John Schettler's Blog, page 13
February 20, 2012
Registration Game - Defeat the Tweet In Your Life!
Register, sign in, sign up, join! (And by all means "tweet" about it all)...What has happened to the web these days? Every time I find some interesting content and click to learn or read more I get hit with what I call the "Registration Wall." I get asked to sign up or join something to get at the content I was wanting to browse. If I do get through the wall to the content, now buried in an avalanche of tacky ads that all want to know my age or some other tidbit of personal info to learn their dramatic secrets, I invariably get asked to "Like" something. I get asked to tweet, post, or otherwise spread the word to everyone I know so that they can all go through the same fifteen minutes of Internet torture I just went through to read an article of interest to me. If you are much of an Internet user at all then you know exactly what I am talking about. You probably already have fifteen or twenty usernames and passwords. God only knows how many I have by now. And the net just keeps asking you to sign up again and again and again.
It's no mystery. Facebook popped the cork on its champagne bottles by registering users in massive numbers, so registration seems to be the name of the game these days. Sites want to build a big, active database of registered users, which they somehow hope to associate with their net worth. I wanted to list a client web site in Bing's local listings the other day: BAM! Bing immediately wanted me to use my Windows live ID to sign on, and lacking that I had to sign up. OK...this was for a client... so I went through the unusually nosy registration process struggling with the Captcha at the end, including the arm twisting "I accept" process that puts up links to all their policies and forces you to read and accept them. (Who EVER reads the technical details of those policies before hitting the accept button?) I did happen to catch, with a grimace, the phrase that "from time to time" MSN would be sending me emails of interest to me," which actually meant "we're about to start spamming you big time, brother!"
I finally finish only to find that Bing was having "technical difficulties" and I was asked to return and go through the whole sign up process again later. Meanwhile...I have the odd feeling that my email and other information has already been harvested. They got what they wanted. I got nothing but the 20 minute signup headache and a "see ya later, bud." Well here's my news for Bing this morning: It's over. The end. Yup. That's as far as I'm willing to go with Bing now. Goodbye, and I won't be back. Send me your junk email at your peril forever hereafter.
Frankly, there's nothing that prompts me to hit the "close tab" button faster than hitting the Registration Wall on a web site. What happened to good, old fashioned, ad-free CONTENT? ...Free content on a free Internet? Answer--the same thing that happened to Free TV shows. You get the show, but you have to put up with six minutes of 30 second commercials for every six minutes of programming. The Internet is getting far, far worse than that.
OK...I may sound unusually picky today but I also like to have TWO interior pockets on all my jackets, (because my wallet and cell phone just don't fit comfortably into the one standard pocket most jackets get.) Yes, I'm picky. I really like good Pinot Noir, and I'm NOT drinking Merlot. I like Honda Civics, and I hate Chrysler--especially the minivans. I don't watch Football--EVER. I read. Yes, these odd preferences put me into a certain category in life. I dare not venture to express what it might be.
But dear Internet, now hear this: I DON'T WANT TO SIGN UP! I just want to browse my content in quiet anonymity, OK? I don't want to register, become a member, fill out a profile, upload a photo, give blood or DNA samples or anything of the kind, dear Big Brother. I don't want to "Like" you or "tweet" about you every day. Just get out of my face and let me browse in peace! If I like what I see happening on your web site, I'll find you again if I decide to join...OK? If your content is good I'll tell others about it in my own way. Fair enough? Sigh...
If you can read and understand the following poem, you're probably on my side. And to get the text to post it here I had to fight my way through a massive pop-up ad on birth control, a strange entity dancing on a Warcraft banner ad, and about five other annoying sidebar advertisements. But I got it... all for you. I read it again, and now I feel so much better. Do you?
THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn. William Wordsworth, 1888
It's no mystery. Facebook popped the cork on its champagne bottles by registering users in massive numbers, so registration seems to be the name of the game these days. Sites want to build a big, active database of registered users, which they somehow hope to associate with their net worth. I wanted to list a client web site in Bing's local listings the other day: BAM! Bing immediately wanted me to use my Windows live ID to sign on, and lacking that I had to sign up. OK...this was for a client... so I went through the unusually nosy registration process struggling with the Captcha at the end, including the arm twisting "I accept" process that puts up links to all their policies and forces you to read and accept them. (Who EVER reads the technical details of those policies before hitting the accept button?) I did happen to catch, with a grimace, the phrase that "from time to time" MSN would be sending me emails of interest to me," which actually meant "we're about to start spamming you big time, brother!"
I finally finish only to find that Bing was having "technical difficulties" and I was asked to return and go through the whole sign up process again later. Meanwhile...I have the odd feeling that my email and other information has already been harvested. They got what they wanted. I got nothing but the 20 minute signup headache and a "see ya later, bud." Well here's my news for Bing this morning: It's over. The end. Yup. That's as far as I'm willing to go with Bing now. Goodbye, and I won't be back. Send me your junk email at your peril forever hereafter.
Frankly, there's nothing that prompts me to hit the "close tab" button faster than hitting the Registration Wall on a web site. What happened to good, old fashioned, ad-free CONTENT? ...Free content on a free Internet? Answer--the same thing that happened to Free TV shows. You get the show, but you have to put up with six minutes of 30 second commercials for every six minutes of programming. The Internet is getting far, far worse than that.
