Monster Hunting

I came into the Monster Hunter craze late. By which I mean I started them the 16th of January. I've been hearing for a few years now how wonderful the Monster Hunter books are, but I hadn't gotten around to actually reading them. I suppose the fact that I finished the first book less than 36 hours after I got it is a fair indicator. The fact that I haven't paid full new price for a book in... I honestly can't remember now, but did for the next three is another indication.

I know most if not all my readers have at least heard of MHI before, and probably a hefty percentage of those have read them all, but for those of you who haven't, I cannot recommend them highly enough. Are they going to go down in history as great literature, to be shelved next to Shakespeare, Dumas, Austen and the like? No, but that's half the charm. Larry Correia doesn't seem to be worrying about keeping it 'capital L Literature', but is instead focusing on making a thrilling, fun, wild ride.

30 second version of what to expect. B movie monsters, mythological creatures, and occult legends are real, but secret. Private companies exist to fight them and protect the world, paid in bounties from governments around the world. Owen Zastava Pitt is shown the real world when his boss turns to a werewolf and tries to eat him. His survival nets him a job offer from the eponymous Monster Hunter International, the premier agency out there. He proceeds to kick monster behind for the next several books with a panoply of fantastic weaponry, all written as only a gun nut can write.

I was going to say something to the effect of the books being a touch formulaic, but I'm not really sure that they are. Beyond following a basic trend of "bad thing with hint of mystery leading to thrilling climactic final battle" the books are fairly varied in their structure, timing and tropes. There are themes that they share, from the straightforward literary to the more b-movie oriented, but each book feels like its own exploration of a really neat world, rather than a retread of a tired formula.

If you are not a fan of guns, I'd first ask what you're doing here, but then I'd say you might not really enjoy these as much. Not because the books are all about guns, but rather because they form a nice allegory for the gunny community and the mindsets common to it. There are major, neon flashing light type major, anti-authoritarian, anti-statist themes and tropes throughout, though I would certainly not say anarchic. They reflect the triumph of both individual and collective effort outside the mandates of government action.

Relatedly, I find that they don't seem to suffer from sequel syndrome much at all. All too often, an author will slave away for a decade perfecting their story before suddenly, the book goes bestseller and the publisher says "give us another one in 12 months" leading to rushed, 2d, lackluster, unpolished dross. The Hunger Games is rather an excellent example of this, with a smash hit first book that I view pretty favorably and sequels that I consider to be among the worst books I have ever read. MHI doesn't suffer this. The later books are a bit shorter, but they don't feel rushed or unpolished. In fact, it's moreso that the 700+ pages of the first book are long rather than the follow ups are short.

One last point that particularly pleases me about these books. The characters are all very much human. The hardened killing machines have real sides, without it being all macho quips. Julie Shackleford is simultaneously very female and one of the most effective hunters in the company. The government men are not just 2d statist thugs. (well, not all of them, but that reflects reality too). Even the main monsters are more interesting than "There is zombie. It is evil. Shoot it in the head." Those make good cannon fodder but are kinda crappy primary antagonists.

I highly recommend you hie off to your nearest purveyor of books and pick up Monster Hunter International. Find a day where staying up till 3AM won't ruin your tomorrow, grab a beverage of your choice, put on some rock music and get lost in some truly masterful storytelling.

AMAC

Many of the various mailing lists I have found my way onto are entirely appropriate. Various sundry gunny and conservative mailings make their way to me. This one though, is a bit odd.

I have no beef with the Association of Mature American Citizens, but telling me to "Tear up my AARP membership card" is perhaps a failure of targeted advertising.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I thought one had to enter the workforce before one could retire from it...

I dearly hope everyone's holiday of choice has been going well for them, and I wish you all a very merry Christmas.

A Case of the Dumbs

I've been having all sorts and flavors of insightful constitutional discussions and debates over the morality of bioluminescent humans and video games, but it never seems to come out right when I try to write it up here.

I seem to have a selective case of the Dumbs.

While I'm working on that though, Jennifer has managed quite a nice one two punch with her last two posts. Dang I wish I'd written those. Go read her free ice cream, and I might have some free frozen dairy dessert later.

Done with finals now, so hopefully that's gonna be sooner rather than later. I might even write up my Constitutional Law study guide, because dang that is interesting stuff.

Self absorption

The CNN talking heads are discussing whether 'our' generation is the most self absorbed one. I don't care enough to read the closed captions on it, but all I can say is that if you are asking that question, odds are at least you are that self obsessed.

Trolls

*sigh*

I've had to delete my very first comment here for grand mal douchery. It seems my Lesson Time post has garnered some minor internet attention. (Hey everyone by the way, the free ice cream is sporadic and often weirdly flavored, but hey, it's free.)

An anonymous commenter decided that I was a corporate whore shilling for CTD.* Said critter said so in a comment that made me sad, not in the name calling, but in the lack of misspellings to make fun of. If you're gonna make an ass of yourself here, at least go all out and allow me to make fun of you.**

You will not see this comment on the post anymore, nor will I copy said critters words verbatim. That's more credit than I care to give them.

If you cannot contribute to the conversation, I kindly invite you to sit over here and hold this cloth under your chin. Drool is surprisingly irksome to clean out of the carpets.

