm hard pressed to think of a more modern act. Foo Fighters?

Like I said, Rock lost me about 1995...

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Writing Updates (Various)

Well, the final edits on Operation Arctic Storm are completed and the MS has been submitted to Kindle and Nook. The book will be out in January if not sooner.

My editor and I continued our never ending war over the controversial coma issue. She received a proper education while I am the product of an American public school. The editor (PBUH) insists that comas should be placed in dialogue where the speaker pauses, something I used to agree with until I checked the rules of grammar according to my old English school reader.

Of course, if we used this rule when my father speaks, 'Hello, there....Mark Stroock here. I, was wondering, if, I, could, make and....appointment, to get my car serviced, next, week.'

One can do the same trick with Christopher Walken.

We are also designing several maps which will be available here.

We've also been working diligently on (not) To Liberate Mars and are pleased with the effort. Expect this out in the autumn of 2016. This book will have a couple of stories taking place in space, several before the Jai Arrival and a several during the invasion and after. As always, readers are invited to send their ideas along.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Breaking: College Students not Bonkers

Via the wonderful Hotair (I've been reading it since it was Captain's Quarters) we learn of a  YAF poll of college students:

On free enterprise, the YAF poll found:
Far more college students prefer "smaller government with fewer services and lower taxes," (50%) over "larger government that provides more services and higher taxes" (34%).
More college students believe a "strong free market" (48%) does a better job handling today's complex economic problems than a "strong/active government" (39%).
Only 15% of students prefer socialism to free enterprise while 34% prefer free enterprise.
Thirty five percent of students prefer free markets to government regulations while only 16% prefer government regulations.

On Black Lives Matter:
Nearly 7-in-10 students agreed that "given recent acts of violence against police officer, the Black Lives Matter movement has cultivated an anti-police culture."

On gender pronouns:

Sixty two percent of students disagreed that professors should have the right to downgrade students for failing to use "gender inclusive" language like "mankind" instead of "humankind" in reference to men and women.
Not even half (49%) of LIBERAL students agree with implementing the use of pronouns like "ze," "zir," and "xyr" on their campus.
I have said before that I believe these movements are  primarily made up of radicals and pampered leftists kids stoked by whack-job professors. In my experience at RVCC the vast majority of students are working class kids coming from or going to jobs and most of the are quite sensible.

I've tried to stock them myself. When I described how some leftists didn't like drone warfare the students looked confused. Why wouldn't they like drones, which kill the enemy without risking American lives. I can't get anyone to condemn the atomic bomb. Even my black students are indifferent to the Stars and Bars.

My students are too busy to worry about these things, and have far too much common sense. Happily, this is true throughout the country.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Star Trek: The Next Complaint

So I've watched some Star Trek TNG lately and I'm not sure if the show really holds up. We'll see, I guess. Below are a list of complaints I've come up with:

-As mentioned in a previous post, the unending techno-babel.
-The feel, that is the world of TNG seems so sterile, all that bright light and all those pastels.
-The musical score, very blaa and predictable, seemingly played out on a synthesizer but not. It just adds to the sterile feel.
-The control panels. I noticed this when re-watching the Borg double episode. Worf and O'Brien are flying a shuttle into battle against the Borg cube, but they may as well be typing up a memo. No control stick, just buttons to press. It seems very emasculating.
-Picard's a pussy. I know they were trying to set a contrast with Kirk who was never afraid to take a swing at an alien, but Picard is far too interested in talking. Sometimes you just a have to say, 'Mr. Worf, lock phasers on target and fire.'
-The holo-deck. Good god what a bad idea. Detective and medieval fantasies? Please. Has anyone stopped to consider what would happen if you can just create any person you want for any reason? Think about it people....there you go...

Let's give Rick Berman some credit. He took a great idea and turned it into a great TV show. But then he kept on going but with the exact same feel. DS9 and Voyager have the same sterile problems. DS9 looks like a bus station but without grit. Been to the Port Authority lately? No grit, really? Voyager is just a small Enterprise and everyone is just as sterile and together as everyone one one the Enterprise. Speaking of I watched the pilot for Enterprise the other night. Even here, in the Enterprise NX as it is designated everything is warmed over and sterile. They tried to make it grittier, almost like a submarine, but failed.

Its all too clean.

