All night radio

[texcaliber]

This one is a little off the subject but i am wondering if Michael or anyone else has any opinions on post-apocalyptic books. I couldnt believe the response from the information desk at a local book store after i inquired on " ALL NIGHT RADIO ". The chick said "this is a book store not a music, SIR." I informed her 'twas a book I was asking of. She said "right, anything else i could do?" So i asked about the post apocalylptic suggestions and she gave the best advise possible "try the computer" then hit me with another "SIR" so any good suggestions?

[Michael Bane]

From the Old Days, I loved Steven King's THE STAND...I've probably read it half a dozen times, using when I'm feeling uncharacteristically optimistic. The book would depress a concrete block. Dean Ing's PULLING THROUGH is a well-written instruction manual on surviving a nuclear strike. Of course, Larry Niven's LUCIFER'S HAMMER on big rocks falling out of the sky.UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES goes without saying, of course....you think I have trouble writing a sequel!!!

The first two books of former SEAL Matt Bracken's proposed trilogy, ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC and DOMESTIC ENEMIES; THE RECONQUISTA, are must must reading...and Matt's a totally cool guy, too. DOMESTIC ENEMIES paints a frighteningly realistic picture of an all too possible future and is one of the most original "future history" books I've ever read — besides, I coudln't put the damn thing down!

S.M. Stirling's great trilogy (which he just finished last year) — DIES THE FIRE, A MEETING AT CORVALLIS & THE PROTECTOR'S WAR — is pretty cool...built on the premise of a fundamental reordering of physics, including the fact that explosions no longer work...no electricity, no gunpowder, no engines (even steam won't build up steam) etc. It's a neat trick for casting an alt future novel without having to address the Hurricane Katrina truths we already know...in a social collapse, guns win.

Interesting enough, I just finished reading (yesterday)  James Wesley Rawles PATRIOTS: SURVIVING THE COMING COLLAPSE: A NOVEL OF THE TURBULENT NEAR FUTURE. Not, perhaps the world's greatest title. I liked the book, but its overall religiosity weighed on me a bit. Definitely worth reading, because Rawles imbedded real information in the narrative, a la Dean Ing.

I got interested in all this depressing stuff my senior year in high school in Memphis, which happened to be 1968. When Dr, King was killed and the rioting started, being the precicious little idiot I was (and probably still am), I broke the curfew and snuck into the riot zone, which was mostly burning. The PD and the National Guard had triaged the area, essentially allowing huge sections of the city to either burn or sink into open anarchy. I have this memory of a burning apartment building with a sniper on the top floor, and thousands of rounds being poured into the sniper's position.  What I took away from this was the sense that the veneer of civilization wasn't nearly as thick as I'd been taught.

I was also a jounalist at the last above-ground action of the Weathermen — the assault on the South Vietnamese embassy on Dupont Circle in D.C. The Waethermen were suing chains to knock cops off motorcycles. I remember rolling under car to get out of the worst of the fighting. Then I saw a car about 50 feet away from me light up. Michael rolled out from under the car quick like bunny! Ah, life's lesons!

Any P/A reading has to be bracketed by two Robert Heinlein short stories...the first bookend is "If This Goes On" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_This_Goes_On—). The closing bookend is, of course, "The Year of the Jackpot" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_of_the_Jackpot), which appleals to my often morbid sense of humor and which I totally, totally love...sometimes you can't beat The House!

Michael B

[DonWorsham]

Howbout some lighter summer reading involving cowboys and indians? I just finished John Lott's Freedomnomics (recommended if you need/want a refresher on economics - I did because I was out sick the day it was taught in my school).

[texcaliber]

Thanks for the great info Michael, some great titles/authors I havent heard of. As for

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES goes without saying, of course....you think I have trouble writing a sequel!!!

.........sequel to All Night Radio or did i misunderstand? By the way I dont know if we would want you spending too much time away from DRTV/Shooting Gallery for that sequel. But I have to read All NIght Radio(signed edition..I hope) first, then i will prob. be crying for it.
tex

P.S. you have a couple of "KICK ARSE" stories yourself it sounds to me! I can already see the autobiography in the works.

[texcaliber]

John Lott's Freedomnomics

thanks Don I will look into it .
tex

[Sponsor]

[Pathfinder]

Ah, MB, 2 years younger than I, eh?

I remember 68 well, was near a war zone myself, Chicago, Democratic Convention, and chose not to go - had a hunch what was going to happen - the SDS/Weathermen were out for blood and they didn't care whose!

Watching the police action in Chicago, the lines of police in riot gear coming across campus (Washington U in St. Louis), ROTC building torched, fire men and trucks stoned when they came to douse the burning building, etc. proved a bunch of things, namely that

a) the SDS/Weathermen were lawless thugs,
b) indeed the thin veneer is very thin indeed, and
c) sometimes (more often than we are told) it is the gummint that breaches that veneer.

As for the police triaging parts of Memphis, proof yet again that they are not obligated to act on our behalf, only follow orders. Very scary stuff these days, as we witness the abuses every day.

[texcaliber]

I can not believe there is a worst state than MA. WOW!!!! Old Edward"Teddy"Kennedy is still in the top 5 though. And you all know which list i am reffering to.
Just thinking about it makes me want a shower...BAD.

[storm1911]

"The Stand "iis a favorite. Nothing like the end of humanity to cheer one up. "Life After Doomsday" by Bruce Clayton, although non-fiction and dated, is readable fun. Now if you want a truly depressing end-of-the-world read, try "It Takes a Viillage".  Sheer terror there.

[ponyexpress]

+1 on the Matt Bracken books. I've read both of them a couple of times and I believe the third one in the trilogy should be out this year. 

[texcaliber]

"The Stand "iis a favorite. Nothing like the end of humanity to cheer one up.

I think you hit the nail-on-the-head man.