Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft

Greetings, internet friends and neighbors, and to those family members who have stumbled upon this post: we are yet holding on.

"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft" (I Sam 15:23a, KJV)

I almost always prefer the New American Standard Bible (NASB), since it was the version I bought, and began studying, upon becoming an adult believer in 1973. 

Sometimes, I have found the transparency of the New International Version (NIV) to reveal a previously hidden truth. I liked this feature so much, I even wrote a song  in praise of this translation, to the tune of the Beach Boys' "Little GTO."*

Every once in a while, though, I revert to my very first Bible, the King James Version (KJV), when a particular verse seems to be hard-wired into my brain. And this morning, when I read that three men, loosely affiliated with a movement known as "Boogaloo Boys," were arrested for planning to firebomb power stations in Las Vegas, King James is what I heard in my head. 

I believe it's because "witchcraft" has a greater punch for me than "divination," the word used in the more recent translations. 

This last is part of a tangle of a few different threads in my recent thinking.

First. Prior to reading the news article this morning, the last thread was prompted by a rabbit trail conversation I was a part of, at a Georgia law seminar I attended last night. The topic was the issues surrounding the use of deadly force. primarily by civilians, but also touching lightly on the use of force by police. One of the other attendees had been a college classmate of former Georgia governor Roy Barnes, and upon hearing that the presenter was a Cobb County lawyer, asked if he knew him.

(The answer was yes; they were neighbors; they all called him "Uncle Roy.")

If you aren't a long-term Georgia resident, it's not likely that you have heard of Roy Barnes. If you have, it's likely due to his actions in getting the Confederate battle flag emblem removed from the Georgia state flag in January 2001. In a nutshell: in six days, he got legislation pushed through both the House and the Senate changing the flag, and the opponents were taken by surprise. 

It cost him re-election, BUT: further significant conflict was avoided. In my opinion, Roy Barnes exemplifies the example of self-sacrifice for the common good. If you want to hear some details, try this article here. 

Second.  I discovered several years ago that snug-fitting T-shirts were no longer the effective fashion statement that they were when I weighed 165 pounds. Hawaiian shirts, though; that appealed to my love of the bizarre, as well as providing comfort for my expanding belly. I peaked at 305 pounds! I've lost around 50 since then, and am slowly creeping downward, but the loose fit of those shirts is still something I appreciate. Furthermore, loose shirts really make the "concealed" part of "concealed carry" work for me. I do not like the association of these shirts with terrorists. 

Third. Like many of you, I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. In my case, the occasion was taken upon my enlistment in the U. S. Army on September 7, 1972. It still applies. Although most of the talk I've heard over the past couple of decades has been about defending our Second Amendment rights, it is the First Amendment that I see being challenged now. Specifically, it is the RIGHT of the people to peaceably assemble. The protests, whether you agree with them or not, fall into that category. The challenges are coming from at least two sides: those in authority, who react in fear and oppression; and those who are using a protest venue to launch violent and tumultuous attacks on people and property. Whether those latter are opportunistic thugs, or agent provocateurs, I do not know. I hope that will be revealed, and as soon as possible. Depicted here is a peaceable protest of remarkable beauty; it is also RE-MAKE-ABLE beauty, as this can serve as a pattern for future events. 

Fourth.  The Fulton County DA charged a former Atlanta police officer with 11 felony counts, including felony murder. An official with the Atlanta chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. called this decision bold and courageous, but at the same time wondered why similar charges had not been filed in a half-dozen similar cases since 2015; these came during times when the DA was not fighting for re-election. 

And it's possible that the cops are responding by staging an informal job action, although news on this is hard to come by. If the link at the beginning of this sentence is dead,  you might need to try Google.

I think that a citizen has the right to go about their business/recreation without being hassled, and without fear of being treated more harshly than the situation calls for.

I think that police should be accountable for criminal actions, but should NOT fear being criminally prosecuted for political advantage of elected officials.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Peace be on your household.

*For those of you who are curious, the first verse of this song, performed at a summer evening service at my home church in Woodstock, GA, around 1994:

Well, Little NIV, you know you read so fine,

From Genesis to Revelations, you really blow my mind.

