Steven Hildreth Jr.'s Blog, page 3
January 4, 2013
Review: HOMICIDE: A YEAR ON THE KILLING STREETS by David Simon
To say that David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets is iconic would be a bit of an understatement. It is the recipient of the 1992 Edgar Award (an award created by the Mystery Writers of America) and has spawned not one but two television shows: Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire, both of which are critically acclaimed and the latter which is a favorite of many noteworthy people, including President Barack Obama. But what is it about the book that endears it to true crime fans and that makes it a prime candidate for television shows?
I'd only heard of Homicide and The Wire in passing, and only after I was halfway through the book did I start to watch the former. I picked up Homicide because it came highly recommended as research material for how criminal investigations work and how police officers act, think, and feel. I bought the book when I was in Baghdad back in 2008, and it's been sitting on my shelf since then. Only when I decided it was time to pursue my goal of writing a cop thriller did I finally dust it off the shelf and crack it open.
My only regret is that I didn't pick it up sooner.
Homicide is full of dark humor, moments of redemption, and gut-wrenching instances that make you simultaneously question your faith in humanity and give thanks that such men stand ready to bring the perpetrators to justice. For me, three detectives stood out: Donald Worden, the veteran of the squad who would haze the younger detectives and often ask for a quarter (when this is explained at the end of the book, it's a real, "Oh! Now I get it!" moment); Tom Pellegrini, the new guy fresh from the mayor's protection detail, who's slammed with a real whodunit out the gate, and a heinous one at that: the rape and murder of young Latonya Wallace; and Harry Edgerton, a rare black detective that hails from New York, operates as a lone wolf, and despite his many enemies on the force, undeniably produces results. There were often times where I forgot I was reading a work of nonfiction, as the characters enraptured me better than many fictional works I had read.
Simon's prose is top notch. It's tight, gritty, and spurs the reader forward. Most importantly, it's unadulterated: the detectives themselves requested very few changes, and the Baltimore Police Department's review yielded no changes. The best feature of the prose is that it's real. You can tell that while it may enthrall like the best thriller, this is real life. These are crimes that actually occurred to people, and these are the men who deal with death on a regular basis, dispassionately facing death and working in it to find the truth.
Hands down, Homicide is a must-read for any fan of the true crime genre, or for those looking to see how real detective work is done. And as the closing remarks from Terry McLarney state, not much has changed since that year on the killing streets.
You can purchase Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets from Amazon in both print and Kindle editions here.
I'd only heard of Homicide and The Wire in passing, and only after I was halfway through the book did I start to watch the former. I picked up Homicide because it came highly recommended as research material for how criminal investigations work and how police officers act, think, and feel. I bought the book when I was in Baghdad back in 2008, and it's been sitting on my shelf since then. Only when I decided it was time to pursue my goal of writing a cop thriller did I finally dust it off the shelf and crack it open.
My only regret is that I didn't pick it up sooner.
Homicide is full of dark humor, moments of redemption, and gut-wrenching instances that make you simultaneously question your faith in humanity and give thanks that such men stand ready to bring the perpetrators to justice. For me, three detectives stood out: Donald Worden, the veteran of the squad who would haze the younger detectives and often ask for a quarter (when this is explained at the end of the book, it's a real, "Oh! Now I get it!" moment); Tom Pellegrini, the new guy fresh from the mayor's protection detail, who's slammed with a real whodunit out the gate, and a heinous one at that: the rape and murder of young Latonya Wallace; and Harry Edgerton, a rare black detective that hails from New York, operates as a lone wolf, and despite his many enemies on the force, undeniably produces results. There were often times where I forgot I was reading a work of nonfiction, as the characters enraptured me better than many fictional works I had read.
Simon's prose is top notch. It's tight, gritty, and spurs the reader forward. Most importantly, it's unadulterated: the detectives themselves requested very few changes, and the Baltimore Police Department's review yielded no changes. The best feature of the prose is that it's real. You can tell that while it may enthrall like the best thriller, this is real life. These are crimes that actually occurred to people, and these are the men who deal with death on a regular basis, dispassionately facing death and working in it to find the truth.
Hands down, Homicide is a must-read for any fan of the true crime genre, or for those looking to see how real detective work is done. And as the closing remarks from Terry McLarney state, not much has changed since that year on the killing streets.
You can purchase Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets from Amazon in both print and Kindle editions here.
December 5, 2012
QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION: Redemption By Blood
These questions were posed to me by Cynthia Vespia, author of Theater of Pain and Demon Hunter: Saga. Enjoy!
1) What is the working title of your next book?
Redemption by Blood
2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
The concept that Chicago politics have been infiltrated by the Chicago Outfit (the city's Mafia family), as well as the general attitude of the 1990s that it was time to fight back against Mob influence.
3) What genre does your book fall under?
