Guns by Stephen King

In case you haven't noticed, I like firearms a lot.  I like their shape, their engineering, the variety, the culture, the practice, and the focus it requires to get the perfect shot.  Obviously, I'm a fan of the Second Amendment that allows me own these firearms.  However, that doesn't mean I'm totally against gun regulation or controls.

I also read a lot and I'm a huge fan of Stephen King, so when he came out with a Kindle Short called "Guns", I picked up a copy.

"Guns" by Stephen King on Amazon

This is an extended essay on Stephen King's opinion on gun violence and gun control.  It's a no BS take that doesn't pull punches toward any group or party, he pretty much mocks everyone involved and all of the politicians.  He also discusses politics in general and American culture.  I would call it a page-turner but I'm not sure that term really applies to an essay.  Lets just say it was a quick and interesting read.  His wit keeps it rolling along well.  I think it's worth a read, whatever your opinion on gun control (Hint: King is for it).

SPOILER ALERT

In the end he agrees with a lot of the President's proposed legislation.  Universal background checks, limits magazines to 10 rounds, and ban "assault" rifles.  He backs it with studies and examples.

While I don't agree with some of his points, and I don't necessarily agree with the conclusions he draws from his examples (granted, I'm fairly biased), it is an interesting read.  It is at times funny, thoughtful, respectful, or even sadly retrospective.  It is as well written as all of King's works.

If you are a fan of gun control, or King, or just looking for an interesting read, you should check out "Guns".


Now a couple of thoughts in response to to his conclusions:

The two points that I disagree with are the ones on magazine restrictions and the ban on "assault" style rifles (and the misuse of the term "assault" drives me nuts these days.  They mean 'military style' semi-auto rifle, not one with selective fire).

First, the magazine restriction is a hindrance to legal firearm owners and does nothing to limit illegal use.  Look at two guys with Glock pistols, one trying to kill the other.  The legal owner has 10 rounds (or 7 if you are in New York) and the illegal owner has the 15 round magazine that gun originally came with (or an after market 33 round mag).  Or what if two (or more) criminals break into your house, you're ability to defend yourself is hampered against those that don't follow the law.  Another point, many "restricted" magazines are standard magazines with a block installed that limits the capacity.  A criminal can simply take the block out to go back to the larger capacity.  On the other hand, it's harder to justify the 30+ round magazines that are available for some rifles (unless preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse).

I totally agree with the universal background check and closing the gun show loop hole.  Those decrease the likelihood of criminals and crazies buying guns.  I'm also OK with waiting periods, as frustrating as they are, because that would force any emotions to cool.  Those are two concessions that I think gun owners should make because they could actually make a difference.

As for the "assault" rifle ban, it would block the most popular rifle in America, the AR-15.  Banning a certain weapon will only mean that other weapons get used by criminals and crazies.  I think a better option would be to make legal gun owners liable for their fire arm, how it's stored and used.  Or require fire arms to be locked up (you could exempt one or two for home defense when the owner is home), or require specific security measures for specific fire arms.  After all, the owner goes through the back ground check, their family, friends, or robbers don't.  I think that would drastically limit access by those that couldn't pass a check.

As a legal gun owner I have no empathy toward anyone owning, carrying, obtaining, or using firearms illegally.  I absolutely support logical gun control that limits the illegal use of firearms.  It's just too bad that so many of the proposed restrictions do more to restrict legal owners than the criminals.

Best Zombie Rifle Ever?

So, I was reading this good Zombie novel, "Still Alive..." by A. C. Thorne.

"Still Alive..." by A.C. Thorne

I love a good Zombie book and "Still Alive..." is definitely one of the better ones.  There are a couple of sappy chapters but overall it's one of my current favorites.  It's one of the few zombie books with a strong female main character (written by a woman, I'm thinking), that is action packed, surprising, and very well written.  Several times it caused flash backs to the novel "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson, a classic, which I'm sure was intended by the author.  Over all "Still Alive..." is a very good read and I hope that the series continues soon.

One of the things that caught my attention in the book is the main character's main weapon.  She stumbles onto a "tactical" .22lr semi auto rifle and uses it very effectively.  From the description in the book I'm thinking it was an AR style .22lr, like the Smith and Wesson M&P-15/22.  At one point she is critical of another survivor that didn't make it, who used larger calibers.  She thought that the semi-auto .22lr with hi-cap magazines was far more effective than a hunting style rifle in a larger caliber.  Able to shoot rapidly, can carry lots of ammo, low recoil, accurate, and with high capacity...

