Category: Uncategorized

Maxwell 5 and Amazon’s new toy

Castalia author Peter Grant, the author of the post-Civil War western Brings the Lightning, has just published a new book in his Maxwell Saga, Stoke the Flames Higher. We don’t publish this military SF series in ebook, although I’m pleased to announce that Castalia will be publishing all five books of the Maxwell Saga in print and audio, as well as all three books of Peter’s Laredo series, the third of which we will be publishing in ebook as well. Peter has posted an excerpt from the new book, and I can confirm that you don’t have to have read the four preceding volumes in order to pick up the story here.

Peter had considerable military experience in South Africa and it shows in his writing; he knows whereof he writes.

Also, Peter has reviewed the input of his readers regarding one of his next projects, and he has decided to proceed with the space detective story, which he apparently intends to bring to Castalia. I’m delighted to hear that, since, as QUANTUM MORTIS fans know, I’m rather partial to space detective stories myself. In the unlikely event he would like to situate it there, instead of in the Maxwell universe, he’ll certainly have my permission. But regardless, we’ll be more than happy to publish it. And yes, this is actually how we work, with our publishing decisions not only being made without our involvement, but sometimes without our knowledge.

In other book news, I experimented with Amazon’s new KDP paperback system yesterday, and a paperback version of On the Question of Free Trade was the result. I chose it because a) we were never going to get around to doing it via our normal system, and, b) it struck me as the sort of book you might want to give someone or carry around to use as a reference in an economics course. I have to confess, I was VERY disappointed to learn that the system is nothing more than an integrated version of the CreateSpace system, as I thought it was going to auto-generate a print layout from the Kindle file. I expect that’s what Amazon ultimately has in mind, but they certainly aren’t anywhere near there yet.

Since some of our authors will no doubt be curious about it, here are the pros and cons I observed.

PROS

  • It’s pretty easy to use and the Cover Creator’s limitations should ensure that you can’t screw up the spine placement very easily.
  • It’s fast. It takes about one week to get a published book up on Amazon through our usual system. This took only 12 hours. However, it doesn’t automatically connect to the Kindle edition any more automatically than non-KDP-published books, which is a little odd.
  • The printing price is pretty good. $2.15 for a small book like that one, and eighty-five cents plus 1.2 cents per page for up to 828 pages.
  • You can upload your own cover images and use them in a variety of ways in the Content Creator.
  • It doesn’t cost anything and it’s integrated with KDP. This will take yet another chunk out of the mainstream publishers, and in combination with Kindle Unlimited, will probably cause the Big Five to shrink to four, and possibly three.
  • Although you can’t just use the Kindle file, you can provide either a formatted PDF or an unformatted Word document for the text.
  • They give you a free ISBN.

CONS

  • The 40 percent slice that Amazon takes in addition to the print charge is pretty hefty. This will preclude most independent publishers from using it. We’ll probably use it for some books, like On War and some of our less popular books that aren’t even on the print production list, but it will never be our primary option.
  • I’ve never heard anything good about the quality of the CreateSpace paperbacks and there is no reason to believe these will be any better. There was a reason we looked for a better alternative from the start. I’ll be very interested to know what people make of now On the Question of Free Trade turned out because I have absolutely no idea. So, please consider yourself warned in that regard.
  • Distribution is limited to Amazon. CreateSpace tried to claim otherwise, which wasn’t really true, but Amazon isn’t even bothering to try. Amazon is the big dog, but it’s not the only market out there and an increasing percentage of our book sales are print books sold though other resellers. Although we still tend to think of ourselves as an epublisher, and barely half our books are even available in print editions, 40 percent of our sales are now in print.
  • The ISBN is only good for use on Amazon.
  • There is no way to identify the publisher or imprint.

Conclusion: absolutely great for self-publishers, of minor interest to authors with publishers, a potentially useful second option for low-margin independent publishers, and a complete nightmare for high-margin traditional publishers. I expect most successful authors are going to increasingly gravitate to the Peter Grant approach, and making publication decisions based on a series-by-series basis. As for me, I think I will use it to publish all of my collected WND columns in a two-volume paperback set, which will be useful for my own reference, if nothing else.

