American Gun (Non-Fiction) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: American Gun
Series: (Non-Fiction)
Author: Chris Kyle
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: History
Pages: 266
Words: 79K
Publish: 2013

The history of how 10 different guns have affected America through history. It was a mix of the history of the specific guns themselves and the history in which they were used and why Kyle thought they were important enough to include.

Definitely written by a gun enthusiast but with the knowledge that not all his readers would be the same, so he did a good job of explaining acronyms or gun specific terms so that any layman could understand what he was writing. That was a big plus in my opinion.

The author was a little bit “folksy” in his writing style and that I did not enjoy. It might work really well for other people, but I felt like the author was trying to be “my friend” through the book and that’s not why I was reading it. I do understand the intent behind it (to make it more personal and friendly), but it didn’t work that way for me. I just wanted the facts and I got a handshake and a smile along with those.

Kyle was a Navy SEAL and was killed in 2013 by a marine on the gun range, so this was a posthumous book finished by his wife and a second writer, William Doyle. I didn’t add Doyle’s name to the data block because I couldn’t tell, and it wasn’t specified, what part he did for this book. There was also an introduction and some sort of postscript by Kyle’s widow and I really disliked that. It was sentimental drivel (understandable given his death, but understandable doesn’t make it enjoyable) and embarrassed me just reading it. That was the main reason I dropped this down to 3.5stars.

Overall, I am very glad to have read this and learned what I did. If you want a quick, easy to read and understand book on how some specific guns have shaped the course of US history, this is a great book to accomplish that goal.

For interests sake, here are the ten guns Kyle talks about:

  1  The American Long Rifle

  2  The Spencer Repeater

  3  The Colt Single-Action Army Revolver

  4  The Winchester 1873 Rifle

  5  The M1903 Springfield

  6  The M1911 Pistol

  7  The Thompson Submachine Gun

  8  The M1 Garand

  9  The .38 Special Police Revolver

10  The M16 Rifle

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

At the time of his tragic death in February 2013, former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the most accomplished sniper in U.S. military history, was finishing a remarkable book that retoldAmerican history through the lens of a hand-selected list of firearms. Kyle masterfully argues that guns have played a fascinating, indispensable, and often under-appreciated role in our national story.

Kyle carefully chose ten guns to help tell his story., including the American long rifle, Colt .45 revolver, Winchester rifle, .38 police handgun, and M-16 rifle platform Kyle himself used as a SEAL. This is also the story of how American innovation, creativity, and industrial genius has constantly pushed technology - and U.S. power - forward.

My (Current) Favorite Authors

 

Back in 2017, I wrote a post where I listed all of my "Most Read" authors. That was a lot of fun and segued into me writing a series of 8 Posts on some of my favorite books:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8 (Final)

Recently I was talking with someone on some blog (and sadly, I can't for the life of me remember who or where) and the subject of favorite authors came up. I asked them if they had favorite authors or were going to do a post on it and it got my own creative juices flowing. So I made a notation on Google Calendar to schedule a post for today on my Favorite Authors, and totally forgot to note who inspired me. So if it was you, please chime in so I can link to you. (and because it is really bugging me now that I can't remember that info).

My favorite authors have changed over the years. Some spoke to me as a teen and no longer do. Some of the authors I love right now I'd never heard of back in 2000. Some authors are just like oatmeal, they do the job but it's not something you get dressed up for to eat. And some authors I loved when I first encountered them and I still love them today. Without further ado, here is a list of authors who I consider Current Favorites.

• Neal Asher
• Jane Austen
• Glen Cook (even though I've forgotten almost everything about his Black Company series, hahahahah)
• Larry Correia
• Charles Dickens (He has got to be close to the #1 spot)
• Dorothy Gilman
• Frank Herbert (to be honest, that's just Dune)
• Patricia McKillip
• Rex Stout
• Leo Tolstoy (I love his books even when I hate them)
• Dan Willis
• Tom Wood

I thought about trying to write about each author, but you know what? That sounds like a lot of work. And I am declaring this post to be a work-free zone :-D Adios!

Jane Austen: Henry and Eliza 4Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Jane Austen: Henry and Eliza
Series: ----------
Author: Jane Austen
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Juvenilia
Pages: 6
Words: 2K
Publish: 1788

I just laughed out loud while reading this. I gave it the “humor” tag because of that. It is complete satire but it is just hilarious. I liked the ending where Eliza raises an army and destroys her enemy. It was just written so blithely and simply done!

Once again we get another “modern girl” cover, but these are about the only ones I can find for the individual stories. All of these stories are contained within Austen’s “juvenilia” but I want them read and reviewed on their own. I doubt I’m ever going to read them again, so I don’t want a post labeled “Juvenilia” and two sentences about how short these all are. At least now I will remember that this particular story tickled my funny bone to no end. Good enough.