Ok, interesting idea... normally I would have forgotten about it and moved on, however, a buddy of mine had just purchased an M&P-15/22 ($500) and was taking it to the range this weekend.  I invited myself along to see if maybe it might actually be the perfect zombie killing rifle.

A couple of things I should mention first; I'm not a fan of semi-auto in general (they just aren't as much fun at the range), I'm not a fan of "Black Rifles" (I don't like the look of military-style rifles), and the idea of having an AR in the .22lr caliber seemed really idiotic.  If you're getting an AR, why not go for a real one in 5.56?   Or, If you want a semi-auto .22lr, why not get a 10/22?  Cheaper and less ugly.  But I decided to try it out and make an attempt at keeping an open mind.

I had a f***ing blast.

I had so much fun that the M&P-15/22 is now high on my wish list.  Seriously, I want one.  Bad.

My buddy had no idea what he was buying, he just thought it would be fun toy.  So, before we went to the range I helped him get the sights set up, got the rifle cleaned, and range ready.  It was incredibly easy to clean, easy to set up, came with nice iron sights (it has a two size flip-up ghost-ring sight, easily adjustable).  It was mostly plastic, extremely light weight, and I was a little worried how it would hold up at the range.

There was no reason to worry, this thing was a freakin' tank.  After I got it sighted in, this thing was a tack driver out to 100 yards.  That would have been cool, but what amazed me was how light the kick was, which meant extremely fast follow up shots.  I mean, keep both eyes open and you could acquire targets, fire, and be back on target in a fraction of a second.  It cycled flawlessly (only one misfeed, which I think was probably a fluke) over 300 rounds.

We were at the silhouette range and the semi-auto was addictive.  There were two lines, 50 yards and another at 100 yards.  The iron silhouettes were about 1ft by 1ft.  At 50 yards I could hit the targets faster than 1 per second, going down the line either direction.  And it's so quiet, so quick handling, so little recoil, it almost feels like it's a toy.

Bang, Ping, Bang, Ping, Bang, Ping, Bang, Ping... as fast as you could acquire the target and pull the trigger.  It was almost video game easy, too easy.  Reload the magazine, back to work.

I thought a .22lr AR was stupid, but even if you just look at the cost vs range time ratio it's worth picking up.  I typically spent at least $50 in ammo for some decent time at the range.  I mean, cheap pistol rounds are 25-35 cents, most rifle rounds are between 50 cents and a dollar.  .308 for my Scout Rifle is almost a dollar a round.  Rifle shooting gets expensive fast.

However, you can buy 500 rounds .22lr for 20 bucks.  You just can't beat .22lr for cost and weight.  It's easy on the wallet, easy to stockpile, and you can easily carry hundreds of rounds.  Maybe you want to train, get used to an AR, or a cheap plinker for the range, or have a fun rifle for the youngsters, then this would be a fairly inexpensive way to do it.  Or maybe you should keep one in the closet, just in case there is a zombie apocalypse.

This rifle is so easy to use, so accurate, so simple, that it is freakin' awesome.  Defend against zombies, fun at the range, easy to use... this thing is awesome.

I've seen a lot of arguments about whether the .22lr is powerful enough to take down zombies.  The round is so small and low powered that it really limits the ability to get through a skull.  I'm not a ballistics or forensic expert, but I'll give a quick opinion on it.  .22lr in a pistol would probably be effective out to 20-30 feet, depending on your accuracy (any further than that and I think you'd have to be an exceptionally accurate shot).  Out of a rifle though, I think you could extend that range out to around 50 yards, again depending on your accuracy.  Accuracy is such a huge factor because the .22lr is such a small round it's far more susceptible than other rounds to glance off the skull rather than punching through.  The shot would need to be a direct, straight-on shot.

I hesitated to think that a .22lr would be a good zombie killer, with accuracy and speed being so vitally important.  However, this M&P-15/22 has me seriously considering it.  I think you'd be hard pressed to find a rifle that can shoot as quickly and accurately.

So, I think I'm going to have to pick up one for myself.  It'll be cheap fun at the range and when the zombie apocalypse happens I'll let you know how effective it is.  Now I just need to talk Hornady into making these in .22lr...

