WOW!!!!!!!!



congrats DC!

ETA: I just pre-ordered... wasn't easy to find... F amazon and bezos...

Freakin' awesome, DC!!!

Pre-ordered just seconds ago.

In!

Got the pre-order.

How do I get you to sign my Kindle OP?

--Ok, a few people can see it.  Still does not show on my computer.  But....progress--

GENERAL NOTE: STj, mnmiv, coontrapper, JP/STL, highstepper, lohi,Trapshooter, bradbn4,
greyguy,lastcrusader,wingsnthings, DesignatedM, Former11b, GreenGiant, Cpn//Ron, heron163--
gungyr--and any lurkers...

--STJ the tube is freaking steam punk brilliant.

--Ctrapper I see IM but can't reply this computer, am working on a location.

Max thanks for keeping thread alive.  Just...thank you.

1. A Version Of Whining: lots of normal life stuff.  Some extreme concern about visibility.
Not a writer: meaning lifestyle, habits, "normal" goals.  Relevant: have not and never
planned on having a "home"--meaning one location/footprint/staging area.  That might
be changing, and would help this process.  And it would be nice to have all my artifacts
in one place.

2. A Note On The Detestable Necessity Of Promotion: after this story inhabits your digital
devices, assuming it meets your standards--"tell your friends."  So...ew.  But yeah,
gotta do it.  Or who the FFF knows.  Some severely degraded prose seems to churn
right along in the sci-fi/apocalyptic genre, and the only distinguishing features I can
find are reasonable formatting and spelling.  WTF.

3. VERY HELPFUL: the text file is loaded, but the cover and blurb can/will be manipulated...
well, basically, forever.  My Better Half tech guru and I note that the cover we submit is
severely mangled by Big River software/compression--so any comments on how cover/s
appear on your devices are very interesting to us.  The blurb--ah ffffff blurbs will just
keep diddling with it.

4.  I have a gigantic pile of awesome archaic but functional gear I have been assembling
for....decades.  Some/all will/should have a place in the Gehriverse.  It is still my intention
to build out/write about/post this stuff in story context.

4a.  STJ you might repost link to your 8mm FAL.  Just...perfect.

Heron, Moondancer, DFarm--

Thank.  You.

DFarm, signing Kindle--hard copies--big subject, no solution yet, lots
to do with my antipathy, spiritual/aesthetic/any/all with Big River phenomenon.

Under ideal circumstances I would meet everybody who has posted on this thread,
because I have....a lot to say, and everybody deserves a handshake at the very least.

There will be a solution, but it could take awhile.

I will say that I will be in "The Mountain West" -- think northern Arizona, Utah,
Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana for at least 80 percent of the rest of my life.

*breaks squelch twice*

I pre-ordered one copy, the second will be as soon as I contract her that it is out.

did not take long, 2nd copy ordered

--airsix--awesome.  Good to see you.

--BradBn4--denk kyu!

GENERAL NOTE: when this thing is seen/read will by nice to just get back to normal
cool stuff.  I've got some p14/17 Enfields getting built out into general awesomeness...
 Jeez....oh FFFFF me then I got to do the next book....FFFFFFF.... Attached File

I seent it!



Congrats DCB!  I know you’re excited, exhausted, spent and pumped all at once.

I’m humbled to be remembered and mentioned in such fine company as you listed all the stalwarts of this thread.

I’ll be sure to purchase when it becomes available.  I can’t wait to read and enjoy it all!

God Bless!
H

Well I'll be...

I'll be honest, I had all but given up hope that the book would ever be published. Pure stubbornness kept me subscribed and checking new posts. The book is pre-ordered and it will be read as I have time. Time has become limited and my rotation of reading material expanded in the last weeks. I've received Victory Point and Taliban Safari and haven't managed to crack a cover. Now I have this one waiting in the Que.

Thank you DCB!

Was in Northern Arizona, Southern Utah. That coutry makes you realize how insignificant you are.

The whole time I was there I was wishing it could give an oral history about all that had travelled through there before. You also realize that someone has explored every foot of that country in the last 20,000 years.

Idaho is starting to become contaminated from the Communist hordes entering Boise. Much like any other state.

>I will say that I will be in "The Mountain West" -- think northern Arizona, Utah,
> Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana for at least 80 percent of the rest of my life.