OK...I may sound unusually picky today but I also like to have TWO interior pockets on all my jackets, (because my wallet and cell phone just don't fit comfortably into the one standard pocket most jackets get.) Yes, I'm picky. I really like good Pinot Noir, and I'm NOT drinking Merlot. I like Honda Civics, and I hate Chrysler--especially the minivans. I don't watch Football--EVER. I read. Yes, these odd preferences put me into a certain category in life. I dare not venture to express what it might be.
But dear Internet, now hear this: I DON'T WANT TO SIGN UP! I just want to browse my content in quiet anonymity, OK? I don't want to register, become a member, fill out a profile, upload a photo, give blood or DNA samples or anything of the kind, dear Big Brother. I don't want to "Like" you or "tweet" about you every day. Just get out of my face and let me browse in peace! If I like what I see happening on your web site, I'll find you again if I decide to join...OK? If your content is good I'll tell others about it in my own way. Fair enough? Sigh...
If you can read and understand the following poem, you're probably on my side. And to get the text to post it here I had to fight my way through a massive pop-up ad on birth control, a strange entity dancing on a Warcraft banner ad, and about five other annoying sidebar advertisements. But I got it... all for you. I read it again, and now I feel so much better. Do you?
THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn. William Wordsworth, 1888
February 14, 2012
The Alarm Clock Bomb
When the revolutionary fires of the "Arab Spring" burned close to the core of Western interests in the Middle east in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, note how quickly the protests were quashed. The Saudis had no qualms about using their police and army units to fend off trouble, and in fact, they sent a full armor brigade of US made M1-A1 Abrams tanks into Bahrain to flatten that popular uprising. One mustn't disturb the long entrenched oligarchies in our precious Gulf States. The spice must flow...
Now, with the flames igniting in Syria, it is not Western interests at stake, but the axis of Syria, Iran and their two primary supporters on the world stage, Russia and China. The loose "co-prosperity sphere" forged by the two giants has economic and strategic roots growing in the soil of Iran, and the Iranians have long had cooperative agreements with Syria and a connection to Hezbollah in Lebanon through Assad's regime.
The moment I saw the uprisings begin in Syria I knew it was going to become a bloody affair, and I also knew that we were not going to see tough military action by Europe, NATO or the US. Three words sum up the reason why this is so: the Syrian Army. Unlike Libya which had a few brigades run by Gadaffi's sons, Syria's army has long been scaled to stand off against the formidable military forces of Israel. It presently has 220,000 regulars and another 300,000 reservists arrayed in twelve division sized formations, which include 8 armored divisions and 3 mechanized divisions and a special Republican Guard unit, with three more divisions in reserve. Note how quickly Western nations were to direct military action against Libya, which had no large geopolitical backers and a fledgling army that was easy to find and target from the air. Note how Western nations huff and puff now, but don't expect air strikes on Syria any time soon, though Assad's actions will be every bit as brutal Gadaffi's.
When you draft resolutions in the UN against Syria and both China and Russia veto them, you have a problem. Of course, all of this ties neatly into the "Iranian problem." The neo-cons that engineered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan always said in the end "real men go to Tehran," and the West has wanted to break the back of the Iranian regime and restore Western oil and gas company influence there ever since the Shah fell and Ted Koppel's "America Held Hostage" show took off to eventually become "Nightline."
The recent assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists were mirrored in this week's "terrorist attack" against Israeli embassy personnel overseas--and they used the exact same methods to make that connection obvious. Israel has been wanting to turn its air force loose over Iran for years now, and seems driven by the sound of a ticking alarm clock they think will go off and rouse them from their nightmare of an Iranian bomb by making that prospect a grim reality.
There's a poem by the Russian poet Kudryavitsky called "The Alarm Clock Bomb" that comes to mind here.
The Alarm-Clock Bomb
The alarm-clock bomb rings uplike an uninvited guestand offers you an experienceof ravaged Nirvana.There's nothing you can doexcept sing it the pointless song,'May there always be me.'Sometimes the alarm-clock looms up first,quietly ticking in the doorway.It's better that you hear it...
That clock is slowly ticking in the Middle East, and it's better if you hear it first before that jarring alarm goes off and we get a war there that is almost certain to bring the interests of the West into direct conflict with those of Russia and China. Yes, it's better if you hear it...
Now, with the flames igniting in Syria, it is not Western interests at stake, but the axis of Syria, Iran and their two primary supporters on the world stage, Russia and China. The loose "co-prosperity sphere" forged by the two giants has economic and strategic roots growing in the soil of Iran, and the Iranians have long had cooperative agreements with Syria and a connection to Hezbollah in Lebanon through Assad's regime.
The moment I saw the uprisings begin in Syria I knew it was going to become a bloody affair, and I also knew that we were not going to see tough military action by Europe, NATO or the US. Three words sum up the reason why this is so: the Syrian Army. Unlike Libya which had a few brigades run by Gadaffi's sons, Syria's army has long been scaled to stand off against the formidable military forces of Israel. It presently has 220,000 regulars and another 300,000 reservists arrayed in twelve division sized formations, which include 8 armored divisions and 3 mechanized divisions and a special Republican Guard unit, with three more divisions in reserve. Note how quickly Western nations were to direct military action against Libya, which had no large geopolitical backers and a fledgling army that was easy to find and target from the air. Note how Western nations huff and puff now, but don't expect air strikes on Syria any time soon, though Assad's actions will be every bit as brutal Gadaffi's.
