Top ten blogs of all time (2020)

Once upon a time, I used to do this every hundred posts or so. But last year, I was busy with the books, and remembering to do a mailing list when I  could, and self-publishing novels. 

These are the most popular blogs of all time. I can't even tell you how most people found them. But people have liked them. A lot. 

And if you're new here, this will give you a sample of what it's like to be here on a regular basis.

Here we go.



10) The Story of Moira Greyland continues

If you don't know who Moira Greyland is, you will soon. All this blog post was about was simply a discussion of Moira's largely biographical work The Last Closet -- I say largely because she bounces from her life to various and sundry issues behind and around her life.

9) Building Catholic Vampire Lore (Honor At Stake)

This was basically how I built my vampire universe for the Love at First Bite series. Elements I've stolen from philosophy, theology, a Star Wars video game called Knights of the Old Republic. There was a lot of miscellaneous theft going on that tied together in a nice neat little deranged bow.

8) Newsflash: Hugo Awards Swamped by Crap

The 2017 Hugo Awards were about as bad as you'd expect. I think that was the last time I paid them even a modicum of attention.

7) A Short Biography of a Catholic Vampire

Another Love at First Bite post. As a historian, I do so enjoy the hidden world genre. It gives me an excuse to get creative with history -- all of the fun of alternate history, without having to write a full butterfly effect of what happens next.

6) Sex, DC Comics, and ... wtf?

2011 is when DC Comics unveiled their New 52 lineup of comic books ... and stopping just short of an R-rating,. with bad character design, bad artwork, and bad choices.

5) Sad Puppies Bite Back

The fever dream that started it all. 

Take a fracas going on in fandom, a rash of SWATting happening in the real world, and throw it in for mental processing when someone can't sleep at two in the morning.

4) Who would Captain America vote for? An election special

I posted a few days before Election 2012. So I can guess why this made it so high.


3) Disasters to Marvel At: A Comic Discussion.

This was the day I got fed up with Marvel comics going to pot. It had less to politics at the time and more to do with really terrible decisions by the writers. This included all of Civil War and One more Day.

2) A Review of Death Note (Anime)
This is exactly what it says in the title. 

This one also came out of no where. Posted in 2017, it only picked up steam last year. Every day between April and July, it maintained hundreds of hits PER DAY. There was no particular place it came from or reasons for it. It just was.

1) Politics Kills Mercedes Grabowski (August Ames)

This is the story of a woman in pornography, bullied to death by leftist douche bags of Twitter. And it pissed me off because she was only 23.

I can guess how this made the #1 spot. I mentioned porn. Apparently, it's popular, even when people are reading about non-sexual content. Who knew?

Anyway. I hope you find them enjoyable. 

You can check out any and all of my latest books here. 

If you like, you can sign up for my mailing list here. 

The Dragon Nominees, on Radio

Three items to discuss before today's post begins.

• Please remember the Dragon Bundle has kicked into high gear, and works through next week.
• Please vote in the Dragon Awards
• Remember that Good to the Last Drop is up and running for Preorder.

One of the nice things with all of the Dragon Award nominees ... I've interviewed most of them before, on my radio show.

Since loading all of these players onto the main page at once will jam the blog from loading, you're going to have to click below.

Another Girl, Another Planet, a Review

Let's keep this one short:  Buy Lou Antonelli's Another Girl, Another Planet.

Thanks.

No, that's it, go out, buy this book. 

You don't like or read alternate history? Neither do I. Too bad, you'll like it anyway. Really.

.... Sigh. Okay. Fine. Be that way.

Dave Shuster has been confronted over a photo taken by a Mars lander of a graveyard complete with crosses on Mars. Shuster was a low-level bureaucrat in the administration of a joint U.S. – Soviet Mars colony when he was caught up in a murder mystery involving the illegal use of robot technology.

In this timeline, the Cold War took a very different turn – largely influenced by Admiral Robert Heinlein, who was allowed to return to Naval service following World War II.ic
When Shuster is thrown into a power vacuum immediately upon his arrival on the Mars Colony in 1985, he finds himself fighting a rogue industrialist using his wits with some help from unlikely sources in a society infiltrated by the pervasive presence of realistic androids.

Yes, we're going to do an alternate history with Blade Runner as a subplot.

Lou Antonelli has more than enough historical references to make any history nerd happy -- which politicians rose to power, or fell sooner rather than later, what happened to some of the others. What would have happened if Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein never went into creative fields, but stayed creative in the "real world," like MIT professor Asimov. And this shows a solid grasp of US local political history so deep, that I've got a master's degree, and I read history for fun, and I"m certain I missed some references.

All of the historical changes and references are easy and casual. Nothing is forced in this book. Especially when they refer to music and SF authors who had different lives.

And this book is laugh out loud funny. There is, at minimum, a chuckle a page.  Up to and including Mormons .....INNNN  SSSPPPPAAACCCEEE.

I'm not sure if he wanted to deliberately make a reference to Andy Weir when our hero discusses Martian potatoes, but that helps. As does having a philosophical conversation with androids about theology without being preachy about it. Yay.

The writing is brilliant. Like with some Nero Wolfe novels, Antonelli gives you relevant parts of the plot before you even know what questions are being asked, and what mysteries are coming at you.