There is some mighty fine  areas in that region. With the right home stead I could
see spending some quality time there. Maybe a day, a week, or the rest of my life.

Ahh, the 303 round, I have not had the pleasure.  A friend of mine use to have one
and just loved it.  If I wanted to take a step back in time I would sort of like the Swiss K31.
Owning the Lee-Enfield would not disappoint me in the least.

--highstepper--describing the conflicts/friction associated with publishing any more than
previously enumerated here would equal an extreme version of Egregious Whining.
So yes considerable relief, but continuing non-optimal concerns .re marketing, lifestyle,
and particularly continuing association with the Big River.  Biggest pressure line to
publish is/was quite simply the people here/readers/posters.  Said I would do it--gotta do it.

--BigDAM apologies and understood.  Am pretty astounded and grateful for the patience
shown here.

--Trapshooter the recent few days I spent in Utah blew my mind.  My original plan...oh,
ten years ago, was to be "outside forever" long before "now"--literally, 300 days a year without
a roof--then some shit happened, and some other shit happened, etc. etc.--but I spent
two days in the Fishlake National Forest just four months ago, a tiniest possible diversion
from some shit happening...and it felt like...home?  And the "People have already been here"--
concept is mesmerizing.  Look close and there are signs everywhere...
I have been watching the Idaho contamination/demographics/etc. pretty closely.  Apparently
enough of the refugees are sane enough to compensate for the lunatics.  My belief is that
a few/some of the refuge states in the Rocky Mountain West and deep south will eventually tilt significantly
"Sane" over the next twenty years--point being, where else will sane people go????

I have been seeing this thread being bumped and not checked it. Sweet, congrats DC. I will be glad to read this again and get caught up.

Finally we are at the finish line. Again thanks and congratulations DC.

pre-ordered

No apologies required. You are the producer. I the consumer. If I wanted your creative product, as I clearly do , it was for me to hurry up and wait.

As I said before, I was in till the end

Where all we all meeting up on the 17th for celebratory drinks?

I was able to see it on Amazon. Preordered for me.

Holy shit!!!! Pre-ordered!!!!!!

Yezzz!!!!

What a list to be among!

I was going to bed and saw the thread pop again...

"It's probably one of the faithful just trying to keep the thread out of obscurity...Oh...My...Lord!"

This requires good bourbon and thought.

F the tube...it's only relevant because of the text I intend to put on it...you know the words, yes?

You can't possibly think this was a tangent in all our lives?  I didn't come in here to make a friend...or a knife...or another FAL, though all those things became necessary as a result.

BLAH  Too late!  Rounds complete!

 LOL...good luck finding appropriate judges to make this call!

With the biggest smile you can imagine upon my face I will ask "Do you want me to hide a map in that horribly compressed image?"



If I said said "Bullshit." would it make it happen faster?  No.  Dare I say it and the arrows come...take your time.

Here...you are wrong...it's this...or nothing.

Careful...some of us know how to use that.

I don't think I have laughed that hard in years!

No?  Not eligible?

Fuck you, great river...you weren't there for the ride.

Fine...bitch...I got 2.5 pounds of pull on this 3 pound trigger and I am breathing shallow.  You'll use a wrong phrase, but I will hear "Send it."  or my brothers will.

We probably should start referring to the river as Silvia.

DC, THANK YOU!!!!!

I ordered the book in seconds of seeing that it was available. Do you see the time it will be available in hard copy?

Found your list of states that you were going to be spending your time in interesting. Noticed you left out Colorado. I can certainly understand that. It was a great place to live 50 years ago.

Thank you again for the book,  Mac

--bradbn4 missed your comment .re .303--I have a few p17/s in 30-06 and a some
p17 reciever p14 bolt combos rechambered to some obscure but useful wildcats with
magnum rim/bases, hence the p14 bolts.  Massively overbuilt actions, nothing but
forged and milled, indestructible.  Still used by the Danish Sirius/Greenland patrols as
the only reliable action in the most severe Arctic conditions and etc.

--zoe17 very happy to see you and understood the eventual hard-copy issue is relevant
to your interests.  Assume all is well with you and yours and to be continued.

--last/crusader good to see you and.  Thank you.