Crime Thriller, with a hint of noir to it
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Detective Walker would definitely be played by Shemar Moore. His partner, Rae Callahan, would be played by Olivia Wilde. The Yakuza boss, I actually specifically wrote the role around George Takei.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A state senator is assassinated for attempting to reveal possibly one of the most ground-shattering scandals in American political history.
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will be self-published through Createspace.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
The first draft is actually still in progress!
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
This is actually my first venture into the crime thriller genre, and I haven't read any other books in it…I have read some Mickey Spillane, so I'm sure that acts as an influence…I also read Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon to get a realistic portrayal as to how detectives act and investigate cases.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I've always wanted to delve into crime fiction. I blame that on The Shield. That's really what got me looking at writing about cops and the streets and such. From there, my interest has expanded.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
It has action, it has snappy dialogue, it has sex, it has devious criminals, and it has political conspiracy…everything one needs in such a story!
1) What is the working title of your next book?
Redemption by Blood
2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
The concept that Chicago politics have been infiltrated by the Chicago Outfit (the city's Mafia family), as well as the general attitude of the 1990s that it was time to fight back against Mob influence.
3) What genre does your book fall under?
Crime Thriller, with a hint of noir to it
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Detective Walker would definitely be played by Shemar Moore. His partner, Rae Callahan, would be played by Olivia Wilde. The Yakuza boss, I actually specifically wrote the role around George Takei.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A state senator is assassinated for attempting to reveal possibly one of the most ground-shattering scandals in American political history.
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will be self-published through Createspace.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
The first draft is actually still in progress!
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
This is actually my first venture into the crime thriller genre, and I haven't read any other books in it…I have read some Mickey Spillane, so I'm sure that acts as an influence…I also read Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon to get a realistic portrayal as to how detectives act and investigate cases.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I've always wanted to delve into crime fiction. I blame that on The Shield. That's really what got me looking at writing about cops and the streets and such. From there, my interest has expanded.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
It has action, it has snappy dialogue, it has sex, it has devious criminals, and it has political conspiracy…everything one needs in such a story!
Hello, Readers!
It's been a minute since I've posted. Not to fret, though, this blog is still up and running. NaNoWriMo consumed a lot of my time, and it was a fight to the finish, but I got my threepeat. Now that things have quieted down a little bit, expect some more posts from me, including a question and answer session and a couple of book reviews. Stay tuned!
-Steven
-Steven
September 22, 2012
Review: COGAR'S DESPAIR by Nate Granzow
Nate Granzow is no stranger to my blog. He amazed me with his debut eNovel, The Scorpion's Nest (the review to which can be found here), and again demonstrates why he is such a solid writer with Cogar's Despair.
The work revolves around Grant Cogar, an adrenaline-junkie freelance journalist which a knack for finding bad situations and beautiful women, in that order. He finds himself in Seoul, South Korea, covering an escalation of force between the ROK and the DPRK, but at the behest of his hard partying friend, Harold Chamberlain (who is the son of the ambassador to South Korea), Cogar finds himself in Shanghai, and on the bad side of some cocaine smugglers.
Cogar's charm is that he is an everyman, in contrast to Jack Murphy's protagonist Deckard, or to my own Ben Williams. He is not a trained operator, and he has no military or law enforcement background. Grant Cogar is an ordinary man in extraordinary situations, who survives on his wit, intellect, and sheer survivability. He has all of the charm and humor of James Bond, but none of the skills, which makes his bad situations that much worse. Beneath this glib exterior is a man who cares, who has seen things but, unlike a cop or a soldier, tends to retain more of his original humanity due to a fact that he was never trained to internalize what he has seen.
Another character of note is Jessica, the unofficial nanny to Harold Chamberlain. Without giving away any spoilers, there is much more to her than meets the eye, and I loved the dynamic between her and Cogar. I am hoping to see her in future installments.
The work did have some grammatical errors, and a factual error in referring to North Korea as the People's Republic of North Korea instead of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (which threw me off when referred to as "People's Republic," as I thought Granzow was referring to Mainland China), but they were largely overshadowed by the humor and the charisma oozed from Cogar.
All in all, Cogar's Despair is an excellent read, and a strong start to a new series. Consider that two hits in the bag for Granzow.
You can purchase Cogar's Despair for the Amazon Kindle here.
The work revolves around Grant Cogar, an adrenaline-junkie freelance journalist which a knack for finding bad situations and beautiful women, in that order. He finds himself in Seoul, South Korea, covering an escalation of force between the ROK and the DPRK, but at the behest of his hard partying friend, Harold Chamberlain (who is the son of the ambassador to South Korea), Cogar finds himself in Shanghai, and on the bad side of some cocaine smugglers.
Cogar's charm is that he is an everyman, in contrast to Jack Murphy's protagonist Deckard, or to my own Ben Williams. He is not a trained operator, and he has no military or law enforcement background. Grant Cogar is an ordinary man in extraordinary situations, who survives on his wit, intellect, and sheer survivability. He has all of the charm and humor of James Bond, but none of the skills, which makes his bad situations that much worse. Beneath this glib exterior is a man who cares, who has seen things but, unlike a cop or a soldier, tends to retain more of his original humanity due to a fact that he was never trained to internalize what he has seen.