When I look into your pages, it really drives me wi-i-ild,

I'm gonna take it down, open it, read the book,

NIV!

His Duty As A Trooper

I didn't write this post. 

(It seems I am mostly still not able to write. I'm trying to figure that out, but if you have been wondering? Well, I'm wondering as well.)

This post was written by Richard Holman, a 27 year-old second-generation member of the Georgia State Patrol. I cannot speak highly enough of his parents, who I have known since 1991. In fact, I'm not even going to try, except to say that if you lived next door to them, or had the privilege of working with them, you would call yourself blessed, just as I do.

August 2017: 

New graduate Richard is issued the same badge number

his father Lee had, when he served.

I was nearly overwhelmed with pride, when I read Richard's reflections on his duty as a member of the GSP, and as a man, during the unrest in Atlanta in the recent past. These are his words, verbatim, which you may also find on his May 31 entry on his Facebook page.

I’ve been pondering the “right” way to put this, but if I keep thinking about it then it’ll never be said. The more I grow the more I am able to clearly formulate my own opinions and feeling about the world. I’ve felt a hard press on my heart this week to share these thoughts, and I’ve ignored too many calls from God to not share this one.

First of all, hi I’m Richard. I am In law enforcement, and I am proud of the job I do everyday and the department I serve. I love to serve my wife, my church, my friends, my family, and my community. My mission goes beyond getting bad folks off the roads. I strive to dig into my community to bridge a gap that for far too long has been left void. A large part of my job includes listening to people. When I encounter someone I’ve always found that listening to them is a fantastic way to start that conversation. I know what I have to say to people, so I want to know what they have to say to me. I can’t change the past, and I can’t change someone’s perspective. I CAN listen to understand perspective, and pray I leave a better footprint.

With that said, the pain that is being expressed in these gatherings is felt. The tears have been seen. Your chants are being heard. It is my obligation as a good man to support and listen to the protest. It is my duty as a Trooper to bridge that gap. I’m speaking out against any man or woman in law enforcement that does not believe that it is our duty to truly serve with love and compassion for each and every person. I have unregrettably apologized to people for the way they have been treated by other law enforcement officers in the past, and will continue to do so.

For the last 3 days. I have been in Atlanta. There have been numerous protest with meaning and real passion with real missions taking place. I value your expressions and your mission. I have had conversations with people where I did nothing but listen, and ask more questioned to gain a new perspective. I did this because I needed to understand the best I can. My duty as a Trooper and my obligation as a human is to defend your protest. If harm comes to you I will defend you, and I have seen you defend those on duty. We should begin to value each other as God values us. For me that starts with listening.

There are many coming that do not have a real cry. They do not have any words that add value or express pain. They have a mission to cause pain, and to divide even deeper. These are the wolves. They’ve swept into a meaningful expression, and stole the mission from millions of people. I want those that are protesting to know that I see that. I see that your agenda is to bridge the gap just like me. And I will defend you in these streets as the wolves are trying to tear apart what you’ve so desperately needed to say. I love you all, and I’m always here for you.

Even if you don't know Richard personally; even if you don't have the privilege of living in the Great State of Georgia; if you care about the future of the relationship between law enforcement and civilians, then this should make you proud. This should give you hope. As long as there are men and women who understand their mission the way that Richard Holman does, then the LEO side of the equation will work. It's up to the rest of us to take care of the civilian side.

Peace be on your household. 

I HATE firearms errors in books!

This started out as  a minor Facebook rant, but then it got too long. And I haven't written a blog post in far too long, anyway. I was driven to this by outrage, sort of....

Mickey Spillane. Wrote all the tough-guy detective stories, Mike Hammer, etc. His books have sold more than 200,000,000 copies. That's Two Hundred Million. Enough to equip the rebels at the battle of Armageddon.

Mickey Spillane in 1974

Critics hated him. Does he look like he cares?

"More peanuts get sold than caviar," he said.

How does HE make firearms mistakes, and with a common firearm like the 1911 .45 ACP Mike Hammer carries?
INCONCEIVABLE!
And yet, he does. I'm reading a short story included in an award-winners (The Shamus Award. Didn't know it was legit, until I looked it up) book, called "The Killing Man." It was in Playboy magazine in 1989, blah, blah, blah, later made into a book, blah blah blah. 