Another Girl, Another Planet is both a closed, self contained SF mystery, as well as the best sequel bait ever. It's a murder mystery, a missing persons, alternate history, and ends on a fun and innovative hook for round two...

There will be a round two, right Lou?

Anyway, just buy Another Girl, Another Planet already, will ya?

Truth in History, @RavenCon 2017, 4-29

Okay. Last panel.

Description: Where do we fail in the truthful dissemination of history, why and what can we do to fix that?

Nathan Vernon Madison (Moderator)
Joshua LeHuray
Me
Harry “Jack” Heckel

I was worried about this panel a little, I admit. I was worried that politics would come up. I really was. And ... then it didn't. Who knew?

This is, I'm afraid to say, the last of my RavenCon posts. It was fun, though, wasn't it? Heh.

The Dragon Awards are open and ready for nominations, and I have a list of suggestions you might want to take a look at. If you already  have a good idea of what you want, just click here to go and vote for them immediately. The instructions are right there.

Or: sign up for my mailing list in order to get free stuff.

The Love at First Bite series. 

    

Truth in History

One of the major problems with finding truth in history is that history is screwed up by politics.  In fact, it's screwed up by politics at both ends of the spectrum of history -- when the sources happen, and when the history is written.

The best example of contemporaneous politics screwing up history is the case of Richard III. Our biggest sources on Richard come from two people: Thomas More and Shakespeare. Both of them wrote about Richard while living under the descendants of the man who defeated Richard. It is only recently that anyone has suggested that Richard III wasn't the pure evil hunchback of London.

Current politics, of course, is the more obvious perpetrator against truth in history. For example, the myth that "white people have never suffered oppression" ... Oh? Really? So, all of that "No Irish need apply" crap in the late 1800s was meant for, who? Hispanics? Please. The last 150 years of history have been all about oppression. At some point, somebody had been oppressed by somebody else.

But yes, modern political agendas are probably the major problem when it comes to getting to truth. As I said yesterday, politics is probably the true root of all evil. Politics equals power, after all.

The easiest example is Dan Brown, who screwed up all of Roman Catholic history, neopagan history, and anything else that didn't match his screwed up, f**ked up agenda. Seriously, he managed to make Newton excommunicated by the Catholic Church "for the theory of gravity" .... Does anyone have a problem with that? Anyone? Aside from the fact that Newton stole parts of his theories from Catholics?  The answer is: NEWTON WAS ANGLICAN! NOT CATHOLIC.

You want other examples? Look at Inherit the Wind, a play, and later two movies, a fictionalized version of the Scopes Monkey Trial. And by fictional, I mean full fantasy. The real Scopes was a teacher using an interesting textbook with a peculiar outlook on evolution -- which suggests sterilizing hillbillies, rednecks, and other degenerates. So ... yeah, charming, huh? Can you imagine why a bunch of religious folks in the Bible belt would find this somewhat objectionable? And yet Inherit the Wind makes it look like the poor innocent teacher is being sucked into a bad situation by ignorant redneck Bible thumpers.

Yeah, charming, isn't it? But modern politics dictates that the red necks are the enemy of Progress! And Progress! is everything. And evangelicals are backwards! They're all the same! They! Are! Too! Stupid! To! Live!

And screw! You! And your blanket! Generalizations!!!!

.... Okay, it doesn't work quite as well as I had in my head. But I'm writing this at an odd hour.

My point is obvious: politics will screw up almost any study of history. The politics of the day will screw up how things are reported, and modern politics will screw up how they're summarized to you, the reader. Usually, "the victors write the history" isn't an excuse, as there are generally no permanent victors -- though in the case of Richard III, he seems well and truly shafted by history.

The usual excuse for idiots like Dan Brown and others of his ilk is that "but we need the changes for the drama."

If anyone, and I mean anyone, tells you that history has been sacrificed for narrative purposes and drama? They're lazy bastards who haven't done enough research into the subject matter. Trust me, I'm a historian. If you think "This story is boring, I need to change things to spice it up," screw you. I'm a history, I know when I'm being lied to. And trust me, that is the surest way to piss me off.

Politics is the enemy of Truth. As God is the Way, the TRUTH, and the Light, I have no problem concluding that politics is the enemy of God Himself.

The Dragon Awards are open and ready for nominations, and I have a list of suggestions you might want to take a look at. If you already  have a good idea of what you want, just click here to go and vote for them immediately. The instructions are right there.

If you've been there, done that Or: sign up for my mailing list in order to get free stuff.

The Love at First Bite series. 

    

Year in review, 2016

I cannot even begin to cover all of the strangeness that happened out in the world in 2016.

After all, think for a moment ...

Trump won.

The Cubs won.

Army won.

Brian Niemeier won.

I got nominated for a Dragon Award.

I hung out with Jagi and John C. Wright.

Who could have guessed that any of the above would have happened?

Okay, Brian Niemeier was apparently a forgone conclusion, but other than that ...

Okay, I guessed that Hillary would lose, not that Trump would win, but that's nitpicking.

And the body count this year ... yikes. Wikipedia has it here. It looks like a massacre.

And yes, I've been busy as heck.