When you draft resolutions in the UN against Syria and both China and Russia veto them, you have a problem. Of course, all of this ties neatly into the "Iranian problem." The neo-cons that engineered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan always said in the end "real men go to Tehran," and the West has wanted to break the back of the Iranian regime and restore Western oil and gas company influence there ever since the Shah fell and Ted Koppel's "America Held Hostage" show took off to eventually become "Nightline."
The recent assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists were mirrored in this week's "terrorist attack" against Israeli embassy personnel overseas--and they used the exact same methods to make that connection obvious. Israel has been wanting to turn its air force loose over Iran for years now, and seems driven by the sound of a ticking alarm clock they think will go off and rouse them from their nightmare of an Iranian bomb by making that prospect a grim reality.
There's a poem by the Russian poet Kudryavitsky called "The Alarm Clock Bomb" that comes to mind here.
The Alarm-Clock Bomb
The alarm-clock bomb rings uplike an uninvited guestand offers you an experienceof ravaged Nirvana.There's nothing you can doexcept sing it the pointless song,'May there always be me.'Sometimes the alarm-clock looms up first,quietly ticking in the doorway.It's better that you hear it...
That clock is slowly ticking in the Middle East, and it's better if you hear it first before that jarring alarm goes off and we get a war there that is almost certain to bring the interests of the West into direct conflict with those of Russia and China. Yes, it's better if you hear it...
February 13, 2012
Bush, Romney & Chlorine Gas...
Monterey CA - Feb 13, 2012
As Rick Santorum surged in the polls, and with voters in recent primaries, there was a curious conjunction of stellar Republican dignitaries here on the Monterey Peninsula. The area was busy with the recent Pro-Am Golf tournament at Pebble Beach, where former president George Bush (Jr) was seen in attendance and at local area restaurants. Curiously, Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was also in town, though on no official business. The candidate's itinerary had "no scheduled events" for Feb 11 or 12, yet he flew here to Monterey and over-nighted Sunday evening...And Bush was in town... Humm...
Romney reportedly stayed at the swank Portola Plaza in the Fisherman's Wharf area of Monterey and was up early to get to the airport for a flight to Phoenix scheduled to leave at 6:00 am. His schedule for February 13 showed one event, hosting a rally at Mesa Amphitheater in Arizona. So one is understandably curious as to why Romney was in town here on Sunday?
Even more curious was the sudden emergency at the hotel at 7:30 am on Monday morning when employees began to get sick. Apparently, the hotel was threatened by a "chlorine like gas," and over 200 guests were immediately evacuated, with 30 hospitalized.
Romney left just hours before the gas outbreak, which was attributed to hotel employees mixing two common household cleaning chemicals together. Was this a first for these employees? They would have been using these products for years, right? Why today, early in the morning, on a night when Romney was known to be in the hotel, would this mishap mysteriously occur?
And just why was Romney in town in the first place? The Pro-Am Golf tournament was over Sunday afternoon. When asked about this the "a hotel spokesperson declined to say why Romney was in Monterey." A casual observer might say...Gee...Romney makes an unscheduled stop in Monterey, where former President Bush happens to be vacationing. I wonder why? Might he have been courting an endorsement? A Bush endorsement in 2002 was instrumental in Romney's early political career, though candidates have not openly courted him this year...for obvious reasons. There was no confirmation as to whether the two men met.
But the chlorine like gas was certainly an odd way to start the day, wasn't it?
As Rick Santorum surged in the polls, and with voters in recent primaries, there was a curious conjunction of stellar Republican dignitaries here on the Monterey Peninsula. The area was busy with the recent Pro-Am Golf tournament at Pebble Beach, where former president George Bush (Jr) was seen in attendance and at local area restaurants. Curiously, Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was also in town, though on no official business. The candidate's itinerary had "no scheduled events" for Feb 11 or 12, yet he flew here to Monterey and over-nighted Sunday evening...And Bush was in town... Humm...
Romney reportedly stayed at the swank Portola Plaza in the Fisherman's Wharf area of Monterey and was up early to get to the airport for a flight to Phoenix scheduled to leave at 6:00 am. His schedule for February 13 showed one event, hosting a rally at Mesa Amphitheater in Arizona. So one is understandably curious as to why Romney was in town here on Sunday?
Even more curious was the sudden emergency at the hotel at 7:30 am on Monday morning when employees began to get sick. Apparently, the hotel was threatened by a "chlorine like gas," and over 200 guests were immediately evacuated, with 30 hospitalized.
Romney left just hours before the gas outbreak, which was attributed to hotel employees mixing two common household cleaning chemicals together. Was this a first for these employees? They would have been using these products for years, right? Why today, early in the morning, on a night when Romney was known to be in the hotel, would this mishap mysteriously occur?
And just why was Romney in town in the first place? The Pro-Am Golf tournament was over Sunday afternoon. When asked about this the "a hotel spokesperson declined to say why Romney was in Monterey." A casual observer might say...Gee...Romney makes an unscheduled stop in Monterey, where former President Bush happens to be vacationing. I wonder why? Might he have been courting an endorsement? A Bush endorsement in 2002 was instrumental in Romney's early political career, though candidates have not openly courted him this year...for obvious reasons. There was no confirmation as to whether the two men met.
But the chlorine like gas was certainly an odd way to start the day, wasn't it?
January 18, 2012
Announcing Kirov - Military Fiction
The Writing Shop is pleased to announced that author John Schettler has completed a new novel in the popular military fiction genre.
