Tag: books

The Evil of this World

It is remarkable to see how the patterns of history play out again and again. Even though more than 1,600 years separate us from St. Augustine’s time, the same behaviors appear every time evil gains the ascendancy.

OF THE KIND OF HAPPINESS AND LIFE TRULY DELIGHTED IN BY THOSE WHO INVEIGH AGAINST THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

But the worshippers and admirers of these gods delight in imitating their scandalous iniquities, and are nowise concerned that the republic be less depraved and licentious. Only let it remain undefeated, they say, only let it flourish and abound in resources; let it be glorious by its victories, or still better, secure in peace; and what matters it to us? This is our concern, that every man be able to increase his wealth so as to supply his daily prodigalities, and so that the powerful may subject the weak for their own purposes. Let the poor court the rich for a living, and that under their protection they may enjoy a sluggish tranquillity; and let the rich abuse the poor as their dependants, to minister to their pride. Let the people applaud not those who protect their interests, but those who provide them with pleasure. Let no severe duty be commanded, no impurity forbidden. Let kings estimate their prosperity, not by the righteousness, but by the servility of their subjects. Let the provinces stand loyal to the kings, not as moral guides, but as lords of their possessions and purveyors of their pleasures; not with a hearty reverence, but a crooked and servile fear. Let the laws take cognizance rather of the injury done to another man’s property, than of that done to one’s own person. If a man be a nuisance to his neighbour, or injure his property, family, or person, let him be actionable; but in his own affairs let everyone with impunity do what he will in company with his own family, and with those who willingly join him. Let there be a plentiful supply of public prostitutes for every one who wishes to use them, but specially for those who are too poor to keep one for their private use. Let there be erected houses of the largest and most ornate description: in these let there be provided the most sumptuous banquets, where every one who pleases may, by day or night, play, drink, vomit, dissipate. Let there be everywhere heard the rustling of dancers, the loud, immodest laughter of the theatre; let a succession of the most cruel and the most voluptuous pleasures maintain a perpetual excitement. If such happiness is distasteful to any, let him be branded as a public enemy; and if any attempt to modify or put an end to it let him be silenced, banished, put an end to. Let these be reckoned the true gods, who procure for the people this condition of things, and preserve it when once possessed. Let them be worshipped as they wish; let them demand whatever games they please, from or with their own worshippers; only let them secure that such felicity be not imperilled by foe, plague, or disaster of any kind.

St. Augustine, City of God, Book II, Chapter 20

A society that prioritizes economic growth, where hedonism is celebrated and consent is the highest morality. A society in which those who see the danger and instability inherent in the society are silenced, banished, and cancelled. A society in which those who provide pleasure are celebrated, and where the powerful may do as they like without fear of recourse or consequence. A corrupt society whose rulers hate Christianity.

Sounds familiar these days, doesn’t it.

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Free Speech is Anti-Christ

Free speech is a satanic concept that was developed by anti-christian atheists to attack Christian civilization during the Enlightenment. It is neither a Christian nor a conservative value. You don’t need to take my word for it, though. Read A HISTORY OF THE FREEDOM OF THOUGHT by historian JB Bury, who was a strong proponent of free speech.

That is one of two books I would recommend to read if you would like to understand how we went from Christian civilization to Clown World. The other one is AN AUSTRIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS by Murray Rothbard. Whereas Bury describes the historical degradation of the anti-blasphemy laws, Rothbard describes the successful centuries-long assault on the anti-usury laws.

“The entire idea of free speech is a farce. It is a lie. It is not real.”

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Why Russia Will Defeat Clown World

Much can be usefully learned from this excerpt from a book published in 1989 concerning a brief conversation that took place forty years prior between a German Army officer and a Soviet political officer.

Much to my surprise, the NKVD officer expressed a wish to speak to me alone in the presence of the interpreter.

“Polkovnik,” he said, “a question: how many convinced Communists do you think there are in this and the other German POW camps?” Was it a catch question? It was hard to answer, and it also seemed to me dangerous to give my own views. So I said, “About ten percent, I should think.”

