Tag: books

The following is an excerpt from my new book, Collected Columns Vol. II: Crisis & Conceit, 2006-2009. It is 630 pages and retails for $6.99.

Who’s really riding the weaker horse?
July 31, 2006

When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse.
—Osama bin Ladin

In examining the events of the past five years, it is increasingly apparent that Western leaders and commentators alike have fundamentally misconceived the relative positions of the primary parties in this third great wave of Islamic expansion. While there are nearly as many grand strategic recommendations floating around the Internet as there are editorialists, it is intriguing to note that virtually none of the Western analysts have grasped the basic reality that from the perspective from which a clash of civilizations must be considered, it is the West that is the weak horse.

The overwheening confidence which so often colors statements from men such as bin Laden and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad always rings strange in Western ears. It stands so powerfully at variance with what we know of Western wealth, technology and military advantages that it seems to be indicative of false bravado at best, at worst, clinical insanity. The fact that this sort of thing sounds exactly like Baghdad Bob’s surreal rantings only makes it that much more difficult for anyone to take it seriously.

And yet, history is rife with examples wherein a wealthy or more technogically advanced society is defeated by its lesser rival. Despite its lack of a navy, the intrepid Romans defeated Carthage on both land and sea, while the technical superiority of its machine guns, tanks, submarines, rockets and airplanes were not enough to allow the Germans to overcome the allies in World War II. The knights of Western Europe lost numerous battles and a number of wars to Mongols, Magyars, Turks and Saracens even though none of their enemies could stand before an armored cavalry charge.

Neocon ravings notwithstanding, national will, (or more accurately, cultural will), is not the issue at hand here. The majority of Americans are largely indifferent to the Bush administration’s Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism while an ovewhelming majority of the rest of the West is openly against it. But most Muslims are similarly indifferent to this third round in the great clash of civilizations too. An anecdote from William Manchester’s biography of Winston Churchill is most informative in this regard:

During the early 1950s, when this writer was living in Dehli as a foreign correspondent, social scientists began a comprehensive poll of Indian villages to determine how many natives knew British rule had ended in 1947. The survey was aborted when it was discovered that a majority didn’t know the British had even arrived.

And while it might be tempting to dismiss those Indians as ignorant illiterates, it might be illuminating to ask your neighbor if he knows the name of his congressman, his state representative or his city councilman.

Christendom has twice previously endured periods of Islamic expansion and even managed to roll back Islamic gains with the Reconquista, and, more temporarily, during the Crusades. But that was when the Christian West saw Islam as an enemy and bitterly contested it on every side. Now, a secular West no longer sees itself as a player in the great game, but as a referee, and views Islam as being merely one of the various contestants.

The unavoidable challenge is this. In the same way that atheism provides no moral basis for an individual to resist evil, secular, religious-neutral government provides no practical foundation for opposing Islamic expansion. If Congress funds no mosques, neither can it prevent them from being constructed by militant Saudi Wahhabists. If the Supreme Court requires no one to pray towards Mecca, neither does it allow the banning of immigrants on the basis of a religious adherence to jihad. The range of options accessible to the leaders of the West are formidable; they are also irrelevant.

Bin Laden’s statement about horses can perhaps be best understood thusly: Unlike its Christian predecessor, the secular West is structurally incapable of resisting an Islamic expansion due to its demographic disadvantages and philosophical weaknesses. If this is an accurate characterization, one can only conclude, unfortunately, that bin Laden’s statement is logically, historically and psychologically sound. Certainly the actions of the West’s leaders, especially those of the Bush administration, have done nothing to disprove the assertion, the establishment of a modern-day Kingdom of Acre in Iraq notwithstanding.

None of this means that Islam cannot be turned back a third time; it does, however, suggest that the concept of Western secularism is doomed to failure one way or another. Secularism does not inspire, it enervates. The spirit which led to the sapping of British spirit and the decline of the Raj has been at work in America for decades, it should surprise no one that the lion’s heir is following the mighty tracks of its predecessor.

The impotence of secularism is only the first of several realities that must be recognized if the West is to survive its third test of character. Here are some other important verities:

• Democracy does not reduce radicalism or inhibit religion.
• Exposure to Western culture does not eliminate radicalism. Even complete immersion in it does not guarantee its elimination.
• Western shock and awe cannot impose permanant defeat upon an Eastern culture of retreat and regroup.
• Technological proliferation is inevitable. This includes nuclear weapons.
• Internal dissension, not external force, ends offensive expansion.

The West turned back the forces of an expansionary Islam twice before. Those hoping to see it turned back a third time would be wise to examine precisely how it was accomplished on the previous occasions.

Gilberic Parzival Moth is a strange and lonely boy who has grown up without a father, raised by a single mother who moves from town to town in fear of something she will not name. His only friends are animals, with whom he has always been able to speak. But when he awakens one night at the Thirteenth Hour, and sees for the first time the cruel reality of the secret rule of Elf over Man, he begins to learn about his true heritage, the heritage of Twilight.


And when his mother finally tells him the terrible truth of her past, he must choose whether to continue running with her in fear, or learning how to fight against ancient powers that are ageless, soulless, and ultimately damned. THE GREEN KNIGHT’S SQUIRE, the first volume of MOTH & COBWEB, is an astonishing new series about magical worlds of Day, Night, and Twilight by John C. Wright and consists of three books:

• Book One: Swan Knight’s Son
• Book Two: Feast of the Elfs
• Book Three: Swan Knight’s Sword

John C. Wright is one of the living grandmasters of science fiction and the author of THE GOLDEN AGE, AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND, and IRON CHAMBER OF MEMORY, to name just three of his exceptional books. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award, for the Hugo Award, and his novel SOMEWHITHER won the 2016 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel at Dragoncon.

