Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Ben on September 17, 2011, 11:57:24 AM
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This TEOTWAWKI book popped up on my Amazon recommendations. Who thinks the author is a Firefly fan? :)
The Raggedy Edge (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041OSC3I/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_g351_i7?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=16KJBVAXAZV7J5FC9X9F&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846)
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Bought.
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Yeah, for $2.99, me too. :)
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The term "The Raggedy edge" predates Firefly by many decades, may centuries.
Oh, and I bought the book as well.
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The term "The Raggedy edge" predates Firefly by many decades, may centuries.
Oh, and I bought the book as well.
I thought that was "the ragged edge". I hadn't heard "raggedy edge" until Serenity.
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Yeah, for $2.99, me too. :)
Yup, me too...should be done tomorrow sometime, I'll post a short review
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I thought that was "the ragged edge". I hadn't heard "raggedy edge" until Serenity.
Same here. One of you with some extra time should google that phrase for us.
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Also in keeping with my standard posting modus operandi, I'm veering my own thread. Buying "The Raggedy Edge" got me The Old Man and the Wasteland (http://www.amazon.com/Old-Man-Wasteland-ebook/dp/B004VGW6VA/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t) as another recommendation. For $0.99, I bought that one too.
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Finished.
My review is "eh"
For the genre, it seemed to combine plot elements from all the other more famous books (patriots, lights out, etc) and left me with a "that's it? That's the end of the book?" feeling at the end...a plot really doesn't develop.
For $2.99, it's fine. I wouldn't pay more.
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I finished another book and just started it. I saw in the reviews that it ended "abruptly". So far the story is fine for light reading, and yeah, $2.99 makes it not a big deal. My biggest gripe so far is that he should have gotten himself an editor. The grammar and typos are interrupting the story for me.
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I noticed that just reading the prologue on Amazon. Sometimes you just have to turn off your inner red pen Ben.
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I noticed that just reading the prologue on Amazon. Sometimes you just have to turn off your inner red pen Ben.
Also my outer one, because that stuff doesn't come off the Kindle screen.
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Also in keeping with my standard posting modus operandi, I'm veering my own thread. Buying "The Raggedy Edge" got me The Old Man and the Wasteland (http://www.amazon.com/Old-Man-Wasteland-ebook/dp/B004VGW6VA/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t) as another recommendation. For $0.99, I bought that one too.
Funny enough, I'd already downloaded, but not yet read it. Reading Red Right Return (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005E0OIHM) now.
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I noticed that just reading the prologue on Amazon. Sometimes you just have to turn off your inner red pen Ben.
Also, the tech mentioned in the prologue doesn't appear in the book....the denizens of the sleepy burg literally have no idea (or they don't talk aboutit or mention it in any way) about the national political situation (or anything outside of their town really) other than a single mention of a coup.
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Funny enough, I'd already downloaded, but not yet read it. Reading Red Right Return (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005E0OIHM) now.
Thought that might be a boating book for a minute. Oh well.
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Thought that might be a boating book for a minute. Oh well.
More aviation and locale centric. Got any good nautical centric adventures to throw out there? Let me recommend Castigo Cay by Bracken.
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Baen Books has a free sampler for 2011 which includes two short stories by Larry Correia, one in the MHI universe and one in the Grimnoir universe.
http://www.webscription.net/p-1387-free-short-stories-2011.aspx
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Red Right Return was a good light read. A little hard to follow with some charchater and plot twists, but nothing too thought provoking.
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Thought that might be a boating book for a minute. Oh well.
Same thought I had. "Red, right, returning" was one of the first things Grandad taught me about boating.
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Finished the raggedy edge.
Decent read, lots of places where the protagonist left me asking Why the heck not? and WTF?
Just about the time it should have kicked into high gear and got exciting the author used 2 words to reallly screw things up
THE END.
Should have been the end of book one or some such. Maybe a sequel in the works?