★★★★☆

From “https://www.janeaustensummer.org/post/austen-250-reader-henry-eliza”

Sir George and his wife, Lady Harcourt, while supervising the haymakers in their work happen to come upon an orphaned child who is nestled in the foliage. Taken with the beautiful young girl, and having no children of their own, the couple adopt the foundling, name her Eliza, and raise her according to their own code of principles—placing a premium on possessing a love of virtue while harboring a hatred of vices.

            Life is splendid for all until, just after she turns the age of eighteen, Sir George and Lady Harcourt catch Eliza stealing a fifty-pound banknote. She is promptly turned out of the house, but she bears the punishment well. Rather than despair, she asks her friend, Mrs. Sarah Wilson, to help her acquire a place serving as a personal companion to a great lady. Pleased to be able to aid Eliza in this endeavor, Mrs. Wilson writes a letter of recommendation to the Duchess of F., asking the greatly esteemed lady to welcome Eliza into her home.

            The Duchess of F. is delighted to be of assistance and sets out to make Eliza’s acquaintance at once. She has but one daughter, Lady Harriet, who is soon to be wed to Mr. Henry Cecil, so she is thrilled to welcome Eliza as her new companion. Harriet, as well, is inclined to like Eliza and insists they behave as though they are sisters.

            The affectionate bond between them is not nurtured for long because shortly thereafter, Eliza and Henry fall in love. They elope and leave behind only a short, callous letter that provides no consolation to the Duchess or her daughter. Enraged, Her Grace hires three hundred men and orders them to track the couple. Should they kill Henry and Eliza on sight, that is permissible, but the Duchess would prefer they be brought back alive so she may be granted the pleasure of confining and torturing them herself.

            The couple flees and winds up living in France for three years. During that time, Eliza gives birth to two boys, but has the great misfortune of burying her husband while abroad. Now widowed, she wishes to return to England. Upon setting foot on land at Dover, she and the boys are seized by the Duchess’ men and conveyed to a prison.

            After being trapped for a few weeks, Eliza and her children manage to escape, but then they have no means by which to live. She decides they must seek out Sir George and Lady Harcourt. She hopes they will be merciful.

            When she and the children get closer to her former home, she spies Lady Harcourt and Sir George in a carriage and calls out to them. That is when Lady Harcourt reveals an odd secret. Eliza is not just an adopted child but is their biological daughter. When Sir George sailed for America, she was pregnant and eventually gave birth to a daughter. Certain that her husband would be disappointed to see a little girl rather than the son he so desired, she hid the child in a haycock. She forgot all about doing as much until she heard Eliza call out to them presently. But now, she recognizes the voice of her daughter and wishes to reconcile with her completely. Sir George agrees. He absolves Eliza from all wrongdoing.

            Just as soon as she is restored to her former place at Harcourt Hall, she raises an army and bids them march against the Duchess of F. Eliza earns the commendation and gratitude of thousands when her men demolish the Duchess’ prison cell.

• All My “Jane Austen” Reviews

• Reading Austen 2025 Master Post

The Joy Makers (Standalone) 2Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Joy Makers
Series: Standalone
Author: James Gunn
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 223
Words: 67K
Publish: 1961

Back in 2024 (waaaaaaay back then, a whole two years, whoooohoooooo), I did a series of posts asking for book recommendations. In one such post (Book Recommendations III), Marzaat recommended this book to me. The names “James Gunn” caught my interest because that’s the director for several Super Hero movies that I’ve enjoyed. Obviously this was a different Jame Gunn and one that I hoped was superior to that pathetic excuse of a human that trafficked in total mediocrity ;-)

If you’ve paid attention, you’ll have already seen my rating and deduced that it was not a smashing success for me.

Ever since I finished I’ve been wondering how to write what I really think without casting any aspersions on Marzaat for suggesting the book to me :-) It has been a real struggle, because despite my sometimes brash and gruff words, I care deeply what the people who know me think of me. If Marzaat was just some rando on Devilreads, I’d roast him without a thought. Which is why I don’t review books for people I know.

This was a philosophically oriented SF story. About hedonism. That’s the first strike. It is the rise and fall and then steadying out of Hedonism as a thoughtful philosophy to live your life by.

That is so ridiculous that I won’t even go down the rampaging path. Saying that Hedonism is a viable lifestyle for the human race is like saying that Moloch worship is a viable way for Humanity to live.

So I’m chalking this one up to Experience and moving on. I’m definitely not going to read any more by Gunn and I’ll leave him to those who enjoy his brand of ivorytower-SF.

★★☆☆☆

From TheRuinedChapel.com

The first section deals with a company called Hedonics, Inc., a business which promises to make people happy, or give them their money back. A hardboiled businessman thinks he sees through this obvious scam. But after awhile, he starts to find that maybe it isn’t just a scam after all.