--BigDam understood and yes but also...thank.  You.

--BigDam I will have a lot to say at some point on getting together /ffor/ddrinnks// and etc.
I believe the Rocky Mountain trappers had a few discreet locations for their rendezvous.
When assembling in the hinterlands I believe the eco-freaks got at least one thing right
with that whole leave no trace behind thing, it's nice to keep a clean camp.

--zoe17, denk kyu!

--Former11B, denk kyu 2!!!

--Hello, STj.

--The Tube--hell yes.  Lot of stuff will need to go on those tubes someday, but "no controlling...." will set
the stage.

--tanget/s, nope, but nice to see a wing flex at maximum amplitude.  And never show a crack.

--STJ the Boehm St. George/and associated art needs to be/will be embedded in all kinds of Gehr
arcana, but I'm thinking mostly artifacts and of course the challenge coins.  I watch the price of
silver/rounds/etc. closely, and also have spec/ed silver plate/sheet/etc.  Expensive but manageable.

--which gets to the whole single location/storage/etc. issue/s.  Told the Much Better Half Severe
Complication In An Otherwise Cheerfully Vagabondish Life that I did not want/never had
any intention of owning/staying in "a home"--but someday I needed a workshop/garage with a
cot, heater, faucet, and maybe a couple of TL30 safe/s.  We shall see.

--and STj you know damn well I have a freaking shipping container full of moldy wood and
rusting steel.  Or two.

--yes the knife.  The.  Knife.  Got some plans for The Knife...need me a workshop...we shall see.

--River.  Sylvia.  The River.  What a gigantic barrel of slippery fuck.  And hear I am, properly slimed.

--OldCrank good to see you.  And.  Thank.  You.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Ordered!

Did you see my recent exploits with using 3D printing to make molds I then cast lead in?

Would be simple enough to make silver coins the same way.  Not as cool a process, but a solution at least.

Wait.... it’s happening???

😱😱 I found it, I no longer have a kindle but will download the app on my phone and pre order later. Good to have you back DC!

Attached File


I also have a new partner in crime. Meet Chaco, she’s a 4 month old Mountain Cur pup.

--STj, did not see metal/silver/other work, have a lot of catching up to do.

--Coontrapper, yes, happening, good to see you, congrats on hound!

GENERAL NOTE:....ah, not yet.  More later.

Congratulations on navigating the minefields.

Off to order.

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!


Damn, I walk away for a few days and I miss the biggest update of all.

Congratulations DC!  This is one hell of a story and it was a lot of fun to be along for the ride as it came to life.  Be proud of what you've done here!

My pre-order is in.  I'll look in to how to gift copies (and how to get it to the right person/account) and once I figure it out my wife and a few friends will be getting copies soon too.

What a ride!


Weltenburg Abbey, Kelheim, Bavaria - Visited while this thread was unfolding

Holy Schnikes!  I drop off of here trying to get some stuff in the real world done and looky what happens in my absence!  I shall have to update my software for turning Kindle books into Nook books since I like the e-Ink display of the Nook so much better.  I will get the preorder done very shortly so that I will be waiting for the (para) drop of This Great Tome we all have Been Waiting for With Baited (Fish) Breath Nigh These Long Years!!!    
Now, will some of the other "companion" stories continue?  That would just be a Cherry on Top!

It looks like you can't purchase a title that is on pre-order.  You'll get a few more purchases out of me after the 17th.  

I haven't been involved in your thread DC, but I have been waiting for this. Am going to pre-order a couple. Can't wait and CONGRATULATIONS!

GENERAL NOTE: I have been and likely will continue to be flagrantly
non/un-professional in timing/shilling/promoting this book, but/so--

GENERAL NOTE: it might be best if some/any wait until Jan.17 to
borrow/buy, or only borrow/buy if they know of at least....one?  Other
person they can recommend to the story, etc.  Point being Amazon
ranking is sales/borrows by the hour, and absent ranking this story
like any other is invisible.  And....just ffff this side of the universe...

--biere thank you and good to see you!