And finally, in case you missed it over the weekend, Back From the Dead by Rolf Nelson is finally available in paperback and hardcover editions. Don’t think you’ve seen the end of the book shilling either, because we have no less than FOUR (4) big announcements to make before Christmas.

Speaking of which, I would like 10 volunteer reviewers who are familiar with ATOB. If you’re a) interested in reviewing ASOS and b) you’ve already reviewed ATOB on Amazon, please send me an email with ASOS in the subject and a link to your review on Amazon.

Adios, Twitter

Let’s face it, it was only a matter of time.

Your account has been locked.

Supreme Dark Lord?@voxday

What happened? We locked your account because we determined that it violated the Twitter Rules.

What you can do: To unlock your account, you must do the following:

  • Verify your phone number
  • Verify your email address
  • Delete Tweets that violate our rules

If you think your account has been locked in error, you can contact our support team on a subsequent screen.

While I’m not formally suspended from Twitter, I won’t be going back there again since I can’t access the account without giving them a phone number. I don’t sign up for any social media service that requires a phone number, I never gave them a phone number in the first place, and I’m not about to give them one now.

Since that means I can’t even see what tweet supposedly violated their rules or delete it, I won’t be logging in there anymore. It’s very clear that Twitter is an SJW-amenable authority and it’s simply not worth it to try to play with their stacked deck. If you want to find me on social media, find me on Gab, where I’ve already got 12,139 followers, including many #DreadIlk and #VFM. At the rate they’ve been growing, I expect I’ll have more than the 27,500 I had on Twitter before April.

I prefer Gab anyhow. The engagement is more substantive, there are fewer SJW performance artists, and it’s run by a fearless Alt-Tech leader who doesn’t give a damn about safe spaces or the propagandists in the mainstream media. As Mike Cernovich never tires of pointing out, we don’t need them. They need us.

In defense of pedos

Jake Tapper ‏@jaketapper
Predictable result of people irresponsibly spreading insane falsehoods on social media. What could have happened is terrifying

Lee Stranahan‏@stranahan
Any sane person is with @jaketapper on this. I honestly hope people get sued or prosecuted over #pizzagate hoax BS story.


Fox News: DC pizza shop harassed, threatened online after being victim of fake news stories

A D.C. pizza restaurant has become a target of harassment and negative reviews on social media after it became a victim of fake news stories that went viral just before the presidential election.

Using the hashtag #PizzaGate, many on social media slammed Comet Ping Pong after floating conspiracy theories claimed the pizza shop along with Hillary Clinton and her campaign were involved in child trafficking and satanic rituals.

But all of the claims against the popular Northwest D.C. pizzeria are false and unfounded. The D.C. Police Department said they are not investigating Comet Ping Pong and are instead keeping an eye on those who are threatening the restaurant and employees.

Remember these people when the truth finally comes out and they start talking about how terrible it is and how no one could possibly have known. They close their eyes, declare it’s night, and insist that anyone would have to be insane and lying to say otherwise.

Given that the police are not investigating, and have not investigated Comet, Podesta, or any of the freaks in that circle, how can anyone possibly state that ALL of the claims are “false and unfounded”. Especially when they don’t actually mention any of the specific claims that have been made or discuss any of the evidence that has been assembled.

Now, why oh why would these journalists resist even looking into a story as potentially juicy as #Pizzagate? Maybe because it strikes too close to home? I don’t see any statement about the age of the photography subjects there.

Gli italiani votano no

So much for the globalist breather provided by the Austrian election. The Italians reject Renzi’s reforms.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has lost a referendum on constitutional reform by a wide margin, exit polls showed on Sunday, throwing his future into doubt and opening the door to renewed political instability in Italy.

Renzi, who had promised to resign if his flagship project was defeated, is due to address the nation at around midnight (6.00 p.m. ET), government sources said.