(Not) To Liberate Mars Update

Ok, I've been thinking (yes, yes, I know...when did I start doing that?) and I don't think To Liberate Mars is really about liberating Mars.

That is, the book I am currently writing is 55,000 words and still doesn't have anything about an assault on Mars. So I think To Liberate Mars will come later as its own book, exclusively about, well, liberating Mars.

Don't panic. To Defend the Earth -the sequel is being written and will be out in 2016.

In the mean time Operation Eastern Storm is in final editing and will, repeat will be out in January. I'm doing up maps now, which will be available as a sidebar here.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Adult This!

Well, the Millennials are getting bashed again. Not that they don't deserve it. This time the pain comes from one of their own. A sample:
We know, statistically, that the millennial generation is delaying the embrace of traditional markers of adulthood. People are getting married much later, if at all. Couples are putting off childbearing, and when they do procreate, a lot of them are doing so without committing first. Homeownership among young people is at historic lows. These days you seem grown up if you rent, as opposed to being among the record-breaking 36 percent of youngsters still living with mom and dad.

I maintain that what we are noticing are the habits of millennial elites, the crybabies at Yale and Dartmouth for example. Too many of my students at RVCC are combat vets or are going to jobs after class, or helping mom out with the kids to act like children. Though I have noticed that almost all are still living with their folks.

in contrast to the millennials Generation X leaped into adulthood. I think we all saw our Balding Boomer parents refuse to let go their youth, the 60's, maaaaan,  and decided we didn't want to emulate THAT. To paraphrase  P.J. O'Rourke's observation of the Desert Storm military, 'These are the Reagan kids. These young people took one look at the 60's and said give me a haircut and a job.'

Did we ever.

In the late 1990's my bohemian sister came to visit my wife and me in Virginia. She spent the weekend hanging around with us and our other married, career oriented friends. We were all in our mid-20s.

When she left, my sister reported to the family her horror at us all, the men out of the deck drinking beer, the women in the kitchen making dinner, and afterwords cleaning up while us men returned to the deck for cigars.

'They're doing Eisenhower!' she exclaimed,

Damn right we were.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

A we bit, To Liberate Mars

The table of contents, thus far, of To Liberate Mars (with commentary!):

-Rodden and Cosgrove I...two old navy buddies talk about the last war
-Sarah Jane Wayne... boy, you just messed with the wrong girl scout troop
-Craziest Ivan...in which the Jai learn never to capture a Russian
-Untitled...when your author sits around freezing after Hurricane Sandy, he writes about people sitting around freezing after an alien invasion.
-Rodden and Cosgrove II...the buddies chew over what lies ahead
-The Ceres Campaign...the Indian Space Navy takes to the stars...



Monday, December 14, 2015

Stark Trek: the Next Crappy Show

Very interesting piece on Enterprise and why it didn't work:

When Enterprise debuted on UPN in 2001 it was with a self-assured sense of success. Sure Star Trek was in a bit of a decline after all the misfires of Voyager, but Enterprise promised to remedy all of that by taking Gene Roddenberry’s vision in a fresh direction, rewinding the clock back to where the Federation began to rediscover the spirit of adventure and exploration that used to be the hallmarks of an aging franchise now drowning in overwrought techno-babble. 
I'd like to second that last part 'drowning in overwrought techno-babble.' God that got annoying.

Now let's just hold on a second.

At one point, all that techno-babble was necessary. In the original Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry didn't care all that much about science. His crew was basically a bunch of Americans cruising around doing American things to all these god-damn foreigners who'd all be speaking German...er...Klingon if it weren't for the Federation.

TNG needed to be Star Trek, but more than that too. So they made the skipper a frog, and made the crew a bunch of techno-geeks with advanced degrees. The techno-babble and science was good, it was interesting and different.

But with Deep Space 9, which became incomprehensible, and the later horrible Voyager the techno-babble became an end unto itself, as if simply studying hard enough would revel all its secrets. Remember in Voyager when they stumbled upon a Borg warp node and figured out not only how to use but how to cripple the Borg to boot?

So with Enterprise they wanted to take Star Trek back to its roots. The ship looked like a submarine, the crew wore jump suits and baseball caps. For the first time they had a limey character. And a Texan.

I lasted about half a season.

The above linked article goes into better detail on Enterprise's failings than I can.

I hope they do another show, the franchise could use one. Oh god, not Captain Worf, please.

