[erikm]

Some of you may already have heard of Freehold (http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200401/0743471792.htm?blurb), coming out in january on dead trees.
http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200401/0743471792.jpg

This book is only edgeways gun-related, but the online teaser chapters may be a nice read for people here. I know I'm going to be buying the online edition (thank you Baen). The author makes the perfectly good point that near-universal carry really does depress the crime level and is generally a good thing on a world with fast and vicious predators. This is one snippet I find kind of amusing WRT current government aircraft paranoia.

At the airport, the procedure was strange to her. There was no search of her or her luggage, she didn't need fingerprints or retina pics to prove who she was and they had a procedure for weapons safety. She'd forgotten she was wearing her sidearm, as she now wore it out of habit.

"Please clear your weapon, Ms Pacelli," an attendant asked. She blushed and complied, stuffing the magazine and spare round into her pouch. "We'd prefer that you store it in your pouch and in the underseat stowage. You'll still be able to reach it quickly in an emergency, but it eliminates the chance of an accident."

She nodded in response. It made sense. Given the obsession with personal freedom here coupled with the need to avoid accidents, it made sense. A historical scan she'd done the week before indicated there'd never been a successful act of piracy, questionable commandeering or hijacking aboard any Freehold aircraft, transport or registered vessel. Ever. She couldn't conceive of any UN nation ever considering allowing personal weapons, however. It was an alien concept.
(emphasis mine)


Cheers,
ErikM :evil:

[Mark Tyson]

Zing! Quite an explicit endorsement of a right to arms, that is.

[Correia]

Uhh guys, the author is a member of THR. :)

[madmike]

Yes, I is a member.

:neener:


When my collab with John Ringo comes out, we'll be driving the point home with a sledgehammer, because of the Posleen (vicious, carnivorous, sentient, reptilian centauroids. A creature that eats babies like sushi and slices the rest up as jerky. A lifeform even PETA wouldn't stand up for. :D (Well, MOST PETA members wouldn't.:banghead: )

And I'll be mentioning it again in The Scope of Justice, and The Weapon. Partly to state my position, partly to get the critics frothing for publicity.

Several SF authors are about to embark on a fundraiser for Silveira, too. We'll either be donating autographed books, or using people as characters. Highest bidder gets the book, or gets to choose to die messily and with glory. It's called "redshirting," after a certain TV series. ("Captain! Look out!" BANG!)

Partial list includes

Me
Lars Walker
David Drake
David Weber
Rob Chilson
Steve White
Steve Perry
Linda Evans
John Ringo
Joe Haldeman
Mercedes Lackey
Rosemary Edghill
and possibly a few others.

Do keep in mind that Misty Lackey and Joe H are screaming lefties. This isn't about Republican/Democratic. It's about RIGHTS.

Bid early and often. And annoy Sarah Grabby by making us all rich. :D

[Mushinto]

Yes, I is a member...
And, you'll be offering autographed copies to THR members when?
How much?
I'm in.
ML

[madmike]

$9 shipped in the US. Yes, I'll autograph them.

I get my copies in early December, so you can beat the antis and their bad reviews on Amazon. :D

email me for an address. I'll be holding all checks until I get the copies.

A snippet from "Hero" will be up in a day or two. Link will be in my news page.

The Scope of Justice appears to have been moved up to a sooner date, but I don't have a final on it yet.

[0007]

yes,yes,yes!!! The John Ringo / Poleen series. Waiting for the latest to go over to paperback so I can carry it overseas in my briefcase while reading it. Loved the "little" Shiva introduced in the last one... Put me down for an autographed copy of yours and keep us posted on the printing / sending the money issue when it's in print. If you are working with Ringo, could I send you a hard back of one of the Poleen books to pass on to him to be autographed? :D :D :D Tell us more about the "auction" / redshirt thingy.

[tommytrauma]

Tagged for future reference.

Mike, more details on the auctions?

[Daniel T]

Mike, that's awesome. I love all of Ringo's stuff, and I buy pretty much every book that Baen publishes because of their Free Library and the quality of authors. Eric Flint rules!

I'm looking foward to your book coming out too.

You should get Mr. Ringo to post here, I think he'd be a valuable member. Unless, of course, it interferes with his writing schedule. :)

[Skunkabilly]

Who's John Ringo? Is he a friend of George Paul? :confused:

:neener:

[Nightcrawler]

I like it when they throw things like that in books, little comments and things that, in addition to contributing to the story, make the reader think.

Good on that one, MadMike.