An exit poll by the Piepoli Institute/IPR for state television station RAI, estimated the ‘No’ vote at 54-58 percent against 42-46 percent for ‘Yes’. Two other polls gave ‘No’ a similar lead of at least 10 points. Voting ended at 11 p.m.

This is another step towards the end of the Euro and the EU.

UPDATE: Renzi has kept his word and resigned.

NFL Week 13

Not a bad showing by the Vikes, but this season is demonstrating, yet again, that 6-0 starts don’t tend to end well for them.

No, it’s not over

The Left is abuzz because the Freedom Party candidate was defeated in Austria:

Is Europe’s Brexit revolution over? Gloating left-wing supporters wave ‘Thank God’ signs after far-right candidate LOSES Austrian presidential election which was set to deliver body blow to the EU

Far-right candidate Norbert Hofer has lost the race for the Austrian presidency and has conceded defeat as the first results emerged. As the polls closed at 4pm UK time, exit surveys indicated left-leaning candidate Alexander Van der Bellen has taken an unbeatable lead in the election with more than 53 per cent of the vote. Hofer would have been the first far-right politician elected to national office in Europe since World War 2.

It’s not even close to being over; it has barely begun. But it does go to show how remarkably short-sighted the Left is. But thanking a God in whom they don’t believe for the continuation of their own enslavement does nicely demonstrate the fundamental incoherence of what passes for their thinking.

This is not even a setback. Even if Renzi somehow managed to win the Italian referendum, this would change nothing, because the historical trends are very clear and picking up both speed and strength.

Making Europe Great Again: Italy edition

Today Prime Minister Renzi’s attempt to centralize the Italian government in order to render it more subservient to the EU occupiers is going to fail. This will be the second domino to fall after BREXIT, the third may be the ascension of the nationalist Austrian Freedom Party to the ceremonial role as President:

Donald Trump’s victory—which shocked Europe’s political and media elite—gives the populists backing the “No” side of Italy’s referendum the political rocket fuel they need for a virtually guaranteed win.

That momentum will be all but impossible to reverse. Anti-elite sentiment is rising on both sides of the Atlantic. And I bet the global populist revolution will continue.

If Italians buck the establishment—and it looks like they will—it will clear a path for a populist party to take power and for Italy to exit the euro.

If that happens, the fallout will be catastrophic for global markets. The Financial Times recently put it this way:

An Italian exit from the single currency would trigger the total collapse of the eurozone within a very short period.

It would probably lead to the most violent economic shock in history, dwarfing the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008 and the 1929 Wall Street crash.

If the FT is even partially right, we’re looking at a possible stock market crash of historic proportions. This is why we’re watching the December 4 referendum so closely.

The referendum is meant to concentrate more power in Italy’s central government. On that point alone, everyone should oppose it. The centralization of power never leads to good things.

A “Yes” vote is effectively a vote of confidence in the current pro-EU Italian establishment. This is what the global elite wants.

A “No” vote is how the average Italian can give the finger to the faceless EU bureaucrats in Brussels, whom many blame—quite correctly—for their problems.

Trump’s win has been a double whammy for Italy’s pro-EU establishment.

First, it emboldens the populist forces fighting the referendum.

Second, it humiliates and politically castrates Matteo Renzi, the current Italian prime minister. Renzi took a rare step when he openly endorsed Hillary Clinton. He was the only European leader to do so.

As one of Renzi’s rivals said after Trump’s victory, “Matteo Renzi is politically finished from today, he’s a dead man walking.”

Other Italian politicians are furious that he weakened Italy’s standing with the new Trump administration….

Austria

Austria is holding a presidential election, also on December 4. It’s actually a redo of an election held in May, where a populist candidate, Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party, barely lost.

Austrian courts found irregularities in the results and ordered a prompt new election. But when opinion polls showed the populist candidate in the lead, the government delayed the vote until December 4, giving a lame excuse about faulty adhesive on absentee ballots. Despite the foot-dragging, Mr. Hofer looks set to win the December 4 vote.