I've actually come out with six books last year.

Yes, six.

Count with me.

Pius History .... which has now been unpublished, and we'll get there.

For All Their Wars Are Merry -- In August

Sad Puppies Bite Back  -- In September

And the following were all in November.

Codename: UnSub

Set to Kill

Murphy's Law of Vampires

And that's not even counting my rerelease of Honor at Stake last June, remember that?

So, yeah, I've been sort of busy.

Oh, and while I think about it, that's not even all of it. because there's still Silver Empire to deal with.

Don't tell me you've forgotten that one, do you? The deal with Silver Empire is to take everything Pius -- the history volume, the short story collection, the novels -- and rerelease it with ambitious ideas for expansion -- expanding the brand, and for expanding the reach of the books in and of themselves.


Ugh ... so ... yeah ... I've been busy.

By the way, this isn't even counting several other projects I've been working on that I haven't told anyone about. Why haven't I told anyone about them? Well, these are books I'm submitting to a publisher, and the backstory behind the submission I'm not even sure I should be discussing it in public, because it was a private conversation. So, that's about 200,000 words I've been fighting with over the past four months, in an effort to get things in shape for any possible situations that might come up.

What the bleep am I talking about? You'll have to wait a bit to find out.

And, again, as I said -- THIS IS JUST 2016.

Just wait until I discuss what I'm doing tomorrow in the rest of 2017.

The End of the Pius Trilogy

Last reminder, this is the LAST DAY to buy anything Pius on Amazon. Or anywhere within my control.  Silver Empire Publishing allowed me two more weeks of letting The Pius Trilogy online before they take over.

Now, keep in mind, Silver Empire will be reissuing at least two of the books by this time next year... probably.  I can't account for Murphy's Law.

If you want to buy them now, do it while you can. You won't get this opportunity again for a while.

Another newcomer on the scene are the anthologies.

Pius Origins blows up stuff. ($.99)

Pius Holidays blows up even more stuff with Christmas lights and the accompanying music. ($.99)

And Pius Tales gives you all that and more. ($.99 for this last day)

If you're new here, there are the usual suspects.

A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller -- It's surprisingly well reviewed, no one hates it (yet, give me time), where I take the war to Dan Brown, and every other nimrod who thinks they can write bad history in a thriller and get away with it.

A Pius Legacy: A Political Thriller -- The villains who survived A Pius Man have decided that some payback is involved.  Step one? Kidnap the Pope. Then the fun really starts.  Surprisingly, this one had better reviews than the first.... also fewer. Anyway, please buy the book already. Thank you.

A Pius Stand: A Global Thriller: The end of the trilogy. Saving the Pope has consequences.  And army. A war. And no quarter given. It's time to finish the fight.

And the funniest thing of all? Pius History isn't even a year old yet, and its time is up (It, too, is $.99 for the last day.)

So, time to say goodbye to The Pius Trilogy.

Well, for you anyway, I'm going to spend the next year working on the edits with Silver Empire.

While we're here-- and if you haven't seen this blog post in time -- you might as well consider buying Set to Kill, which takes place after A Pius Stand.

The Complete Works of Declan Finn

Yes, I'm still heading for Atlanta. I still have a blog to do.

You know, it's occurred to me that I should probably so something really strange .... and have a blog post that actually collects, you know, my books.

Yes, I know, I'm slow.

I'm going to be putting these together in order, sort of. Mostly in chronological by story. Most of these books are not really that tightly interwoven. For example, It Was Only on Stun! marks the first appearance of Sean A.P. Ryan, but you don't need to read it in order to understand The Pius Trilogy. Technically, you don't even need it to understand Set To Kill when that comes out.

Granted, I want you to buy all of them, but I'm not going to force it.

It Was Only On Stun!

This one, everyone knows. Why? Because it's "murder mystery at a science fiction convention." I won't say it's typical at all, because, well, this one has terrorists, assassins, and a psychotic who thinks he's an elf.

Or is he?

A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller                                        A Pius Legacy: A Political Thriller 

A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller          

A Pius Legacy: A Political Thriller 

A Pius Stand: A Global Thriller

A Pius Stand: A Global Thriller

You've seen every Dan Brown knockoff in existence. You know, a Mozart conspiracy, or a Michelangelo Pattern, and Daniel Silva, or I don't know, someone else who decides to smash pseudo-history together with "high technology" MacGuffins. 

Granted, Dan Brown is actually a knockoff of James Rollins, who had been putting theoretical science together with mysteries of history well before Brown's train wreck of a series.

The Pius Trilogy is pretty much where I started in the general insanity of my writing career. Stun! came first, but Pius is what I was passionate about for years. It ate a decade of my life, and if you don't believe, me, I can tell you I went through two agents just getting there.

You want history? We got history.

You want a culture war? We fight it with real bullets.

You tired of seeing religion put on trial? See it mount a defense.

Hate lawyers? I think we shoot some.

War on God? God will have none of it. I'm putting the militant in "church militant."

We have an evil Cardinal, a psychotic mercenary, shady priests, a zealous Pope, and everything you think I'm going to do with them, you're wrong.

The follow up anthologies, which are really prequels, are

Pius Origins

Pius Holidays

But, you can get both of them in the complete Pius Tales.

