Literary Comfort Food for a Fed Up Citizenry ...

How to sell books. That's the question, isn't it, at least for those of us who've chosen to commit stories to print in the hope that another will pay for the pleasure of reading them.

I've always marched to the beat of my own drummer when it came to the stories that I've chosen to tell. I've written two pretty straightforward novels of libertarian political suspense (The Third Revolution and Middle America), a soft sci-fi/adventure about a young girl and her runaway pets (Little Birdies!), a sort of speculative political thriller about a new alcohol prohibition and a group of neighborhood friends who decide to go another way on the matter (The Last Bartender), a soft sci-fi, archaeologically-themed action/suspense/political farce (The Cenacle Scroll) involving the political and religious chaos that follows the unexpected appearance of the (assumed) Holy Grail in the US, and a soft sci-fi mystery/adventure (Aqua Vitae) about a wildlife biologist who accepts a too-good-to-be-true job and ends up having to unpack several puzzling ecological mysteries before finding herself targeted by the government agency whose failed experiments have gone native.

This eclectic portfolio has been, as you might guess, marketing suicide. You don't need an MBA to see that the smart move here would be to pick a lane (i.e. a literary genre), and stick to it. Become the political thriller guy, the sci-fi/adventure guy, the dystopian future guy, the detective/crime procedural guy, the medical mystery guy, the vampire/zombie/time travel guy. Pick a lane!

Targeted advertising is easier if you pick a lane. Building a unified reader base is easier if you pick a lane. Finding a traditional agent/publisher is easier if you pick a lane. Using an outside marketing service is easier if you just pick a damn lane!

The truth is that I have picked my lane, though I've chosen to go with theme, rather than the more easily marketed concept of genre. If I may:

Ben Kane finds that he bit off more than he could chew when he takes over the Governor's office in Montana, and finds himself arrayed against the might of the US federal government, but is simply unable to back away from his principles.  

Young Mandy Grant finds it impossible to accept the death sentence demanded by a nervous public and their government representatives for her runaway pets, and plots their rescue.  

In the aftermath of a newly imposed prohibition on the production and sale of alcohol,
Justin Gardiner and his friends just want a damn beer, and they're prepared to do what they have to do to get one.

Graduate student Jennifer Goodwyn makes one ill-considered decision regarding an ancient relic and finds herself swept up in a religious and political maelstrom of her own making. It needs to be fixed, and she needs to do so without getting caught, and without anyone else getting hurt in the process.

After a string of career setbacks, wildlife biologist Jackie Bannon takes a leap of  faith, unintentionally stirs up a mystery that was better left untouched, and needs to extract herself and her friends from a sudden and dangerous game of "kill the messenger."

All of my protagonists want the usual things out of life, and take seemingly rational steps to reach those goals, modest or otherwise. Other people, more organized people (say, local, state or federal government agencies, for example) sometimes take exception to individual needs, wants or circumstances, and do what they can to thwart individual action. Some individuals (say, the ones I choose to write about) feel they have no choice but to follow their conscience and do what they have to do to get where they need to get, regardless of the forces brought against them.

So if you don't mind veering out of your literary comfort zone just a bit, I believe you'll find that at the heart, my stories have what you're looking for: regular people, who for whatever reason, suddenly find themselves up against it and, along a few close friends, choose principle over authority.

As always, thanks for your support...

The Blackfoot Confederacy and their buffalo...

It's always amazed me how statist environmental bureaucracies are more than willing to all but halt the forward movement of civilization to protect an obscure sub-species of an amphibian or fish found in a puddle in some backwater strip mall development, but when it comes time to step up and make a positive difference across potentially hundreds of thousands of square miles of the Great Plains, offer nothing but red tape and legal barriers to those seeking to reestablish wild bison herds.

Here's a short video illuminating the relationship that the Blackfeet have with the buffalo, along with a little history of how the Wildlife Conservation Society (the Bronx Zoo folks) reintroduced the practically extinct pure bison lineage back into the wild.



I covered most of this territory in my first two books, The Third Revolution and Middle America. They remain fine, still-relevant liberty tales, and prominently feature the very spiritual relationships between the Blackfeet and the bison. Check them out to see what can be done when those Washington-based statist environmental bureaucracies finally get pushed out of the way.

The Third Revolution on the NSA...