On the other hand, I dislike books that basically lecture the reader on political philosophy. You know, where there's the author's idea of a utopian society, and some member of said society will, in the form of a Platonic Dialogue between characters, lecture the reader on how much better off the world will be if everybody thought like that?

Even if I agree with the political philosophy, I can't stand it when authors of fiction get preachy like that, unless it's necessary to really carry the story along.

There ARE, of course, some exceptions to this. I liked 1984, but then, the author wasn't trying to tell you how to live in there, he was warning you about what could happen if we're not careful. There is a difference.

As a political science student, I've read enough theories, articles, books, paragraphs, and dictums on political theory to suit me.

But, I digress. Kind of got off into a tangent there. MadMike, if the blurb posted is any indication, you avoided falling into the trap of getting too preachy in your book, and I'll probably pick it up one of these days if I can find it. It certainly looks interesting.

Will it be available on Amazon?

[madmike]

If you go to Amazon books and type "Freehold," I show up even ahead of RAH with Farnham's Freehold. :D Or order from me for an autographed edition. It can be advance ordered now for delivery in Dec (me) and Jan (Amazon and major store dates.)

Thanks. It was very preachy, but Jim Baen slapped me down good and got it fixed. And it's certainly not utopic.

BTW: Guns are VERY relevant to the revoloooooshun in the second part. Everyone can and most do own them, military hardware is common, and soldiers are issued a weapon for life, a la the Swiss.

That doesn't include the privately owned gunships. "Weapons of any and every kind," as their constitution says. (Come to think of it, ours says that, too...)

Poor, poor, blue-helmeted Peacekeepers. :D

Auctions: we've got the stuff from the authors, we're going to auction it off, highest bidder gets stuff, ALL proceeds go to the Silveira case. How would you like to be killed off in a David Drake novel? Or a Ringo novel? Or get an autographed 1st edition hardcover of David Weber's "Service of the Sword"?

This, of course, assumes SCOTUS grants cert next week or so. It looks good. They demanded CA cough up more info. We have the bulldog lawyer from hell with a great track record at SCOTUS. All we need is $$$.

As to "Hero," it's 1000 years after the Posleen war. Neat tech stuff. (Almost) Everyone dies. Sarcasm and shooting for 200 pages. What more could you ask for?:evil:

OH, and The Scope of Justice is scheduled for July. I had a discussion with the editor today. Now I have to finish the sequel (my 6th book), for more $$$ and to get it out before the end of 2004. I'm having them hunt bad guys with a silenced take down Ruger 10-22 and a good old-fashioned .45. In Romania.

Anyway, hit my site for details, and feel free to email or IM me. I can't hang out here as much as I'd like.

And no, I won't apologize for the lesbians in Freehold. Some of my best shooting buds swing that way.

[Skunkabilly]

On the other hand, I dislike books that basically lecture the reader on political philosophy. You know, where there's the author's idea of a utopian society, and some member of said society will, in the form of a Platonic Dialogue between characters, lecture the reader on how much better off the world will be if everybody thought like that?


Have you been reading Tom Clancy's Executive Orders? :neener:

[madmike]

Oh, BTW: The scene quoted above was written in 1999, nothing to do with Sept 11...

But we in SF _DO_ examine possible futures.

The Scope of Justice has a street date of July 1. Snipers bagging terrorists in Pakistan with Barretts and locally procured SMLEs. Sequel, as yet untitled, is in Romania in the Carpathians.

[Trebor]

Mike,

You should contact Joel Rosenberg to see if he'd be interested in the Silveria fundraiser. He's very pro-2A and is also a firearms instructor, in addition to writing Fantasy and SF.

His webpage is www.ellegon.com and there is a good fan website he participates in at www.slovotskyks-laws.com

For those of you who are not familar with Rosenberg's work, he is the author of the "Guardians of the Flame" fantasy series about a group of role-playing gamers who are transported to a fantasy world and an excellent set of military SF novels including "Not for Glory," and "Hero."

Rob

[madmike]

Yeah, I've got to ask Joel, and Eric Flint, and Dr. Pournelle, and Poul Anderson if he were still alive, and Steve Stirling, and...

Working on a LOONG list. Also trying to get some artists involved.

State of CA must have their supplemental briefs to SCOTUS by Wednesday. We hope to have Cert within a few days after that.

[mnealtx]

madmike,

I'll be hitting your website for an addy to send a check to... read the initial chapters of "Freehold" on Baen and enjoyed them immensely. Looking forward to ordering it and looking forward to more books from you!