MHV

Larry Correia is a literary genius. His breakout debut novel, Monster Hunter International was made of cool. His follow up, Monster Hunter Vendetta , doesn't let up on the cool, ratchets up the action, and manages to add even more heart.

Since it isn't out in stores yet, just as an e-arc, I don't want to give anything away, but I liked it. A lot.

Thank You

Robert B. Parker, author of the Spenser and Jesse Stone novels, passed away Monday while working at his desk. He was 77.

I hadn't heard about his death until a little while ago, but by some chance I had started re-reading the Spenser series, starting at the beginning, Sunday evening.

Yeah, that was a good idea.

I think I'm going to completely rip off somebody else's book idea to make money. I think I'll pick a book that somebody clever and snarky wrote. And I think I'll pick a book that gained much of it's reputation by word of mouth over the internet. Then I'll try to sell my drivel over that very same internet and hope none of those people notice. To make it even more fun, I think I'll plagiarise an author who is familiar with machine guns.
Oh wait, somebody beat me to it.

Book Review: The Cold Dish

A few times a year, I find myself in Dallas for some reason or another. Leaving fever sets in simultaneously with my arrival. Same goes for San Antonio or Austin. Heck, if the town I live in gets much bigger I'm leaving. So while Lucas Davenport or Spenser are entertaining, Minneapolis and Boston just aren't very easy for me to identify with. On top of that, it gets a little tiring reading about how great the handsome hero is, with all the problems he has beating beautiful women back with a stick. I tried reading James Lee Burke's Billy Bob Holland novels, set in Texas, but grew frustrated with his floating town that was only an hour's drive from any place else in the state and a hero who wouldn't shoot the bastard, no matter how much he needed shooting. The books were readable, but only if you overlook the cartoonish portrayal of my state(I couldn't).

So I picked up Craig Johnson's The Cold Dish ready for more of the same. I was wrong though. Both Sheriff Walt Longmire and Absaroka County, Wyoming were easy to identify with. Walt is not handsome, drives a three quarter ton pick up, and lives in conditions that are less than spotless. Ok Craig, I'm with you so far. I've only been to Wyoming once, but the book's depiction gets the approval of this non-resident. Probably because Johnson lives there (not that that helped Burke). Authentic and likable location? Check. Identifiable protagonist? Check.

Something to make me pick the book up, out of all the others in the store, and buy it? Check. Right there on the cover, there's a man in a sheepskin coat holding a Sharps. Read the back cover, and right there in black and white, "Or will the only thing that stands between them and a Sharps .45-70 buffalo rifle be Sheriff Walt Longmire?" That's right, this book has the coolest buffalo gun action since Quigley Down Under. Not to ruin things, but there are actually two, count 'em two 45-70's involved in the showdown.

I give it four hundred grains, out of a possible four-fifty.

UPDATE: I realize that one of Burke's novels included a Sharps, but it still wasn't as good as The Cold Dish. One of these days I'll read his New Orleans novels. The man can write some dialogue, and I think I'd like it if I wasn't culturally offended.

Also, Sandford's Virgil Flowers novels, the ones that don't take place mostly in Minneapolis, are top notch stuff.

Nonsense

The other day I was in a cafe having lunch, and noticed a commercial on the tv showing wolves turning into people and fighting and what have you. I thought to myself “Cool.” Moments later, I found myself asking “What faggotry is this?” when I learned it’s supposed to be all about the angst of a teen girl and the metrosexual vampire she loves.

This nonsense has to stop. Monsters are scary. Scrawny metrosexuals are the opposite of frightening. Go read Larry Correia 's Monster Hunter International and help reverse this disgusting trend. Ann Rice should be ashamed of herself.

Book Review: Rhino Ranch

Last night I stopped by the book store and picked up the newest Larry McMurtry book, Rhino Ranch. I started reading it a little after ten, found a few things in it that irritated me, and then all of the sudden it wad two in the morning and I'd just finished it.

Rhino Ranch is the fifth and final book about Duane Moore. That claim seemed a little familiar, so I went back and checked. Turns out that the cover of the third book also calls it the final story. So did the fourth. This time I'm pretty sure they mean it though.

First, the good. McMurtry once again keeps things interesting. Bobby Lee is back as Duane's eccentric sidekick, plus we meet Boyd Cotton and Hondo Honda. Also involved is K.K. Slater, who has opened a rhino ranch outside of Thalia, Texas to save the black rhino from extinction. Hi jinks ensue, and once again Duane finds himself forced into the role of ring leader in a circus of lunatics. As crazy as the people and events are, McMurtry manages to keep it believable. Bobby Lee may be a little crazy, but he's really not very far beyond several people I know. Sort of like a non animated Dale Gribble to Duane's Hank Hill.

Now for the bad. This is good McMurtry. It seems like a book he wanted to write, as opposed to one he was obligated to. But like every other series the man has done, there are a lot of inconsistencies. Things from this book contradict events in Texasville. For that matter there's a big one in here that contradicts a statement from two chapters before. Maybe I'm just a dork, but it does irritate me a little. Not enough to put the book down, obviously, but enough to notice.

Having said that, I liked the book and would recomend it, especcially to anybody who has read Texasville and Duane's Depressed.

Book Review: Foreign Enemies and Traitors

Matthew Bracken has finished the Enemies trilogy, and I think he saved the best stuff for last.

One of the things I enjoyed in the previous two novels was figuring out what real life figure was represented by various characters, and Foreign Enemies did not let me down in that regard. I also enjoyed when characters would have historical names, such as Leander McNelly and Basilio Ramos in Domestic Enemies, but then I'm a history dork.

There have been times when I've read a book and gotten a little tired of how convenient it is to find a hard core, gung ho special forces veteran. They're special for a reason, if every other guy walking down the street is a Green Berret, how special could the special forces really be? Bracken manages to walk the line though, and find them where it makes sense to find them.

Anyway, if you're reading this blog, then you really need to read the Enemies trilogy. Start at the beginning or skip to Foreign Enemies, it doesn't matter, but read 'em all

MHI

Once there was a man, and his name was Larry. That man had a vision, and he grew that vision until it became, well, umm, a book. But book is only a four letter word, and four letters just can't contain the amount of awesome that is Monster Hunter International.

First off, Larry has credentials. He's a competitive shooter. He sold machine guns and other goodies. He's a B movie fan. So when he sat down to write, Larry didn't give us the sissy vampires that have become fashionable. He gave us scary super vampires bent on bringing about world domination. When his hero picks up a gun, it's not a generic .45, but a custom double stack built on an STI frame. (as an aside, I bought an STI from Mr. Correia once, and it's my favorite .45) When our hero needs a new shotgun, it's a custom Saiga 12 with a bayonet and an underslung grenade launcher. Instead of just writing that the good guy shot the bad guy, we get the sort of shooting detail you would expect from a man who knows his guns.

Anyway, aside from the firearm sweetness, each character is unique. The good guys are likeable. The bad guys are dispicable, not just because they're called the bad guy, but because they do bad things and deserve to be called bad. I wanted to mention my favorite hero in this very sentence, but as it turns out there is about a five way tie, two of them not even being entirely human. One caries a .45-70 though, and as those who know me can attest, that's my pick for supernatural Alamo time.

Anyway, nothing I can write in this review really does the book justice, so go pick up a copy for yourself, then tell all of your friends to go read it.