There are some people who might suggest that this comes first before any of the other books. Technically true. All of the stories in these are the result of, well, promotion. I was trying to build up buzz for the Pius trilogy with stories about the characters.  That's how I had....

Sean Ryan vs. the IRA, on twitter .... and versus the meth dealers, on a public street...and in a mall on Black Friday
Scott Murphy, Catholic Mossad Spy, blowing up Bethlehem and Boston.
Jon Koneig, Mafia Enforcer, versus drug lords.
Father Frank Williams .... vs. terrorists on St. Patrick's Day.

Yeah. I had some fun.

Pius History

On the one hand, this is out of order. Other books have come out since then. However, this is the cherry on top of the trilogy. It's the final straw, really. It's all the footnotes, to pretty much everything I used over the course of the entire series.

Because when in doubt, through everything out there, and see what's bought.

Codename Winterborn

The year is 2093. Lt. Kevin Anderson is a spy.

Then everything he knew and loved was blown up by corrupt politicians.

This means war.

Can you tell that I like that song?

Anyway, this doesn't have any connection to the other books. But I enjoyed myself.

Honor At Stake

And, of course, the Sad Puppies and Dragon Award nominated book, Honor at Stake.

If I haven't talked up this book enough lately, I have not done my job.

For All Their Wars Are Merry

Exactly what the title says.

So that's all nine books -- and I'm not counting the pieces and parts of Tales, it's just one book, as far as I'm concerned. I have at least three more that are ready to launch within a matter of weeks. 

Don't worry, I'm not going away any time soon.

Post Hugo Roundup

There will be no article on the Hugos today. I think it was all covered on Twitter, and on the radio show.

I recommend listening to the radio show from yesterday.  As for anyone else .... Larry doesn't care (hasn't written anything last I saw, aside from "Vote Dragon.")...Vox Day has some thoughts on the Hugos....  As does John C. Wright.  Wright has some interesting commentary on the aftermath, such as the idea of pulp, as well as come comments on the award winners.

There was an incident at WorldCon where a man named David Truesdale was apparently run out on a rail. Vox has some thoughts on it. As does the always interesting John C. Wright.
There will be more on the Truesdale incident as the days go by. I'm sure

Anyway, so we care?  Sigh. Not really. My kneejerk reaction is to brawl with the morons who decide to defend the indefensible. But there's no reason to do so.

Why? Because from now on, [slide on shades] we'll be riding the dragon.

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH.

Anyway, by all means, let's move on.

Please go vote for the Dragons.

And for those people who are wondering....

Yes. These books are out. They're here. Yay.

Covers by Dawn Witzke.

Pius History

For All Their Wars Are Merry

I'm going to take a nap now.

For All Their Wars Are Merry, THIS SUNDAY

First, since I haven't mentioned it all that often, please go, look into The Dragon Awards, register, and vote.  And please, but all means, vote for me. If you wouldn't mind. It's under "Horror."

Back to business.

I've mentioned For All Their Wars Are Merry a few times. It's a book about Irish Rebel Songs. It's going to be one of those that's a little drier than my usual fair. Little will blow up in grand fashion, though there will be quite a few train wrecks along the way.

There's a reason that the full quote from GK Chesterton is

“The great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.”

Except, of course, for some of their songs about war. And trust me, if you lost as many engagements as the Irish did, most of the after action songs would be depressing as hell....But they're not. Not all of them, anyway. There are at least two hero songs where the hero ends BADLY, and they're still generally bright, upbeat songs, even in the lyrics.

If you don't believe me, look up a song of "Father Murphy, of County Wexford." Father Murphy was a badass.

For All Their Songs Are Merry comes out this Sunday, just as I said it would. (I said it would be this past Sunday or this upcoming Sunday....well, it's this upcoming Sunday.)

Once more into the description: 

"For all Their Wars Are Merry" is an examination of the uses and implications of songs in Irish terrorist organizations such as the IRA and all of their various and sundry splinter factions. Basically, it will examine why the Irish have these songs as such a widespread phenomenon, and what the songs tell us about these Irish terrorists.

From songs like “My Little Armalite” to “Come out Ye Black and Tans,” one gets the feeling that the IRA doesn't quite take their British opponents as seriously as one would think, given the amount of bombs and firepower the IRA and all of its mutations has thrown at them in their fight to have Northern Ireland united with the Republic of Ireland, or at least independent of the United Kingdom.

Along the way, it will cover why the Irish terrorists have such songs, why they apologize for their atrocities, how Catholic they thing they are. It will trace these traditions going back back to the days of the Druidic Bards-Irish poets-of the early Celts some three thousand years ago, up to and including the poet Patrick Pearse in the 1916 Easter Uprising in Dublin.

The book will come out in Kindle and in Paperback, and it will be strangely priced.  How so?

Well, I did something strange, and I priced it according to Amazon Guidelines. Yes, Kindle now has a program where it takes your book, everything you say about the book (genre, categories, keywords) and puts together an algorithm for how it should be priced as a Kindle copy.

And so the Kindle Edition of For All Their Wars Are Merry is $3.49.  Why that and not $2.99? I have no idea. It's not like I get that much more, but I'm going to something really odd and trust that Amazon knows how to sell Amazon books.