This is probably a good place to insert a comment about writers who trouble themselves to do the research. Laura Montgomery, this means you! Well done, VERY well done!

I'm not even all the way through with the story, and so far he's done this:

Page 150: Called the bullet feeder a clip. It's NOT a clip, it's a magazine. This is minor, since it's just nomenclature, but it's the WRONG nomenclature.
Page 151: He tells his cop buddy he will "keep his forty-five on half cock," in order to be more prepared for the bad guys. Ummm, no. While the 1911 does have a half-cock position, that's a STUPID way to carry it. When half-cocked, the trigger doesn't work, and the safety can't be engaged. It's a MUCH more difficult maneuver to shift the thumb to move the hammer to full cock, than it is to shift the thumb to take the safety off. If there is a reason for the half-cock position to exist, I do not know what it is.
Page 154: He beats up a bad guy, then pulls his gun on him to interrogate him:  "I pulled out my .45, and let him hear me jack a round into the chamber ... I thumbed the hammer back. That sound, the double click, was even deadlier."
 No, no no. I cannot stand it any more! I must register my protest!

First of all, a 1911 is DESIGNED to be carried with a round in the chamber, cocked, safety on. Observe the hammer and safety positions on my 1911:

Also observe that there is no magazine inserted.

Yes, it is true that at certain times in the military, the policy was to keep the chamber unloaded, but that was a stupid decision made by people afraid of boomsticks, not by users, and most certainly not by John Moses Browning. And Mike Hammer is a civilian anyway, so that wouldn't apply. And therefore, he wouldn't be jacking a round into the chamber, because he would already have it loaded.

Second, when you "jack a round into the chamber," it cocks the hammer automatically. So, there is no 'thumbing the hammer back," no "deadly double click."

I think he's got the function of the semi-auto 1911 conflated with the way that the Colt Model 1873 Single Action Army revolver operated. It's true that with the originals, you carried them with the cylinder underneath the hammer empty, because if you dropped one, the hammer could set off the primer and fire that round. Modern reproductions are perfectly safe to carry with all six cylinders loaded, but they teach in Cowboy Action Shooting to only load five, for purposes of authenticity.
And, with the Model 1873, the half-cock position actually DID serve a purpose: when you placed the hammer in the half-cock position, the cylinder spun freely, so you could load it, via a swing-out side gate. BUT: you had to cock it, FULL cock, each time you wanted to fire it.

Here are my modern Model 1873 SAA revolvers, manufactured in Italy by Uberti. The left-hand pistol is on half-cock, the right-hand is on full cock.

These are very different from the 1911!

A salient comment: There are MANY occasions in which an accurate description is a bad idea. Atomic bombs, for example, but there are others. Even the recipes in "The Anarchist Cookbook" are bogus; I know, because I bought a copy about 20 years ago, and I can't believe my fascination and fear of it in 1971. HOWEVER!!! This isn't one of those cases. Frankly, I see zero value in him misleading the public like this. On the other hand,  I can't believe that Spillane didn't know how a 1911 worked. But, maybe.

Well, that's all the venting I needed.

Peace be on your household.

RED Friday: Schools are closed : STAY HOME IF SICK!

Greetings, internet friends and neighbors, and a great good morning to you! And to those family members who have made their way here, I hope you are all as well as you can be!

It's RED Friday, and also Friday the 13th, and late yesterday, Georgia's governor suggested schools might want to close for two weeks, as a precaution to keep from spreading COVID-19.
So, today my kids went off to school to get whatever they needed, and for at least the next two weeks, they are at home. They THINK it's just going to be video games for two weeks.
That's not what my gift-from-God, happily-ever-after trophy wife Vanessa, the elegant, foxy, praying black grandmother of Woodstock, GA, thinks, though.
She's usually right in such times.

Now, I want you all to pay special attention to what I am about to say next:

If you are sick, stay home. And keep your sick kids at home.