Kirov – Military Fiction (Naval) – Available Mar 15, 2012
The battlecruiser Kirov, is the most power surface combatant that ever put to sea. Built from the bones of all four prior Kirov Class guided missile cruisers, she is updated with Russia's most lethal weapons, given back her old name, and commissioned in the year 2020. A year later, with tensions rising to the breaking point between Russia and the West, Kirov is completing her final missile trials in the Arctic Sea when a strange accident transports her to another time. With power no ship in the world can match, much less comprehend, she must decide the fate of nations in the most titanic conflict the world has ever seen—WWII.
The novel is an intensely focused naval saga, where the crew of the lost Russian battlecruiser must struggle to understand what has happened to them, and then make a choice that could be decisive in the outcome of the war—who's side are they on? It is late July of 1941, and Germany has only recently invaded Russia, driving on Smolensk and Leningrad. The Nazis are clearly their enemy today, but it is the British and Americans who are their enemy tomorrow. After decades of suspicion and enmity, the Russia of 2021 is again at a major crisis point with Western powers. Yet, at this crucial time, Kirov finds herself just days and miles away from a secret summit at sea between Churchill and Roosevelt. On August 9, 1941, the two great leaders meet to plan cooperation in the war and lay down the Atlantic Charter, which decides the framework of post war power in the world and becomes the basis for the new United Nations and NATO.
With the hindsight of history as their guide, Kirov races south toward the secret meeting place at Argentia Bay in Newfoundland. Even as she cruises for the Denmark strait, both Roosevelt and Churchill prepare to embark for the sea journey as well. The Russian battlecruiser has an opportunity to decisively affect the outcome of the war, and all future history, but the Royal Navy soon discovers what they believe to be a fearsome new German raider in the Norwegian Sea, and they join with America's Atlantic Fleet to bar the way and hunt down the most formidable surface action ship in the world.
The novel is an exciting, tense and highly focused naval saga that makes the fabled hunt for the Bismarck look like a training exercise!
Kirov is by John Schettler, the award winning author of the Meridian time travel series, is in final review and being readied for a release in mid March, 2012, by the Writing Shop Press. The book will be released on Amazon and Smashwords in popular eBook formats and sell for $4.99. A trade Paperback version will also be available.
ISBN 978-0-9849465-1-8 - 390 Pages, about 140,000 words.
For more information and final release date please visit the Writing Shop
Kirov – Military Fiction (Naval) – Available Mar 15, 2012
The battlecruiser Kirov, is the most power surface combatant that ever put to sea. Built from the bones of all four prior Kirov Class guided missile cruisers, she is updated with Russia's most lethal weapons, given back her old name, and commissioned in the year 2020. A year later, with tensions rising to the breaking point between Russia and the West, Kirov is completing her final missile trials in the Arctic Sea when a strange accident transports her to another time. With power no ship in the world can match, much less comprehend, she must decide the fate of nations in the most titanic conflict the world has ever seen—WWII.
The novel is an intensely focused naval saga, where the crew of the lost Russian battlecruiser must struggle to understand what has happened to them, and then make a choice that could be decisive in the outcome of the war—who's side are they on? It is late July of 1941, and Germany has only recently invaded Russia, driving on Smolensk and Leningrad. The Nazis are clearly their enemy today, but it is the British and Americans who are their enemy tomorrow. After decades of suspicion and enmity, the Russia of 2021 is again at a major crisis point with Western powers. Yet, at this crucial time, Kirov finds herself just days and miles away from a secret summit at sea between Churchill and Roosevelt. On August 9, 1941, the two great leaders meet to plan cooperation in the war and lay down the Atlantic Charter, which decides the framework of post war power in the world and becomes the basis for the new United Nations and NATO.
With the hindsight of history as their guide, Kirov races south toward the secret meeting place at Argentia Bay in Newfoundland. Even as she cruises for the Denmark strait, both Roosevelt and Churchill prepare to embark for the sea journey as well. The Russian battlecruiser has an opportunity to decisively affect the outcome of the war, and all future history, but the Royal Navy soon discovers what they believe to be a fearsome new German raider in the Norwegian Sea, and they join with America's Atlantic Fleet to bar the way and hunt down the most formidable surface action ship in the world.
The novel is an exciting, tense and highly focused naval saga that makes the fabled hunt for the Bismarck look like a training exercise!
Kirov is by John Schettler, the award winning author of the Meridian time travel series, is in final review and being readied for a release in mid March, 2012, by the Writing Shop Press. The book will be released on Amazon and Smashwords in popular eBook formats and sell for $4.99. A trade Paperback version will also be available.
ISBN 978-0-9849465-1-8 - 390 Pages, about 140,000 words.
For more information and final release date please visit the Writing Shop
Announcing Kirov - Military Science Fiction
The Writing Shop is pleased to announced that author John Schettler has completed a new novel in the popular military science genre.
Kirov – Military Science Fiction (Naval) – Available Feb 15, 2012
The battlecruiser Kirov, is the most power surface combatant that ever put to sea. Built from the bones of all four prior Kirov Class guided missile cruisers, she is updated with Russia's most lethal weapons, given back her old name, and commissioned in the year 2020. A year later, with tensions rising to the breaking point between Russia and the West, Kirov is completing her final missile trials in the Arctic Sea when a strange accident transports her to another time. With power no ship in the world can match, much less comprehend, she must decide the fate of nations in the most titanic conflict the world has ever seen—WWII.