“Oh, no; at most six to seven percent,” he replied. “And Polkovnik, how many do you think there are in East Germany?”

“Since you have been in East Germany now for nearly five years, it might be some eight to ten percent.”

“At most three to four percent. And what about West Germany?” Surprised by his figures, I suggested, “Less, about two to three percent.” To which he gave an even more astonishing reply, “Nil. You see, we are realists in Moscow. And because we are, we see no chance of being able to convince the German people of communism.” His conclusion, “Neither the Italian nor the French Communists can be numbered among us. They are first and foremost Italians and Frenchmen. Britain is on the other side of the Channel, the Americans are far away. But we do have to reckon with you.”

And then his words held doubt and fear again, “One day you will want to have an army again, with which you will invade us again. There lies our whole interest in keeping Germany ‘neutral.“ With a neutral Germany danger for us is banished. We can convince Europe of our desire, but also of our intention, never again to allow a war on our territory. That’s how things look, Polkovnik.”

This was one of the most interesting and instructive conversations I had as a prisoner of war. The view was in keeping with that of ordinary soldiers, Russian convicts, and civilians, who had already said to me previously, “Although it will be hard for us, we shall one day forget what has happened. But you will go back to your country. Then you will build up a new army and march into Russia, destroy our villages and kill or carry off our people.” How can this fear ever be removed from the people or from the “realists” in Moscow? All the noisy reactions to the rebuilding of the Bundeswehr, the federal army, and to the alliance with the American superpower are to be seen against this background.

PANZER COMMANDER by Col Hans von Luck

The Russians trusted, briefly, in the promises made to them in the early days of the post-Soviet era. After seeing their economy raped and their boundaries methodically encroached upon by the very Satanic clowns who previously ruled over them, they will never again give the benefit of any doubt to Clown World’s servants in Germany, the UK, or the USA.

And they have very good reason to place absolutely no trust in them.

British general admits UK deployed troops to Ukraine

British Royal Marines conducted high-risk operations in Ukraine in April, Lieutenant General Robert Magowan has admitted, according to a report in The Times on Tuesday. Russia has consistently warned that NATO troops have been active in the conflict, but these statements have been dismissed by Western analysts and media.

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Subversion and Perversion

The Cambridge Dictionary revises the definitions of “man” and “woman”:

In yet another example of the insanity of modern progressive activism, the Cambridge Dictionary has redefined “man” and “woman.” Under previous definitions, which were reflective of reality, it said that “woman” meant an “adult female human being.” Now, woman is any adult who “lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.” It made the same anti-biology change for “man,” saying it’s “an adult who lives and identifies as a male though they may have had a different sex at birth.”

We’ve had several people ask Castalia Library to reproduce an old dictionary ever since we first launched it, but it was never something I’d seriously considered. Now, however, the need for one is becoming clear. The problem is that it would take a prohibitively long time to do a proper layout from scratch, so the only viable option would be doing a high-resolution scanned reproduction of a pre-1927 dictionary.

If a traditional dictionary is of any interest to you, let me know in the comments, and recommend the public domain dictionary of your choice. I’m not saying that we intend to do one, I’m merely observing that there is a growing need for one given the intentional subversion and perversion of the English language.

On the topic of Castalia Library, a few notes regarding shipping and availability.

  • The Library editions of A THRONE OF BONES Vols. 1 and 2 are on schedule to begin shipping on Friday.
  • The Libraria editions of A THRONE OF BONES Vols. 1 and 2 are delayed. There was a quality issue with the gold foil provided by the supplier and we approved the bindery’s recommendation to delay the stamping until the foil is replaced.
  • The Leather editions of the Junior Classics are scheduled to begin shipping between Christmas and New Years.
  • The cover designs for all four INCERTO editions by Nassim Nicholas Taleb have been completed, and all four books can now be ordered. The customary discount codes apply to all four books for active subscribers. The Library editions are dark brown Italian cowhide, the Libraria editions are black Italian goatskin. Please note that THE BLACK SWAN and FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS are not, and will not be, part of the subscription.
The INCERTO collection in leather

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JC Leather 1-6 part 2

Attention: Junior Classics Leather Set backers who backed via the Arkhaven store more than two months ago.