:facepalm:
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More aviation and locale centric. Got any good nautical centric adventures to throw out there? Let me recommend Castigo Cay by Bracken.
Meh. Been bored with nautical centric books lately. Just not enough adventure unless you get into the old classics we've all read already. No one writes good boat adventure stories anymore. Hmmm... No. Working on something else at the moment.
Anyway, last two I read were "The Proving Ground" by G. Bruce Knecht, true story about the Hobart race (Australia to Tasmania) where weather takes a bad turn, lot of boats lost.
Other was "Pirate Latitudes" by Michael Crichton which was so memorable I can't recall what it was about.
If you have any that are set in this century, please share.
On a side note, I re-read Alas, Babylon over the weekend, first time in over 20 years. The smell of old book was pleasant. Story wasn't quite as good as I recalled it being. I do see why I kept it on my shelves all these years, but so much more could have been done with it as far as fleshing out the details of how they survived. Also interesting to consider the world view from 1959 as opposed to how we think about that time frame now.
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I wrote a tongue in cheek book for my kids called the Barnacles of Chronia*, then I wrote a couple sequels and a prequel. Never published any of them.
A couple kids are out in a fog in a dingy and meet up with a 17th Century ship with a nutty captain and a paranoid crew. Lots of nautical puns. :lol:
* apologies to CS Lewis ;)
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Tallpine, would you consider posting them somewhere and letting us nauty types read them?
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Blah. Book is a softer and more boring version of Patriots. That's bad because Patriots sucked.
It is almost but not quite the right wing version of The Road. Cower in angst and get whiny when someone is productive. The average Post Apocalyptic Enterprises employee probably wouldn't bayonet the lot of them, but would be disgusted. Probably would point raiders in their direction, though.
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This is not naughtical, and has been mentioned in previous threads, but I have to mention A Canticle For Leibowitz for those who haven't read it yet. This is one of my favorite books evah!
Don't take my word for it, read what others have to say here: http://www.amazon.com/Canticle-Leibowitz-Walter-Miller-Jr/dp/0060892994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316488747&sr=1-1 (http://www.amazon.com/Canticle-Leibowitz-Walter-Miller-Jr/dp/0060892994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316488747&sr=1-1)
DD
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Tallpine, would you consider posting them somewhere and letting us nauty types read them?
I might send you the files if you promise not to publish them :angel:
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I would only do that with your permission! I'll pm you my email address.
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My posted review:
Actually, imagine if James Wesley Rawles' book "Patriots" and the move "The Road" had a boring red headed stepchild. That would be this book. Only toss in a club foot and narcolepsy. Maybe a stutter.
Nothing really happens in the book other than a town burning, a very small number of people being shot or beaten and a former cop doing routine daily tasks. You would think a town burning to the ground would provide excitement, it does not. Even a small number of folks being shot could be an exciting novel. Nope. Majority of the book is centered around an unremarkable husband and wife pair. A unremarkable police officer and an unremarkable nurse. Nothing is wrong with either. Both seem likely mildly decent folks I wouldn't mind having for neighbors.
You'd think such a boring book wouldn't manage to make me cringe at times. You'd be wrong. The token single mother is apathetic towards her children, a sexual deviant (still does not spice up the story) and a traitor. I'm guessing this character was added because the author knew someone similar, or wanted to make a statement that single mothers are obviously harlots that deserve social scorn. The author has some passive aggressive anger towards the "War on Christmas", by taking a daring stand against the use of the word "Solstice" in a breath taking display of defiance towards the Political Correctness Gestapo. Only... Well, no one uses the term "solstice" except astronomers, pagans and ... well, no one else. The evil villains of the story are folks that preach tolerance, which is a codeword for fascist oppressors of true religion. Who don't really seem to do anything other than beat up some old dude.