In part two, Hedonics has basically taken over the world, to the point where there are professional “hedonists,” who are essentially doctors assigned to make sure that their charges are in a state of happiness. This section follows one such hedonist, whose name we learn very late in the section, is Morgan. Morgan gradually uncovers… let’s say… issues within the structure of the government-sponsored philosophy of absolute happiness.

The third section deals with a Venus-born man returning to Earth to warn of what appears to be an impending alien attack. What he finds on returning to Earth is that it has been nearly entirely taken over by machines, whose prime directive is ensuring that humans are happy at all times. And being machines, they followed this logic to its inevitable conclusion.

Manabarbs - MTG 4E

 

Man, Red just wants to hurt people, even if it involved hurting themselves. I don't think I ever got this card to work for me and I'm not sure I even tried really. Imagine those things jabbing into your thigh? You'd be hooked like a slab of beef!

Death Bag (Standalone) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Death Bag
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 144
Words: 55K
Publish: 1969

This was a decent overall collection. The only story that really stood out to me though was “Murder and Lonely Hearts” by Helen Nielsen and even that was because I remembered the song “Escape”, better known as the Pina Colada song. Of course, while Pina Colada has a happy ending with a man and wife realizing they both still love the other, this is a murder story, so at least one of the pair has to die :-D For some very perverse reason, it just made me grin.

The rest of the stories were typical Alfred Hitchcock Presents kind of stories and by the end of this book I realized I needed to take another break from Alfie. This was the last Hitchcock book on my ereader, so when I removed it from my Era, I simply deleted the “Hitchcock” category and won’t put any more on until I feel the need for it. That might be a while. It also opens up another space so I can start some new series or author if I wish. Or I can just have a smaller selection on my Era. Considering how slowly I went through books in June, I’ll probably go with that second option. I’ve got over 20 series/author categories right now, which at the pace I read in June means it’ll take me two months to cycle through them all. That’s pushing the envelope for how long I like to have between books in a category.

★★★☆☆

Publisher’s Blurb & Table of Contents:

OUR GUARANTEE OF QUALITY IN CRIME

When you see the name of Alfred Hitchcock, you can be sure of the very finest in ingenious evil and shivery surprise—and the master of the macabre has never been in finer form than in this superb collection of the choicest tales ever to keep the pages turning far into the night.

INTRODUCTION

by Alfred Hitchcock

DYING A THOUSAND DEATHS

by Hal Ellson

YEAR-END CLEARANCE

by Mary Linn Roby

RUBY MARTINSON, EX-CON

by Henry Slesar

BEWARE: DANGEROUS MAN

by C. B. Gilford

MURDER AND LONELY HEARTS

by Helen Nielsen

TO AVOID A SCANDAL

by Talmage Powell

REVENGE IS BITTER-SWEET

by H. A. DeRosso

HOSPITALITY MOST SERENE

by Jack Ritchie

THE TENTH PART OF A MILLION

by Robert Colby

HORSE-COLLAR HOMICIDE

by Arthur Porges

SCHEDULE FOR AN ASSASSINATION

by Robert Edmond Alter

AMBITION

by Michael Brett

SUCCESSOR

by Richard H. Hardwick

STOP KILLING ME

by Hal Dresner

• All of My “Alfred Hitchcock” Reviews

The Call of Honor (Empire Rising #18) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Call of Honor
Series: Empire Rising #18
Author: David Holmes
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 431
Words: 162K
Publish: 2023

Some people die, some surprises are pulled by both humans and karacknids, lots of missiles are fired, lots of missiles blow up, lots of ships blow up. Jonathan Somerville is a clone of his father, at least in terms of character make up. James is now just an old guy, that’s about the limit of his characterization now.

And that’s about the limit of these books. Take from it what you will.

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher
The Karacknid Civil War has ended. Tanaka-lan is the uncontested Imperator of the Karacknid Empire. One task now dominates his desires: the complete conquest of Humanity.

On Earth, James and Christine are all too aware of what the end of the civil war means. For over two decades they have been preparing their civilization for the showdown they always knew was coming. Not content to sit back and let Tanaka-lan bring the war to them, James and his Admirals hatch a plan to go on the offensive first. By striking at the Karacknids’ distant colonies, they hope to goad Tanaka-lan into defending his worlds instead of attacking Humanity’s. Yet Tanaka-lan’s desires are not easily set aside.

Unbeknown to his father, Jonathan Somerville also finds himself thrust into the midst of the developing war. Forced by his sense of honor to lead his own foray into Karacknid space, he may very well ignite the Second Karacknid War before either James or Tanaka-lan desire.

• All of My “Empire Rising” Reviews