Another character of note is Jessica, the unofficial nanny to Harold Chamberlain. Without giving away any spoilers, there is much more to her than meets the eye, and I loved the dynamic between her and Cogar. I am hoping to see her in future installments.
The work did have some grammatical errors, and a factual error in referring to North Korea as the People's Republic of North Korea instead of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (which threw me off when referred to as "People's Republic," as I thought Granzow was referring to Mainland China), but they were largely overshadowed by the humor and the charisma oozed from Cogar.
All in all, Cogar's Despair is an excellent read, and a strong start to a new series. Consider that two hits in the bag for Granzow.
You can purchase Cogar's Despair for the Amazon Kindle here.
September 19, 2012
Review: TASK FORCE INTREPID: HIGHWAY TO HELL by D.R. Tharp
D.R. Tharp's Task Force Intrepid: Highway to Hell is a solid read. It is a little rough around the edges, and understandably so--as an author, I know how rough a first-time publication is, regardless of how much effort one puts into it--but at the end of the day, it was an enjoyable read.
Highway to Hell revolves around Willem Kruger, a Rhodesian forced to emigrate from his native land when the government fell and the nation became Zimbabwe. He settles on a farm in Kansas, but Tharp quickly reveals that Kruger is still very much a warrior, acting as an independent contractor for a CIA front company. His mission: assist rebel forces in Liberia attempting to overthrow President Charles Taylor. Kruger and his partner, former DEVGRU operator Rob, quickly find themselves over their heads and embroiled in a bloody jungle conflict that ends at the titular highway to Hell.
Tharp's strongpoint is his action, by far. He knows the nuances of written violence and it shows in his action scenes, as well as in one particular scene where Tharp provides medical attention to a fallen fighter. Also noteworthy is the personification of Kruger, which, while done sparsely, was done well. Kruger is the archetypical man without a country, and it shows in his attitude. He is a hard man but it doesn't take much to sense his world-weariness. Kruger quickly stands out from the rest of the characters.
Where Highway to Hell misses is the personification of the other characters. They deserved fleshing out, but aside from their written dialects, it was hard to distinguish one character from another, aside from Kruger and Rob. There were some grammatical errors that an editor could have easily smoothed out, which is by no means a sleight against Tharp or the book: again, speaking as an author, it happens to all of us. I think the big thing was the characterization, and that I could see that the plot would be extended beyond the confines of a novella.
All in all, though, Highway to Hell is a solid read. I would give it 3.5 stars if I could (which would bring its aggregate score to 70%, which it deserves, and not 60%) but three out of five will have to do. I would recommend it to other military enthusiasts, and I look forward to reading Tharp's next work.
You can purchase Task Force Intrepid: Highway to Hell for the Amazon Kindle here.
Highway to Hell revolves around Willem Kruger, a Rhodesian forced to emigrate from his native land when the government fell and the nation became Zimbabwe. He settles on a farm in Kansas, but Tharp quickly reveals that Kruger is still very much a warrior, acting as an independent contractor for a CIA front company. His mission: assist rebel forces in Liberia attempting to overthrow President Charles Taylor. Kruger and his partner, former DEVGRU operator Rob, quickly find themselves over their heads and embroiled in a bloody jungle conflict that ends at the titular highway to Hell.
Tharp's strongpoint is his action, by far. He knows the nuances of written violence and it shows in his action scenes, as well as in one particular scene where Tharp provides medical attention to a fallen fighter. Also noteworthy is the personification of Kruger, which, while done sparsely, was done well. Kruger is the archetypical man without a country, and it shows in his attitude. He is a hard man but it doesn't take much to sense his world-weariness. Kruger quickly stands out from the rest of the characters.
Where Highway to Hell misses is the personification of the other characters. They deserved fleshing out, but aside from their written dialects, it was hard to distinguish one character from another, aside from Kruger and Rob. There were some grammatical errors that an editor could have easily smoothed out, which is by no means a sleight against Tharp or the book: again, speaking as an author, it happens to all of us. I think the big thing was the characterization, and that I could see that the plot would be extended beyond the confines of a novella.
All in all, though, Highway to Hell is a solid read. I would give it 3.5 stars if I could (which would bring its aggregate score to 70%, which it deserves, and not 60%) but three out of five will have to do. I would recommend it to other military enthusiasts, and I look forward to reading Tharp's next work.
You can purchase Task Force Intrepid: Highway to Hell for the Amazon Kindle here.
September 7, 2012
Review: THE DEGÜELLO by Scott Zastrow
Reading Scott Zastrow's The Degüello taught me something. Not about Special Forces, per se--ninety percent of what I read, I already knew via former operators and my own research--but rather, about how to read a book. This sounds silly, but bear with me here for a moment.