I'm now parenting-while-retired, but for 20+ years, I parented-while-working. I well know the dilemma you find yourself in when your kid is sick. You might be working in a job, where not showing up to work means you don't get paid; it might even mean you are fired.

I couldn't begin to count all the times I've had to make last-minute phone calls to line up someone who could sit for a sniffle-child, dropped off at 5:30 AM, so I could be at work in time for the day shift. And unfortunately, there were quite a few times when there wasn't anyone I could call, and I had to make that unpleasant phone call to my boss.

It's a great temptation to just go ahead, and send them to school or daycare, because they aren't THAT sick.

DON'T DO IT!

I have BEEN there, and had to make the tough decision, and I DO understand. And I still say: 

DON'T DO IT!

Even healthy people can get sick, when you send your sick child to school.

I have a great good friend who was the General Manager at a big water park when several kids got sick from being in the kiddie pool. Turns out someone had sent their sick kid to day care, because they were going to the water park, and they didn't want to miss work, and they didn't want their child to miss the water park. As a result, 26 kids got sick from E-coli; 7 required hospitalization, and one died. Another had a stroke - at 4 years of age - while hospitalized, and has had to relearn how to walk.

And for people who already have health issues? That little germ you spread, or your child spreads, can trigger an illness with dire consequences.

Let me introduce you to a wonderfully gifted lady, who loved God, her husband, her children, her grandchildren, and was looking forward to loving them even more:

Leona Irvin

She worked at a childcare center, in the nursery, by choice. She LOVED taking care of children! She was a cancer patient, and taking treatments; maybe, it's because she had gotten close to crossing over, that every chance she had to be kind, to produce a laugh, was a precious opportunity. 

One day, they were having a Crazy Hair Day at the daycare, and this beautiful woman put her hair up in these MOST ridiculous, goofy looking pigtail-braid things, just so she could give the gift of making the kids a little bit happier. Because that was her mission: to give happiness gifts. (Well, that was PART of her mission.)

And that was the day (or maybe it was a day or two or three before), that a child who was just a little bit sick, accidentally gave Leona a gift; a bad gift. A germ gift. 

I'm choosing to imagine it happened while Leona was hugging them. Because she was all about loving kids.

The next day, dear, happy, loving Leona had to leave her kids;  she went home sick. 

She went straight to bed, and stayed there, until she was transferred to a medical facility. 

Here's how her husband Doug described the next stage for Leona:

After recovering from a month and a half stay in either hospital or convalescent center, she was finally able to go home. But the job was no longer there, and the progress of the cancer accelerated, spreading through her lymph system, until finally she could fight it no more. She celebrated her 62nd birthday with family and friends around her bedside. And ten days after her birthday, she lost her fight.

Hear this, clearly: 

• The sick child was not at fault. It was just interacting with a beloved teacher.
• The daycare center was not at fault. They had a well-established policy: if your child is sick, don't bring them in.
• The parent of the sick child was not evil, and didn't intend harm to come to anyone. We don't know their story; we just know they sent their sick child to school, when they should have kept it home. 

Perhaps they would have had to suffer some job consequences. We just don't know. It really doesn't matter, does it?  Because in this case, the consequences of sending their sick little one to school were to prove lethal. They didn't even think about that, because most of the time, the worst doesn't happen.

But if you are sick, and you go to work, 

Or just go out in public; 

Or if your kid is sick, and you send them to school or daycare; 

Then, you are gambling with other people's lives. Not your life; other people's lives. 

And you don't have the right to do that.

So, don't.
Sure, you will have to pay some other price, in some other currency.
Any thinking parent will tell you, none of us had any idea of just how many ways we would wind up paying over the years.
This is just one of many prices.
Pay it. 

So someone else  doesn't have to.

Peace be on your household.

A Dragon and Her Girl, LTUE Anthology #2

For those of you running an ad blocker:

 A Dragon and Her Girl

Greetings to all of my Internet friends and neighbors, with an extra cookie for those of you who are a part of the LTUE universe. And for family members who have stumbled upon this post, please kiss my new granddaughter for me, as well as all the rest. I WILL show up. Eventually. With presents.