I have two suggestions, Star Fleet Academy (yes this would be a Star Trek 90210) or take the show and update it another 50 years or so.

Get some knew writers and set some ground rules. Everyone has to be an expert on the tech, honestly people if I could learn the ins and outs of an M-1 they can do the same. No time travel. No Borg. And absolutely no holo-deck.






Sunday, December 13, 2015

You May Call Me Frank

My friend William Katz does a quick write up on Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday:

He was also important because he symbolized, musically, the World War II generation. When he died in 1998, I genuinely believed it marked the passing of that era, an era of greatness. Sinatra was part of the golden age of American music, the golden age of Hollywood, and the golden age of television. Not much gold today.
One of the cultural crimes of the Balding Boomers, among countless others, is their destruction of the post-war middlebrow culture. By the time Generation X began participation in the youth culture, Sinatra's world had been swept away, utterly. Even today, watching a show like Dragnet, it seems  like Joe Friday comes from another planet.

Time may as well have begun when the Beatles went on Ed Sullivan.

One could catch glimpses of this culture. On the Simpsons, Krusty the Clown was basically a golden-age-of-television show-biz bore. In Cannon Ball Run II, Burt Reynolds and company need to find some American Royalty, and naturally go to Frank Sinatra.



Generation X gradually became aware of Sinatra on its own (the Balding Boom sure wasn't going to show us, not when there was another Woodstock anniversary to commemorate). You can see this discovery in the movie Swingers, where two young men go to Vegas, which was then just beginning its revival, and try to have a good time as if they're in the middle of a Sinatra song.  My frat had a guy who mixed Manhattans and listened to Sinatra.

 I was more of a Pearl Jam guy myself.

The other night I caught 'Sinatra, a man and his Music' on TV. This was a television special aired originally in 1965. Its a postcard from another time, I found myself absolutely intrigued. This heavy metal concert goer had never seen anything like it. I'm not even quite sure how to describe what I saw. Even so, how did he do that? Whatever 'that' was, god, he was great at it.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

I Axe You

In 2003, when I was beginning my first novel, A Line through the Desert, I was also going through something of a musical renaissance. I had discovered, or re-discovered really, Led Zeppelin.

Like all right thinking, hetero teenage boys in the 1980's I loved Zeppelin, but superficially so. It was not until I was a thirty year old man, with years of listening to big bands and classical, especially classical, that I really came to appreciate Led Zeppelin.

One afternoon I was lifting weights and playing air guitar along to Jimmy Page when it occurred to me that it would be really cool if I could make a guitar do what Jimmy Page makes a guitar do.

Now, I was at the stage in life where I was getting some confidence. Finally earning my degree was a start, and that fall I took up running. I'm a big guy and had never been able to do it before. This time I stuck with it and fought through the pain, god it hurt. By the spring I was doing two miles a day, every day.

Anyway, having accomplished a few things by them I decided, what the hell, let's give the guitar a try. What not?

Twelve years later I can say that for ten years, I have played guitar, by which I mean I'll sit on my front stoop and play an acoustic while my daughters are running about, or I'll sit on my couch and make an electric scream.

Funny thing, the mystery of it all is gone, now. That ethereal, pre-Roman British mist that seemed obscure Led Zeppelin has been lifted by my ability to do the things Jimmy Page does. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not as skilled or clean or technical as Page. But I can play just about any Led Zeppelin tune, and I can imitate Page's leads. I can rock, I can shred. I can do Jimmy Page at MSG, I can hump my guitar like Ted Nugent, I can even do Jimmy Hendrix and Monterrey.

So this is my question my 'Axe you' ha! What makes a great guitar player? I don't know. Who are the great guitar players? Ten years ago I would have said, Page, Angus Young, Eric Clapton, Yngwie Malmsteen, Brian May, oh god yes, Brian May....you get the idea.

What's harder to do, create a classical score for guitar like Yngwie Malmsteen, or play the notes just right as George Harrison does on say, Here Comes the Sun? 

We all have our lists of great guitar players, let's add Kirk Hemmit and Dave Mustaigne to mine. The Edge? Jack White came up with an immensely catchy guitar riff, whose prepared to argue he's not a guitar god?