France

France has a presidential election next spring. There’s a chance that Marine Le Pen, leader of the Eurosceptic National Front party, will do better than many expect. After more than a decade of disappointment under presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, French voters are clamoring for something different.

Spain

Spain recently re-elected incumbent Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. However, Spanish voters fled traditional political parties en masse for new populist upstarts Podemos and Ciudadanos. So Rajoy was unable to form a majority government. Rajoy now leads a severely weak minority government. The political power of the Spanish populist parties is only expected to grow.

Germany

Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, embodies the European establishment more than any other politician. Her party suffered a series of stinging defeats in regional elections this year, mostly because of her signature lax immigration policies, which have flooded Germany with migrants. Merkel’s troubles have only helped the Alternative for Germany, a new populist party surging in popularity. The party could pose a real problem for Merkel in the 2017 federal elections.


The Netherlands

As the Netherlands approaches elections in March, Geert Wilders’s Party for Freedom, which advocates leaving the EU, is basically tied in opinion polls with the establishment parties.

Meanwhile, the children of EU elites are literally being raped and murdered by the very “refugees” they welcomed inside their nations. Their trans-European globalism isn’t merely untenable these days, it is very nearly as intellectually finished as Communism.

The sins of the father

Better this complicit traitor lose his child than any of the innocent German parents who are enduring an invasion of their nation thanks to their treasonous elite:

A teenage Afghan asylum seeker has been arrested in Germany for the rape and murder of a beautiful 19-year-old medical student. Maria Ladenburger was found dead in the university city of Freiburg, near the border with Switzerland in mid October. According to media reports, she was the daughter of a high-ranking EU official.

A single strand of hair found at the crime scene led investigators to a 17-year-old migrant who arrived in Germany last year as an unaccompanied minor. The suspect has confessed to the murder, according to police. He was arrested on Friday and will go before the courts next year. Maria was drowned after being raped, her body found in the River Dreisam on October 16.

One can certainly have sympathy for the murdered girl. No young woman should suffer such a fate. But for the father, there can be none. He literally sacrificed his daughter on the altar of his idiotically ahistorical ideology. If only the elite would pay more of the price of their policies, perhaps they would not govern so foolishly.

If you’re still stupid enough to advocate for open borders or bringing refugees into the country, keep in mind that the next victim of immigrant crime could be your child. Some amount of crime in a society is escapable. But 100 percent of immigrant-related crime is absolutely avoidable and totally unnecessary.

So put him in charge!

I think he should have accepted it, mostly because Trump will end up firing a neocon who doesn’t abide by his policies as directed within months, if not weeks:

Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) was offered the Deputy Secretary of State position by President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition team, but declined because he “could not support a Secretary of State that didn’t have Trump’s policies”, according to a source with intimate knowledge of the process.

The source told GotNews that Rohrabacher, who was being considered for the Secretary of State post, refused to serve under a Secretary who did not align with Donald Trump’s foreign policy views.

Rohrabacher, an “outspoken Trump enthusiast” and long-serving member of the House called “Putin’s favorite congressman” for his pro-peace views, stands out among the other potential picks for head of the State Department, such as Trump-hating failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney, gun-grabbing classified info leaker David Petraeus, and neoconservative warmonger John Bolton.

The Deputy Secretary of State position is currently filled by Obama’s Tony Blinken, who was appointed in 2015. The Deputy Secretary of State is the chief assistant to the Secretary and replaces them as Acting Secretary in the case of death or other emergency.

Rohrabacher evidently chose not to take his chances and risk serving under a conventional establishment Secretary of State with pro-war, anti-Trump foreign policy views, such as Mitt Romney, John Bolton, or David Petraeus.

Rudy Giuliani, another contender for the post, was exclusively revealed by GotNews to have failed his own vetting process, likely due to his recent foreign lobbying. Giuliani is no longer in the race.

Then again, perhaps Trump will just give him the top spot.