Color me shocked that anyone thinks that the NSA scandal is a scandal. I thought that spying on domestic and worldwide electronic communications is what they were paid to do. And that bullying private sector corporations into giving up said data is what governments were paid to do.

Way back in 2004, in The Third Revolution,  I reflected that outlook through the literary lens of Ms. Kim Lange, then special assistant and confidant of Montana Governor Ben Kane:

Joe took a sip of his draft and turned to Kim. “So are you expecting a late night out with the Billings' brass?”

“No, not at all. The mayor is a busy man. Ben just wants me to take his temperature on the federal stuff.”

“Wouldn’t a phone call have been quicker?”

“The National Security Agency monitors all calls made in the country—in the world, for that matter. They have for years. But in the last three years or so they’ve actually installed the computing power they need to be able to process and screen the millions of calls they capture every day. Ben wants people to be able to speak freely to him without risking the chance the conversation is going to show up on some NSA junior analyst’s radar screen.”

 I'm quite sure I wasn't the only one who knew this. At any rate, for a more in-depth look at my visionary grasp of the obvious, please pick up your own copy of The Third Revolution to discover more of my Nostradamus-like insights into the evolution of the U.S. political landscape. 

When everything is a crime, everyone is a suspect.

Sooner or later...

Sooner or later, one of these movements is going to succeed, and then, I believe, all hell will break loose:

Representatives of 10 rural Colorado counties met Monday in the sleepy plains town of Akron, about a half an hour from the Kansas border, to advance a plan that has been both hailed and ridiculed in recent weeks: A bid to split from Colorado and form the country’s 51^st state.

As you might figure, this is yet another urban/rural, liberal/conservative split boiling over, but this time the minority (conservatives) are opting for the more libertarian solution: you live the way you want to live, and we'll live the way we want.

I don't know if this particular movement will work out; it's worth noting that no attempt at state partitioning has been successful since the creation of West Virginia in 1863. But the legislative mechanisms remain, and when a large enough, relatively cohesive group of people feel that their culture, their livelihoods and their liberty are being adversely impacted by a group of perceived "outsiders," a bit of push-back is to be expected. Since they feel (for apparently good reason) that their traditional political/legislative avenues have been cut off, they're moving ahead with the only solution remaining: leaving.

Sooner or later, it's going to work, and then everyone is going to want to get in on it...

 Read the entire article here: Rebellious Colorado counties move forward with plans to secede

Slowly but surely...

My first novel, The Third Revolution, was set in 2013.  While the fictional tale has yet to unfold in its entirety, it does seem to be moving along, inch by inch, toward the confrontation imagined in the book. From the AP:

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Imagine the scenario: A federal agent attempts to arrest someone for illegally selling a machine gun. Instead, the federal agent is arrested - charged in a state court with the crime of enforcing federal gun laws...

An Associated Press analysis found that about four-fifths of the states now have enacted local laws that directly reject or ignore federal laws on marijuana use, gun control, health insurance requirements and identification standards for driver's licenses. The recent trend began in Democratic leaning California with a 1996 medical marijuana law and has proliferated lately in Republican strongholds like Kansas, where Gov. Sam Brownback this spring became the first to sign a measure threatening felony charges against federal agents who enforce certain firearms laws in his state...

And Montana is in the thick of it:

After Montana passed a 2009 law declaring that federal firearms regulations don't apply to guns made and kept in that state, eight other states have enacted similar laws. Gun activist Gary Marbut said he crafted the Montana measure as a foundation for a legal challenge to the federal power to regulate interstate commerce under the U.S. Constitution. His lawsuit was dismissed by a trial judge but is now pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...

A new Kansas law makes it a felony for a federal agent to attempt to enforce laws on guns made and owned in Kansas. A similar Wyoming law, passed in 2010, made it a misdemeanor. The Missouri bill also would declare it a misdemeanor crime but would apply more broadly to all federal gun laws and regulations - past, present, or future - that "infringe on the people's right to keep and bear arms.

Read the entire article here:  Federal Nullification Efforts Mounting in States. Where it ends, nobody knows, but I do know what Ben Kane would do...

A New Look for an Old Friend...

The Third Revolution - New Cover!