PRELIMINARY MATERIAL
Confession: Some time ago, I was given a review copy of the LTUE release for this year, “A Dragon and Her Girl.” I rather ignored it.

1. For one thing, I am still somewhat overcome by, well, Life, The Universe, and Everything. When you have a ginormous family (10 kids, 15 grandkids, 1 great-grandson) plus some uncounted number of brothers, sisters, cousins, one remaining parent and two step-parents, SOMEBODY is almost always guaranteed to be in difficulty, and it brings ouches. Plus, I have pneumonia.
2. For another thing, I have had occasion to realize that I really DON’T like fantasy. It’s mostly the turgid writing that seems to infect the genre, I think.
3. And finally, the title put me off. I had to slosh through so much precious, gender-identity-conscious, woke fiction during the last Dragon Award competition that my innards started to bleed. (And if you’ve never experienced THAT, count yourself lucky!) So, “The Dragon and HER GIRL,” with the twice-designated female character, just had my back up.

So, bruised and battered by circumstances, alienated by the potential for purple prose and Neo-uber-feminist tractation, I balked. HOWEVER! The proceeds from the book sales go to funding scholarships for students to attend the conference.(NOTEWORTHY!) Furthermore, I loved the work submitted for first anthology in the series, “Trace the Stars,” that I felt I owed it to The Most Reverend and Learned Doctor Joe Monson (editor) to read it. So I did, and it was lovely. And I hereby offer my apologies for forming an opinion without evidence.
All proceeds from this review will be matched (up to $100) and donated to the LTUE Scholarship fund.

THE REVIEW
The cover art (above) is magnificent, the sort of thing you might want to hang on a wall for friends to view. Donated by a person not previously known by me, a certain Kaitlund Zupanic, there is much to be admired here.

A Game of Stakes Max Florschutz
Victoria, daughter of famous Count Antares, the Wolf, is seeking a husband via a dragon, Dostoy the Mighty. She has established three challenges for her prospective suitors: The first was that a suitor had to be fleet of foot enough— or clever enough— to make it to the Stakes board with Dostoy defending it. The second was that they must beat him in a game. And the third was that she herself would duel them.

Dragon Soap M. K. Hutchins
These are smallish dragons, about the size of a raccoon. And they aren't really ENEMIES: more like pests. They keep stealing radishes. Somebody has been messing around with the ecology, it seems. And the poor folks who live way out in the woods are the people who are paying the price.

Li Na and the Dragon Scott R. Parkin
Unique among these stories, this is a tiny slice of, at least, a novel. It's more likely that the story will need multiple installments. Li Na, the protagonist, has been tending to the worship of the dragons in her household for her entire life. With the birth of her seventh daughter, multiple threads come together to form a crisis.

High Noon at the Oasis Jaleta Clegg
She’d turned into a horse, somehow.  She couldn't recall much of anything that took place before that. But she could smell out magic, and water, and even lies, and somebody was going to pay.

The Wild Ride Christopher Baxter
We have a husband-wife team of something with tusks; we have a wild dragon round-up. Each one is going to grab a wild dragon, ride it to the end, and they hope to use their winnings to buy their own ranch. They might die, though.

Rising Star Michaelene Pendleton
Near the end of a wild pursuit of a mage, a dragon gets slammed through dimensions into the desert outside Los Angeles. And there, she finds a Hollywood agent at the end of his rope.

The Diamond-Spitting Knight S. E. Page
All she wanted was to be a princess. With a tiara, and everything. But somehow, the gifts that pixies give always turn out to be a pain, and she gets imprisoned, more or less, because she spits jewels when she speaks. If ever a fair young maiden needed rescue, it was poor Millet.

Amélie’s Guardian Bryan Thomas Schmidt
This is a pure, sweet tale of redemption, birthed by mutual need and affection.

Aer’Vicus Jodi L. Milner
A girl and a dragon learn together, and that's a good story; however, a throw-away line grabbed my attention, and is one of the best parts of the entire book. Here it is:

 “It’s as if you are a mouse standing on a corner of the road squeaking as loudly as it can about the surprising lack of cheese in its life." (Joe Monson and Jaleta Clegg. A Dragon and Her Girl (Kindle Locations 2497-2498). Hemelein PUblications with LTUE Press) 

Loyalties Josh Brown
Anessi has fought to keep her people alive, even though most of them have died in the process. When she is sent on a mission to kill a dragon, she finds the end of her quest.