But Malwyn has been driving the production elves hard, which is why we’re also pleased to announce a new ebook as well, namely, the second volume of my collected columns, which is entitled CRISIS & CONCEIT, 2006-2009.

Three-time nationally syndicated columnist Vox Day has been one of the most astute observers of the American political scene since the turn of the century. Known for successfully predicting the financial crisis of 2008 as well as the election of U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016, the iconoclastic writer’s work appeared regularly around the country in newspapers such as the Atlanta Journal/Constitution, the Boston Globe, the San Jose Mercury News, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.


Beginning in 2001, Vox Day wrote more than 500 columns for WorldNetDaily and Universal Press Syndicate. CRISIS & CONCEIT, 2006-2009 is a collection of the columns published between the years 2006 and 2009, and addresses a wide variety of subjects, from economics and the financial crisis of 2008 to atheism and the history of war.



It is available at the Castalia House bookstore as well as from Amazon.

In the post-Civil War West, the railroads are expanding, the big money men are moving in, and the politicians they are buying make it difficult for a man to stand alone on his own. So, Walt Ames moves his wife, his home and his business from Denver to Pueblo. The railroads are bringing new opportunities to Colorado Territory, and he’s going to take full advantage of them.

Ambushed on their way south, Walt and his men uncover a web of corruption and crime to rival anything in the big city. And rough justice, Western-style, sparks a private war between Walt and some of the most dangerous killers he’s ever encountered, a deadly war in which neither friends nor family are spared. Across the mountains and valleys of the southern Rocky Mountains, Walt and his men hunt for the ruthless man at the center of the web. Retribution won’t be long delayed… and it cannot be denied.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN RETRIBUTION is the second book in The Ames Archives, the Classic Western series that began with BRINGS THE LIGHTNING. Author Peter Grant is a military veteran, a retired pastor, and the author of The Maxwell Saga and The Laredo Trilogy. Now in paperback for $12.99.

From the reviews:

• Great reading even if you don’t regularly read Westerns…. As with Brings the Lightning, the technical details of rugged living, especially regarding firearms, make the novel that much more immersive. Don’t give this one a miss!
• The second western by Peter Grant, it’s IMHO better than the first. I haven’t read many westerns since Louis L’Amour passed on, and none that were worth my time until these came along.
• A nice continuation of a great western saga. Mr. Grant does his research and it shows in his writing. love the storyline, character development and action scenes.
• This is the second of Peter Grant’s western series “The Ames Archives” and it’s fantastic. I never thought I’d like westerns, but this is a great book on grit and frontier justice. Grant takes pains to accurately portray life in that era using many real locations and historical events as backdrops to the story.
• Grant has crafted another excellent throwback to the golden era of western novels. But it’s more than a throwback, really. The two books so far in his Walt Ames series really stand on their own as a solid reads, any way you want to measure them today. What really stands out at the forefront of this novel (and its predecessor) is how well researched it is. Grant took painstaking measures to make sure that all of the details, from the geography to the firearms, are completely accurate for the era. And the amount of detail provided is excellent. He doesn’t overwhelm us with historical details or exposition that overly explains things, but there’s plenty of detail to bring the world to life.

From Hugo Award finalist David VanDyke and million-selling science-fiction legend B.V. Larson comes Book 2 in the epic military space opera adventure saga, Galactic Liberation. Commodore Straker’s rebellion grows in strength–but his enemies are growing even faster. Faced with a dozen rebel planets in their territory, the Mutuality finally takes notice of the upstart known as the Liberator, and they gather a vast fleet to crush him.

Preparing for a titanic interstellar battle, it’s clear Straker has no chance. His tiny enclave of free planets can’t survive the weight of a thousand worlds. His own officers realize this, and some of them begin to turn against him…

In a desperate attempt to halt their inevitable destruction, Straker and his team set out to capture the largest ship ever built. The monstrous vessel is well-defended and contains secrets no one suspects. Unleashing its power might turn the tide of the war–but it may also doom humanity.

BATTLESHIP INDOMITABLE is the second book in the Galactic Liberation series. The series starts with Book 1, STARSHIP LIBERATOR.

From the reviews:

• This second book picks up shortly after the first one (and is superior to it). While the first book was focused on mechsuit and ground combat, this second entry in the series returns to what VanDyke is extremely talented at: realistic space combat between huge armadas, backed up questions about political and philosophical superiority. Overall the pacing is better than the first, and we get to see more of Straker’s naiveté with field command come to the fore – meanwhile the Galactic Liberation continues on in wonderful glory with some pretty impressive weaponry and logical space battles that conform to real-world physics. 
• Straker and his team are faced with overwhelming odds. To combat this situation his decides to capture the largest ship ever built….it also has a weapon of unimaginable power……not to mention a surprise of its own! I very much recommend this book.
• BV Larson is one of my favorite authors. Great science fiction read that keeps you entertained with page turning suspense. Keep up the good work.

I thought this one was even better than the first one myself. Good, inventive space opera. Now available from Castalia House in both hardcover and paperback editions.