I’m happy to report that GUN RUNNER, the science fiction, action adventure novel that Larry Correia and I wrote, is a finalist for this year’s Dragon Award for Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel.
The award is part of Dragon Con, the massive multimedia convention held annually in Atlanta, Georgia. The winners will be announced at the con which takes place over Labor Day weekend.
Gun Runner on Amazon! Order here! Autographed copies available from Uncle Hugo’s here! Podcast discussion with the authors here!
The is 100% Brown and Correia, which means it’s action-packed, full of fun characters, and none of that navel gazing business.
It’s about a guy named Jackson Rook who works on a crew that smuggles weapons. They’re active in a righteous cause, helping the oppressed peoples of various planets stand up for themselves against the whoresons with the money and power.
But then Jackson learns something about the current job that turns his gut. And he begins to think they might just be working for the wrong team.
Will he be able to set things right when just about everybody and everything on the godforsaken planet called Swindle wants to kill him or turn him back into the monster he once was?
Read to find out.
If you like action and science fiction, I think you’re going to love this book.
I always enjoy presenting at the Life, the Universe and Everything writers conference. This year they asked me to present the following.
The 3 Little Secrets that Make Plotting So Much Easier
No, the secrets don’t have anything to do with the hero’s journey; 3, 7, 8, or 9 acts; Lester Dent; or cat-saving beats. An average novel has around 40 to 70 scenes. If you’re like me, those abstract plot structures spark an idea or three, then dump you in front of a blank wall. So where in the heck do all the other scenes come from? Well, a whole heap of them stand up and present themselves when you use these 3 little secrets. If you struggle with plotting, this is your chance to put that behind you for good and start generating fun and exciting plots with ease. Come learn the 3 little secrets that make plotting so much easier.
Despite the oft-repeated 11th commandment for writers—show, don’t tell—writers never show. They can’t. It’s all tell, tell, tell. The trick is to tell in a way that helps your readers imagine with such vividness and clarity that your story triggers an emotional response. In this session learn the five critical prose techniques that help you do just that.
Nellie and I stumbled onto a new TV series that we are really enjoying. It’s made us laugh, think, and feel. It’s called The Chosen and is based on the life of Jesus Christ, but it’s not like any Jesus series I’ve seen before.
Now I have to admit that when I first saw ads for this, I wasn’t interested. It’s not that I don’t like videos about scriptures. There are some I love. It’s just that the purpose of so many of them is to illustrate a scripture instead of tell a story. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that when I’m looking for a drama, I want to watch a drama.
But this series is different. They have taken a historical fiction approach, which means that while they adhere as closely to the facts as we know them, they don’t limit the story to those facts. And so they imagine people, events, and motives that are plausible, and then tell a story. A great example of this type of storytelling is Gerald N. Lund’s bestselling The Work and The Glory series about a family in the early 1800s who join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Or Michael Shaara’s bestselling The Killer Angels about the battle of Gettysburg in the United States Civil War.
The Chosen focuses on stories about characters surrounding Jesus and those who plausibly could have met him. It also imagines Jesus as more than a sober Lord. He laughs, jokes, engages with children. It is a reimagining of the familiar that makes the story fresh again and leaves you wondering and pondering.
It’s created by Dallas Jenkins, an evangelical Christian, and produced and distributed by VidAngel Studios, run by Latter-day Saints. And their love of and delight in the subject show. I can’t wait to see the next episode. You can watch it right now for free. Go to the VidAngel site or to https://studios.vidangel.com/the-chosen/. Or you can watch it on YouTube with ads.
If you like religious fiction, if you like a good drama, if you’re interested in knowing more about the life and times of Jesus Christ, then I think you’ll love this.
T. Colin Campbell grew up on a dairy farm, loved milk, loved meat, and started his career as a nutrition scientist thinking the cornerstone of good nutrition was high-quality animal protein—meat, milk, and eggs.
One of his first projects was for MIT, trying to help the
chicken industry. Millions of chickens were dying each year from something
toxic in their feed. What was the mystery killer? Campbell was responsible for
isolating and determining the structure of the chemical. Through his work, he
helped discover dioxin, one of the most toxic chemicals ever found.
After helping with that, he began work helping malnourished
children in the Philippines. He wanted to find ways to help them get more
protein in their diets, because, again, protein was supposed to be the
cornerstone of health. Part of the project was remedying an unusually high
incidence of liver cancer in children, which is normally an adult disease. At
the time, they thought a lack of protein was leaving the children vulnerable to
aflatoxin in their diet.
But as they began their scientific investigation, Campbell discovered the kids who ate the most protein had the highest rates of liver cancer.
But that just couldn’t be right.