The price of the paperback will be .... the usual price of a paperback. Yes, Sorry, but for the dimensions of the book, $14.95 is still the most reasonable. I swear that the cut Createspace takes is getting bigger as we go along.

Anyway, that's it. The Kindle and Print editions are already in the works. They'll be up on Sunday, and I'll send a letter to Amazon to make sure that the pages are linked sometime before Hell freezes over this time. It took a week and direct action to make Pius History linked up.

Have a good weekend, all, and remember to vote for Honor at Stake in the Dragon Awards.

And if you haven't read it yet....click here, that'll get you started. It's a speedy read. Most people can't put it down. So it'll be done in time for the Dragon vote.

For All Their Wars are Merry -- What's it really about?

I already mentioned what For All Their Wars Are Merry is about.

It's about...

"For all Their Wars Are Merry" is an examination of the uses and implications of songs in Irish terrorist organizations such as the IRA and all of their various and sundry splinter factions.  Basically, it will examine why the Irish have these songs as such a widespread phenomenon, and what the songs tell us about these Irish terrorists.

From songs like “My Little Armalite” to “Come out Ye Black and Tans,” one gets the feeling that the IRA doesn't quite take their British opponents as seriously as one would think, given the amount of bombs and firepower the IRA and all of its mutations has thrown at them in their fight to have Northern Ireland united with the Republic of Ireland, or at least independent of the United Kingdom.  
Along the way, it will cover why the Irish terrorists have such songs, why they apologize for their atrocities, how Catholic they thing they are.  It will trace these traditions going back back to the days of the Druidic Bards-Irish poets-of the early Celts some three thousand years ago, up to and including the poet Patrick Pearse in the 1916 Easter Uprising in Dublin.

Well, what does that look like?

Introduction
The Limits of Terror: How to Define a Terrorist and a Rebel.
This is a little dry, but the short version is that this isn't just "IRA songs" because, well, while not all Rebels are terrorists, all terrorists are rebels.

Chapter 1: 
A Brief History of the Irish Rebel: A Sketch of Rebellion
A do a brief overview of the Irish versus the British, and noting that, gee, the Irish do have several distinct qualities to them, with some odd songs. To match. So we're going to use the songs to examine what makes the Irish unique in their blowing stuff up.

Chapter 2: 
Heroes and Hatreds: Examining Songs of Irish Rebel Heroes
From The Tain to today, the Irish do seem to like a good front man. It's the bard in them, I think.

Songs covered include
"Bold Robert Emmet”
“James Connolly”
“Kelly, the Boy From Killane”
“Henry Joy”
“Kevin Barry”

And more. Those are just the ones I mention in the first paragraph of the chapter. Literally.

Chapter 3: 
The Rebels Whom Bards Forgot: Rebels Who Were Not Honored
I highlight several people who had been either instrumental in the modern era of Irish rebels, and why they never got songs, even though they possibly should have.

Chapter 4:
Dances With Armalites: The Rebel Songs of Humor.
Obviously, I look at the Irish rebel songs that are almost jokes in execution. And they're a little insane.

The following are only SOME of what I use
"Rockall"
“My Little Armalite”
“The Supergrasse”
“Auf Wiedershein Crossmaglen”
"The Black Watch"
“Come Out Ye Black and Tans"

Chapter 5:
Wrap the Flag Around Me, Boys: Examining Irish Memorial Songs
Again, the title, is kind of self explanatory.

SOME of the songs used?
“Boys of the Old Brigade”
“Tipperary So Far Away”
“Wrap The Green Flag Round Me, Boys”
“Lonely Woods of Upton,”
“Gallipoli”

Chapter 6: 
Soldiers and Bombers: The Self-Image of the Rebel
Why don't the IRA have suicide bombers? How Catholic do they think they are? Are they religious, political, or communist?  Yes, communist. It was a thing for a bit. Yeah. It gets strange.

“Down by the Liffey Side”

“Provo’s Lullaby,”

"A Nation once again!” 

“A Soldiers’ Song”
Chapter 7:
Apologies and Other Oddities: The Irish Rebel as Catholic
Considering that "Catholic" is the most common impression of Irish Rebel groups, it deserved d a section to itself.

Songs? "A Sniper’s Promise” is the major new one. I also used songs from before.

Chapter 8: 

A Bard One Cannot Refuse: Comparing Songs of the Irish Rebel to Songs of the Italian Mafia.
Yes. I do a compare and contrast. 

Short version? The Mafia is not at all apologetic. Ever.

Chapter 9: Conclusion.
As noted.

And this book is dedicated to William D. Griffin ... my professor who died in 2011.

COMING SOON: For All their Wars are Merry

I know I had suggested it would be this Sunday that would feature it, but it's more likely that next Sunday (I hope) will have "For All Their Wars Are Merry: An Examination of Irish Rebel Songs" coming to Amazon.com in Kindle and Paperback.

I'm actually rather proud of this one. Most of the legwork was done over the course of years, before I even started doing the actual paper. Why? Because, well, as I've mentioned before, I have had occasion to go to the Great Irish Fair on Coney Island. And I've had occasion to pick up a CD or two.