Since it was first published in 2004, the trusty buffalo on the cover of my first novel, The Third Revolution, has been confounding fan and foe alike:

"Why is it there?"
"Is it a book about buffalo?"
"Is it some sort of environmental screed?"
"Is it about the politics of bison management?"
"Patriotic buffalo?"

"Why is it there?!!!"

Those of you who've pushed past the issue and actually read the book know that it's a tale about freedom and liberty, a story that cuts to the core of why groups of individuals decide to form governments in the first place. There are bison (lots of 'em!) featured in the plot, but it's not about them. They just live there...

The argument could (easily) be made that they serve a metaphorical presence in the story, but metaphors don't make very compelling visual hooks when you're competing in a crowded book market, where most consumers do indeed judge a book by its cover. Hence the change.

For now you'll see the new cover on the Kindle edition only; changing the cover on the print edition is a big production and hardly seems worth it given the rising primacy of ebooks. As always, thanks for your support, and your feedback is always welcome.  

The original cover - Still gracing the print edition

Free Kindle Reading Apps...

I assume everyone is aware of these free applications, but it doesn't hurt to spread the word. All six of my books are available as Kindle ebooks, and there's no need to shell out the bucks for a Kindle device if you don't need to. I download and read Kindle books on my old Windows XP Dell laptop, and it works just fine. Reading apps are available for pretty much every imaginable device (smartphones, tablets, computers) and across a broad selection of operating systems.

You can download the apps here: Free Kindle Reading Apps. And please consider my reasonably priced and entertaining offerings to get your Kindle collection started: Books by Anthony F. Lewis.

Sneak Peek at Manifest Destiny...

I'm working on Manifest Destiny, my third "Ben Kane" novel. I thought I'd toss his fans a bone, pull back the curtain a bit and give you a peek at how things were shaping up.

In this scene Governor Kane places a call to the CEO of Phillip Morris to discuss an idea he's been kicking around. All of the major tobacco companies have left the United States and have relocated to the Middle American states in order to avoid the usurious taxes, the never-ending legal settlements and the ever-growing list of burdensome regulations:

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ben spoke with Calderone for a while longer, working their way through the presumptive military chess game that they were facing. When the meeting ended, Ben spent some time considering his next move. He had a long list of people he needed to consult with—legislative leaders, cabinet administrators within his administration, the other governors and Kim, of course. But in the end, as with all difficult calls, any decision would be his to make. He picked up the phone and called Phillip Morris; moments later he was on the line with Jeffrey Johnson, the Chairman and CEO.

“Governor,” Johnson said. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Ben allowed about thirty seconds for small talk before asking his first question. “How many smokers are there in the U.S.?”

“The number’s been holding pretty steady at about twenty-percent of the population, call it 61 million. That’s including our free states, so figure 60 million outside of our borders.”

“That’s a lot of people.”

“The industry’s been demonized for so long most people—smokers included—never give much thought to how many of them there are out there. That number has dropped considerably over the years as a percentage of overall population, but the actual number of smokers hasn’t changed as much as you might think. Back in 1960, about 40-percent of the population smoked. But the population back then was only, say, 180 million, so there were 72 million smokers, verses the 61 million today. But that number is still roughly equivalent to the combined populations of California, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.”

“I never thought of it that way,” Ben said. “You would think that they’d have more political clout with those kinds of numbers. Why do they let themselves get pushed around by the health Nazis the way they’ve been? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of smokers pushing back against the regulations, restrictions and taxes aimed at them.”

“Guilt, I imagine. They’ve got grotesque, graphic warnings on each and every pack directed at them, and television and print ad campaigns have been haranguing them at every turn, for decades. And keep in mind that most of those regulations, restrictions and taxes were never proposed as being against smokers, they were always pitched as being for the benefit of non-smokers. Add that to constant reminders about how smokers are a burden to the health care system, and are accused of killing their children and neighbors with secondhand smoke, and you make it difficult for the average smoker to stand up in his or her own defense without looking like a selfish, anti-social, self-destructive serial killer.”

“So everyone just swallows their guilt, pays their tobacco taxes, and smokes their cigarettes in exile, out in the snow or under a narrow awning in the rain.”

“Welcome to my world.”

“I was always surprised that the industry didn’t push back harder against the state and federal government, especially with those sorts of numbers behind you.”