Tom Cruise is not Jack Reacher

I'm a huge fan of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series.  I would call them the modern day version of the James Bond books.  They're a little more graphic, a lot more violent... Ok, they're like modern James Bond movies in novel format.  The main character, Reacher, is a what you would get if you combined the genetics of  James Bond with a caveman, John Wayne, and Rambo.

If you are into well written novels that are action packed, the Reacher series is simply the best you'll find. I have the entire series, love them, and even reread them occasionally (this is a huge compliment coming from me, I almost never reread novels because I remember so much of what I read). Seriously, they are some of my all time favorites... So you can imagine my consternation when I found out Tom Cruise got the role.

Here's a description from the new Jack Reacher novel, where Reacher is trying to hitch hike at night (his normal mode of transportation):

"...he stuck out his thumb and smiled and tried to look friendly.
       Which was not easy.  Reacher was a big man, six feet five inches tall, heavily built, and that night as always he looked a little ragged and unkempt.  Lonely drivers wanted pleasant and unthreatening company, and Reacher knew from long experience that visually he was no one's first choice of companion.  Too intimidating.  And right then he was further handicapped by a freshly broken nose.  He had patched the injury with a length of silver duct tape, which he knew must make him look even more grotesque."
       ---Excerpt from Lee Child's novel, A Wanted Man: A Jack Reacher Novel

Jack Reacher is huge, implacable, violent, and yet extremely clever.  He's intimidating, scary, and that's why his enemies tend to underestimate his intelligence.

I don't get any of that from Cruise.

Yes, Cruise is a great actor, but you can't act your way into the part of a lumbering force of nature (unless you're paying to make the movie).  This is one of those few roles that requires very little acting ability; look big and scary, somewhat dark and foreboding, and dead pan the occasional clever line.  No acting required!  Big, scary, deadpan... easy!  The problem is that of those three vital traits Cruise can only get deadpan, which means having to compensate for the rest.  I'm scared of how this is going to turn out.

I was going to encourage everyone to boycott the movie but that's not fair to the author.  Lee Child deserves to get a blockbuster movie under his belt.  So, go see the movie... then go buy one of his books.  Just don't read the book first, it'll probably ruin the movie for you.

Originally, I wasn't even going to go see the movie, I didn't want Tom Cruise's face plastered on one of my favorite fictional characters.  But I've since decided that, while this might not be the Jack Reacher movie that I was looking for, it might still be entertaining in it's own right.  Kind of like the Red Dawn remake, it might not be exactly what we wanted but it might still be a decent movie if the viewer can keep out their preconceived ideas.

Even if the movie turns out alright, Tom Cruise is NOT Jack Reacher

Couple more book reviews

I love survivalist/prepper/zombie books, I've mentioned that before.  Since my last book review post I've read a few good books, so I figured it was time to share again.

• Apocalypse Law 1-3, John Grit.  A devastating plague wipes out a large portion of the world's population.  Nate Williams, a decorated war vet, must keep his son safe as the world around him and his remote farm gets worse and worse.  There are some good survival tips for those planning on home steading, the main character lives on a farm and does his best to keep it going to feed his son.  There is also a lot of combat, which keeps the tension and excitement up.  The third book finishes nicely but left it open to a fourth book.   I really liked these books and hope that the John Grit keeps putting them out (he has a couple of short fiction books that are also worth a read, especially Fierce Blood).
• Joshua, John Wilson.  The economy collapses and leads to a rapid deterioration of society.  In this bad situation a young man stumbles upon a two year old boy, Joshua.  He decides to take care of the boy, despite how difficult that makes his own situation.  This is now one of my all-time favorite survival books.  Seriously, it's that good.  It's extremely well written, interesting, and with enough emotional themes to surprise and entrance even the most hardened survivalist.  The only thing that really bothered me about this story was how the main character is never named, he's just "the man", and how we know next to nothing about him.  It takes half the book to even find out what his profession was before SHTF (despite the frequent mentioning of "his training").  Honestly though, I think the author did this deliberately, taking attention away from the man to put it on the relationship with Joshua.  While mildly annoying, it does not detract much from this otherwise awesome book.
• Path of Survival (Passion Killers, Blood Beyond the Abyss, A Dark Wind of Vengeance), David Maudlin.  During a terrible economic down turn, two hurricanes strike, and a terrorist attack damages the world's supply of oil, causing a rapid collapse of societies across the world.  These books are about several different people and their different paths to the relative 'safety' of the mountains.  There are lots of characters with intertwined story lines, a good mix of family values, action, survival, and the different ways that people deal with these stressful situations.  These are light, easy reads that are entertaining, with enough action to keep everyone on the edge of their seats.  I hope the author keeps this series going.