And maybe, just maybe, you could conclude from my name that I'm a wee bit Irish somewhere in there, can't ye?

Ahem.

Anyway, as I pointed out last week, there are some entertaining songs along the way, and I think you'll at least like the appendix if nothing else. And, yes, I do have an appendix filled to the brim with songs. Why? Because context helps, I think.

Again, this sudden shift to nonfiction has been brought on by my impatience. You might remember me saying that Castalia House will be getting back to me in about, perhaps, a month, now that Vox Day gave my submissions priority. What that actually translates to in terms of speed is anyone's guess. I submitted four books. I don't know if they're going to be rejected as a package deal, or individually. Then again, as Honor at Stake is already published, and the most likely project to be rejected, you would have think I would have heard about that one first. Perhaps they're looking over all of the Love at First Bite novels just to see if they want the whole set or not. Which would make sense.

But, yeah, I am seriously unable to just sit still and do nothing while I wait for Castalia House.

And yes, I say "Nothing," even though I'm going to be doing the King Arthur anthology, I did Pius History this week, I'm doing For All Their Wars Are Merry this week, I'm working with someone on making a proposal on Snarky Theology 101, on the 21st (maybe the 28th), I'm going to rerelease The Complete Pius Trilogy as .... The Complete Pius Trilogy on Kindle for $9.99.  Yes, that's probably something I should have done two years ago, but ... yeah. That'll happen.

So, yeah, I'm working like a maniac because I am anxious as hell, waiting for everything to happen.

But this is my month of history and nonfiction.

And if you have no idea what I'm going to be doing for For All Their Wars are Merry, there's a bit of a hint here.

If you don't understand what's going on in the song ... that's the point of For All Their Wars are Merry. I fell into this for so long, I couldn't help but footnote Kirkpatrick, Black, and Gilmore.

And if you can't understand the lyrics as sung here ... that's what the appendix is for.

But yeah, I wound up going through the history in the songs, the types of songs, historical allusions in the songs, and everything but the exact history of the songs by time period ... and that last, I probably would have done in a PhD dissertation expansion on that, but I felt that would have been nitpicking at that point. And require more music than actual history.

But, yeah, I first pounded out For All Their Wars are Merry in January of 2004, over the course of three weeks. It was then refined and retooled over the course of several months, before culminating in an actual thesis.

We don't even go into the alternate songs I used for compare and contrast -- the songs of the mafia. Yes, you didn't think that the IRA were the only people who sold these songs, do you?

And, yes, for those people who are about to say that Islamofascist terrorists have songs too ... I can find Mafia and IRA songs on Amazon. I couldn't find Songs of the PLO or Hamas ... and if someone wants to correct me, please just post ONE link. And please, if you're going to correct me, make sure that someone else hasn't already.

Anyway, if you haven't already, you might want to pick up Honor at Stake. 

Preferably before the sequel comes out.

NEW RELEASE of Pius History: The Facts Behind the Pius Trilogy

Yup. It's here. At long last, I've actually done something.

Welcome to Pius History.

Ever wonder about what was fact or fiction in your favorite thriller? How much was made up or how much was just to push the story along?

Well, wonder no longer as Declan Finn pulls back the curtain on his epic trilogy to show you his meticulous, painstaking research. Did his fictional pope grow up in a world as rough as described? Are the bad guys really that motivated to end the church? Are some of the weapons real? Did Pius XII really take a side for or against the Nazis? This book has the answers you're looking for.

A few elements about the creation of Pius History and it's creation.

First, this one is short. It's about 100 pages. Why? Because, again, this is not a massive, in-depth book. These articles are are snapshots. Call them vignettes of history, if you will.

These are what inspired me in the creation of the Pius Trilogy.

So, obviously, a 100 page nonfiction is not going to be priced the same as, say, a full novel.

Why? Because it's so freaking short. Duh.

Usually, when I self publish a novel, I get about $4.00 a paperback. Why? Because the production costs are are at least $6.00 a unit now. Yes, I know, it's getting stupid. If future novels become shorter, this might be part of the reason. But, honestly, my books keep getting longer. Odd.

Also, on the other hand, Amazon wants their cut. Order it from Createspace, I get more money. Order from Amazon, I sell more, but get less.

And if, Heaven forbid, an actual brick and mortar store deigns to have me on the shelves, I make a whole $3.00.

In this case, I'm making Pius History $9.99 in paperback.  Amazon gives me $3.84.  CreateSpace gives me $5.84. And brick and mortar locations? $1.84.

Kindle Direct Publishing, on the other hand .... suggests that Pius History be $4.99.  Yeah. I don't know why either. Because nonfiction is priced more? I don' t know. I'm going to go with it for right now, on the assuming that Kindle knows more about what the bleep they're doing, since I don't.

And, I make ... $3.46 a unit. Again. The same as with paperback.

Okay, if that's something that Amazon had planned, that is a cute trick.

To break this down a little more, Pius History has...

With Burning Anxiety, about Pius XII.

Sudanistas, which is the back story for Pius XIII.

The Guide to the Weapons of A Pius Man ... okay, that part is obvious.

This Troublesome Priest, which is something about the bad guys for The Pius Trilogy.