“The truth is they never really bit into our income much, so we settled for a seat at the table whenever they were ready to cook up a new batch of regulations. The taxes and fines were meaningless—they just got passed on to the customers, so they never affected our bottom line. The sad reality was that the industry long ago got into bed with the government and got comfortable with it. When I took the helm three years ago, I started looking west to what you folks were doing and thought: why not us? Then the new administration took office and started making noises about extending the Tobacco Agreement beyond its original terms. At that point I started talking to my counterparts in the other companies and—you know the rest. Here we are.”

“So how’s business? Are you able to move your product into the states without too much of a problem?”

“We’re stumbling along. We fly the product up through Canada and then to warehouse distribution centers either in Mexico or the Bahamas. We’ve been given a “special dispensation” from the new black market restrictions—they can’t afford to give up the sales taxes they collect on cigarettes. Rumor has it they’re going to increase the federal tobacco tax to try to fill the gap left by our missing settlement and income tax payments. They’re cracking down like crazy on a whole array of other black market products—retailers are being heavily fined and even threatened with felony convictions if they’re caught with anything originating out of the free state region.”

“I know. It’s really getting ugly out there. So how come you’re warehousing the product outside the U.S. if they’ve given you a green light to do business there?”

“We don’t trust the administration; it’s as simple as that. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to wake up one morning to a phone call telling me that the government had seized our warehouses for one fabricated reason or another. Remember, we’re the devil incarnate to begin with, and they honestly feel that they were robbed when we left the states to come work here. So we sell the product to wholesale distributors in the states, deliver only what’s been paid in advance and let them worry about it. It’s the same way we operate with third world military juntas. We keep our assets out of their reach and essentially just dump the product on the beach and let them do what they want with it.”

“This is a really sad conversation, isn’t it?”

“You bet. The tobacco industry was here before the founding of the country. It breaks my heart to see what’s happening—both to the industry and to the country. Thank God for you, Governor.”

“Thanks, but I wasn’t fishing for the compliment. Let me ask you something—how big a hit would you take if you suspended all cigarette shipments to the U.S. market? Just cut ‘em off, out of the blue.”

“Believe it or not, we’ve considered it. I think I told you the first time we met that we could sell everything we produce here overseas. Financially, we’d come out ahead, because the American made products are so popular we can position them as premium brands and price them accordingly. Why do you ask?”

“You might recall that during my televised address I promised everybody that, one way or another, I’d turn this embargo back on Washington. I can’t think of any one better way of doing that then cutting off tens of millions of smokers cold turkey. I really hate to drag Joe Six Pack into this mess, but it’s time everyone had a little skin in the game. Plus it allows me to piss off 60 million or so already maltreated second-class citizens and dump them on Washington’s doorstep. I have to tell you, the idea has some appeal to me.”

“Let me kick it around a little, talk to a few people. If we were to stay out of the market for too long it would probably cost us fifty-percent or more of our customer base as people who wanted to quit took advantage of the situation and gave up the habit for good. But we might be able to arrange some manufacturing delays or product recalls or something along those lines that would result in nationwide product shortages for a few weeks or a month or so. Would that do?”

“I’m glad I don’t smoke anymore.”

Holy Crap, The Third Revolution is coming true...

I've been saying for a while now that my first novel, The Third Revolution (first published in 2004), was starting to read more like political history than political fiction. Check this out:

Will Montana Voters Nullify the Mandate?

HELENA, Mont. – On Nov. 6, Montana residents will exercise their sovereign right and decide on health care freedom.
LR-122 would prohibit the state and federal governments from requiring any Montana citizen to purchase health insurance, or from “imposing any penalty, tax, fee or fine on those who do not purchase health insurance.”

 Same state, same methodology (legislative action to nullify offensive legislation) as my book envisioned. All we need is libertarian Governor Ben Kane to show up to sign the bill into law. At this rate, it just might happen...

Also freaky ... The Third Revolution was set in the "near future," in the year 2013, right after a Presidential election.

Read the entire article here: Will Montana Voters Nullify the Mandate? 
And of course, The Third Revolution is still available in both softcover and Kindle editions. Excerpts and reviews here.

Update: It's spreading:  Legislators in 3 States Set to Introduce ObamaCare Nullification Bills

Update (Nov. 8, 2012): Some post-election nullification victories--> Nullification Victories!