I mean, what's the degree of difficulty? Like I said, I can do Jimmy Page. But ya know whose the toughest for me to get? Angus Young. The way he plays guitar is so violent but so masterful, and the damn thing is practically as big as he is.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Pearl Harbor Day Bashed Japan

Well, its Pearl Harbor Day again. Seventy four years if you can believe. I know people who were there can't believe its been that long, but those of us who came of age thinking of the attack as a recent event have trouble with the idea as well. The distance from Pearl Harbor to today is basically the distance between the Civil War and Pearl Harbor.

The 50th anniversary was vivid. 50th anniversaries always are of course, but this one especially so. Come back with me now to America in 1991....

The country is in recession. President Bush has trouble 'feeling the pain' of Americans. Because of the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor the nation's latent Japan Bashing has reached its peak. Remember that? Japan had lost the war and won the peace. The Japs were running the American car industry out of business and were doing the same to electronics. Zenith, RCA, history folks. All the gadgets were Japanese back then, the Sony Walkman, the Nintendo...Ominously the Japanese were buying up American real-estate.

The worst part was the Japanese were such jerks about it. Behold: The Japan that can say No, Why Japan will be First Among Equals.  Americans complained that Japan closed its markets to our products. Lee Iaccoca accused Japan of exporting unemployment. 'How do they package it? Does it spoil?' P.J. O'Rourke asked. In 1991 Japan Bashing was all the rage.

Just look at this movie, Michael Keaton's Gung Ho:

When the Japanese execs are explaining why their system is better George Wendt demands, 'If your so great, how come you lost the big one?!' A fun movie about cultural clashes. Everyone wins in the end.  I miss that Michael Keaton...

Anyway sometime in late 1991 someone asked President Bush about mutual apologies between Japan and America. Bush seemed perplexed as to what America should be apologizing for. Someone said Hiroshima. Bush told them where to stick it.

Without a doubt this was the lowest point in the Japanese-American post-war relationship:


Bad Sushi indeed.

Of course we hated the Japanese during the war and bore a fair amount of resentment afterwards. My maternal grandfather, who fought in Europe, never forgave them. My paternal grandmother wouldn't buy Japanese cars. Even I wouldn't for a while. You kind of had to be there in the early 90's.

Well in the 25, well 24 years since, things are different.

Militarily the United States and Japan are coordinating action in the Pacific against the Chinese. Culturally our links have never been stronger. The post-war resentment is a thing of the past.

Personally one of things I'm proudest of as an American is that the United States and Japan are not just allies, but friends, good friends at that.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

To Liberate Mars (Update)

Well, I expect To Liberate Mars to be out sometime next year.

Having wrapped up a story about iron willed naval commanders and marines launching suicidal frontal attacks, I'm really not in the mood to write another.

So how then, to do the chapter where man assaults Mars in an effort to liberate it from the Jai?

I have been wracking my brain about this for some time and had kind of come the conclusion that I was going to have to do yet another massive story with space cruisers, landing forces and the like. Maybe this was going to have to be its own separate novel and I've really been writing To Liberate Ceres/Europa.

I was thinking about some other military fiction I like and after a while the notion finally dawned on me. Why not tell the battle the Jai's point of view?

Yes, yes I think that's it.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Hist. Alt. Fire.

The first alternate history book I ever read was James Hogan's The Proteus Operation. The novel begins in 1975 with America preparing for the final war against Germany and Japan. Kennedy is the president. Its abundantly clear that the fascists will win.

Let's just say the United States Government comes up with a novel solution.

The second such book I read was Robert Harris' Fatherland. Its 1964, Joe Kennedy is president, and America is in a Cold War with Hitler's Germany.

The alternate history premise fascinated me at the time, as it does now obviously. Both books lit a fire within that has yet to die. This is being written as the last few tweaks to Operation Eastern Storm are being made.

The most fascinating parts of these novels were the little hints within. Through these James Hogan lets us know that there was a mass Arab resistance against the Nazis in the 50's and an African genocide in the 60's. He talks about America being forced to abandon the Philippines in 1970 and now being pressed by Japan to do the same with Hawaii.

Harry Turtledove does the same in Guns of the South, most intriguingly with the American war with Great Britain. He hints at what's happening. America has cleared the Great Lakes and taken Winnipeg. Boston and San Francisco burned!

The embers for me weren't the modern Nazi detective plot, or the final battle between the CSA and South African white supremacists, but the above little tidbits.

Isn't the backstory more interesting, anyway?