--greyguy much thanks, and probably a good idea to wait until later this month
to send out copies.  AND: that pic--did you/someone post that/or equivalent
a few (holy shit) years ago????  That is EXACTLY the kind of relic/statue/craft/design
Old World excellence/Boehm Statue/etc. that drives this aesthetic.  Stunning.  How
many hundreds/thousands of hours spent.  Many years. So FFFing cool.  Ok I see
at bottom of your post "visited during"--Ok, you, cool.

--GreenGiant good to see you, and yes, done.  Other/next stories excellent question:
have about four "complete stories"/book length, very deeply outlined.  But clearly
I suck at timing/timeliness/speed etc.  Cause this shit is like, really hard.  
And I'm not a FFFFing writer.
So I have been trying to puzzle out attendant "in the same world" and less involved
stories.  The fact is, "Soldier's Son" complexity/set-ups/pay-offs cannot be written again.  
BY ANYBODY.  It is not/cannot be "a standard." This is a matter of writing against, or
deconstructing, a genre--in this case, the sci-fi
Post Apocalyptic genre, rather than my/or anyone's particular talent, or lack thereof.

--greyguy I don't know Amazon terminology even after a zillion hours of study, but
rest assured that any borrow/purchase/recommend at any time after the 17th is FFFing awesome.

--ejeviking, thank you.  And please return if/when/as appropriate.  I pretty much
sucked at the "being a professional writer" part of all of this, but a key/defined goal
of this process, many years ago, was to create a self-sorting tool for...let's call it "this."  
More later/maybe someday.

I pre-ordered mine.  Will buy some more for others here and there and spread it out as recomended.

Yeah, I put that up a while back too.  It seemed like Saint George's triumphant stance was appropriate for the current "vibe" in the thread following the publishing announcement.

Also yeah,  I looked in to it a bit and from what I can tell you can gift a Kindle book to any valid email address but not while the title is in a pre-order period.  9 days to go, or is it better for you if we wait a few days after day 0 to spread the sales out a bit?  I don't know how their metrics and analytics work and what is more advantageous to you.

I talked to my wife about the book last night and she can't wait to read it.  I've talked about it with her here and there over the years but she isn't an ARFcommer and didn't want to take the time to excavate the story from the discussion thread so she hasn't read it yet.  I know that she will love it!

I'm still in for the super special edition hard bound version and will purchase that just as quick...

I will be glad to be able and read it all to the end. And now my son is twelve so he can read after a few years. I never thought you would finish DC, congratulations.

FINALLY (not angry) its released!!  Long time lurker checking in!!  Saw It, Pre-Ordered for Kindle,and am fully ready to READ!!!  Big Project for work I have to travel to TX.  I will be swamped on the 17th/18th but should have some down time and be stuck in front of a computer 16hrs a day 19th-23rd and can poke a few peeps for reads, likes, purchases, etc.

Thanks DC for pushing through this!!!!

--greyguy super interesting that your wife would be remotely interested in this kind of material.
That is max cool.

--On the timing of buys/borrows/etc.--probably best to wait until it is
loaded/downloadable after Jan. 17.

--The fact is, nothing survives unless it goes some form of viral--
which is almost entirely word of mouth/recommendations.  A lot of that is/will be up
to me.  But "promoting" in the common definition hardly plays to any of my strengths.
I will have a lot of work to do.  Just.....yow.

----The statue--I was 99.9 percent sure I had seen it here.  But that is the kind
of stuff I gravitate towards in general and I was wondering if it had been
observed somewhere in the past.

zoe17--yes it has been...a really long time.  Terrifically hard to finish to my standards.
Completely aside from perpetually choking at the idea of using the Big River, exposure,
normal life shit.  But yeah.  It is done.  The Big River has the file.  The only thing I
am/will be still tweaking is the cover, and the blurb.

JPL--just saw you post while I was posting--I remember your Avatar from some
time ago.  Thank you.  And good to see you.

GENERAL NOTE: in this long past there was (appropriately) not much discussion
of the why's/wherefore/s--pretty much infinitely expansive fields--but in the interim
of "not publishing" I have tweaked and bent and changed easily 5000 shades/tones--
some of them specifically to address general/my/our issues, some of which are
micronic (not a word, but should be)--a small example here--addressing the endless
debate about "shotguns for defense"--buried in a text of larger meaning, so this might amuse:

He had stopped the Crown Vic at the top of a gentle rise, sloped in both directions and he walked the road a few yards to look back south.  Look back in the direction he had come.  On the very far horizon he thought he could see the palest glow in the night sky, that would be San Antonio.  Brian had to remind himself that worldwide, the lights were still on.  For awhile, at least.  The atmospheric glow of this distant city wasn't an illusion.  The infrastructure of the world was still intact.  The Sinai Nuke had not killed anybody, or vaporized, let's say, Moscow, or London, or Paris, or New York, or Los Angeles.