Zastrow's book is listed as military fiction, and in the purest sense, it is. However, fiction, as I was taught, has certain conventions that were not present in the book. The biggest flaw, speaking from a writer's perspective, were the characters. It wasn't until the closing acts that I found characters that seemed like unique people I could meet in real life. On this basis, I was prepared to give the book a lower rating.
It wasn't until I was about thirty-five percent through the book that I realized the problem. It's listed as military fiction, but in reality, it is fictional military non-fiction. True to its tag line, it is based off of actual events in the opening stages of the War on Terror, and it is the epitome of a story told by somebody who has walked the walk. Zastrow, himself a veteran of Special Forces, told the story of an Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) that was sent to spearhead the invasion of Afghanistan. It is told in a very documentary style format, but since it is not a documentary or a pure historical account, it is branded as fiction.
Furthermore, an organic ODA has twelve operators (in the book, I counted nine, ten once a certain character joined the team). It is very hard to personalize twelve people, or ten people. In fact, I have found through personal experience that six is pushing it. Zastrow tries his best, but at the end of the day, it's a fictional historical book, not so much traditonal fiction.
With these facts in mind, I began to thoroughly enjoy The Degüello. It is indeed very accurate, and bears the mark of a writer who has conducted such operations. As an infantryman trained in many of the tactics detailed within, I can say with certainty that it is an authentic war novel, and as a military geek, it was an absolute pleasure to read.
There were a couple of things that could be improved. Despite knowing its true designation as far as books go, I still feel a little more could have been done to flesh out the characters, though Scott and Calvin stood out to me by far and large. Also, I do wish there was more fleshing out of the Taliban commander, as well as Triple Nickel's plan to respond to his attacks. Nonetheless, these points do not detract from the overall enjoyability of the novel.
Would I recommend this book to a layman only looking for an action thriller? No. Would I recommend it to a layman wanting to know more about Army Special Forces and the War on Terror? A thousand times, yes. And I would also recommend it to any service member looking to see how it's done on the SOF side of the fence.
Well done, Mr. Zastrow!
You can purchase The Degüello on Amazon in print here or for the Amazon Kindle here.
Zastrow's book is listed as military fiction, and in the purest sense, it is. However, fiction, as I was taught, has certain conventions that were not present in the book. The biggest flaw, speaking from a writer's perspective, were the characters. It wasn't until the closing acts that I found characters that seemed like unique people I could meet in real life. On this basis, I was prepared to give the book a lower rating.
It wasn't until I was about thirty-five percent through the book that I realized the problem. It's listed as military fiction, but in reality, it is fictional military non-fiction. True to its tag line, it is based off of actual events in the opening stages of the War on Terror, and it is the epitome of a story told by somebody who has walked the walk. Zastrow, himself a veteran of Special Forces, told the story of an Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) that was sent to spearhead the invasion of Afghanistan. It is told in a very documentary style format, but since it is not a documentary or a pure historical account, it is branded as fiction.
Furthermore, an organic ODA has twelve operators (in the book, I counted nine, ten once a certain character joined the team). It is very hard to personalize twelve people, or ten people. In fact, I have found through personal experience that six is pushing it. Zastrow tries his best, but at the end of the day, it's a fictional historical book, not so much traditonal fiction.
With these facts in mind, I began to thoroughly enjoy The Degüello. It is indeed very accurate, and bears the mark of a writer who has conducted such operations. As an infantryman trained in many of the tactics detailed within, I can say with certainty that it is an authentic war novel, and as a military geek, it was an absolute pleasure to read.
There were a couple of things that could be improved. Despite knowing its true designation as far as books go, I still feel a little more could have been done to flesh out the characters, though Scott and Calvin stood out to me by far and large. Also, I do wish there was more fleshing out of the Taliban commander, as well as Triple Nickel's plan to respond to his attacks. Nonetheless, these points do not detract from the overall enjoyability of the novel.
Would I recommend this book to a layman only looking for an action thriller? No. Would I recommend it to a layman wanting to know more about Army Special Forces and the War on Terror? A thousand times, yes. And I would also recommend it to any service member looking to see how it's done on the SOF side of the fence.
Well done, Mr. Zastrow!
You can purchase The Degüello on Amazon in print here or for the Amazon Kindle here.
KINDLE TO NOOK, NOOK TO KINDLE
All righty! Ever since the release of The First Bayonet, I have received numerous comments asking, "Hey, Steven, I have a Nook. Is it possible to read your book on it?" And back when it was not an italicized work (back when it was a novella, for the non-English geeks amongst us), I received the same question in reverse.
To the uninitiated: the Kindle is Amazon's eReader, and is the device that really sparked the frenzy regarding eBooks. Not to be outdone, Amazon's biggest competitor, Barnes & Noble, came out with their own version, the Nook. Amazon and B&N are bitter rivals in the online vendor business (though, as I can attest by my book sales with this release in comparison to my book sales when the original novella was on B&N, Amazon has the clear upper hand), and naturally, this means finding every advantage and method to force consumers to choose between one or the other. Think of it like a retelling of the Mac versus PC rivalry: up until recently, you had to pick either one or the other. It's the same deal here. Most mainstream, big-scale books are marketed for both eReaders, but for independent authors, such as myself, you've got to pick one side or another, or pay some extra cash to get it onto both markets.