Each of these are over two dozen pages, and the footnotes are something you might want to take a look at.

No, I will never say that these are the last word on any of these subjects. I even make recommendations in the book. And if I don't, you can figure out which one is which by how often I cite individual items.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with the sale.

If things go well, next Sunday will be For All Their Wars are Merry. If they don't, it'll be released the Sunday after.

We'll see.

For the record, please remember, PIUS TALES IS FREE TODAY, TOMORROW, AND THE DAY AFTER.

Thank you.

Music Blog: KAMELOT - Insomnia and Liar Liar

Why two music selections? Because they go together. Take a look, you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, if you haven't already, you might want to pick up Honor at Stake. 
Preferably before the sequel comes out.

Remember, tomorrow starts the release of Pius Holiday: The Facts Behind the Pius Trilogy.

So, yeah, this could be weird.

Set to Kill, Awaiting the End

Yay. I have Pius History coming out on Sunday. For All Their Wars are Merry the next week .... or maybe the week after... then I have a proposal to make my Snarky Theology series into a nonfiction collection, and I'm going to run it past Jonathan Ryan of Ave Maria Press, to see if he's interested. I'd have him back on the radio show, but I don't want to make it seem as though I'm trying to bribe him with radio appearances.

And, of course, awaiting Castalia House to say yay or nay on Set to Kill, and my entire vampire series....

So, yeah, nothing to do. Everything is going according to plan ....

Yup .... nothing to do but wait .... Nothing at all....

At which point, I should ask and make sure, does everyone have some idea of what I'm talking about every time I say Set to Kill?

Let's start with something simple: the flap copy (the stuff on the back of the book).

After the events of "A Pius Stand," Sean A.P. Ryan has spent the last year in Italy, keeping his head down and his mouth shut. But now, he has been brought out of his exile for one big job: security at the world's largest science fiction convention, WyvernCon. His mission? To keep the peace between two factions warring over the "coveted" Hubble Awards -- the Tearful Puppies and the Puppy Punters. Even though Sean has a bad feeling about it, he takes the job, expecting a relatively quiet weekend.

Unfortunately, Sean soon learns that he has a bounty on his head. Every bounty hunter and mercenary within shouting distance of the internet is descending on the convention, each of them set on killing him. And his enemies list is long enough to cover half the free world, and most of the world still in chains. 

If that wasn't bad enough, the first casualties of the War of the Puppies happen at the convention. Could it have been one of the Puppies, who are all armed and dangerous? Or could it have been one of the Punters, who claim pacifist tendencies, and fanatical devotion to their cause?

With the bodies piling up, and the attacks becoming more frequent, Sean has to discover who wants him dead, and who the true Puppy killer is, before all of WyvernCon goes down in flames. 

And, just for the record, this is everything, to date, about Set to Kill that has shown up on the blog thus far.

Announcing: Set to Kill, A Sean AP Ryan Novel 
The original announcement and the concept behind it. And some of the initial insanity.

Meet the Puppies
This is the complete cast of the novel.

Chapter 1
Sean A.P. Ryan has an interesting return to the United States.

Chapter 5: Meeting the Puppies
Do I even need to discuss this one? Heh. Heh. Heh.

Chapter 7: Minions of the Puppy-Punters
Another one I don't need to elaborate on, huh? Though it was originally "Puppy Kickers," though that's been changed.

Chapter 8: Leveling Tokyo 
Elf versus Godzilla.

Set to Kill, Chapter 9 excerpt 
The children of Jesse James

Chapter 11 Excerpt 
Sean has found his type of people.

Chapter 12 Excerpt
Assassin on assassin violence. Only one's an elf, and the other's a mercenary.

Fight to the Pain
Hurting your characters.

Submitting to Castalia, the Intro 

Set to Kill, submitted to Castalia House
Sexy nerd stuff.

Awaiting the Castalia House Axe

Anyway, while you're waiting for that, consider Honor at Stake. You might like it.

On IRA Music and Free Books

While I await Castalia House's reply to my submissions, I've got some time to kill.

So, did I ever mention that my master's thesis was on "the songs of the IRA"?

Okay, that's inaccurate. I did a thesis called For All Their Wars are Merry: An Examination of Irish Rebel Songs. Yes, long title. Because I'm really overly precise in my nonfiction.

Anyway, it's been suggested that I go into nonfiction. And my thesis just happens to be about 50,000 words long.

And it's been edited to within an inch of it's life already. So, hey, guess what's one of the next items on the list of things to publish?

Also, I've had to make changes, if only because some research has overtaken my original study. Then again, I originally claimed that "Songs of the PLO" weren't a thing you got on CD. I've been told otherwise, but it's not like you can go on Amazon and purchase a copy. Trust me, I know, I tried.

Also, I'm trying to figure out what the heck Amazon is thinking in suggesting that this particular work should be $3.99. If they want to suggest a higher price like that, I'm not exactly going to argue with them.

Songs include things like, well, this.

Yes, this is one that comes with a play list.

Anyway, while I think about it, Pius Tales is going to be free this month. Today, for one, and August 8-10 next week.

Why today as well? Because I had an extra day lying around, thanks Amazon.