If you insist on 'contributing' anyways, but refuse to claim your words as your own, hiding behind the mask of anonymity, I'm afraid you'll have to be patient for a while. The spike pit is done, as is the wasp tunnel, but the release mechanism on the trapdoor is finicky. I'm planning on scrapping it and starting over soon, but you know how these things go...



I have no problem with being called out for my opinions and positions. In point of fact, I really want that to happen when I'm out of line. It helps me to refine my thinking and stay consistent. I do have a problem with drive by cowards who can neither put in the effort to discuss like a proper human being nor have the decency to own their words.

And finally, if you're going to be rude or offensive, at least make it interesting. Rude, offensive AND boring is just getting scrapped. Rude, offensive and entertaining? That's blog fodder, and I really need practice at mockery.


And just to be clear, I am not really distributor loyal at all. I go where the best value is (not just best price, best value, but that's a discussion for another time.)  CTD does not offend my delicate constitution with their actions. If they have the best value on something, sure. I'll buy from them. I won't go out of my way either to buy from them or not to buy from them. This is the sort of ringing endorsement that makes someone a whore? Maybe I should start making endorsement deals. I do indifference well.



*I'm not, but hey, if CTD wants to chuck a hundred grand at me in exchange for some advertising? Heck yeah, sign me up.
**To those who get upset by this, I'm JOKING. Mostly.

Scout rifle

Idle thought exercise. How would you go about making a 91/30 into a scout rifle? M44 would also be acceptable but less desirable.

Lesson Time

This is the sort of post I wish I would never have to write, but it's been an issue cropping up recently.

Let's talk about netiquette and ideological purges, shall we?

Tam has recently been dealing with a comment troll who makes claims of bloody murder and censorship when his comments are deleted, deriding the death of the first amendment. The same claims are turning up on the Second Amendment Foundation's Facebook when comments about their ongoing relationship with Cheaper Than Dirt get deleted for offensiveness and obscenity.

Let's take a look at the First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The important bit here is the independent clause, ''Congress shall make no law''. The dependent clause ''abridging the freedom of speech'' is the specific case.

This next bit, I address to all those who are or have ever been butthurt about comments being deleted. The First Amendment to the Constitution is a restriction (NOT an active imperative) on Congress. It has absolutely no bearing on the interactions between individuals or corporations. Congress can't delete your comments, but Tam or SAF most certainly can.

So, your comments can be deleted free of penalty other than public opinion. How then can you make your voice heard without The Man keeping you down? How can you speak truth to power when you have no voice?

It's quite simple. Don't be a jerk.

I suppose you could put together your own site where you're in charge and you can write whatever you want to and no one will stop you. Lots of good blogs get started that way. Many more half baked crazy blogs get started that way. In order to get readers to pay attention, really, you're going to have to go back to that first point anyways.

There are sites that will delete comments for simply disagreeing. Those sites are generally not worth your time. Tam and SAF are not among them. If your comment gets deleted, it's because you were a giant douche canoe, not because of ideology.  If you don't see how your comment could be construed as jerkish, then please, go outside, play with a puppy, and realize that you are not the only human on the internet.

This sorta brings me into my next point of order. This one extends to far more than those commenters previously addressed.

I am seeing an alarming and frustrating trend recently I have been calling "Shun the non-believer". We in the gunny community have a nasty tendency to eat our own for not being ideologically pure enough.

Remington not committing to leave New York* after the SAFE Act made a number of people swear off Remington entirely, since clearly 'they didn't care about gun rights'.

Cheaper Than Dirt raised prices and temporarily suspended gun sales after Newtown. Clearly just in it for the money and didn't care at all about gun rights, right?

The NRA can't catch a break on criticisms.

Don't get me started on the OC/CC flame wars.

If I were in the position of CTD, I probably would have acted differently. I think the guys who walk into Starbucks with rifles slung over their shoulders are phenomenally stupid. I think Remington was put in an untenable position and probably could have handled the PR a little better.

I don't hate any of them.

I will still buy products from CTD. My first pistol may be a Remington. Heck, I might buy it from CTD. I can have civil discussions with the rifle OC'ers.

Fundamentally we are all on the same side. We have different approaches and different primary goals, but we all have the commonality of interest in guns and a vested interest in the continued existence of the gun culture.

Even Dick Metcalf's meltdown recently was not outside of the realm of reason. I disagree fairly strongly, but feel it could have been used to foster debate about it and maybe bring people of that mindset or even further away into the fold. Instead, he's out a job and we have alienated more people.

Screaming SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED is the sort of thing that shouldn't be a problem, but is. There's a range of different opinions on all the issues in question, and it's senseless to eat our own based on the slightest hint of ideological differences.

Do I believe that my ideologies are right? Absolutely, else I wouldn't hold them. That doesn't mean I cannot work with and respect other opinions.

The vitriol and infighting can only hurt us. While it's a great notion that we could put on a unified face to the world, that's not the way the world works and leads to the same oppressive techniques we find so despicable in government.

While our ideological purges may not leave 20 million people dead like those of Stalinist Russia, they leave us with no allies and a somewhat tarnished moral high ground.

Take what friends you can. Don't make yourself new enemies. This really shouldn't be that hard.


*Not committing to staying in New York, mind.