Benjamin Sobieck's Blog, page 26
December 17, 2013
A Book for Writing About Military Firearms
Writers who cover a lot of military ground should check out the Standard Catalog of Military Firearms. It's published by Gun Digest, where I work. We're blowing it out for 50% off right now.
What sets this tome apart is the exhaustive listings of military firearms from around the world. If you're curious about the guns used by the world's militaries, here's your chance to own the best book for the best price.
Click here to order this military firearms book now from GunDigestStore.com. Do it before Dec. 24, though, that's when the deal expires.
December 16, 2013
CafePress Promotes Maynard Soloman's Wise Ass Baby Bib!
Besides appearing in his own e-book series, Maynard Soloman, my cantankerous private detective character, also has a CafePress store. The schwag is full of crusty wisdom lifted out of the satirical series.
CafePress thought enough of the wise ass baby bib at the store to promote it on Facebook - no bribing required. Pretty cool, huh?
If baby bibs aren't your thing, there are plenty of other depressing gifts for the little shits on your Christmas list, too. Check it out here.
December 14, 2013
Could an Item Under Clothing "Stop a Bullet?"
That's the topic I'll be addressing in an upcoming post. It'll actually run on another website, criminologist/author Jennifer Chase's to be exact, next week. But subscribers to my free e-newsletter will be able to read it first.
If you're not already a subscriber, sign up for it to get knife and gun writing tips inspired by my upcoming Writer's Digest guide.
Subscribers can also send me topics and questions to answer. Keen!
December 12, 2013
Writing Guns: Is the Pocket Shot Possible?
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Fiction, especially the thriller and crime genres, loves the pocket shot. Nothing surprises a target character like a blast from a handgun from within a jacket or pants pocket.
But how true to reality is the pocket shot? Is such a thing even possible?
I explored this question while working on my Writer's Digest guide to writing firearms and knives in fiction, due to hit shelves in late 2014.
Admittedly, I chickened out when it came to testing the pocket shot in person. Maybe "had the good sense not to" is a better way to put "chickened out," but I digress.
Instead, I tapped one of the firearm world's leading authorities on handguns, Massad Ayoob. His book, Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry, explains the realities of the pocket shot in detail. Here's what he had to say in his book:
Three of the participants used [pistols] for firing through coat pockets. All three specimens went five shots for five tries without a malfunction. The shooters did notice that it was distracting to have trapped, hot casings burning their hands and wrists inside the pockets.
In other words, it's possible, but not probable, for a pocket shot in reality. A single shot is most likely to work, and only at an intimate range (a few feet away at most), since accuracy will be compromised.
So have at it, fiction writers. Embellish this bit of reality. It's one of the rare times art really does imitate life when it comes to firearms.
For more tidbits about writing firearms and knives, stay tuned to CrimeFictionBook.com or sign up for my free e-newsletter. Also watch for my Writer's Digest guide in late 2014.
Feel free to post any questions in the comments, too.
December 9, 2013
iTunes Gets Grinch-y on Indie Authors
Time to talk a little author shop. Readers, this will bore the crap out of you. Authors, especially those using Smashwords, read on.
It's standard practice when submitting an e-book to a retailer to not include links to competing retailers in the content. Doing so will likely mean the title is rejected. That's a reasonable and standard practice.
What isn't reasonable is how iTunes is now rejecting titles submitted through Smashwords. Starting in early December, Apple writes "tickets" to Smashwords authors not in compliance with its retailing rules. One of those rules is having links to other retailers on the author's website.
That's right. Not in the author's e-book. On the author's website.
Sound a little overreaching? That's because it is. Apple isn't just looking for competing links in the e-book itself. It's going all the way to authors' websites.
I received a "ticket" myself via Smashwords. My crime? Having links to Amazon on my personal website.
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Sorry, iTunes, but you're not winning this round. I like Apple products a lot, but I'm not re-tooling my entire website to suit your business model. My website it my exclusive corner of the Web, where I rule as benign dictator of all I behold. And while I appreciate Apple employees taking the time to check out CrimeFictionBook.com, it's just a little creepy. If you're going to stop in, at least buy a book.
Hopefully, this issue is addressed soon. It's preventing one of my titles from reaching the iTunes store, 6 Funny Detective Stories - Maynard Soloman Smokes the World's Problems. (Yeah, that's an Amazon link right there, jerks.)
Until then, I think I'll make an apple pie just out of spite. And because they're delicious.
December 8, 2013
Merry Christmas
Ugly Christmas sweaters, meet photo editing software. Merry Christmas, everyone.
November 23, 2013
Review: Grind Joint by Dana King
Grind Joint realizes the promises made in Dana King's first two excellent crime novels, Wild Bill and Worst Enemies.
