foreign stupidity tax and book review
FOREIGN STUPIDITY TAX AND BOOK REVIEW
Foreign stupidity is alive and well. Just in case you thought the US was running itself into the ground through stupidity and greed all by itself. South Africa is currently experiencing electrical supply disruptions that are directly effecting its bread and butter, mining operations. This is not the result of race, yet another former White run country being mismanaged by its new Black rulers. It is a Greed and Stupidity issue, and that knows no race. Some of it could be cultural, but we won’t open up that can of worms. We’ll just leave it at greed. The US is letting its infrastructure deteriorate, just like South Africa. Currently, South Africa supplies something like 70% of the new production of platinum globally. The disruption of a small percent ( larger at first but settling down to about ten percent ) of electricity to mines has seem platinum prices swell. For awhile the price of silver and platinum were at a ratio of one hundred to one. I.E., silver at $15 an ounce saw platinum at $1500 an ounce. Suddenly the price is around $16 for silver and $1900 plus for platinum.
*
Platinum is primarily used in automobile catalytic converters. As the price of platinum shoots up, converter thefts will start to rise. If you have a high clearance vehicle your chances of being robbed increase ( ease of theft ). Thus, not only is your bright and shiny SUV costing you a pretty penny at the gas pump, you might start to experience the pain of replacing the catalytic converter. $300 and up. Even if your insurance pays it you will see deductible cost or higher premium cost. You are being indirectly taxed for stupidity on the part of others. Sort of like your food tax as Bubya The Monkey Man paid off his supporters by starting the Ethanol Fuel program. Big Ag is selling us poison at a premium price ( but I won’t get into GM food right now ).
*
Yet another book review to fill these pages and infuriate the Bison masses. Wastelands, Stories Of The Apocalypse. Edited by John J. Adams. Stories by Stephen King, etc. I was pretty excited to order this collection of short stories. I was less than thrilled after I started reading it. Most of the stories are great to decent. Very few were duds. That is unusual in collections. Usually it is one or two good ones and rest unreadable crap. So you would think the book is worth the money. No. The problem is that most of the stories don’t meet my definition of Apocalyptic fiction. Struggling to survive, how the collapse happened and how the characters made it. Most are just stories of life as we know it, but on a less luxurious standard of living. No one was starving and dying off. No one was improvising the tools needed to live. It was more Super Depression living, at worse Black Death ( equivalent ) life. More, civilization after the collapse already happened. Or, a sanitized die off.
*
The End Of The Whole Mess by Stephen King we have all seen before in his short story collection book. A great story, a genius figures out how to pacify the population and they die off from premature senility caused by that cure. Great story, made into a great one hour movie. But not my vote on a great Apocalypse story. No details on the collapse, just the cause. Salvage by Olson Scott Card we have already seen in Folk Of The Fringe. A “civilization rebuilds afterwards” story. The People Of Sand And Slag by P. Bacigalupi was more space opera sci-fi that Apocalyptic, just with mutants thrown in. And, also seen elsewhere. Bread And Bombs by M. Rickert was unreadable, as far as I was concerned. The blurb says it is a story motivated by 9/11. Whatever. How To Get In Town And Out Again by Jonathan Lethem was pretty much about virtual reality. Not a bad read, but barely on topic.
*
Dark, Dark Were The Tunnels by George Martin was another unreadable, seemed almost like fantasy. Waiting For The Zephyr by T. Buckell was about wind powered vehicles. Mostly too short and pointless. Never Despair by the famous Jack McDevitt ( Eternity Road ). Basically someone talking to a hologram of Winston Churchill. About as bad as The Postman with its robots at the college. When Sysadmins Ruled The Earth by Cory Doctorow was a great read, but really not about much more than the slow death of the Internet and the people running them. The Last Of The O-Forms by James Van Pelt was again, good, but just about mutants in a rebuilt society. Artie’s Angels by C. Wells is basically a “dysfunctional dying city under glass with teenagers as the stars”. A good read. Judgment Passed by J. Oltion was a “rescue a downed air car and religious philosophy discussion” story. Not bad, off topic. Mute by Gene Wolf was another unreadable as was Inertia by Nancy Kress. And The Deep Blue Sea by Elizabeth Bear was a superb story, almost the best one. Of course I could be biased as it took place mostly in Nevada. Along the lines of a contract with the devil to survive and thrive. So, horror/suspense. Great, but not really on topic.