And then he came across a study of rats and aflatoxin. The
scientists in the study administered the cancer-causing aflatoxin to all of the
animals. Half of the animals were then fed a diet with 5% protein. The other
half were fed a diet with 20% protein. All of the animals fed a diet with 20%
protein developed liver cancer. None of the animals fed a diet with 5% protein
developed the cancer.
Again, that couldn’t be right. Protein was good for you. A respected colleague suggested surely the researchers must have mislabeled the animal cages. Campbell decided to run his own studies and find out. Back at Cornell, he and his research assistants ran the experiment multiple times and in various ways. And all of the experiments confirmed that protein promoted cancer growth. In fact, they could turn cancer growth on and off by the amount of protein they fed the animals.
But it wasn’t all protein. It was animal-based protein. The plant-based protein didn’t promote cancer growth.
Campbell was astounded. The findings rocked his world, but
he was determined to follow the facts wherever they led. This began decades of
research into diet and nutrition. The culmination was what’s called The China
Study. It is the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted. And what
all of his decades of research demonstrated was that “People who ate the most
animal-based foods got the most chronic disease. Even relatively small intakes
of animal-based food were associated with adverse effects. People who ate the
most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease.”
Campbell didn’t rest there. He sought out the findings of
other researchers and clinicians. And what he found all demonstrates that “The
same diet that is good for the prevention of cancer is also good for the
prevention of heart disease, as well as obesity, diabetes, cataracts, macular
degeneration, Alzheimer’s, cognitive dysfunction, multiple sclerosis,
osteoporosis and other diseases.”
What was the diet that showed such important results? A whole
food plant-based diet. It’s a diet rich in legumes, whole grains, vegetables,
and fruits with little or no meat, milk, and eggs.
Campbell has written a book for lay people like you and me that explains the science and findings called The China Study: Revised and Expanded Edition.
The book is a fascinating masterwork of clarity. In it, he not only explains the research but also how and why various groups have tried to suppress and discredit the information.
Campbell is not some crazy quack. He isn’t someone selling
pills and supplement drinks on the internet. He has no financial interest in
you believing him. He is one of the foremost researchers on nutrition, a
renowned scientist at Cornell University, who has worked as a senior science
adviser to the American Institute for Cancer Research, sat on government nutrition
panels, and is on the advisory board of the Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine.
If you or someone you love are worried about any of the
following:
Heart disease
Cancer (breast, prostate, colon, liver, and
others)
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes
Erectile dysfunction
Multiple sclerosis
Cataracts
Macular degeneration
Osteoporosis
Alzheimer’s
I think you will be interested in hearing what he has to report. Of course, you’ll have to make up your own mind about the evidence he provides. But I think you owe it to yourself to hear what he has to say.
If you ask the “conservative” talking heads–Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, etc.–who THE best conservative president of the last 100 years was, they will say Ronald Reagan. If you ask their dogs, they will bark “Ronald Reagan.” Their gerbils will say other things, but everyone knows you can’t trust rodents. Ask the regular conservative Wanda and Mack (Jane and Joe is so cliche), and they’ll give you the same response as the dogs and people. Ronald Reagan is the guy we conservatives and Republicans have been taught to worship.
Except, when presented with a candidate as conservative as Reagan, no, probably more conservative (I’m talking Mitt Romney), many of these “conservatives” get out their inquisitional torches. Which is a big reason why the GOP primaries are as fluid as they are at this point.
As a side note, have you noticed that these talking heads and the mainstream media either have a hobby horse they ride above all else (Rush Limbaugh and his anti global warming crusade) or they seem to promote some flavor-of-the-day litmus test for each election. In one election, they’re going on and on about homosexual marriage. The next election, it’s a talking head approved stance on Taliban bombing. The next, it’s the fact that budgets must be balanced. They line the candidates up and then start whacking them based on these flavor-of-the-day tests. It’s like going to buy a car and focusing all your attention on the steering wheel.
Anyway, I think many of us have forgotten what THE so-called best conservative president of the last 100 years looked like. If Ronald Reagan were to run today as John Smith, the conservative talking heads would drop him like a hot potato. You don’t believe me? Well, let’s see how he stacks up.
1. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Reagan signed in amnesty for 3 million illegal aliens. The south-west-east-north-of-the-border kind, not the ones with green antennas.
Talking Head Response: After crapping a brick, they would proclaim that John Smith, aka Ronald Reagan, is a pro illegal immigration RINO and must be thrown out!
2. ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION
A few weeks ago Rush Limbaugh told a caller that Romney is not conservative because of his stance on man-made global warming (Romney says he doesn’t know, but there seems to be evidence men contribue; women, of course, never to contribute to such things–they’re too smart), which Limbaugh thinks will lead to big-government regulation of emissions etc.
YET AS GOVERNOR, Reagan established the Air Resources Board to battle California’s worst-in-the-nation smog problem. In a 1984 radio address to the nation, Reagan took credit for the strong action he took in California to combat smog, saying: “I’m proud of having been one of the first to recognize that States and the Federal Government have a duty to protect our natural resources from the damaging effects of pollution that can accompany industrial development.”