The novel is an intensely focused naval saga, where the crew of the lost Russian battlecruiser must struggle to understand what has happened to them, and then make a choice that could be decisive in the outcome of the war—who's side are they on? It is late July of 1941, and Germany has only recently invaded Russia, driving on Smolensk and Leningrad. The Nazis are clearly their enemy today, but it is the British and Americans who are their enemy tomorrow. After decades of suspicion and enmity, the Russia of 2021 is again at a major crisis point with Western powers. Yet, at this crucial time, Kirov finds herself just days and miles away from a secret summit at sea between Churchill and Roosevelt. On August 9, 1941, the two great leaders meet to plan cooperation in the war and lay down the Atlantic Charter, which decides the framework of post war power in the world and becomes the basis for the new United Nations and NATO.
With the hindsight of history as their guide, Kirov races south toward the secret meeting place at Argentia Bay in Newfoundland. Even as she cruises for the Denmark strait, both Roosevelt and Churchill prepare to embark for the sea journey as well. The Russian battlecruiser has an opportunity to decisively affect the outcome of the war, and all future history, but the Royal Navy soon discovers what they believe to be a fearsome new German raider in the Norwegian Sea, and they join with America's Atlantic Fleet to bar the way and hunt down the most formidable surface action ship in the world.
The novel is an exciting, tense and highly focused naval saga that makes the fabled hunt for the Bismarck look like a training exercise!
Kirov is by John Schettler, the award winning author of the Meridian time travel series, is in final review and being readied for a release in mid February, 2012, by the Writing Shop Press. The book will be released on Amazon and Smashwords in popular eBook formats and sell for $4.99.
ISBN 978-0-9849465-1-8 - 320 Pages, about 120,000 words.
For more information and final release date please visit www.writingshop.ws
Kirov – Military Science Fiction (Naval) – Available Feb 15, 2012
The battlecruiser Kirov, is the most power surface combatant that ever put to sea. Built from the bones of all four prior Kirov Class guided missile cruisers, she is updated with Russia's most lethal weapons, given back her old name, and commissioned in the year 2020. A year later, with tensions rising to the breaking point between Russia and the West, Kirov is completing her final missile trials in the Arctic Sea when a strange accident transports her to another time. With power no ship in the world can match, much less comprehend, she must decide the fate of nations in the most titanic conflict the world has ever seen—WWII.
The novel is an intensely focused naval saga, where the crew of the lost Russian battlecruiser must struggle to understand what has happened to them, and then make a choice that could be decisive in the outcome of the war—who's side are they on? It is late July of 1941, and Germany has only recently invaded Russia, driving on Smolensk and Leningrad. The Nazis are clearly their enemy today, but it is the British and Americans who are their enemy tomorrow. After decades of suspicion and enmity, the Russia of 2021 is again at a major crisis point with Western powers. Yet, at this crucial time, Kirov finds herself just days and miles away from a secret summit at sea between Churchill and Roosevelt. On August 9, 1941, the two great leaders meet to plan cooperation in the war and lay down the Atlantic Charter, which decides the framework of post war power in the world and becomes the basis for the new United Nations and NATO.
With the hindsight of history as their guide, Kirov races south toward the secret meeting place at Argentia Bay in Newfoundland. Even as she cruises for the Denmark strait, both Roosevelt and Churchill prepare to embark for the sea journey as well. The Russian battlecruiser has an opportunity to decisively affect the outcome of the war, and all future history, but the Royal Navy soon discovers what they believe to be a fearsome new German raider in the Norwegian Sea, and they join with America's Atlantic Fleet to bar the way and hunt down the most formidable surface action ship in the world.
The novel is an exciting, tense and highly focused naval saga that makes the fabled hunt for the Bismarck look like a training exercise!
Kirov is by John Schettler, the award winning author of the Meridian time travel series, is in final review and being readied for a release in mid February, 2012, by the Writing Shop Press. The book will be released on Amazon and Smashwords in popular eBook formats and sell for $4.99.
ISBN 978-0-9849465-1-8 - 320 Pages, about 120,000 words.
For more information and final release date please visit www.writingshop.ws
December 13, 2011
MERIDIAN V: Golem 7
JUST RELEASED! (12/12/11)Book V in the award winning Meridian Series Time Travel novels has just been released. The book brings this quintet of novels blending sci-fi and historical fiction to a satisfying conclusion, with the promise of more to come. Buy Golem 7 on Amazon.
Book V: Golem7 "Nordhausenis back with new research and his hand on the neck of the new terrorist behindthe Palma Event. Now the project team struggles to discover how and where theAssassins have intervened to restore the chaos of Palma, and their search leadsthem on one of the greatest naval sagas of modern history--the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck.
REVIEW:The title Golem 7 refers to an industrious grouping of Kelly Ramer's search Golem programs, who seem to be well ahead of the others in uncovering alarming variations in the history. By some means the Bismarck was not sunk on its maiden voyage, and now the team must sleuth the course of events in that campaign to find out how and why, and try to put the ship back in its watery grave before its fifteen inch guns wreak havoc on British convoys, and the time continuum as well! This volume presents a new approach in the telling of the story. The same crisp and informative dialogue is used here to set the parameters of the history and mission, but the main weapon used by the project team this time is information. After identifying the key Pushpoints involved, the author then launches into a convincing and exciting alternate history retelling of the campaign, where all the little details in the history are keenly elucidated and one comes to feel that the history itself rested on the most precarious stack of small, inconsequential events.
These live history scenes alternate in groups with the more familiar chapters set in the Berkeley Lawrence Lab facility, as the author shows us results on a live stage peopled by the real historical figures instead of having his team members just talk about it in the lab. In those scenes, the team tries to understand how their interventions have affected the history we have just witnessed on stage, and try again with another intervention until they get the change they are hoping for.