The ending was bad. Just plain bad. Like, "rocks fall from sky, everyone dies" bad. "And then magically everything was okey-dokey because the magic unicorns descended from the sky, on rainbows, to end famine with candy and end strife by curb stomping anyone that is religiously tolerant" would have been an equally gripping and logical ending.
If you're left leaning, you'll find this book to be blatantly partisan and not so mildly insulting. If you're right leaning, you'll be wondering what the heck the point of the story was. If you're a gun nut, you'll be angry at the lack of gratuitous gun pr0n (instead of an unnamed assault rifle it'd be a "BOHICA lower with operator-grade internals and a Novaske custom upper vacuum forged inside the fires of Mordor itself, plus a MagPul stock and forward grip". If you're a survival nut, you'll ram your head into a wall to spare yourself from the wondering how an entire town could feed itself for months by "raiding empty houses" as most houses barely have food for two weeks and the majority of it would go bad without electricity. Military folks will roll their eyes at the "teh Army was just drooling to take over the entire country and kill all the citizens through starvation and randomly machinegunning civilians" aspect.
Honestly, I finished the book because I was waiting for the good part to begin. It didn't. Just like the movie "The Road", there is no story and no point. It is just X hours of your life. That you will never, ever get back. Those precious hours you could have spent nursing a sick puppy or kitten back to health, curing cancer or most importantly, slow cooking bacon to absolute crispy perfect? Gone. Forever. I advise you to not buy the book and donate the proceeds instead to your nearest dealer of fermented beverages.
Lights Out is actually pretty good too if you're looking for something post-apocalyptic.
(Be sure to recommend the review on Amazon)
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I've got snark dripping out of my monitor....
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RevDisk, with one exception you nailed it dead center.
The assault rifle is ID'd as an M16.
I pretty much gave up hope when the cop decided it would be best to leave his weapon at home when he went to confront the people that had kidnapped his wife. :facepalm:
I'm kind of wondering if the author isn't a 14 year old Canadian girl.
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"Other was "Pirate Latitudes" by Michael Crichton which was so memorable I can't recall what it was about."
I found a copy of that in the bargain bin at Hastings. Agreed. Waste of time.
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Note to self: do not ask Rev to write a review for my book.
Jk!
Agreed about Lights Out. Writing was a little ... difficult at times, and I wasn't too thrilled with the main character's 50s-era view of marriage, but the plot and premise were good.
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Note to self: do not ask Rev to write a review for my book.
Jk!
Agreed about Lights Out. Writing was a little ... difficult at times, and I wasn't too thrilled with the main character's 50s-era view of marriage, but the plot and premise were good.
Been a looooong time since I read Light's Out, so I don't remember it clearly. I'm curious what you are referring to here. :)
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Been a looooong time since I read Light's Out, so I don't remember it clearly. I'm curious what you are referring to here. :)
The main character (can't remember his name & haven't unpacked the books yet) had been married to his wife for 20 years or so, but seemed to have no real understanding of how she thought, her motivations, or who she really was as a person. Based on his comments/thoughts about her, he saw her as little more than an extension of himself and the mother of their children rather than an individual in her own right. (50s era mentality) In the scene when she was in training with Gunny, he expected her to fail. How can you be married to someone for 20 years and have no real understanding of their grit, their determination, or their driving motivations? He was adapting to changes within himself with regard to his worldview, yet seemed to expect her to remain unchanged by the events they were enduring. Simply no comprehension of her as an individual. I also didn't like how rather than asking her what was on her mind, he assumed that she was being manipulative of various situations to get what she wanted. Whether she was or wasn't, various disagreements could have been headed off at the pass simply by discussing them with her. He instead chose the stoic silent route (because you can't reason with a woman) and caused himself much more grief over it.
He may have been a good leader in the community, but the disparity over how he lead his peers vs. how he "lead" in his own home made the author seem like he didn't really have a good understanding of the male/female dynamic himself.
Just my .02.