However, this does not mean that Nook readers are out of luck. There are several websites that allow you to convert MOBI (the document file that Kindle uses) into EPUB (the document file that Nook uses) and vice versa. One such website is Convert Files, which I have used several times. It's got a real simple interface. Download the file to your computer, upload it to the site, convert it, and voilà, you've got a file ready for whatever reader you're using. There are several other websites that I shall leave you to research at your leisure.
Now, one thing I have not addressed is digital rights management. To my knowledge, converting should not be affected by DRM, but then again, I have not tried to convert a DRM-protected file. If this is the case, and you have purchased The First Bayonet for Kindle and you have not been able to convert it, there are a couple other options. You can download Calibre to your computer (it is both Mac and PC compatible) and use that to either read the file or try and convert it there. Push comes to shove, you can e-mail me at stevenhildrethbooks@gmail.com, attach a copy of your digital receipt from Amazon, and I will send you a Nook-compatible copy. However, I would prefer that people attempt to take these steps to rectify it themselves before mailing me directly, as I do not have as much free time as I would like, and if I am bombarded with requests for Nook-compatible files, it may take me a while to get back to all of them.
This has been a brief rundown on Kindle versus Nook. I hope you all have found this to be informative and relatively painless. Happy reading!
-Steven
To the uninitiated: the Kindle is Amazon's eReader, and is the device that really sparked the frenzy regarding eBooks. Not to be outdone, Amazon's biggest competitor, Barnes & Noble, came out with their own version, the Nook. Amazon and B&N are bitter rivals in the online vendor business (though, as I can attest by my book sales with this release in comparison to my book sales when the original novella was on B&N, Amazon has the clear upper hand), and naturally, this means finding every advantage and method to force consumers to choose between one or the other. Think of it like a retelling of the Mac versus PC rivalry: up until recently, you had to pick either one or the other. It's the same deal here. Most mainstream, big-scale books are marketed for both eReaders, but for independent authors, such as myself, you've got to pick one side or another, or pay some extra cash to get it onto both markets.
However, this does not mean that Nook readers are out of luck. There are several websites that allow you to convert MOBI (the document file that Kindle uses) into EPUB (the document file that Nook uses) and vice versa. One such website is Convert Files, which I have used several times. It's got a real simple interface. Download the file to your computer, upload it to the site, convert it, and voilà, you've got a file ready for whatever reader you're using. There are several other websites that I shall leave you to research at your leisure.
Now, one thing I have not addressed is digital rights management. To my knowledge, converting should not be affected by DRM, but then again, I have not tried to convert a DRM-protected file. If this is the case, and you have purchased The First Bayonet for Kindle and you have not been able to convert it, there are a couple other options. You can download Calibre to your computer (it is both Mac and PC compatible) and use that to either read the file or try and convert it there. Push comes to shove, you can e-mail me at stevenhildrethbooks@gmail.com, attach a copy of your digital receipt from Amazon, and I will send you a Nook-compatible copy. However, I would prefer that people attempt to take these steps to rectify it themselves before mailing me directly, as I do not have as much free time as I would like, and if I am bombarded with requests for Nook-compatible files, it may take me a while to get back to all of them.
This has been a brief rundown on Kindle versus Nook. I hope you all have found this to be informative and relatively painless. Happy reading!
-Steven
August 31, 2012
August 26, 2012
PREVIEW EXCERPT: The First Bayonet
Here is a preview of The First Bayonet, which will be released on Amazon.com and CreateSpace.com on August 31st, 2012. I hope you enjoy this preview! -Steven
===================================================
There was no doubt about it. He had eyes on Zaina Anwar.
Talk your way out of this, Williams pleaded internally. C'mon, please, talk your way out of this.
“I told you that you'd pay for what you did, you fucking whore,” Khalid rasped, his meaty paw locked around Zaina's jaw. “I've come to collect.”
“Get your hands off of me or I start screaming,” Zaina warned in flawless Arabic. Her voice wavered only due to the constriction on her mouth.
“I've paid off the guards,” Khalid leered. “Nobody is coming to save you. Now, get on your knees.”
“Last chance,” Zaina stated, her tone resolute. “Let me go.”
Stupid…Williams thought as he slowly stood and prepared to enter the fray. Brave, but stupid.
Khalid's grip on Zaina's jaw tightened. “Listen here, you fucking slut—”
His next invective was cut off by a swift knee to the groin, which caused him to double over. Zaina then grabbed hold of Khalid's face and dug her nails into his eyes, and an agonized cry leapt from his throat. One of the flunkies stepped in and delivered a right straight to her ribs. The force of the blow was not enough to break bone, but it did stun her long enough for Khalid to grab a fistful of Zaina's hair and glare at her with red eyes.