As it turns out, the Bismarck is one slippery fish to reel in! In fact, after reading this you will come to feel that it was sheer luck that the British managed to sink the German ship at all, and wonder if someone actually was operating in time to control these odd events--a possibility darkly hinted at by the conclusion of the novel. The details here, some ferreted out of individual ship logs and eyewitness reports, are astounding. If you like naval sagas, as the author clearly does, you will love Golem 7. The treatment of the live history scenes, while unique, reads much like a C.S. Forester novel, and that is a compliment, to be sure."
Meridian V: Golem 7 is now available on Amazon.com here
Book V: Golem7 "Nordhausenis back with new research and his hand on the neck of the new terrorist behindthe Palma Event. Now the project team struggles to discover how and where theAssassins have intervened to restore the chaos of Palma, and their search leadsthem on one of the greatest naval sagas of modern history--the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck.
REVIEW:The title Golem 7 refers to an industrious grouping of Kelly Ramer's search Golem programs, who seem to be well ahead of the others in uncovering alarming variations in the history. By some means the Bismarck was not sunk on its maiden voyage, and now the team must sleuth the course of events in that campaign to find out how and why, and try to put the ship back in its watery grave before its fifteen inch guns wreak havoc on British convoys, and the time continuum as well! This volume presents a new approach in the telling of the story. The same crisp and informative dialogue is used here to set the parameters of the history and mission, but the main weapon used by the project team this time is information. After identifying the key Pushpoints involved, the author then launches into a convincing and exciting alternate history retelling of the campaign, where all the little details in the history are keenly elucidated and one comes to feel that the history itself rested on the most precarious stack of small, inconsequential events.
These live history scenes alternate in groups with the more familiar chapters set in the Berkeley Lawrence Lab facility, as the author shows us results on a live stage peopled by the real historical figures instead of having his team members just talk about it in the lab. In those scenes, the team tries to understand how their interventions have affected the history we have just witnessed on stage, and try again with another intervention until they get the change they are hoping for.
As it turns out, the Bismarck is one slippery fish to reel in! In fact, after reading this you will come to feel that it was sheer luck that the British managed to sink the German ship at all, and wonder if someone actually was operating in time to control these odd events--a possibility darkly hinted at by the conclusion of the novel. The details here, some ferreted out of individual ship logs and eyewitness reports, are astounding. If you like naval sagas, as the author clearly does, you will love Golem 7. The treatment of the live history scenes, while unique, reads much like a C.S. Forester novel, and that is a compliment, to be sure."
Meridian V: Golem 7 is now available on Amazon.com here
November 8, 2011
Meridian IV: Anvil of Fate Just Released!
The Writing Shop Press announces the release of Book IV in the award winning Meridian Series Time Travel novels by John Schettler. Meridian IV: Anvil of Fate is now available on the Amazon Kindle store and will also be released on Smashwords.com in numerous other eBook formats by Friday, Nov 11, 2011.
In volume IV, the Time War continues with a major intervention by the Assassin Cult aimed at defeating Charles Martel at the famous Battle of Tours. More on the Meridian Series novels here, including reviews and video trailers. Book V in the popular series, entitled Golem 7, is due out in 30 days!
In volume IV, the Time War continues with a major intervention by the Assassin Cult aimed at defeating Charles Martel at the famous Battle of Tours. More on the Meridian Series novels here, including reviews and video trailers. Book V in the popular series, entitled Golem 7, is due out in 30 days!
September 27, 2011
Two New Meridian Novels Scheduled For Fall Release
The Writing Shop has announced that the popular "Meridian" series time travel novels by John Schettler will continue, with a fourth book entitled The Anvil of Fate due out this fall in eBook format, followed soon after by a fifth volume tentatively titled, aptly enough Meridian V: 240 Degrees SW.
In the fourth volume, Anvil of Fate, the cryptic ending of Touchstone is clearly explained, and the project team now faces the most significant attack yet from unseen adversaries in the future, an "intervention" at a key moment in the 8th Century that threatens to completely alter the entire course of Western history in the most catastrophic intervention yet.
Meridian V: 240 Degrees SW begins just days after the conclusion of volume IV and sees the project team finally attempting to reverse the effects of the Palma Event again. When Chief Historian Nordhausen puts his hand squarely on the neck of the man he believes is now responsible to the plot, the threads of his research lead the team into the midst of one of the greatest naval sagas of all time. The author has also ended this one with a deep hook that opens the possibility of further series novels "in the future."
The Meridian series explores the successful efforts of a project team at the Berkeley Lawrence Labs to travel in time, and the opening book, Meridian, focuses on the struggle to reverse a modern day terrorist event that makes 9/11 pale by comparison. Building on the award winning success of the series opener, two sequels have already been published, Nexus Point and Touchstone.
In the first sequel, Nexus Point, the team discovers that their technology has been discovered and used by adversaries in the future, and that a "Time War" is now underway where each opposing side is attempting to influence key moments in the meridians of history to alter events and secure a decisive cultural and political advantage in their world of the future. The third volume, Touchstone, sees the Berkeley team drawn further into the complex struggle in a harrowing mission to Egypt at the time of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone during Napoleon's invasion. Here they meet and learn more about the adversaries in this Time War and are slowly entangled in operations aimed at preserving the meridian of history as they know it.