But Brian considered that the Sinai Nuke might have done something stranger, and even worse than killing a city of millions, if such a thing were possible.  The Sinai Nuke had destroyed an essential narrative of the world: that nuclear weapons were safe.  That nuclear weapons would never be used.  Could never be used.  That the governments of the world could keep the nuclear genie in its bottle, forever.  And that by implication the governments of the world could protect everyone, forever.  And that the systems and methods and institutions of man might not be perfect, but certain thresholds would never be crossed.  It was as if that distant explosion had found a fracture line in the consciousness of the entire world.  Brian knew that somehow the effect had been much larger than a fear of failing stock markets, abandoned currencies, feeble politicians, regional wars.

Somehow, everything was in doubt.

He wondered how fragile the world had been, that it had broken so fast...

He traced the lettering on his weapon with his thumb.

"Remington Arms Co., Ilion N.Y."

"Made in U.S.A."

The edges of the stamped letters polished flat.

The steel blued the color of saphire.

An elegant weapon from a simpler time...

Now reduced to the equivalent of a nail studded bat.

He could still feel the ridges where he had hack-sawed the barrel.

The splintered grip where he had cut off the stock.

A sawed off 12 gauge reassured because it suggested that any episode of violence would be brief, and close; that he would be the aggressor, and that by and with his aggression he would surely prevail.  The shotgun suggested simple solutions, to simple problems.  Brian knew these were delusions approaching fantasy.  He knew that in this bleakest of all futures he would need to use and understand every possible complexity of weapon, and that every possible complexity of weapon would be aimed at him.

He wondered how long he would live.

He wondered how he should count the days of his life.

In months.

Or weeks.

Or days...

He had a new thought, ever so brief, just the slightest breath of a new idea: in some strange way, perhaps the Sinai Nuke had also done the world a peculiar kind of favor.  Brian was not religious.  He believed in no spirits.  He had always thought his version of prayer was a shout into darkness, a scream into an empty church.  But for many years, he had felt like some kind of Old World, Biblical Devil was winning.  YesThat Devil.  That Devil was winning.  The popular lie increasingly obscured the unpopular truth.  The world seemed to be evolving into a place made for, and by, liars.  He saw no leader he could fully trust, and had not seen one for years.  The Police State, of which he had so recently been a member, seemed to have no limits.

And if the lie was The Devil's first tool?

It seemed like The Devil's next tool might be rage...

--And so on--

There's a point at which the ebb and flow of the rest of one's life is measured in cigarettes.

Designated: brilliant.  I might still do a tin a day...I comfort myself with the idea
that it would be General 'snus'--which has zero correlation with any health issues.

At last!
Ordered and eagerly awaiting release day.

Eagerly looking forward to the 17th.  I have set aside that weekend for reading (and quite possibly re-reading) The Solder's Son.

DC, I hope this goes big and you become independently wealthy as a result!

I definitely lucked out.  She likes to go shooting at the club that I belong to and she even likes to go to shooting classes with me!  The biggest miracle is that she puts up with all (most) of my shit.  I got a rare one to be sure...

Greyguy I often tell people that a Woman that hunts and fishes are worth their weight in gold.

Especial on cold nights at deer camp.

Agreed.  I've got her fishing and she enjoys it.  She has yet to go hunting.  To be fair though I don't go hunting nearly as often as I would like to or should...

Congrats DC. Sorry for the recent loss and finding out(or being reminded) that most people are #%¥<~’s. Will be gifting several after the 17th.

On a tangent note: I picked up a mid late war tangent hi power with an awful nickel job. It won’t ever be as pretty as Lyle Bass’. Maybe robar it one day but for now the ratty nickel fits for a truck gun. Would like to improve the sights but that’s a someday project.

Congrats again from a humble Remnant