“You'll pay for that, bitch!” he snarled as he suspended her in the air.
Williams materialized behind Khalid and delivered a swift kick to the back of his knee, then followed this with an open palm strike to the back of the head, which compelled Khalid to release Zaina. He then spun Khalid around, wrapped his arms diagonally across the brute's back, and twisted hard in a textbook hip throw. Khalid hit the ground with a hard thud. He groaned as he writhed on the floor and attempted to regain his senses.
There was no time to celebrate. Williams immediately lunged for Zaina, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shoved her out of the battlespace as the four criminals closed in. He glanced over his shoulder, saw one of the men closing in, and answered it with a crisp back kick that caught the man square in the chin and knocked him out. Williams immediately transitioned to the next man, just in time to duck under a haymaker. He grabbed the assailant by the scruff of his neck and belt line, then spun and hurled him toward one of his companions, which sent the both of them colliding and stumbling into a bunk.
That left one thug in full commission. He threw a jab and followed it with a right straight. Williams slapped the jab away with his left hand, side-stepped, and grabbed the man's outstretched wrist with his right hand. He gripped his opponent's shoulder with his free hand to control him and doubled the thug over. With blinding speed, Williams put his left knee on the man's elbow, gripped the wrist with both hands, and torqued the wrist upwards, which completely dislocated the joint.
The man's shriek almost drowned out the sound of his two buddies scrambling back into the fight. Williams hurled the man under his control into one of them, then focused his attention on the remaining bruiser. The thug threw a jab and a straight that were absorbed by Williams's forearms, then cocked back for a right haymaker. Williams blocked this with a left arm sweep, wrapped up and trapped his opponent's arm, delivered three brutal palm strikes to the man's chin, and then swept his right leg backwards while shoving the man's face forward. Once he hit the ground, Williams finished him off with a heel stomp to the chin.
That left one man in the fight aside from Khalid. Williams spun around to address his bum rush with a swift jab to the nose, followed by a right straight, and punctuated with a solid front kick that lifted him in the air. The last criminal hit the ground and clutched at his chest, gasping for air. From the looks of things, he only had a few minutes to live.
The distinctive click of a switchblade locking in place caught Williams's attention, and he turned to see Khalid standing between the bunks. In his paws, the blade was a nail file. The murder in his eyes was real and familiar to Williams. It was the same look many opponents possessed over the past two decades. His mind was consumed with bloodlust and Williams was the focus.
By this time, all of the prisoners had woken up and were watching intently. Williams did not take his eyes off of Khalid, but he could only imagine that they had seen a similar spectacle more than once, and that Khalid had won without breaking a sweat. He backed away from the beds slowly and moved toward the center aisle, and Khalid followed him into the aisle, as hoped. Williams wanted as much room to maneuver in an attempt to mitigate the damage to come. If there was one thing Williams hated, it was knife-fighting. That was because, regardless of the participants, there was one cardinal rule.
Everybody gets cut in a knife fight.
Khalid parried with the knife, and Williams leaned back, narrowly avoiding the blade. Williams resumed his stance, and Khalid laughed menacingly. He waved the blade from side to side, his eyes never wavering from Williams's. Khalid took a step forward, and Williams remained in place. Neither man moved for what seemed an eternity. Finally, Khalid let out a battle cry and lunged forward. Williams side-stepped to Khalid's outside, but he did not move his left arm in time, and the blade caught him on the forearm. The pain did not register as Williams grabbed Khalid's head with his left hand while neutralizing Khalid's weapon hand with his right. He guided the brute into a support beam, and used the moment of stunned time he had earned to twist the arm and guide the blade into the kidneys. As Khalid screamed, Williams pulled the knife from his body and kicked out his knee once more. Khalid fell, and Williams grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked back hard to expose the throat.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
Williams plunged the knife into Khalid's throat and cut through muscle and esophagus as he severed the jugular. The head thug's screams dampened as hot, sticky blood launched from his arteries, filled his windpipe, and stained the support beam and floor. Williams thrust the knife into the base of Khalid's skull and took a step back, watching the prison boss's life rapidly fade from his carcass. He let out a deep breath and turned to face Zaina, whose horror-widened eyes were locked on him.
The lights came on, and several guards sprinted in, nightsticks at the ready. Williams immediately raised his hands and dropped to his knees. That did not stop the guards, and as the first baton came crashing down on his side, Williams collapsed into a ball and waited for the beating to end. After thirty seconds, a shrill voice bellowed over the commotion.
“That's enough! Stand down!”===================================================
THE FIRST BAYONET, available on Amazon and CreateSpace this Friday, August 31st.
===================================================
There was no doubt about it. He had eyes on Zaina Anwar.
Talk your way out of this, Williams pleaded internally. C'mon, please, talk your way out of this.
“I told you that you'd pay for what you did, you fucking whore,” Khalid rasped, his meaty paw locked around Zaina's jaw. “I've come to collect.”