Ever since H.G. Wells first penned his landmark novel, The Time Machine, the genre has been extremely popular in its ability to blend both science and historical fiction together in one story. All the key elements of the genre are here, a plausible theory of how time travel is possible, incredible plot that has a new twist around every corner, the confounding effects of paradox and, of course, time shifts into key moments of the past where the team searches for the "Pushpoints" of history, the actual triggers that set off and influence the outcomes of major events. Yet the theory here is that the really great events are set in motion by small inconsequential moments in time, little accidents, mishaps, stumbles, loose threads in the weave of time that become the real movers and shakers of history. Sleuthing the history to find these key moments makes up a large part of the fun and enjoyment in these stories.
Both new novels are now in final review and should be available in the Amazon Kindle store, on Smashwords.com and many other popular eBook outlets this fall.
In the fourth volume, Anvil of Fate, the cryptic ending of Touchstone is clearly explained, and the project team now faces the most significant attack yet from unseen adversaries in the future, an "intervention" at a key moment in the 8th Century that threatens to completely alter the entire course of Western history in the most catastrophic intervention yet.
Meridian V: 240 Degrees SW begins just days after the conclusion of volume IV and sees the project team finally attempting to reverse the effects of the Palma Event again. When Chief Historian Nordhausen puts his hand squarely on the neck of the man he believes is now responsible to the plot, the threads of his research lead the team into the midst of one of the greatest naval sagas of all time. The author has also ended this one with a deep hook that opens the possibility of further series novels "in the future."
The Meridian series explores the successful efforts of a project team at the Berkeley Lawrence Labs to travel in time, and the opening book, Meridian, focuses on the struggle to reverse a modern day terrorist event that makes 9/11 pale by comparison. Building on the award winning success of the series opener, two sequels have already been published, Nexus Point and Touchstone.
In the first sequel, Nexus Point, the team discovers that their technology has been discovered and used by adversaries in the future, and that a "Time War" is now underway where each opposing side is attempting to influence key moments in the meridians of history to alter events and secure a decisive cultural and political advantage in their world of the future. The third volume, Touchstone, sees the Berkeley team drawn further into the complex struggle in a harrowing mission to Egypt at the time of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone during Napoleon's invasion. Here they meet and learn more about the adversaries in this Time War and are slowly entangled in operations aimed at preserving the meridian of history as they know it.
Ever since H.G. Wells first penned his landmark novel, The Time Machine, the genre has been extremely popular in its ability to blend both science and historical fiction together in one story. All the key elements of the genre are here, a plausible theory of how time travel is possible, incredible plot that has a new twist around every corner, the confounding effects of paradox and, of course, time shifts into key moments of the past where the team searches for the "Pushpoints" of history, the actual triggers that set off and influence the outcomes of major events. Yet the theory here is that the really great events are set in motion by small inconsequential moments in time, little accidents, mishaps, stumbles, loose threads in the weave of time that become the real movers and shakers of history. Sleuthing the history to find these key moments makes up a large part of the fun and enjoyment in these stories.
Both new novels are now in final review and should be available in the Amazon Kindle store, on Smashwords.com and many other popular eBook outlets this fall.
Doom On Ice
Well... Here we are. The dreadful date of Sept 27, 2011 has been the focal point of so many predictions of doom on the internet that I can't begin to count them. Suffice it to say that the puny comet Elenin is now lined up with the sun and earth, and since this supposedly triggered earthquakes, including the big 9.0 in Japan last March, we were told to expect a mega-quake on this date. We were also told Elenin was so big that it would literally blot out the sun and there would be three days of darkness. But it's a beautiful, quiet sunny day here in Monterey, CA...No earthquake, no darkness, no Blue Kachina, no Red Kachina, in fact, no Elenin--the darn thing has been breaking up and diminishing in size for weeks now.
Let's face it folks....No, the world elite, on vacation, are not all out heading for their underground bunkers. And NO, these hidden sites have not been nuked lately, and NO there is no massive Brown Dwarf crackling with a super magnetic field about to toast us all here on Mother Earth. No, I'm sorry, there is nothing about this on a Swiss Frank either. It's all nonsense--all of it--junk on the Internet posted by people who don't seem to believe their lives have any viable or meaningful future. Perhaps it's a shadow of the times, with the economy so dark and gloomy that it inevitably manifests in these predictions of utter doom. And face it, there's more than one shyster out there making money off this, be it giving seminars or selling "insider info" on "what's about to happen."
Doomers, it's time to put that doom on ice or reset the doom clock again. You've still have all your doom dates in October to look forward to, and of course your 2012 doom schedule as well, but like this day, good old Sept 27, 2011 these dates will also pass uneventfully by, and you'll just have your ordinary, and apparently hopeless lives in front of you. Just this. Just this, and nothing more. Oh, yes, we'll have earthquakes, and typhoons and all the rest in the years ahead. We've always had them, and we always will.
What we won't have is the earth getting fried by Nibiru, or a hail of Elenin tail debris pummeling us to death. It would make a great Hollywood blockbuster however. You want doom? There's plenty home cooked to go around without needing a rogue planet to crash the dinner party. Look no further than the Banksters and the Fed, the IMF and Wall Street. There's all the doom you'll need for years to come.
In the meantime, the pumpkins are stacking up outside the grocery stores, the Christmas ornaments are being hung in the big mall anchors. The leaves are turning, fading, falling. It's autumn, and may it be a lovely one this year. And for those of you who cannot see a spring in your lives next year...Believe.