Please send your current shipping address to: castalialibrary-AT-infogalactic-DOT-com.

Please do not “confirm” your current address or send a useless note that says “it’s the same as it was before”. Send the current shipping address in this form, preferably on one line, please, as described below. Do not send it to me or to any email address other than the one specified. Send your current shipping address to castalialibrary-AT-infogalactic-DOT-com. No spaces after the commas.

Order ID, Name and Lastname, Quantity (sets, not books), Address, City, State, Country, Postal Code (Zip), Email address. Separate the sections by comma, so that the line looks like this:

12345,Name Lastname,1,123 Main Street Apt #2,San Diego,CA,USA,55555,email@url.com

If you don’t know your Order ID, just use 000 and we’ll look it up. If you’ve sent your address to us in response to an email in the last week, you do NOT need to do so again.

Junior Classics Leather 1-6

Attention: Junior Classics Leather Set backers.

Please send your current shipping address to: castalialibrary-AT-infogalactic-DOT-com.

Please do not “confirm” your current address or send a useless note that says “it’s the same as it was before”. Send the current shipping address in this form, preferably on one line, please, as described below. Do not send it to me or to any email address other than the one specified. Send your current shipping address to castalialibrary-AT-infogalactic-DOT-com.

Backer ID, Name and Lastname, Quantity (sets, not books), Address, City, State, Country, Postal Code (Zip), Email address. Separate the sections by comma, so that the line looks like this:

12345, Name Lastname, 1, 123 Main Street Apt #2, San Diego, CA, USA, 55555, email@url.com

If you don’t know your backer ID from the campaign, just use 000 and we’ll look it up. That’s all we need. We’ll be sending out an email to all the backers too, so hopefully we can start having them shipped next week if everyone responds quickly.

Those who purchased sets from the Arkhaven store do NOT need to send in their addresses unless you have a different shipping address than the one you provided when you ordered it. There are only 10 sets left, so if you would like one, this will be your last chance for a while.

UPDATE: In other Castalia Library news, the Libraria stamping for A THRONE OF BONES Vol. I has been approved.

It’s gold and it glitters.

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Black Friday Book Sale

Aetherczar announces the Based Black Friday Book Sale

Bypass the cultural gatekeeping, support non-woke authors, and get yourself some great books from both established and emerging talent for only $0.99 – many titles free! Sale starts today, Wednesday November 23, and runs through Tuesday November 29.

The new additions from the previous sale include science fiction grandmasters, Dragon Award winners and nominees, established mainstream authors, and emerging indie talent. Authors include Patrick Abbott, James Alderdice, J.M. Anjewierden, Graham Bradley, Henry Brown, Misha Burnett, Paul Clayton, Mel Dunay, Marina Fontaine, Karl K. Gallagher, N. Gray, Steve Griffiths, William Hastings, Chris Haught, Daniel Humphreys, Becky R. Jones, M.R. Kayser, Chris Kennedy, Moe Lane, B.P. McCoppin, Jon Mollison, Chance Paladin, S. Kirk Pierzchala, Alex Rath, Denton Salle, Cedar Sanderson, David Skinner, R.H. Snow, Glen Sprigg, Henry Vogel, David J. West, Thomas Wilson, John C. Wright, and Page Zaplendam.

And in related news, the MIDNIGHT’S WAR campaign has begun. You can now obtain print editions of Arkhaven’s excellent introduction to the Midnight World. Remember that the Kickstarter system is different than Indiegogo, so instead of multiple backings, back one reward and then use the add-ons to select additional items. For example, back for the first paperback (issues 1-6), then add on the second paperback (7-12) and the third one (Night Streets 1-6). While you aren’t permitted to do multiple backings, you can add add-ons to your backing later.