Those are a few of my recent reads that were good enough to pass on as recommendations.  These are all available in the kindle store and are relatively inexpensive.  Any of these would make a good addition to your reading list.

Survivalist Books

I read a lot.  I mean, I read A LOT.  Usually 2-3 books a week.  I'll read pretty much anything, but my favorites are cheesy Zombie books and Survivalist books.

After reading a mediocre survivalist book recently, I decided I should share some of my extensive reading list and some suggestions with other fans of the genre.

There are three main things I'm looking at here: the writing (the story line, how well written it is, how well the character's develop, etc), the survival theme (how well thought out the scenario is, how realistic it is, the skills and techniques), and how well it combines the two into the overall entertainment value.  Some of these books might be high on the technique scale but low on the entertainment value, it all depends on the kind of book you're looking for.  I usually read on my kindle and these are all available (and relatively inexpensive) on Amazon.

In no particular order:

• After The Flash and The Next Tomorrow: A Tag Stevens Novel. J.R. Madsen. There are two books in this series so far.  These are an interesting combination of semi-romance and survival themes.  For the first 50 pages of the first book I was kind of confused as to what I was reading, it was about this father on a trip for his son's hockey tournament.  Now, this was actually quite entertaining, the author keeps getting the main character into these quirky situations and implying the possibility of this guy having a three way with his wife and another player's hot mother. Sex is a pretty strong theme in these books, though it never gets explicit (which is almost disappointing at times).  The books fluxuate between the almost soap opera relationships between characters and survival and combat scenes.  There aren't a lot of specific survival techniques or skills, but it is a highly entertaining post-EMP, cross country search for family with some violence and between-the-lines sex thrown in.
• Lights Out. David Crawford.  I actually enjoyed this book quite a lot.  I think this is one of the best combinations of survival and entertainment that I've found so far.  This book goes over a systematic break down after an EMP (popular theme) and how the Main Character helps keep his community going, organized the necessary supplies, defends against "mutant zombie bikers" (their term for hostiles).  There is a definite arc in the story line, some cool techniques, some cool combat scenes, and a lot of likable characters.  I really liked the epilogue too, which is important because a mediocre ending can ruin the whole book.
• Collision Course. David Crawford.  I put this one separate from Lights Out because it's the same author, but an unrelated survivalist book. This is a pretty interesting book about bugging out and bugging in.  There are two main characters that develop over the course of the book in two completely different scenarios.  One is an alcoholic farmer and the other a city-dweller trying to get to his BOL.  I enjoyed the twists in the plot towards the end and didn't see them coming.  Some interesting concepts and challenges are show between the two different approaches to survival.  It's a good read.
• One Second After. William R. Forstchen.  This book was a little light on specific survival techniques, it was more about the organization of a community to survive post EMP (again, it's a popular theme).  While it doesn't have a lot of specific techniques, this book does not shy away from difficult questions and emotional hurdles.  The main character's daughter has type 1 diabetes, which is basically a lethal diagnosis in a survival scenario.  This isn't a book with a lot of combat (like a lot of other survivalist fiction), but it reads a lot more like a 'real' novel, real characters, and real problems.  This is very well written, one of the few survivalist books that actually evoked emotional responses to the character's trials.  
• Dark Grid and Dark Road.  David C. Waldron.  These are more books that have good entertainment value, not as much "survivalist" value.  They are quite entertaining, well thought out, and good fiction.  These are about a group of army reservists after the 'Burst' (another EMP) trying to reestablish a community.  There are some military conspiracies involved, different groups establishing and pitted against each other.
• A Distant Eden and Adrian's War.  Lloyd Tackitt.  These books are half survival manual, half story line.  A Distant Eden is a more typical prepper wet dream, a solar flare (Whoa! Not an EMP!) destroys all electronics (ok, not so different after all) and one man is prepared.  He sets up a community with family and like minded people.  Adrian's War is more of a primitive living guide, I kept expecting to turn the page and see step by step illustrations on basket weaving, or fish traps (that's not necessarily a bad thing).  The story lines are interesting but not real deep, more of a platform to explain survival techniques.  There are some really good tips in here.  Eden is about being prepared, Adrian's War is about one man's primitive journey and combat against an evil militia.
• Obliterated: Would you know how to survive?  C. J. Hall.  Aliens (Yeah! Not an EMP!) start destroying technology centers (Awww, not so different) and cities.  A group escapes out to the wilderness and get set up to survive long term.  If you are looking for action, this isn't the book for you.  It's a fairly low-key survival scenario with more ducking/hiding/surviving than fighting.  It's not amazing but it introduces a lot of good prepper concepts and basic survival situations.

