Thomas Pluck's Blog, page 29

Check Me Out

Blade of Dishonor sighted at the Montclair Public Library:

You can check it out here, anywhere in the county Library Loan system.

 

Tagged: Blade of Dishonor, Montclair

Noir at the Bar Queens – 8/7

Crime Writers Kitchen

Holly West started Crime Writers Kitchen with Kristi Belcamino and myself, out of our shared love for good food and murder. Drop by for my recipe for a pesto burrata breakfast sandwich, and to view my collection of headhunting knives.

Crime Writers Kitchen

Tagged: Crime Writers Kitchen, Holly West, Kristi Belcamino

Noir at the Bar NYC – 7/13

Join us at Shade Bar this Sunday, 7/13, at 6pm for readings from Jen Conley, Sarah Weinman, Reed Farrel Coleman, Barry Lancet, Alex Segura, Ben Lieberman, Vincent Zandri, and S.A. Solomon.

 

Tagged: New York City, Noir at the Bar

RIP, Louis Zamperini. Beyond Unbroken.

Today I pay respects to Louis Zamperini. Olympian. Member of a WWII bomber crew. A hero who survived a brutal Japanese POW camp, and went back to FORGIVE “the Bird,” the man who beat and starved him for years in an attempt to break his spirit.

I pay him homage in Blade of Dishonor for his unwavering perseverance. Rather than let his hate consume him, he pursued what to many of us would be the unthinkable, and lived a long and prosperous life because of it.

Read the book UNBROKEN before the movie comes out. Who knows what they’ll change. The book was written by Laura Hillenbrand with his assistance.

The full obit on NPR.

Tagged: death, Louis Zamperini, Unbroken, World War 2

The Dirty, Criminal Past of Grand Central Terminal

I went on a guided, behind the scenes tour of Grand Central Terminal with some crime writers during BookExpo America. Danny Brucker was our guide, a boisterous and funny character out of a Westlake novel. Plenty of photos, trivia, and lesser-known history  at my Criminal Element article, ‘The Dirty, Criminal Past of Grand Central Terminal.’

Tagged: Back in the New York Groove, Criminal Element, Grand Central Terminal, New York City

Fresh Meat: A Swollen Red Sun, by Matthew McBride

Fresh Meat: A Swollen Red Sun, by Matthew McBride

My take on A SWOLLEN RED SUN by Matthew McBride, at Criminal Element:

“a disturbing and heartfelt piece of country noir.”

Tagged: Criminal Element, Matthew McBride, Noir

Victor Blaming? Learning Self-Defense is Not a Moral Judgment.

“We wish to be clear that women are not responsible for rape, no matter their behavior, their attire, or their level of intoxication; promoting self-defense training for women in no way suggests that the onus is now, or should be, on women alone to stop rape.”

Apparently when Miss USA–Nia Sanchez, Miss Nevada–won, she said she has been training in tae kwon do since age 8. Her words:

“I think more awareness is very important so women can learn how to protect themselves. Myself, as a fourth-degree black belt, I learned from a young age that you need to be confident and be able to defend yourself. And I think that’s something that we should start to really implement for a lot of women.”

This was taken as “victim blaming” by some, and that we should “teach men not to rape.” And of course, the answer is we should do both. I don’t want to make an analogy, because they derail conversations and “rape is rape” (and any other number of things that look good on a picket sign but accomplish nothing). Wish in one hand, shit in the other. It will be a long time before women can feel safer, when they won’t clutch their keys like brass knuckles. We’re only spreading the word now, and it will take a generation, at least, before any of this is absorbed.

What can you do now? Stop treating women like de facto victims because of the left’s nonviolence fetishism. Gandhi won. MLK won. But they got the living shit beat out of them for decades, they were imprisoned, they had dogs sicced on them, while society tsk tsked, until it was so egregious that thinking began to shift.

If you want to tell young women to not train to defend themselves out of some sense of moral authority, if you want to shame women who responsibly train with firearms or their fists and refuse to buy the bullshit that men are the only ones with agency, the only ones who can stop rape (how fucking sexist is that?) or that there is a “woman’s way” to stop this with cogent articles and a “we’re not gonna take it” attitude with nothing pragmatic… let me just say this: You Go First.

No one is saying that women should have to be kungfu masters, and if they aren’t, well, they got what they had comin’. That’s YOUR hangup, because YOU don’t want to train in self defense. And that’s fine. No one says you have to.

Ms. Sanchez said self-defense taught her confidence; in a culture where girls are increasingly taught to base their self-worth on how others perceive them, how can you honestly say that teaching them self-respect and confidence based on their own accomplishments is anything but a good thing? You don’t want to see women hit people or be hit? Really? One, check your privilege. Maybe you live in what’s essentially an extended gated community, and violence is uncommon. Two, that’s your hang-up. Is violence inherently masculine? The women fighters I know would disagree.

We can teach boys not to rape. There will still be rape.

You can learn how to fight, or you can choose not to. No one will blame you if you don’t. So stop attacking those who choose a different path.

To hear it better said, from a woman, read See Jane Fight Back‘s open letter to President Biden.

Tagged: Rants, Rape, Rape Culture, Self-Defense

In Memoriam

I last visited Arlington National Cemetery right before my friend John Milkewicz shipped off to Iraq. I am very thankful that he came home. Memorial Day is for those soldiers who did not.

It began after the Civil War as Decoration Day, for decorating the graves of soldiers. After World War II it became more commonplace. I know many veterans, family and friends. I am grateful that they came home. The only family member I know who died at war was Nicholas Pucci, who served in the Korean War.

Let us remember the dead today, and the true cost of war, which echoes through the generations. The lost promise, the families left gouged by their absence, and the burden those who made it home must carry.

American Civil War

625,000


World War II

405,399


World War I

116,516


Vietnam

58,151


Korean War

36,516


American Revolutionary War

25,000


War of 1812

15,000


Mexican American War

13,283


War on terror* present

6,717


Philippine–American War

4,196

The Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Audie Murphy’s grave

The Grave of Joe Louis

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Just one small corner.

Tagged: Arlington Cemetery, Darth Milk, DC, Iraq, Memorial Day, World War 2

Giveaway: Young God, by Katherine Faw Morris

I really enjoyed YOUNG GOD by Katherine Faw Morris- here’s my review for Criminal Element. It’s a brutal quick read in the vein of Frank Bill and Vicki Hendricks, flash-fast noir with an unapologetic female protagonist.

I have a copy to give away. For a chance, leave a comment with the best novel you’ve read this year. I’ll pick a wiener at random on Monday morning.

 

Tagged: Criminal Element, Giveaways, Katherine Faw Morris, Noir, Young God