American Bison... "The Return"

If you follow my Twitter feed, you're aware that I'm fairly obsessed with the return of bison to the Great Plains. The legal kerfuffle kicked up over the recent high-profile move of a herd of genetically pure bison from Yellowstone National Park to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation even managed to catch the attention of the NY Times:

"Sioux and Assiniboine tribe members wailed a welcome song last month as around 60 bison from Yellowstone National Park stormed onto a prairie pasture that had not felt a bison’s hoof for almost 140 years.

 That historic homecoming came just 11 days after 71 pureblood bison, descended from one of Montana’s last wild herds, were released nearby onto untilled grassland owned by a charity with a vision of building a haven for prairie wildlife. Some hunters and conservationists are now calling for bison to be reintroduced to a million-acre wildlife refuge spanning this remote region".

My interest in the subject started with research that I did for my first two books, The Third Revolution and its sequel, Middle America. Both were "liberty" stories, and I found that including the return of the bison to the Montana grasslands not only added color to the story, but nicely amplified the theme.

Here's a recently produced video documenting the reintroduction of the bison to the Fort Peck Reservation:



Read the entire Times article here: As Bison Return to Prairie, Some Rejoice, Others Worry

And while you're at it, please consider reading The Third Revolution and Middle America as well...

Celebrity Norton Commando!

Actor Keanu Reeves stages a getaway on his vintage Norton Commando. I'd put a little more commitment into that kickstart, but getting a cold Norton to start after only three kicks is nothing to sneeze at...



TMZ has the complete story here: Keanu Reeves - Scrape with the Law

"He's not a circus act." Family resists temptation to turn white buffalo into a sideshow attraction...

I saw this coming:

"Little Soldier says he's getting a lot of offers to take Lightning Medicine Cloud on the road to stock shows and the like. But, for now, he and his wife have decided it's best for the calf to stay home for scheduled events and by-appointment group outings.

The Little Soldiers have been determined that the animal not become a tourist attraction but rather a pilgrimage of sorts and a celebration of Indian culture. They say Lightning Medicine Cloud's birth is a blessing.

"It's been an honor and a privilege to share our honor and privilege with everybody else. Letting everybody see him," said Little Soldier."

Lone Star Adventure: Lakota Ranch: MyFoxDFW.com

 I anticipated such crass commercial pressure in my novel Middle America (sequel to The Third Revolution).  Here's an except on the subject from Middle America:

“Tommy, we heard about the white buffalo. That’s quite a big deal up in your neck of the woods, no?”

Running Wolf nodded. “Big Smoke, we call him. About two months old now. Doing well, very healthy. He’s not an albino; he’s got blue eyes, not pink. That’s good, albinos have many health problems.”

“Good for business, I would think,” Joe said.

“Yeah, that’s what our white partners say,” Running Wolf agreed, somewhat reluctantly. “It’s much more than that for us, though.” He sat back and drained his glass. Joe caught the bartender’s eye and pointed to the chief’s glass.

“Thanks,” Running Wolf said, as a fresh, frosty glass quickly appeared in front of him. “The white buffalo is a sacred symbol to many of the tribal nations. Each tribe has their own story, but they all involve the appearance of a beautiful woman, dressed in white, who presents the tribe with a pipe, or a parchment inscribed with tribal law, and instructs the people in the ways of prayer, and in the ways of nature, and of survival. When the woman leaves the people, she turns into a white buffalo.”

“So the birth of a white buffalo signals her return?” Ben asked.

“That’s right,” Running Wolf said. “The birth is a messenger of creation, a symbol of rebirth for the Native American community. Some say it means we’re on the verge of a cultural awakening; for others, especially in troubled times, it symbolizes the coming together of humanity into a spiritual unity. Unfortunately, for our white partners, it represents a one-in-ten million dollar marketing opportunity.”

“It doesn’t sound like something a true believer would be looking to cash in on,” Ben said.

“For us it would be like Christians charging admission to witness the Second Coming of Christ.”

“You gotta have T-shirts at least, right? You know, ‘I Saw the White Buffalo’ and stuff like that?” Joe said, half joking.

“Sure, why not.” Running Wolf shrugged and took another sip of beer. “I’m sure somebody will be selling T-shirts at the Second Coming, right?