“Get your hands off of me or I start screaming,” Zaina warned in flawless Arabic. Her voice wavered only due to the constriction on her mouth.
“I've paid off the guards,” Khalid leered. “Nobody is coming to save you. Now, get on your knees.”
“Last chance,” Zaina stated, her tone resolute. “Let me go.”
Stupid…Williams thought as he slowly stood and prepared to enter the fray. Brave, but stupid.
Khalid's grip on Zaina's jaw tightened. “Listen here, you fucking slut—”
His next invective was cut off by a swift knee to the groin, which caused him to double over. Zaina then grabbed hold of Khalid's face and dug her nails into his eyes, and an agonized cry leapt from his throat. One of the flunkies stepped in and delivered a right straight to her ribs. The force of the blow was not enough to break bone, but it did stun her long enough for Khalid to grab a fistful of Zaina's hair and glare at her with red eyes.
“You'll pay for that, bitch!” he snarled as he suspended her in the air.
Williams materialized behind Khalid and delivered a swift kick to the back of his knee, then followed this with an open palm strike to the back of the head, which compelled Khalid to release Zaina. He then spun Khalid around, wrapped his arms diagonally across the brute's back, and twisted hard in a textbook hip throw. Khalid hit the ground with a hard thud. He groaned as he writhed on the floor and attempted to regain his senses.
There was no time to celebrate. Williams immediately lunged for Zaina, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shoved her out of the battlespace as the four criminals closed in. He glanced over his shoulder, saw one of the men closing in, and answered it with a crisp back kick that caught the man square in the chin and knocked him out. Williams immediately transitioned to the next man, just in time to duck under a haymaker. He grabbed the assailant by the scruff of his neck and belt line, then spun and hurled him toward one of his companions, which sent the both of them colliding and stumbling into a bunk.
That left one thug in full commission. He threw a jab and followed it with a right straight. Williams slapped the jab away with his left hand, side-stepped, and grabbed the man's outstretched wrist with his right hand. He gripped his opponent's shoulder with his free hand to control him and doubled the thug over. With blinding speed, Williams put his left knee on the man's elbow, gripped the wrist with both hands, and torqued the wrist upwards, which completely dislocated the joint.
The man's shriek almost drowned out the sound of his two buddies scrambling back into the fight. Williams hurled the man under his control into one of them, then focused his attention on the remaining bruiser. The thug threw a jab and a straight that were absorbed by Williams's forearms, then cocked back for a right haymaker. Williams blocked this with a left arm sweep, wrapped up and trapped his opponent's arm, delivered three brutal palm strikes to the man's chin, and then swept his right leg backwards while shoving the man's face forward. Once he hit the ground, Williams finished him off with a heel stomp to the chin.
That left one man in the fight aside from Khalid. Williams spun around to address his bum rush with a swift jab to the nose, followed by a right straight, and punctuated with a solid front kick that lifted him in the air. The last criminal hit the ground and clutched at his chest, gasping for air. From the looks of things, he only had a few minutes to live.
The distinctive click of a switchblade locking in place caught Williams's attention, and he turned to see Khalid standing between the bunks. In his paws, the blade was a nail file. The murder in his eyes was real and familiar to Williams. It was the same look many opponents possessed over the past two decades. His mind was consumed with bloodlust and Williams was the focus.
By this time, all of the prisoners had woken up and were watching intently. Williams did not take his eyes off of Khalid, but he could only imagine that they had seen a similar spectacle more than once, and that Khalid had won without breaking a sweat. He backed away from the beds slowly and moved toward the center aisle, and Khalid followed him into the aisle, as hoped. Williams wanted as much room to maneuver in an attempt to mitigate the damage to come. If there was one thing Williams hated, it was knife-fighting. That was because, regardless of the participants, there was one cardinal rule.
Everybody gets cut in a knife fight.
Khalid parried with the knife, and Williams leaned back, narrowly avoiding the blade. Williams resumed his stance, and Khalid laughed menacingly. He waved the blade from side to side, his eyes never wavering from Williams's. Khalid took a step forward, and Williams remained in place. Neither man moved for what seemed an eternity. Finally, Khalid let out a battle cry and lunged forward. Williams side-stepped to Khalid's outside, but he did not move his left arm in time, and the blade caught him on the forearm. The pain did not register as Williams grabbed Khalid's head with his left hand while neutralizing Khalid's weapon hand with his right. He guided the brute into a support beam, and used the moment of stunned time he had earned to twist the arm and guide the blade into the kidneys. As Khalid screamed, Williams pulled the knife from his body and kicked out his knee once more. Khalid fell, and Williams grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked back hard to expose the throat.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
Williams plunged the knife into Khalid's throat and cut through muscle and esophagus as he severed the jugular. The head thug's screams dampened as hot, sticky blood launched from his arteries, filled his windpipe, and stained the support beam and floor. Williams thrust the knife into the base of Khalid's skull and took a step back, watching the prison boss's life rapidly fade from his carcass. He let out a deep breath and turned to face Zaina, whose horror-widened eyes were locked on him.