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RIP Greg Bear

Five-time Nebula winner Greg Bear died November 19, a week after heart surgery from which he never awoke. A CT scan showed stroke damage was caused to many parts of the brain by clots that had been hiding in a false lumen of the anterior artery to the brain ever since an earlier surgery eight years ago. After a review of the possible outcomes by the medical team, and following the wishes expressed in his advance directive, Bear was taken off life support and died two hours later.

He wasn’t a major talent or a SF icon, but he was a legitimate author who represented the last gasp of mainstream science fiction being founded in actual science. I didn’t know him, and I didn’t particularly like the three or four books of his that I read, but his passing is indicative of an era that is observably in the process of ending.

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Castalia Library Clarification

Contra my previous post on the subject, the November-December book, #19 in the Castalia Library subscription, is THE LAWDOG FILES by Lawdog. This is actually two books in one, because it contains both THE LAWDOG FILES and THE LAWDOG FILES: AFRICAN ADVENTURES. And consequently, this means THE ARTS OF WAR, featuring an introduction by Alex Macris, will be the January-February book, #20 in the subscription.

I’m sorry for the confusion, but somehow I forgot that we’ve already printed the interiors of LAWDOG and so we can get it shipped sooner than we can ship THE ARTS. The site store has already been updated accordingly. But if, for whatever reason, you a) subscribed in the week between November 5 and November 12, and b) do not want LAWDOG, please email me and let me know which of the previously released books you would like instead.

Also, if you’re on Gab, please note that we’ve established a Library account there which you can follow for regular updates and announcements.

A critter well known to us in our town twisted off one evening and decided to add Attempted Murder to his curriculum vitae by hitting his lady du jour in the head a couple of times with a hatchet. Not one to leave a job half done, he dragged her out to the lake, wired her up to a cinderblock, and shoved her off into the water. Wonder of wonders, she survived. Even bigger wonder, she came into town and filed charges on her homicidal boyfriend. I had been out on a date and wandered back into town about the time that the search was really getting wound up. I’d no sooner walked through the door of the office when the sheriff hit me with three conflicting orders on where to go, one of which would require asbestos underoos. I decided that going back home to change out of my date clothes would be counterproductive, so I was digging through my locker trying to find my spare set of armor when the call came in. One of our local merchants had spotted the critter climbing in the back window of an abandoned building used for storage. Since the other two deputies were on the far side of the county, the sheriff made a posse of me and a luckless Highway Patrol Trooper who had come in for a coffee refill, and we went tear-arsing off to Downtown Bugscuffle. The abandoned building in question had, at one time, been a fairly swanky department store positioned on the prize end of Main Street. However, in the intervening hundred years or so, the entire block had fallen into disuse and disrepair, leaving the once-grand old building standing all alone, used only for storing various and sundry stuff that needed storing by the locals.

For those of you who don’t know how to search a large building with only three people, it’s really quite simple. One officer, whom we’ll call “the sheriff,” stands on one corner watching the front of the building and the west side. The second officer, or “random DPS trooper,” stands at the opposite corner of the building, watching the back of the building and the east side. The third officer, being the bravest and most handsome of the three, goes inside with the idea of flushing the critter out a window where he can be spotted by one of the other two and, hopefully, arrested.

Three guesses who got to go inside, and the first two don’t count. Let me tell you, that place was darker than the Earl of Hell’s waistcoat and stacked floor-to-ceiling with shelves. On those shelves were the collected knick-knacks of 20 years of Main Street stores. And not a lightbulb anywhere.

There I was, with a snubbie .357, a five-cell Maglight, and a Handi-Talkie, and only two hands. About the fourth time I tried to answer the sheriff’s “Have you got him yet?” radio call while trying to cover a suspicious patch of darkness with the .357 and juggling the Mag-Lite, I stopped in the feeble light of the moon shining down through a hole in the ceiling to make a few adjustments.