“The crowds have already started,” he continued. “The word spread quickly among the tribal nations. That we don’t mind. It’s the television and radio commercials, all that. They’ve already signed some kind of contract with the Nature Channel. If it were up to them they’d have him appearing in a nightclub at one of the big casinos, or at least keep him penned up in one spot so he’d be easy for the general public to get to. It’s important to us that Big Smoke is allowed to live free, to find his place with the rest of the herd. He’s not a circus act.”

“How do you keep track of him out there? Though I suppose spotting a white buffalo in a sea of black ones can’t be all that tough,” Joe asked and answered his own question.

“We keep a close eye on him, to let the visitors know where he is, but mostly to protect him from predators. Buffalo calves are born with protective coloration … sort of a reddish-gold that’s difficult for the wolves and big cats to see. A white calf stands out like a neon dinner sign.”

“Well … let’s hope the legends are right, Chief,” Ben said. “Let’s hope you’re right and something good happens.” Ben raised his glass and the other two joined him in a toast.

Much more on the birth of Lightning Medicine Cloud here: White Buffalo born on Texas ranch...

White Buffalo born on Texas ranch...

From the AP: A rare white buffalo runs into a corral after a Native American naming ceremony was held in Greenville, Texas Wednesday, June 29, 2011.

 But the real action doesn't start until the fourth is born...

"American Indian leaders around the nation are contemplating the birth of a white buffalo calf. The male, born on May 12th during a thunderstorm, is said to be only the third on record to be born without any active breeding efforts. The last verified white buffalo, named "Miracle," was born in 1994 and gave birth to four calves before dying in 2004.

Several American Indian cultures believe this type of bison portends future events, and therefore, tribal leaders will soon descend upon Little Soldier's ranch to determine what the calf's purpose and message is. The prophecy could be exceptionally important, given the fact that the calf was born during a thunderstorm.

Because this is, according to several tribes, the third white buffalo born, it means the next one born will portend the end times. So, at least the world is not going to end any time soon. Harold Camping, take note. Nothing is happening, at least not until that fourth one is born."

Sacred White Buffalo Born in Texas: MyFoxDFW.com

Read more here: Sacred White Buffalo Born on Texas Ranch

"One day you'll be speaking to us, and your words will be strong."

 

Update (June 30, 2011): The Brit's take a look at the new white buffalo, Lightning Medicine Cloud, complete with some great pics and a short video. The incredibly rare sacred white buffalo who's one in TEN MILLION

Lightning Medicine Cloud at six-weeks old

More here: Native Americans Gather For Ceremony Naming White Buffalo Calf 
And here: Lightning Medicine: Rare white buffalo calf named

And from Fox News: 

Here's the link to Lightning Medicine Cloud's official webpage: Lakota Ranch.
And here's Lightning Medicine Cloud's Facebook page. Welcome to the 21st Century, little one...

Update (July 4, 2011):  Here's your chance to spend a few tranquil minutes with Lightning Medicine Cloud. They grow up so fast...

Things you can't do in New York...

Follow the herd! No, not Wall Street, the real herd...

The meat of the future...

Interesting video about raising bison out on Long Island. Substituting the American Bison for traditional cattle has many advantages: they're better for the land, better for the other native wildlife and produce a healthier meat. I covered this subject in great detail in my first two books, The Third Revolution and Middle America.

Here's a passage on the subject from The Third Revolution:

“What’s the difference? Don’t buffalo graze like cattle?”

“The bison are native to this land,” the chief said. “They’ve been here for tens of thousands of years. Cattle are from, I don’t know, Southeast Asia somewhere. Lowland animals. You have to encourage the grasses they like to eat, shelter them in the winter, kill all of the predators on the prairie, shoot the prairie dogs so they don’t step into their holes and break their legs. You have to fuss with the water access—cattle will hang out by their water source, they’ll crap in the same water they drink. They’re not very bright.”

He continued. “The bison, this is their land. They eat the native grasses. They’re fine on their own year round—even in the winter. They find their own food and water, and the rain and cold and snow don’t bother them. Prairie dogs don’t bother them; they don’t step in the holes. We don’t have to poison or shoot the wolves or the cougar or the coyote. They all live on their land together—the bison can handle the predators, and the predators know better than to attack a healthy bison herd. Especially when there are cattle around,” he laughed.