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The main character (can't remember his name & haven't unpacked the books yet) had been married to his wife for 20 years or so, but seemed to have no real understanding of how she thought, her motivations, or who she really was as a person. Based on his comments/thoughts about her, he saw her as little more than an extension of himself and the mother of their children rather than an individual in her own right. (50s era mentality) In the scene when she was in training with Gunny, he expected her to fail. How can you be married to someone for 20 years and have no real understanding of their grit, their determination, or their driving motivations? He was adapting to changes within himself with regard to his worldview, yet seemed to expect her to remain unchanged by the events they were enduring. Simply no comprehension of her as an individual. I also didn't like how rather than asking her what was on her mind, he assumed that she was being manipulative of various situations to get what she wanted. Whether she was or wasn't, various disagreements could have been headed off at the pass simply by discussing them with her. He instead chose the stoic silent route (because you can't reason with a woman) and caused himself much more grief over it.
He may have been a good leader in the community, but the disparity over how he lead his peers vs. how he "lead" in his own home made the author seem like he didn't really have a good understanding of the male/female dynamic himself.
Just my .02.
Or maybe he did, considering many relationships sound exactly like that.....
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Oddly enough, Ladypine has become something of a Ron Paul activist :lol:
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The main character (can't remember his name & haven't unpacked the books yet) had been married to his wife for 20 years or so, but seemed to have no real understanding of how she thought, her motivations, or who she really was as a person. Based on his comments/thoughts about her, he saw her as little more than an extension of himself and the mother of their children rather than an individual in her own right. (50s era mentality) In the scene when she was in training with Gunny, he expected her to fail. How can you be married to someone for 20 years and have no real understanding of their grit, their determination, or their driving motivations? He was adapting to changes within himself with regard to his worldview, yet seemed to expect her to remain unchanged by the events they were enduring. Simply no comprehension of her as an individual. I also didn't like how rather than asking her what was on her mind, he assumed that she was being manipulative of various situations to get what she wanted. Whether she was or wasn't, various disagreements could have been headed off at the pass simply by discussing them with her. He instead chose the stoic silent route (because you can't reason with a woman) and caused himself much more grief over it.
He may have been a good leader in the community, but the disparity over how he lead his peers vs. how he "lead" in his own home made the author seem like he didn't really have a good understanding of the male/female dynamic himself.
Just my .02.
You have just described my marriage.
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I wasn't too thrilled with the main character's 50s-era view of marriage...
But the wives were so happy back then, vacuuming with the pearls on. Haven't you seen Leave It To Beaver? Sheesh.
Yeah, I know. Shouldn't try to reason with a woman...
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You poor men.
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Me, I'll be out on the porch in my rocking chair, sipping some whiskey and listening to Gillian Welch...and keeping my mouth shut. My dog will be looking up at me and nodding wisely.
:)
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Some people say dogs aren't as smart as humans, because they can't talk. I think they're smarter than us, because they don't.
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Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
I think I should explain my comment "That's my marriage" in a little more depth.
The main character (can't remember his name & haven't unpacked the books yet) had been married to his wife for 20 years or so, but seemed to have no real understanding of how she thought, her motivations, or who she really was as a person.
Is there any man that understands or even thinks to understand how a woman thinks. I could never understand my wife's spending compulsion. I'm hard wired as a saver (child of children of the depression). If you want something, you tucked away your pennies and then when you had enough, you go buy it. Not my wife, "I deserve it NOW". so it got put on a credit card. So there were constantly fights about money, simply because we approached it differently.
Based on his comments/thoughts about her, he saw her as little more than an extension of himself and the mother of their children rather than an individual in her own right. (50s era mentality) In the scene when she was in training with Gunny, he expected her to fail. How can you be married to someone for 20 years and have no real understanding of their grit, their determination, or their driving motivations?