Let's face it folks....No, the world elite, on vacation, are not all out heading for their underground bunkers. And NO, these hidden sites have not been nuked lately, and NO there is no massive Brown Dwarf crackling with a super magnetic field about to toast us all here on Mother Earth. No, I'm sorry, there is nothing about this on a Swiss Frank either. It's all nonsense--all of it--junk on the Internet posted by people who don't seem to believe their lives have any viable or meaningful future. Perhaps it's a shadow of the times, with the economy so dark and gloomy that it inevitably manifests in these predictions of utter doom. And face it, there's more than one shyster out there making money off this, be it giving seminars or selling "insider info" on "what's about to happen."
Doomers, it's time to put that doom on ice or reset the doom clock again. You've still have all your doom dates in October to look forward to, and of course your 2012 doom schedule as well, but like this day, good old Sept 27, 2011 these dates will also pass uneventfully by, and you'll just have your ordinary, and apparently hopeless lives in front of you. Just this. Just this, and nothing more. Oh, yes, we'll have earthquakes, and typhoons and all the rest in the years ahead. We've always had them, and we always will.
What we won't have is the earth getting fried by Nibiru, or a hail of Elenin tail debris pummeling us to death. It would make a great Hollywood blockbuster however. You want doom? There's plenty home cooked to go around without needing a rogue planet to crash the dinner party. Look no further than the Banksters and the Fed, the IMF and Wall Street. There's all the doom you'll need for years to come.
In the meantime, the pumpkins are stacking up outside the grocery stores, the Christmas ornaments are being hung in the big mall anchors. The leaves are turning, fading, falling. It's autumn, and may it be a lovely one this year. And for those of you who cannot see a spring in your lives next year...Believe.
August 17, 2011
Meridian IV: The Anvil of Fate
The Writing Shop has announced that the popular "Meridian" series time travel novels by John Schettler will continue, with a fourth book entitled The Anvil of Fate due out this fall in eBook format.
The series explores the successful efforts of a project team at the Berkeley Lawrence Labs to travel in time, and the opening book, Meridian, focuses on the struggle to reverse a modern day terrorist event that makes 9/11 pale by comparison. Building on the award winning success of the series opener, two sequels have already been published, Nexus Point and Touchstone.
In the first sequel, Nexus Point, the team discovers that their technology has been discovered and used by adversaries in the future, and that a "Time War" is now underway where each opposing side is attempting to influence key moments in the meridians of history to alter history and secure a decisive cultural and political advantage in their world of the future. The third volume, Touchstone, sees the Berkeley team drawn further into the complex struggle, as they learn more about the adversaries in this Time War and are slowly entangled in operations aimed at preserving the time line and history as they know it.
Ever since H.G. Wells first penned his landmark novel, The Time Machine, the genre has been extremely popular in its ability to blend both science and historical fiction together in one story. All the key elements of the genre are here, a plausible theory of how time travel is possible, incredible plot that has a new twist around every corner, the confounding effects of paradox and, of course, time shifts into key moments of the past where the team searches for the "Pushpoints" of history, the actual triggers that set off and influence the outcomes of major events. Yet the theory here is that the really great events are set in motion by small inconsequential moments in time, little accidents, mishaps, stumbles, loose threads in the weave of time that become the real movers and shakers of history. Sleuthing the history to find these key moments makes up a large part of the fun and enjoyment in these stories.
In the fourth volume, Anvil of Fate, the cryptic ending of Touchstone is clearly explained, and the project team now faces the most significant attack yet from unseen adversaries in the future, an "intervention" at a key moment in the 8th Century that threatens to completely alter the course of Western history.
Meridian IV: Anvil of Fate is now in final review and should be available in the Amazon Kindle store, on Smashwords.com and many other popular eBook outlets this fall.
The series explores the successful efforts of a project team at the Berkeley Lawrence Labs to travel in time, and the opening book, Meridian, focuses on the struggle to reverse a modern day terrorist event that makes 9/11 pale by comparison. Building on the award winning success of the series opener, two sequels have already been published, Nexus Point and Touchstone.
In the first sequel, Nexus Point, the team discovers that their technology has been discovered and used by adversaries in the future, and that a "Time War" is now underway where each opposing side is attempting to influence key moments in the meridians of history to alter history and secure a decisive cultural and political advantage in their world of the future. The third volume, Touchstone, sees the Berkeley team drawn further into the complex struggle, as they learn more about the adversaries in this Time War and are slowly entangled in operations aimed at preserving the time line and history as they know it.
Ever since H.G. Wells first penned his landmark novel, The Time Machine, the genre has been extremely popular in its ability to blend both science and historical fiction together in one story. All the key elements of the genre are here, a plausible theory of how time travel is possible, incredible plot that has a new twist around every corner, the confounding effects of paradox and, of course, time shifts into key moments of the past where the team searches for the "Pushpoints" of history, the actual triggers that set off and influence the outcomes of major events. Yet the theory here is that the really great events are set in motion by small inconsequential moments in time, little accidents, mishaps, stumbles, loose threads in the weave of time that become the real movers and shakers of history. Sleuthing the history to find these key moments makes up a large part of the fun and enjoyment in these stories.
In the fourth volume, Anvil of Fate, the cryptic ending of Touchstone is clearly explained, and the project team now faces the most significant attack yet from unseen adversaries in the future, an "intervention" at a key moment in the 8th Century that threatens to completely alter the course of Western history.
Meridian IV: Anvil of Fate is now in final review and should be available in the Amazon Kindle store, on Smashwords.com and many other popular eBook outlets this fall.