I was occupied with trying to figure out which I needed more, the Mag-lite or the Handi-talkie, when the SOB decided to jump me. I’m here to tell you, folks, things went rodeo from there. He lunged out of a shadow and tried to grab for my throat, and me, reacting totally out of instinct, I whacked him a good one across the forehead with the Maglight.

Bulb, batteries, and assorted electronic parts arced gracefully into the darkness. The critter took one step back and jumped at me again.

Things were not looking good in Dogville.

I held the snubbie back with my right hand, trying to keep it away from the critter’s grasp, and I tried to stiff-arm him away with my left when I stepped onto what was later found to be a D-cell battery from my Maglight.

Down I went. And the alleged aspiring axe murderer landed on top of me. Hoo boy. The gloves really came off then. We rolled around on the cold cement. I was hitting him in the head with the butt of my revolver and giving him elbow smashes to the jaw and brachial plexus, knee strikes, you name it, the whole enchilada. And he kept grabbing at my throat.

Finally, we rolled into a patch of moonlight, and I saw the bastard had a knife!

Folks, I hate knives. No, I really hate knives. He was on top of me, and he had to weigh three-hundred pounds, and that damn knife was coming down at me in slow motion at just about the same time the barrel of my snubbie rammed up under his chin.

I squeezed off two rounds.

The .357 magnum is a powerful round. Two of them, fired in quick succession, sufficed to blow the electronic brains and assorted stuffing of the Animatronic Life-Like Talking Santa Claus that formerly belonged to the local Thriftway halfway to Dodge City.

You don’t want to know what a couple of .357 rounds will do to hydraulics.

sigh

“The Good Shoot”, THE LAWDOG FILES, Castalia Library #19

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The Arts of War

The November-December January-February book for the Castalia Library subscription is THE ARTS OF WAR, featuring an introduction by Alexander Macris, a game designer who attended West Point. And yes, it will contain Sun Tzu, but more importantly, it will include works of major military history significance with which you are almost certainly unfamiliar, such as Frontinus, Vegetius, Maurice, and others.

As our ace proofreader noted after completing his read-through and cleanup of Sextus Frontinus:

It really bothers me that I was never taught works like this. I read Sun Tzu, Mushashi, and other Asians on the art of war. But Frontinus and these others are our heritage, and I never even heard of them until now, and that’s wrong. Think about how cool history class would have been if we had read even snippets of these books.

Arts of Dark and Light readers may wish to note that it is the works of Frontinus to which Marcus Valerius repeatedly refers throughout the series. In my opinion, THE ARTS OF WAR is about as close to a must-read as the Castalia Library is ever likely to feature, and I highly recommend subscribing to the Library if you have not already done so.

In other Library-related news:

  • The November-December subscription book is THE LAWDOG FILES.
  • The Annual Castalia Library subscription now includes a complimentary edition of DISCOURSES by Machiavelli. Current subscribers who renew their subscription may substitute the Library edition of their choice so long as it is in stock. Subscribers who wish to pay by wire transfer instead of credit card should email me directly for payment information.
  • The Annual Libraria Castalia subscription now includes a copy of THE DIVINE COMEDY by Dante. Current subscribers who renew or upgrade their subscription may substitute the Libraria/Library edition of their choice so long as it is in stock. Subscribers who wish to pay by wire transfer instead of credit card should email me directly for payment information.
  • The next books scheduled to ship are a) Vols. 1-6 of the leather Castalia Library Junior Classics later this month and b) A THRONE OF BONES Vols I and II on December 16. There are still 23 Junior Classic sets available.
  • We are currently in communication with a major European author concerning the production of a leather-bound line of his works. This may or may not be done under the Castalia Library imprint.
  • A major step forward concerning the Swiss bindery was completed yesterday, as we received an important approval from the relevant government authority.
  • The MIDNIGHT’S WAR crowdfund will include a leatherbound edition of the omnibus.
  • We are currently focused on getting all four books of the INCERTO set by NN Taleb into production.

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