*
Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler ( wrote Parable Of The Sower ) was good, but like most here were in a “society not quite collapsed just yet”. Killers by C. Emshwiller was clever and a great story. Along the lines of “femi-Nazis protect town from male hobos”. Ginny Sweethips Flying Circus by Neal Barrett, Jr. ( wrote Through Darkest America ) was good, traveling prostitute drugs customers to simulate sex and finds true love. Kind of Road Warrior meets The Merry Pranksters. The End Of The World As We Know It by Dale Baily was a great read, basically “last man on earth turns alcoholic and meets last woman on earth and is too jaded to repopulate”. A Song Before Sunset by David Grigg is the most true to a post-apocalypse tale. Great one, old guy tries to keep culture alive with a piano, battles thugs. Episode Seven by John Langan was really hard to read with a strange writing style, I skipped most of it. Two people on the run from a pack.
*
Well, there you go, a thorough run down of all the stories in this book. Mostly great reading, but mostly off topic. All this effort to help you decide if you should buy this book. Sometimes my greatness surprises even me.
END
Buy my crap, books and gear www.bisonpress.com
Foreign stupidity is alive and well. Just in case you thought the US was running itself into the ground through stupidity and greed all by itself. South Africa is currently experiencing electrical supply disruptions that are directly effecting its bread and butter, mining operations. This is not the result of race, yet another former White run country being mismanaged by its new Black rulers. It is a Greed and Stupidity issue, and that knows no race. Some of it could be cultural, but we won’t open up that can of worms. We’ll just leave it at greed. The US is letting its infrastructure deteriorate, just like South Africa. Currently, South Africa supplies something like 70% of the new production of platinum globally. The disruption of a small percent ( larger at first but settling down to about ten percent ) of electricity to mines has seem platinum prices swell. For awhile the price of silver and platinum were at a ratio of one hundred to one. I.E., silver at $15 an ounce saw platinum at $1500 an ounce. Suddenly the price is around $16 for silver and $1900 plus for platinum.
*
Platinum is primarily used in automobile catalytic converters. As the price of platinum shoots up, converter thefts will start to rise. If you have a high clearance vehicle your chances of being robbed increase ( ease of theft ). Thus, not only is your bright and shiny SUV costing you a pretty penny at the gas pump, you might start to experience the pain of replacing the catalytic converter. $300 and up. Even if your insurance pays it you will see deductible cost or higher premium cost. You are being indirectly taxed for stupidity on the part of others. Sort of like your food tax as Bubya The Monkey Man paid off his supporters by starting the Ethanol Fuel program. Big Ag is selling us poison at a premium price ( but I won’t get into GM food right now ).
*
Yet another book review to fill these pages and infuriate the Bison masses. Wastelands, Stories Of The Apocalypse. Edited by John J. Adams. Stories by Stephen King, etc. I was pretty excited to order this collection of short stories. I was less than thrilled after I started reading it. Most of the stories are great to decent. Very few were duds. That is unusual in collections. Usually it is one or two good ones and rest unreadable crap. So you would think the book is worth the money. No. The problem is that most of the stories don’t meet my definition of Apocalyptic fiction. Struggling to survive, how the collapse happened and how the characters made it. Most are just stories of life as we know it, but on a less luxurious standard of living. No one was starving and dying off. No one was improvising the tools needed to live. It was more Super Depression living, at worse Black Death ( equivalent ) life. More, civilization after the collapse already happened. Or, a sanitized die off.
*
The End Of The Whole Mess by Stephen King we have all seen before in his short story collection book. A great story, a genius figures out how to pacify the population and they die off from premature senility caused by that cure. Great story, made into a great one hour movie. But not my vote on a great Apocalypse story. No details on the collapse, just the cause. Salvage by Olson Scott Card we have already seen in Folk Of The Fringe. A “civilization rebuilds afterwards” story. The People Of Sand And Slag by P. Bacigalupi was more space opera sci-fi that Apocalyptic, just with mutants thrown in. And, also seen elsewhere. Bread And Bombs by M. Rickert was unreadable, as far as I was concerned. The blurb says it is a story motivated by 9/11. Whatever. How To Get In Town And Out Again by Jonathan Lethem was pretty much about virtual reality. Not a bad read, but barely on topic.
*
Dark, Dark Were The Tunnels by George Martin was another unreadable, seemed almost like fantasy. Waiting For The Zephyr by T. Buckell was about wind powered vehicles. Mostly too short and pointless. Never Despair by the famous Jack McDevitt ( Eternity Road ). Basically someone talking to a hologram of Winston Churchill. About as bad as The Postman with its robots at the college. When Sysadmins Ruled The Earth by Cory Doctorow was a great read, but really not about much more than the slow death of the Internet and the people running them. The Last Of The O-Forms by James Van Pelt was again, good, but just about mutants in a rebuilt society. Artie’s Angels by C. Wells is basically a “dysfunctional dying city under glass with teenagers as the stars”. A good read. Judgment Passed by J. Oltion was a “rescue a downed air car and religious philosophy discussion” story. Not bad, off topic. Mute by Gene Wolf was another unreadable as was Inertia by Nancy Kress. And The Deep Blue Sea by Elizabeth Bear was a superb story, almost the best one. Of course I could be biased as it took place mostly in Nevada. Along the lines of a contract with the devil to survive and thrive. So, horror/suspense. Great, but not really on topic.