Most of these books are what I would consider 'budget' fiction.  They aren't professional, highly polished, diligently edited,  or perfectly constructed.  These are more amateur, good ideas, a lot of heart, and I find that pretty refreshing (as long as you can forgive the occasional misspelled word or missing punctuation).

I've read all of these books (and many more).  I'm always interested in reading survivalist fiction, if you have any suggestions, or questions on the books I've listed, feel free to comment or send me a message.

And don't worry, I'm sure I'll be posting a list of good zombie books in the future (there are actually quite a few).

Book Review: Survivors

As previously mentioned, I had to get out of town for job preparations.  I got to the airport with very little spare time before boarding.  I popped into the book store, saw Survivors on the shelf, grabbed it, and ran to the gate.  Oh yeah, I paid for it too.  Quite a bit actually, everything is so much more expensive at the airport.

Survivors, James Wesley, Rawles

I read very quickly.  In between naps I finished this book in about 8 hours of flying.  After finishing this book, and reading the back flap, I realized that the author is also the author of one of the survival blogs I visit.  Actually, it is the survival blog, www.survivalblog.com.

Conceptually, there were a lot of very interesting things going on in this book.  One of the main characters is a military man, stationed over seas when SHTF.  One of the main story lines in the book is his epic journey to get back to his family.  There are also an interesting range of people in different scenarios and how they manage when the economy totally collapses in a very short period of time.

There were some interesting themes in this book, ones that should seem familiar to many who read survivalist blogs: the conspiracy about government controlling the economy, the UN trying to take over, gangs running rampant, and how gold, silver, and ammo are the only currencies that will be acceptable after SHTF.  There are some good survival tips and some cool suggestions on gear.

There is also a very large religious theme, pretty much every "good" character is very Christian.  When I finished the book, I theorized that if you removed every religious reference, ever bible quote, than the book would have been half as thick.  That might be fine for a lot of readers (especially those who are more familiar with his work), but I'm a very non-religious kind of guy and I found it a little too much.

Unfortunately, because I read so much, I'm also incredibly picky.

So, it's an entertaining book, it has some good points...  some readers (especially religious ones who are interested in the conspiracies about the economy) will probably enjoy this book.  As a non-religious guy, who isn't too big on conspiracy theories, this book was a little less than I was hoping for (especially at airport prices).  There isn't any character development, the book skips months at a time with no real changes, it's interesting but awkward.  And very religious.

If I'd paid $2-3 dollars in the kindle store for this book than I probably wouldn't care, but paying full list price +25% airport markup?  I'm not impressed.  And this is a "New York Times Best Seller"?  If you're looking for something to reaffirm standing religious/conspiracy beliefs than this book is perfect for you, if you're not, than this book probably won't blow your mind.

Book Review: SAS Survival Guide

I've had some experience hiking and camping, but most of it was a long time ago, so I find myself having to relearn a lot.  As for disaster preparation and survival, I'm practically a beginner.  So, as any good student, the first thing I began looking for was the right text book.

I decided to start with the SAS Survival Guide, it was highly recommended on many different survival websites.  I picked it up for $8 on Amazon.  Short review?  I think that's probably the best $8 I've spent in a long time.

This is an extremely cool book.  I didn't realize it when I ordered it, but it's pocket sized.  Thankfully, it's size doesn't limit it's effectiveness, it's a veritable encyclopedia of survival information.  It's designed to be useful in the widest variety of situations, it has a lot of generalizations, so it doesn't replace information for specific environments, but it is overall a very useful guide.

It's got an edible plant guide.

Shelter building

Useful knot tying.

There is really too much in this little book to list it all here.  Morse code, signalling, survival strategies, and dozens of other important subjects.  It's like a whole season of Survivorman in one book (Les Stroud is the man!).

Let's just say I'm very impressed with this little book.  I sealed it in a ziploc bag and it's now a permanent addition to my BOB.