Ash and Blood Hannah Marie
I'm not sure, but I THINK that this story illustrates the corrupting nature of power. It's certainly gory enough, with a more than ample casualty list.

Therapy for a Dragon Sam Knight
Hmmm. Marjorie, strapped onto an interrogation couch, certainly needs dragon therapy. I'm not quite sure that the therapy is for the dragon, though.

Taking Wing Julia H. West
The little crippled girl, Sofria, sat on one corner of the widest street in Tarnisi. And, over time, she began to speak with the gargoyle perched high above her on the ledge. And it spoke to her, as well.

Lullaby John D. Payne
Any parent of multiple small children knows the middle-of-the-night torture of dragging yourself out of bed to care for one (or more) who is sick, or hungry, or lonely, or wet. Dismal, dismal, dismal. But, at least you have the hope that they will grow out of it. Dragons, though, live for a very, very long time.

Rain Like Diamonds Wendy Nikel
In a time of drought, with the people starving, it falls upon the monarch to heal the land. That's the price of ruling.

Here by Choice Gerri Leen
You had one job: guard the woman who was ready for paradise. Wait; she changed her mind!

Dragon’s Hand David VonAllmen
Well, this one is a combo: you get magic, the Old West, and card strategy, all mixed into one.

Take out the Trash Melva L. Gifford
Snicker, snicker. I don't know how many puns are hidden in this little beauty. It really is about taking out the trash, at a magic school.

Burying Treasure Alex Shvartsman
Okay, somehow, we wind up with a dragon on the throne. But this is a SMART dragon, who puts into place significantly enlightened policies which will, eventually, result in prosperity. In the meantime, though, there are some unemployed soldiers around.

Dragon in Distress Mercedes Lackey and Elisabeth Waters
Turns the hero-rescuing-maiden-from-dragon story on its' head, but it's a bit pervy, too. Adults only.

Okay, so that's my review. I think LTUE was over yesterday, so the book ought to be live on Amazon now. Here's the link, if you want to learn more.

Peace be on your household.

RED Friday Review: The Replicant War, Chris Kennedy

And for those who are running an ad blocker, here's the cover image:

(The Good Guy is in the mecha)

And here is THE LINK to the book. And if you click on the link and buy stuff, I get a pittance.

I think my condensed Goodreads review is already up, and I'm about to submit a (condensed) review to Amazon as well. If that goes up quickly, I'll post a link here. Otherwise, I'll put it in the comments later, when it does get posted.

A great good RED FRIDAY to all my friends and neighbors out there in Internet Land. Every Friday is RED Friday; we wear something RED, and we Remember Everyone Deployed. And to my family members who have stumbled across this, I believe I have solved the problem that kept me home a couple of weeks ago. Now, as soon as my transportation works out, I'll be there.

Today, I am reviewing Chris Kennedy's "The Replicant War." Now, while this book WAS a Dragon nominee, it was NOT one of the books I reviewed last August. That's because I only review nominees in four categories: Best SF, Best Fantasy, Best Alternate History, and Best Mil SF. "The Replicant War" was nominated in the "Best Media Tie-In" category, and that's an area about which I know nothing. 

SO: Why am I reviewing it at all? 

First, because it was written by Chris Kennedy. I have been quite impressed by the work his fledgling publishing house has put out, especially the stories in the Four Horsemen Universe. When I think of the long years of drought that was the 1970s and 1980s for guys like me, who grew up with SCIENCE! ROCKETS TO THE MOON! and the few, paltry items we found in those decades; well, the abundance of good writing available now is a delight.

Second, well, umm...mecha saves the world? 

So, let me get this out of the way first: as far as I can tell, the qualification for the  "Media Tie-in" category is that this story is based on an immersive online game, Worlds of War, which doesn't actually exist (yet). In fact, the tech to deliver the game experience doesn't exist yet.  