THEN AS PRESIDENT, he signed, with great pride, what many consider THE most successful environmental treaty of all time – the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which regulates emissions. Back in those days Ozone depletion was the Global Warming. Reagan believed it, despite folks questioning the science and was happy to regulate.
In the 1987 State of the union he said: “We are also developing proposals that make use of market incentives to control air pollution caused by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions and the causes of acid rain.”
What?! A cap and trade like program? Yes, putting Bush in charge. In 1990, the first Bush Administration successfully pushed through legislation establishing a cap-and-trade program to reduce acid rain—the program Reagan started!
Talking Head Response: John Smith is a total pro-environmental regulation RINO, please queue Al Gore singing “Burning Ring of Fire”
3. ABORTION
Reagan signed a permissive law that allowed abortions. Since that law went into effect more than 2,000,000 abortions have happened in the Golden State.
Reagan says he failed to see how it would be abused. He blamed his own inexperience, stating that had he been in office longer he would have realized that the bill was wrong. He blamed doctors for misinterpreting the bill. President Reagan stated his prolife position by saying: “Abortion on demand now takes the lives of up to one and a half million unborn children a year. Human life legislation ending this tragedy will someday pass the Congress, and you and I must never rest until it does.” BUT he never introduced a bill to ban abortion or amend what he’d done. Not in California, nor as president.
Furthermore, today’s conservative inquisitors would point to his Supreme Court appointments. He appointed the moderate Sandra Day O’Connor. Anti-abortion groups were livid, fearing, rightfully as it turned out, that Mrs. O’Connor would not vote to overturn Roe v Wade. He appointed Justice Anthony Kennedy who had a long history of supporting expanded rights of privacy, gay rights, and preserving a woman’s right to choose.
Talking Head Response: actions speak louder than words–John Smith is a pro-choice RINO
4. UNIONS
Reagan was a union president 8 times in a row.
Reagan, aka John Smith, also had lots of troubling connections to the Teamsters, who endorsed him, and who suddenly saw less investigation of their leaders for corruption. This is during the Jimmy Hoffa organized crime years.
Talking Head Response: choke, ack, sputter–Smith is a pro-union gangsta RINO!
5. GUN CONTROL
It was Governor Ronald Reagan of California who signed the Mulford Act in 1967, “prohibiting the carrying of firearms on one’s person or in a vehicle, in any public place or on any public street.” Yeah, he aimed to stop the Black Panthers et al, but affected all gun owners.
Twenty-four years later, Reagan was still pushing gun control. “I support the Brady Bill,” he said in a March 28, 1991 speech, “and I urge the Congress to enact it without further delay.” He was right with Clinton on that issue.
The Brady Bill, for the first time ever, instituted federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States.
NRA spent millions fighting it, when it pass they mounted cases in a number of states wanting to have it overturned as unconstitutional.
Talking Head Response: anti-gun RINO!
6. FISCAL POLICY
As Governor, Reagan signed into law the largest tax increase in the history of any state up till then. Meanwhile, state spending nearly doubled.
As President he continued. While he did cut taxes his first year, he signed into law tax increases of some nature in every year from 1981 to 1987. Furthermore, the debt increased to nearly $3 trillion, roughly three times as much as the first 80 years of the century had done altogether.
Talking Head Response: tax and spend RINO!
7. RELIGION
Smith, aka Reagan, let Nancy’s astrologer affect his schedule
Talking Head Response: troubling devilishness (scary for evangelicals everywhere!), even if he only did it to make Nancy feel peace
Reagan the RINO? Are you kidding? And yet Reagan would be hounded out of the Republican party if he ran today. The talking heads would sound the warning long and loud, which is a shame.
On the other hand, I’m not saying we need another Reagan. Clones never pan out–hasn’t anyone seen Multiplicty with Michael Keaton?! And despite the recent zombie craze, I don’t want one in the White House, even if the world would be a better place if said zombie should eat Vladimir Putin’s brains out. I tire very quickly of Reagan worship. Or any other politician worship. As good as Reagan was, I disagree with a number of things he did. What I am saying is that those who want to get another president “as good as Reagan” had better know what such a president looks like. And it ain’t the caricature that’s being held up today by many conservatives, especially the talking heads, who seem to gloss over the facts of history.
One Comment
I was at a Barnes and Noble yesterday and saw two copies of Gunrunner there, even though I didn’t see any of Larry Correia’s other books. My son and I both enjoyed it and we are looking forward to the next Drovers book.
I was at a Barnes and Noble yesterday and saw two copies of Gunrunner there, even though I didn’t see any of Larry Correia’s other books. My son and I both enjoyed it and we are looking forward to the next Drovers book.