The lights came on, and several guards sprinted in, nightsticks at the ready. Williams immediately raised his hands and dropped to his knees. That did not stop the guards, and as the first baton came crashing down on his side, Williams collapsed into a ball and waited for the beating to end. After thirty seconds, a shrill voice bellowed over the commotion.
“That's enough! Stand down!”===================================================
THE FIRST BAYONET, available on Amazon and CreateSpace this Friday, August 31st.
July 21, 2012
WRITING: My Marriage Proposal
People who know me personally know that I'm a bit of a funny guy, or, in internet terms, a "troll." Not the malicious type that tries to anger everybody, but a troll who will make wisecracks and lead people on in a story to see how long I can keep them going before I break the truth to them.
Today, with the help of a friend, I took that to a whole new level.
A little backstory--there is a lovely doctoral candidate-to-be named Lea Kay Tannahill.
Lea Kay, older picture. Isn't she lovely?
She and I have been Facebook friends for a while and we always joke about how she will move to Tucson to resume her place on the throne at my side, and we'll exchange Disney songs and such. Well, today, she changed her status to engaged, and I accepted the relationship change status.
What we didn't expect were all the well-wishes from wonderful friends or the questions about the ring or how we proposed. It is that latter story that produced a piece of fiction that I felt proud enough of to post on this blog.
So, without further ado, my proposal to Lea Kay:
Ah, the proposal…let me tell you, I've done some things in my life that have made me nervous. My first job made me nervous. E-publishing for the first time made me nervous. Going to Iraq made me nervous. But nothing ever made me as nervous as when I proposed to Lea.
Some guys take their ladies out to a special dinner. Some go do something special, like propose in the mountains. Me? I wanted it to come from the heart, and I wanted to catch her off guard with it. I invite her over, and I make her a full three-course meal--garlic breadsticks, fettuccini alfredo, and some home made gelato.
We finish our meal, and in my pocket, I've got a remote control to start playing the iPod plugged into the speaker system. One of our recurring themes in our romance is that we both like Disney songs. It's a little geeky, but I put on "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid. I stand her up and we're dancing and we're laughing to it. Near the end of the song, I lower myself to a knee and produce the ring she had her eye on. She's speechless as I open the box and I look right into her brilliant blue eyes. I'll remember what I said for the rest of my life.
"Lea Kay Tannahill, I love you more than words can describe, and that's hard to make a writer confess to. Would you make me the luckiest man in the world by allowing me to take your hand in marriage?"
I kid you not, that was the first time I'd ever seen her shed a tear. She had to catch her breath for a moment, and was crying and smiling all at the same time, and then finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she said the one word I'd been waiting to hear my entire life.
"Yes."
Thanks to all of those who participated in this trolling. It was definitely fun! -Steven
Today, with the help of a friend, I took that to a whole new level.
A little backstory--there is a lovely doctoral candidate-to-be named Lea Kay Tannahill.
Lea Kay, older picture. Isn't she lovely?She and I have been Facebook friends for a while and we always joke about how she will move to Tucson to resume her place on the throne at my side, and we'll exchange Disney songs and such. Well, today, she changed her status to engaged, and I accepted the relationship change status.
What we didn't expect were all the well-wishes from wonderful friends or the questions about the ring or how we proposed. It is that latter story that produced a piece of fiction that I felt proud enough of to post on this blog.
So, without further ado, my proposal to Lea Kay:
Ah, the proposal…let me tell you, I've done some things in my life that have made me nervous. My first job made me nervous. E-publishing for the first time made me nervous. Going to Iraq made me nervous. But nothing ever made me as nervous as when I proposed to Lea.
Some guys take their ladies out to a special dinner. Some go do something special, like propose in the mountains. Me? I wanted it to come from the heart, and I wanted to catch her off guard with it. I invite her over, and I make her a full three-course meal--garlic breadsticks, fettuccini alfredo, and some home made gelato.
We finish our meal, and in my pocket, I've got a remote control to start playing the iPod plugged into the speaker system. One of our recurring themes in our romance is that we both like Disney songs. It's a little geeky, but I put on "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid. I stand her up and we're dancing and we're laughing to it. Near the end of the song, I lower myself to a knee and produce the ring she had her eye on. She's speechless as I open the box and I look right into her brilliant blue eyes. I'll remember what I said for the rest of my life.
"Lea Kay Tannahill, I love you more than words can describe, and that's hard to make a writer confess to. Would you make me the luckiest man in the world by allowing me to take your hand in marriage?"
I kid you not, that was the first time I'd ever seen her shed a tear. She had to catch her breath for a moment, and was crying and smiling all at the same time, and then finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she said the one word I'd been waiting to hear my entire life.
"Yes."
Thanks to all of those who participated in this trolling. It was definitely fun! -Steven