There is, however, a sho-nuff video game,  Turbolance, referenced in the story. I don't know anything about it, other than the description given in the text (knights with lances on motorcycles), but if you are interested in checking that out, THIS LINK is provided in the prefatory material.

Brenda Mihalko and Ricky Ryan are responsible for the cover art; fans of the 4HU will recognize the look and feel of their work. Nicely detailed scary things, etc.

Although we aren't given dates, I think we can assume from other clues that this takes place in the not-too-distant future. The only tech advances I could find is that hardware providing for a completely immersive gamer experience is available to the players, and they are only mildly astonished by the system's tech. 

Our protagonist is one Ryan Johnson, a senior majoring in Game Design at the fictional Oliver Wolcott University in Washington, DC. We meet him as he is prepping to enter the gamer for the first time, something he has been looking forward to ever since rumors of the game's release hit the internet.

Apart from the immersive experience, he follows a path familiar to anyone who has ever played a game of any kind. Certainly, his early experience is an exact match for a computer-based game, but I couldn't help but be reminded of the time my dad taught me how to play solitaire when I was in kindergarten. 

With all the similarities, however, there are enough differences that Ryan begins to suspect that there is more to the game than meets the eye. He's right.

And the review STOPS RIGHT THERE, almost, because spoilers, and I ain't gonna.

Almost: There is nothing about this that would cause a responsible parent from keeping it from their teenager. The language is PG-13; not too gory, no sexual content at all.

Almost: While the story DOES include lots of technology, and much of it gets blown to smithereens, it's the decisions made by the characters that drive the story. 

Almost: The Amazon description refers to "The Replicant War" as a "...fast-paced, action-packed LitRPG novel..." LitRPG is not a classification I was familiar with before last year, when I reviewed a book with that classification. That work was awful! It seemed to be nothing but screenshots of a game being played online. THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS IS! This is a correctly put-together story. No assembly required, etc. 

So, there you have it. It's a good read, and after six months, I have finally gotten the review done.

Peace be on your household.

Gold on the Hoof, by Peter Grant : Old + New= EXCELLENT

And, for those of you running an ad blocker, here's the cover image:

From "A Dash for the Timber"

 by Frederic Sackrider Remington

And here's the link; if you click on this link and then buy the book, I get a small (2.3%) referral fee. This is not a huge income thing for me; I made $1.63 during the last quarter of 2019, but evidently, I'm still supposed to disclose that lest people think me unethical. 

A condensed form of the review can be found on Goodreads and on Amazon; the Amazon review will let you vote on it, which I hope you will do. If I remember, I'll post a link to the Amazon review in the comments. CHANGED MY PLAN! Here's the Amazon review.

Greetings to all my internet friends and neighbors, who are providing me with encouragement to return to the Days of Review without clamor or threats.   And to any of my family checking in, really sorry I didn't get down to Macon this week, but the glass splinters in the dough for the candy rice balls was that one final detail that shut me down. I'll try again later.

It was indeed a fortuitous day when Peter Grant immigrated to this country. Based on what details he has chosen to reveal, he had already seen and done more than most could ever imagine, on the African continent and perhaps elsewhere, and he used his life experiences as a prison chaplain; you REALLY should read "Walls, Wires, Bars, and Souls" if you'd like to get a sense of what it means to be an authentic Christian, ministering to damaged men in a damaged prison system.

Grant is also one of the great geniuses of our times, which he demonstrated by marrying an Alaskan bush pilot. Where else could you get such a combination of steel nerves, insanity, attention to detail, and spirit of adventure? It's all wrapped up in the rather petite package we know as Dorothy, and if we seek her out for basic and advanced independent book marketing helps, rather than book a trip to Moose Droppings, it's only reflective of our limitations, not hers. She is quite an author as well, and together they appear to have one of those great marriage-chemistry things going, where the total is far more than the sum of the parts. 

"Gold on the Hoof" is the third (of four, so far) of the books in the "Ames Archive" series. It was released on August 26, 2019, and I grabbed a copy IMMEDIATELY, and read it as soon as I could get to it. And there, progress ended, alas. I'll not go into detail about the reasons for the pathetically long delay associated with this review, but O My Best Beloved, it is through no fault whatsoever of the book.