Two parts to this. I tried to work with my wife as team to solve problems, she however looked upon *me* as the problem (because I would say "No") and I became the enemy. If I said "We need to sit down and discuss that one of the children misbehaved and a plan to correct the behavior", I became the bad guy , because I was pointing out a problem, and I had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I alleged had occurred. It became "Family Court", with my wife sitting as judge, me as prosecuting attorney, and the child as defense. Treated as at least an equal (and in many cases superior) to the parent.
The second part is that she was (and is) worthless in crisis. When one of the kids would come in crying with blood on a elbow or knee, she would start shrieking and screaming. The child, who up to this point had merely been whimpering, would begin to scream and cry (if Mom is panicking, it must be BAD !!!) and now I'd have two people, one bleeding, but both screaming and shrieking, and no one is doing anything to solve the problem (patch the wound). I'm sorry, I was taught that no matter how bad it is, you calm and reassure the patient that they'll be fine, while you apply first aid and assess their condition. Running around like a chicken with your head cut off, does no one any good. So I'm sorry I told you to STFU, but I can't clean and bandage a cut, with you screaming in my ear.
He was adapting to changes within himself with regard to his worldview, yet seemed to expect her to remain unchanged by the events they were enduring. Simply no comprehension of her as an individual. I also didn't like how rather than asking her what was on her mind, he assumed that she was being manipulative of various situations to get what she wanted.
Ahh, that's because she was constantly trying to manipulate the situation to get her way. While I played straight up and honest, she took every last dime from me.
Whether she was or wasn't, various disagreements could have been headed off at the pass simply by discussing them with her. He instead chose the stoic silent route (because you can't reason with a woman) and caused himself much more grief over it.
I was damned if I did, damned if I didn't. And often it was simply easier to shut up and be wrong, then to open my mouth and be wrong. I often just didn't have the energy to fight (she loved to fight, and often tried to goad me into it. Far too often I would fall for it). When you don't want to hear what I have to say, don't get mad when I don't say it.
He may have been a good leader in the community, but the disparity over how he lead his peers vs. how he "lead" in his own home made the author seem like he didn't really have a good understanding of the male/female dynamic himself.
Just my .02.
True. And for quite awhile I was ashamed that my marriage had failed. Despite all the effort I had put into it. (all times I begged her "What do you want me to do? "What can I do different?", "Tell me what you want from me?" I would get bull*expletive deleted* answers like "I want you to care for me more." or "I want you to love me more." What the *expletive deleted* does that mean? It means that I'm not doing something or enough of something, therefore all the problems in our marriage are MY fault. So I'll pick up more of the slack in chores, I was working 50-60 hours a week, cooking dinner 5-6 nights a week, doing all the laundry, taking care of all of the outside of the house lawn, trees, bushes, leaves, etc. taking the kids and disappearing 3 out of 4 Sunday afternoons so she could have time to herself. I didn't drink, smoke or hang out in bars or with friends. And yet still no matter what I did, it simply wasn't enough for her. She had decided that she didn't like me shortly after we got back from Germany because I wasn't a "good provider" (apparently she just wanted to stay home and not work.) Since she could not do that, it was my fault and she was going to make me pay.
And I did. for 22 years.
And for about 6 months I felt guilty.
And then I realized that I had put 110% into my marriage. I had nothing to be ashamed of. And now that she is gone, my finances have stabilized, I can do what I want when I want, even though she calls, texts and e-mails trying to control me; Non est dominus ad me.
So now. Now. I am a free man. I'm working with her father to resolve the house issue (I want it and her off the mortgage and deed, etc.), but she's not going to stick me with the 2nd mortgage we took out to pay off credit card debt she ran up.
I will do my best to enjoy the rest of the time I have left with my family and friends (including the ones here in the magic box).
I'm sorry what was the question again?
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Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
I think I should explain my comment "That's my marriage" in a little more depth.
.....
And then I realized that I had put 110% into my marriage. I had nothing to be ashamed of. And now that she is gone, my finances have stabilized, I can do what I want when I want, even though she calls, texts and e-mails trying to control me; Non est dominus ad me.
