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Nuke em in Je$u$' name
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Hi,Thanks for the reply. Here's a little bit about myself. I started out my career as a pilot and ended up in journalism. I couldn't correct my eyes to 20/20, nor did Lasix exist 30 years ago, and charter flying got old -- endless waiting around airports for your passengers to return, and I couldn't make a living as a flight instructor -- too little pay. So, I ended up in journalism. Over the years, I"ve worked on a newspaper daily as a reporter; a trade magazine editor (flying and computers); and for the past 19 years, my wife and I have owned a weekly community newspaper in south Texas.
With regard to personal politics, I've been a libertarian even before I was very familiar with the term. Personal freedoms, don't tread on me, has been a part of my makeup since I was probably 10. In 1973, the year I graduated high school, I had already decided I'd go to Canada instead of Viet Nam. Going to a possible death just because my government told me I had to, just didn't sit right with me. I wasn't born a slave, so screw the draft. But by '73, the war was winding down, I got a high draft number, and that was it.
My novel, Nuke em in Je$u$' name, should sit well with libertarians. The end isn't something any of us would wish for, but I fear we're headed that way. 9-11 was the result of blowback, and American foreign policy learned nothing from that mistake. We bomb foreign countries and expect no retaliation? Clearly, our so-called leaders, with the exception of Ron Paul and maybe a handful of others, are clueless. Or they're bought-and-paid-for patsies of the war machine, comprised of the one-percenters who always find a way to profit from other people's misery.
Hey, Michelle Bachmann and Santorum, go get in a war with Iran, you morons, and see what the price of gas at the pumps climbs to.
One thing about my book, there ain't another one out there like it.
Of course, some people would say, thank God, lol.
And it should be popular with college students if I can find a way to market the novel to them. When I was in college, I read books like this whenever I could find one. But for some reason, fiction writers, for the most part, have failed to even address 9-11 or the present state of America. We're living in a carnival -- granted a macabre carnival -- but no one can write a Catch-22 today like Heller did for the WWII generation?
We have political non-fiction up the wazoo, but very few political novels. Tom Wolfe was headed in that direction, but got sidetracked writing about a microcosm -- Atlanta, college, Miami -- instead of writing about America as a whole.
I think Nuke em accomplishes that, and I apologize if that sounds as though I'm lacking any humility.
Thanks again for writing back, and any feedback I can get would be most welcome.
gregg b. wendorf
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I agree about lack of political novels, especially in satire form. Mostly I think it's because satire is very difficult to get right. It's easy to get too mean and lose the audience, even supporters. I also think that best satire is timeless, like Catch-22, and again it's not easy to write universal themes rather than from direct experience.
Actually, the only Christians I ridicule are the up-with-war, down-with-gay-marriage variety. The Rick Santorum types. The Evangelicals who would support Israel over the U.S. So, no, it's not the Christian faith for which I hold contempt. It's the right-wing variety that got us into these insane wars while preaching Jesus' love that I find offensive.In terms of political satire, it is hard to get it right. If you don't, you end up mean and deranged like Bill O'Reilly or the serial groom, Rush "Pill Popper" Limbaugh.
Thanks, Masha, though, for taking the time to write back. I'm just bummed out today because too many Iowans consider Rick Santorum to be a conservative. Give me a break. He only voted, what, three times to raise the debt ceiling. And Romney's a conservative? Sure thing. The only true Republican out there is Ron Paul, at least in terms of favoring a much smaller federal government. The rest of the Republicans are all big-spending phonies. Just what we need more of.
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I think a conservative at heart is a libertarian. The lines got dimmed when the right-wing Christians took over the GOP. I'm a fiscal conservative but a social liberal. Who marries whom is not my business. Neither is it my business if a woman feels compelled to get an abortion. I think it's sad, but it's none of my business. The right-wing Christians are like the puritans. They want to control people's lives based on what they think their holy book says, even though it is full of ambiguities. That's why the Tea Party never had a chance. The right-wing Christians co-opted that too. They hate abortion, but advocate war. Truly, the right-wing Christians don't know what they believe. If you asked most of them where they would even go in the Bible to find the 10 Commandments, they couldn't tell you. And yet they want to use the Old Testament to control America. Weird and disheartening.
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1. His stance on Israel and Islam. I'm in agreement that we are wasting too much money in fighting wars that are more appeasement than fighting actual terrorism. The fact that he made anti-Israel/pro-Hamas comments on a Middle Eastern news channel.
2. State rights. The state does not have rights, as the federal government does not either. They do have separation of powers, which is important. If only that is what he meant. But I've heard him defer certain issues to the state. The states has no more right in violating individual rights than does the State. I fully disagree with the argument of moving to another state. That is a viable option when you are having your rights violated, but it isn't an excuse to argue that a state should be allowed to violate your rights.
I may have misinterpreted his views. To avoid long arguments I just dismiss him based on him being old just to avoid the tedious arguments.
I can agree to disagree except on the age aspect. As someone who's 56, exactly 20 years younger than Paul, I take exception to him being called old. Hefner's 85 and still getting it on. Ernest Borgnine is 94 and still making movies. Betty White's 89 and has a mind as sharp as anyone's. So, please, don't ever lay that age deal on somebody. If you're lucky, you'll be old too one day. If you disagree with someone on principle, fine. But don't write him/her off because you think they're over the hill.
Vote Hugh Hefner for president. He's rich enough and liberal enough, he won't screw us lol.
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Plus, I have a website:
GBWendorf.com.
What I'm trying to do now is to create some buzz and to garner some reviews. Someone please tell me if this follows proper etiquette and SOP, but is there a problem if I offer some free copies of the novel to anyone who wants one? With no strings attached? But with the hope that at least a few people will feel compelled to write a review of the book -- Nuke em in Je$u$' name -- and post them at Amazon, etc?