In fact, let me open this review by saying that the very best of the literature of the Old West is found here, absent features that might make reading those stories painful for the modern reader. FEAR NOT, though; this is NOT de-constructed, revisionist work, written solely for the benefit of those who wish to re-write history. 

Specifically, here are some things you won't find: a pretense that there was no lingering racial prejudice after the Civil War; the idea that the life of the aboriginal people of the American West was one of bliss and harmony with nature, until the white man came along; that all it took was hard work and a plow for frontier life to be idyllic. Furthermore, the real, unavoidable conflicts between a nomadic hunter-gatherer culture and that of the incoming farmers and ranchers is treated seriously, and sympathetically. This entire series is like that, which makes it the best treatment I have come across.

Walt Ames is a former Confederate soldier, who came West after the Civil War. Good fortune provided him with working capital, which he increased buying surplus, obsolete military weapons and refitting them to meet more current standards. He also recognized the need for reliable freight handling, and built up a good shipping business. Not without opposition, he lost a hand and a much-loved wife, Rose, to the bad guys in the process. They all paid with their lives, and forfeited their substantial takings to Walt.

Setting Walt apart from the robber-baron mentality of the super-exploiters is his easy-minded commitment to treating people with fairness. As a result, he has inspired great loyalty among his employees and associates. This quality is what allows him to turn the windfalls he receives along the way into solid working capital, and permits him to launch new businesses. 

The economics of his decisions are explained in enough detail to show that this is a plausible story; and, if Walt DOES stumble upon a few pots of gold at the end of rainbows, it always makes sense as to why those pots are there in the first place. In any event, his business plans are always based on hard-headed research and meeting real needs of real people, not "and hope we get lucky."

The core of the story is Walt's trip down to Mexico to buy good horses to sell to the Army, and for his own use. This permits some good discussion about the short-sighted practices of the past, which captured the best of the wild horses descended from those abandoned in the West by the Spanish, and left the culls to breed. That program has now resulted in only a very few good quality horses being available for captures, whereas in the past, many more would have been found. 

That's not the only example of the good research that went into the story; there is a nicely-done discussion of the economics of payment with government greenback dollars, not backed by specie, contrasted with payment in gold. As mentioned earlier, there is also a quite sympathetic treatment of the real collision of the way of life followed by the tribes which followed the buffalo herds, and the increasing violations of the territory set aside for them by buffalo hunters who were getting rich by selling hides. It's not ignored that the custom of following the herds is also what makes it feasible for raids between tribes, a hobby now expanded to prey on settlers moving west. And, we even learn how to cook a turkey without plucking it, so we can eat it for breakfast.

Grant's depiction of Walt Ames is NOT that of a superman. Yes, he DOES get lucky from time to time, but he also has placed himself in condition to take advantage of luck when it presents. There is absolutely NOTHING else about the character that makes him a ....oops...what is the male equivalent of a Mary Sue? At any rate, he is NOT an impossible character. His sole defining quality is that of keeping faith, or, in doing unto others as he would have them do unto him. This keeps him (mostly) out of those interminable semi-Hamlet moments that seem to pop up everywhere in hero stories, where the hero has to berate himself on the horrid choices he has to make. Walt isn't immune to a bit of that; he does wonder if there were anything he could have done differently to prevent the murder of Rose. However, he makes his life plan VERY clear, in a small jewel of a conversation he has with Jimmy and Randy, two teen boys who are along for the trip to help with the gear and stock:

“Just remember – don’t go tryin’ to take a fight to anyone who doesn’t really need it. He gets a vote, too, an’ he may be better with a gun than you are. You don’t want to find that out the hard way unless you got no other choice.”

(Grant, Peter. Gold on the Hoof (Ames Archives Book 3) . Sedgefield Press. Kindle Edition. )

I found this to be a VERY restful and absorbing read; Chaplain Pearce, you'd like this one.  I wasn't really seeking "comforting" when started  the re-read (which was necessary after all these months), but I surely did need what "Gold on the Hoof" brought me. 

Well researched; good story; believable characters; recommend without qualification for any age.

Five Stars.

Peace be on your household.