“The return of the bison lets us restore the balance to the land. They were here long before my people were, and a long, long time before your people were. All we really have to do is make sure they’re current on their brucellosis vaccinations, and only because the government makes us do it. Brucellosis doesn’t bother the bison. It only bothers cattle and cattle ranchers. And government inspectors.”

It's nice to see the world is catching up, however slowly... Read the entire article here: Farming Bison to Regenerate a North American Breed (Video)

American Bison at the Bronx Zoo...

Well, I like bison, and I like the Bronx Zoo, so this post was a no-brainer. I spent a lot of time at the zoo, observing these very critters, when I was writing my first novel, The Third Revolution.



From The Third Revolution:

"Running Wolf took enormous pride in the herd. His people, the Blackfeet, had roamed the North American plains for over 5,000 years, as best anyone could tell, and had been calling this particular part of the country home for over 300 years. They’d lived in harmony with the bison and its Great Plains grassland ecosystem for all but about the last 100 of those years. They had been left no say in the matter; the buffalo were effectively exterminated around the turn of the 20^th century, predominately for their tongues, hides and horns, but also to “encourage” the native peoples to give up their traditional way of life and adapt an imposed version of a civilized lifestyle. The strategy was unquestionably successful in extinguishing the native people’s way of life—the world as they knew it was forever laid to waste. So successful was the Great Slaughter, that in the fall of 1907, the Bronx Zoo sent 15 of its New York City bison to the federally-owned Wichita Game Preserve at Cache, Oklahoma, followed in 1913 by an additional 14 animals sent to the Wind Cave National Game Preserve in the Black Hills of South Dakota, as part of an effort to re-establish a public breeding herd in the wild."

Read more here: The Third Revolution Excerpts. And read more on the Bronx Zoo's (the Wildlife Conservation Society) role in the restoration of our bison herds here: The American Bison Society, and here: The American Bison Society Timeline. 

In what order should I read your books?

I get this question once in a while and figured it was time that I got the official response on the record: except for the "Ben Kane" series (The Third Revolution and its sequel, Middle America), it doesn't matter. Little Birdies!, The Last Bartender and The Cenacle Scroll (ebook only) are stand-alone novels cast with their own unique characters and storylines and can be read in whatever order strikes your fancy. Summaries of all the books are conveniently located here: About the Books. I hope that helps...

When Norton was King - Hogslayer: The Unapproachable Legend

"Anyone familiar with motorcycle drag racing has heard of Hogslayer, the famous dual-engine Norton dragster. And it’s only appropriate that the most successful drag racing bike of the 1970s have its story told through a sharp-looking documentary film."

I once had my Norton go into a "death wobble" on the Long Island Expressway while I was cruising at about 85mph. I was able to safely accelerate out of it and continue home at 60 mph, with my pulse racing at about 200 beats per minute. Very invigorating, those Nortons...


More on the coming documentary here: Hogslayer: The Unapproachable Legend

The Central Planners do what they do best...

... screw up. Apparently Mayor Bloomberg's smoke-free urban Utopia has hit a few (very predictable ) snags. You'd have to be remarkably ignorant of history, economics and human behavior not to be able to see this coming, but when have you ever known a social engineer to let reality stand in their way?

"The underground tobacco market is spreading like a fast-growing cancer in the wake of tax hikes that make New York cigarettes the most expensive in the nation -- and it's costing the state tens of millions a month in lost tax revenue, a Post analysis has found.

Government data show that New York state is being smoked out of as much as $20 million a month from all these illegal cigarette purchases -- an estimated 7.3 million packs a month sold off the state tax radar."

Be sure to read the entire article here: Black-Market cigarettes costing NY $20M a month.

More here: Menthol Ban = Black Market

Geniuses. Everything the government touches turns to shit.

Anyone remember these?

I was outside smoking a bowl of Boswell's earthy Northwoods tobacco, when I started waxing nostalgic for the old BlogAds that I used to run for The Third Revolution and Middle America. So I fired up the old Mac Laptop and rummaged through the files to see if I still had them. I did! These, as best I can remember, are circa-2004 through 2006:

Pretty cool, huh? Those were the days when I actually had a few (albeit very few) bucks to spend on ads. Oh, if you've read The Third Revolution but haven't yet gotten around to the sequel, Middle America, I noticed that Amazon has finally knocked a few bucks off the softcover book; it's now only $13.67 (I think it was released at $17.00, so that's quite a haircut). Enjoy...