If you don't recall what Pius Tales is ... it's the complete anthology that compiles every short story connected to The Pius Trilogy.

If you haven't read the Pius books yet, I actually recommend starting with Pius Tales. It's actually a good deal -- it collects Pius Holidays, and Pius Origins, and throws in some essays, too.

There is, of course, some overlap between these projects. Why? Um.... duh? Because my Pius books are nothing but history.

Sigh. Nuts. That means I'm going to have to do "Pius History," the papers I originally used for the creation of TPT.  One on Pius XII, one on the Sudan, and one on JPII versus the Soviet Union.

Oh yay. More work.

That's alright, I'm just going to have to make more work for Dawn doing the covers. Heh.

Christian Cliches

Yes, you can get this on a shirt.

Well, THAT was ... typical.

A writing group that I hang out with posted an article by an atheist, and ... I guess it could have been worse.

The article talks about dismissing Islamic terrorism by talking about "Christian  violence."  Of course, it brings up the crusades. And the myth of atheists who are perfectly harmless.

It ALSO points out that Christian "violence" in the past hundred years is virtually non-existent.  He even notes that the abortionists killed since Roe vs Wade is in the single digits -- like I did.

Half-right is better than nothing.

Sigh.  Some of these are so old I want to bash my brains out.

If we're talking about "violent" examples, then the examples of militant / violent behavior are:

• Islam: ISIS / jihad.
• Atheism: The Soviets.
• Christianity: The Crusades.

... the Crusades? Hmm.  Funny, weren't there witch trials? Wasn't there the evil Inquisition?

Problem: if witch trials were started under a religious mandate, the authority was from a secular, government, figure, not religious (like a church). It's no coincidence that the big witch scares only happened in areas where religion was considered subordinate to the state. Oh, you didn't know that? Funny thing.

Then there are the big bad Crusades.  Oooooo.... Yes, it was religious... And a little practical.  Very little. Remember, the nobles of Europe bankrupted themselves in an effort to retake the Holy Lands, so it wasn't about profit.  The mandate was to clear out the Holy Lands. Period. Sacking Constantinople, et al, were the people who slipped the leash. 

Also, those who sacked Constantinople were excommunicated from the Church.  Didn't know that, either, didja?

Don't worry, I didn't even know that last part until now either.

Taking a stand, for the last time.

Last week, I said that A Pius Stand is coming.

It's finally going to be over.

If you've been with this blog since the beginning -- or if you've read "Pius Origins" link on the sidebar -- you know that this started out as a history paper gone amuck. It was a graduate paper in which I examined the truth behind Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust.

SPOILERS FOR A PIUS MAN, but, what I learned from my research was simple. Pius XII did more than any one person to save people in Europe during World War II.  More POWs. More Jews. More refugees. Because life was precious, and if they didn't like it, they could just come and get him.

But if you read any media around Pope Pius XII, you get Hitler's Pope. And Susan Zuccotti. And John Cornwell. And Gary Wills and Michael Phayer. The Wiki page on it has become more balanced, but still incomplete. You don't even want to know what it looked like when I started writing.  All of these great big names trying to spin a story I know to be false, and I spent a whole four months looking at primary documents as a grad student in America. They were journalists and historians. They should have known better.

I don't like liars.

The Pius Trilogy started out as a devotion. One that I tried to make readable for everyone. I wanted the opening to be dark and ominous to trap anti-Catholic to reading on, until they are so hip deep in the book that by the time that the revelation is given, the trap springs shut.

END SPOILERS.

The short version is, this was a devotion.  This was to sing the praises of God and His followers. This was a devotion to the truth, and a war on lies. At the same time, I was making it readable for other people. Heck, one of my friends on Facebook became a friend of mine BECAUSE of A Pius Man, and she's Jewish, I can't make it too much more open and readable than that.

The reason my cast was so big was simple -- I wanted to make it clear that the truth was not some subjective moving target. I needed a doubter, a neutral party, two red herrings, confirmation of the mystery ... well, you'll just have to read it to perform that matching column.

But my premise was that of philosopher Peter Kreeft -- this was an ecumenical jihad, a war against one very specific force of darkness, and one that the religions in A Pius Man could get behind. Because the liars I've been fighting since the beginning all have one thing in common.  What is that thing? Read A Pius Legacy.

But then I couldn't get the Catholic Writer's Guild Seal of Approval for APM. Why? Because the book was too violent, and some poor little dear was squeamish. I know this happened because I had officers of the Guild come up to me and suggested that there needed to be changes in the was the Seal of Approval was handled. Devotion to truth? Devotion to God? Who needs it? I've got a gun-toting Catholic! Run!

Then I had one or two of those officers write positive reviews. I'll take it.

The reason I kept going was that some things needed to be said. Some things needed to be put out there and thrown at people's heads until they either take notice or are bludgeoned to death.  Because the truth is not a game, or a weapon, except against lies. Truth is what happened, and maybe we can speculate about reasons, or about the why of things, and sometimes people will leave a diary detailing what and why they did. Then we hope the poor schmuck isn't a schizophrenic or a pathological liar.

And I kept going because I had to. Because writing is all I have.

This trilogy has been my life for ten years. And now it's time for me to say goodbye.