*
Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler ( wrote Parable Of The Sower ) was good, but like most here were in a “society not quite collapsed just yet”. Killers by C. Emshwiller was clever and a great story. Along the lines of “femi-Nazis protect town from male hobos”. Ginny Sweethips Flying Circus by Neal Barrett, Jr. ( wrote Through Darkest America ) was good, traveling prostitute drugs customers to simulate sex and finds true love. Kind of Road Warrior meets The Merry Pranksters. The End Of The World As We Know It by Dale Baily was a great read, basically “last man on earth turns alcoholic and meets last woman on earth and is too jaded to repopulate”. A Song Before Sunset by David Grigg is the most true to a post-apocalypse tale. Great one, old guy tries to keep culture alive with a piano, battles thugs. Episode Seven by John Langan was really hard to read with a strange writing style, I skipped most of it. Two people on the run from a pack.
*
Well, there you go, a thorough run down of all the stories in this book. Mostly great reading, but mostly off topic. All this effort to help you decide if you should buy this book. Sometimes my greatness surprises even me.
END
Buy my crap, books and gear www.bisonpress.com
posted by James m Dakin at 5:45 AM
10 Comments:
Jim,
I enjoy your Blog, its original, interesting and thought-provoking.
Today I didn't like some of the overtones in the opening paragraphs. Hey, its your blog and your opinion. I hope that you've just had a tough day and its not a permanent fixture.
be safe
Rebel, Jim being pissed off about something or another is a permenant fixture. I personally enjoy it. After the rant usually comes some great advice on very frugal preparations.
As for todays blog it does seem like survivalist books are pretty varied with a bit of horror, science fiction, general overtones about society and some dribbling crap. I liked patriots and am thinking of getting ur Ebook. Also I need to read ATLAS SHUGGED. Unfortunately as a college student my spare time doesn't often go to reading.
Speaking of books - have you considered continuing the unfinished story (12K file - Chapter two) and keeping on, just for shits and grins. I know its fantasy, but I thought the story was pretty interesting - might even stimulate some more ideas to write about.
The Matt Bracken written books (Enemies Foreign and Domestic and the sequel) as also a good read as well. From what I understand, Mr. Bracken is very comfortable on the seas, and his experience with boats really shows in these books.
I have a book called 'Back From the Land: Why People in the 70's went to the land and why they came back' which was pretty interesting, though maybe pretty dry (no survivalist stuff there - just cold hard facts). Basically hippies / back to basics folks in 70's moved out to the country to live out their fantasy of living easy on the earth. But Mother Earth can be a slut sometimes, and taught them it ain't easy being wild and free when you still got bills to pay (taxes) and employment out there is not easy to find. Most of them either came back to civilization with tail between their legs, or they modified their plans big time, as in work in city, live in country. Full timers out there are pretty rare.
I've got all of your books - folks, they are worth it is all I can say. If you disagree, write one yourself and see what kind of feedback you get.
If you think jim's pissy, wait till you get me worked up.
f--kin boomers,
Who cares about YOU getting worked up? Dakin knows his stuff and YOU don't.
So, go jerk off with your EBR.
What's an EBR?
Elderly boomer roomate?
I think it's Evil Black Rifle. Sort of has a phallic connotation, doesn't it? I'm sure some people do get off with them. I just hope they remember to clean their rifle when they're done. ^o^
Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson. A man and a wolf band together to survive in an America devastated by financial collapse. was by far my favorite in the genre.
Star Man's Son 2250 A.D. by Andre Norton was the first post apoc book I had ever read and also a long time favorite.
keep the blogs coming.
Dies the Fire: A Novel of the Change by S.M. Stirling is an interesting read. The collapse is a contrived failure of electricity, the internal combustion engine, gunpowder, etc but the resulting government collapse, famine, plague and fight for survival are not too sanitized.
I read Wastelands too, but yeah, I think if you were expecting a bunch of Science Fiction authors to have a books that was a carbon copy of Patriots: Surviving the Collapse, or Lights Out ... you might have missed the point.
There weren't any stories that were "off topic", just not what you might have expected. The book has pretty much been hailed as among the best Science Fiction anthologies ever, but I know exactly where you are coming from. It wasn't what you expected. If you aren't a Sci-Fi fan as much as a prepping fan, you aren't the target audience. By no means was a conventional Sci-Fi book meant for preppers, any more than The Road or Lucifer's Hammer was meant for us.
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