First to the reader, in the most vivid yet readable entry in the crime author's catalog. Even the most degenerate lowlife - and there are plenty of them in this tale of casinos, cops, cash and corruption - lives and breathes in the writing. With a large roster of characters, this easily could've become bogged down. But King's tight prose is such that it can accomplish in two sentences something that could've eaten two pages.
That keeps the action flowing forward from the first page onward. King's done this before in other novels, but this time the urgency is as built in as part of the setting. There's a death before the first 1,000 words is up.
That may have something to do with the publisher, Stark House Press. It's about damn time someone figured out what a great writer King is in this genre. Wild Bill and Worst Enemies set the scene for this debut with Stark House, and things couldn't have turned out better.
If mob fiction is your thing, and even if it isn't, Grind Joint is a great crime novel to get lost inside. From the small things, like the way the police officers talk to each other, all the way up to the grand schemes at the heart of the story, Grind Joint is a mob fiction must. You'll never gamble at a casino again without looking over your shoulder.
Click here to order the paperback of Grind Joint from Amazon. Author King tells me an e-book version is coming soon, too.
Check Out My Other Reviews of Crime Novels by Dana King
November 3, 2013
A Snarky T-Shirt for NaNoWriMo
November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Although I'll be spending my month working on the non-fiction Writer's Digest book, I still offer my full support to NaNoWriMo participants. Exhibit A is this snarky, NaNoWriMo-inspired T-shirt recently added to the CafePress store.
Click here to get it to remind yourself that "funemployment" can be another word for NaNoWriMo.
November 1, 2013
Maynard Soloman CafePress Store Now Open
I'm happy to announce the launch of the official Maynard Soloman CafePress store. I mined the best funny quotes and words of satirical wisdom from the short story series. Then I slapped them on T-shirts, flasks, baby bibs, underwear and all manner of hootenanny like a crazed Yukon prospector. Now you can live like the Ol' Badger himself!
The only thing it doesn't have is a POS Winnebago RV to drive around. That's up to you and your insurance agent.
I think you'll have a lot of fun wearing your crusty sarcasm on your sleeve. Check it out, ya mudsills!
Click here to go to the Maynard Soloman CafePress store.
October 24, 2013
Another New Release: 8 Funny Detective Stories
The new releases keep on rolling with 8 Funny Detective Stories with Maynard Soloman, Gal-Damn Detective. This is the latest collection, and it features all eight short stories, a pile of bonus features and (finally) a peek at Maynard's POS RV on the cover. It's available for the Kindle, at Smashwords and soon enough at all fine e-book retail websites.
That's almost 50,000 words of malarkey for $3.39. The stories aren't exactly short then, but I hope you don't mind getting more for your money. I know the cheapskate Maynard would approve. Here's the synopsis:
Since launching with the first short story, Maynard Soloman Solves the War on Drugs, Maynard Soloman, gal-damn detective, has become somewhat of a cult hero. Or a folk hero. Or maybe just confused.
Using his vocabulary of insults from bygone days and a decaying RV, the old-timey Maynard Soloman made good on his promise to fix the problems of the modern world one case at a time. Or at least cuss at them until they went away.
8 Funny Detective Stories represents his first eight cases of mystery, malarkey and misadventure. Each combines the slapstick fun of The Pink Panther with the sharp wit of The Onion, if both lived in an RV watching nothing but old Westerns. Fans of Carl Hiaasen's crime fiction humor, Elmore Leonard's bumbling bad guys or snappy current events satire will enjoy these quick reads.
Despite being older than dirt, the Ol' Badger is just getting started - so long as the piss and vinegar don't run out. Here are the short stories and bonus features you'll find in this keen collection.
Short Stories
Maynard Soloman Solves the War on Drugs Maynard Soloman Fixes Social Security and Eats a Pony Maynard Soloman and the Job-Nabbin' Illegal Immigrants Maynard Soloman Proves Santa Claus is Real Maynard Soloman Legalizes Gay Knot Tying Maynard Soloman Takes the Bus to a Strip Club Maynard Soloman & the Bull$hit Cancer Awareness Campaign Maynard Soloman vs. The Kidney ThievesBonus Features
How to Cuss Like Maynard Soloman Maynard Soloman's Two-Beer Critter Marinade Maynard Soloman's Guide to Milk and Cookies 10 Signs Your Kid is in a Cult Maynard's Guide to Tipping Maynard's Guide to Charitable Giving Dr. Maynard's Guide to Kidney Transplants
Get it for the Kindle here, at Smashwords here and at every other e-book store on this green Earth soon enough. Hop to it, ya mugs.