So now. Now. I am a free man. I'm working with her father to resolve the house issue (I want it and her off the mortgage and deed, etc.), but she's not going to stick me with the 2nd mortgage we took out to pay off credit card debt she ran up.
I will do my best to enjoy the rest of the time I have left with my family and friends (including the ones here in the magic box).
I'm sorry what was the question again?
No question. Your wife was/is a prime example of the problem - the one that gives the rest of us a bad name. I'm not even going to offer any platitudes or alternatives you may have tried. I don't really think it would have helped you to "understand how she grew up" or to "listen to her" or to "have a civil and open discussion." Some women, some men - hell, some people, are only happy if they're bringing everyone around them down to their own level of misery. Be glad you got out David and that you can enjoy your time now.
Me, I'll be out on the porch in my rocking chair, sipping some whiskey and listening to Gillian Welch...and keeping my mouth shut. My dog will be looking up at me and nodding wisely.
:)
If we can shoot at passing deer, that sounds perfect.
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If we can shoot at passing deer zombies, that sounds perfect.
FTFY. =D
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If we can shoot at passing deer, zombies, and hippies that sounds perfect.
Now it's fixed.
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If we can shoot at passing deer, zombies, and hippies that sounds perfect.
Now it's fixed.
I'm in.
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If we can shoot at passing deer, zombies, and hippies that sounds perfect.
Now it's fixed.
(happy sigh)
Scout, if you don't mind me asking... What made you stay?
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Now it's fixed.
Yes dear.
:)
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Now it's fixed.
(happy sigh)
Scout, if you don't mind me asking... What made you stay?
I don't want to put words in his mouth, but probably once he realized the situation, he stayed for the kids. I am new to the parenthood thing, but I know that my wife and I would do anything for our son.
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Now it's fixed.
(happy sigh)
Scout, if you don't mind me asking... What made you stay?
1. "Do you Scout26 take this woman, to be your wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part?"
"I do".
I had made a Solemn Vow. Given my Word. Sworn an Oath. Made a Promise.
2. Kids. Kids need parents. I thought that having two parents (the way I grew up) was the way to do it. Her parents had divorced and she had issues with her father. I think some of that was transferred to me.
3. Then about about two months before she left she asked me what I feared most. "Dying alone" I answered. Yeah, should have guessed on that one.
But I am happy now. My life is mine. I get my son often (not as much as I want but frequently). It's good. It's real good.
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1.I had made a Solemn Vow. Given my Word. Sworn an Oath. Made a Promise.
2. Kids. Kids need parents. I thought that having two parents (the way I grew up) was the way to do it. Her parents had divorced and she had issues with her father. I think some of that was transferred to me.
3. Then about about two months before she left she asked me what I feared most. "Dying alone" I answered. Yeah, should have guessed on that one.
But I am happy now. My life is mine. I get my son often (not as much as I want but frequently). It's good. It's real good.
As to #1 - therein lies the problem with taking an oath that requires two people to make it possible. You can take an oath that YOU will do whatever it takes, but if that other person can't/won't/doesn't uphold their end of things, where does that leave you? Bound by a promise that has no value whatsoever to a full half of the equation.
#3 - you won't die alone Scout. Not if any of us have any say in the matter.
Yes, dear deer (and zombies and hippies).
:)
FTFY. Don't "yes dear" me, Ben.
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Actually, I'm not a afraid of that anymore. I had been scared that my corpse would sit in the house for a couple of weeks to a month maybe, before someone would notice that they hadn't been out and about for awhile. Now I just worry about my dog.
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Now I just worry about my dog.
Can he read a map and use a compass? If he were to knock on my door, I'd at minimum find him a good home. If that didn't pan out to the satisfaction of me and the dog, he'd just have to learn to put up with a pack of spayed female dogs, and I'd have to get a pet fancier's license. (required if you have more than 3 dogs).
DD