Saturday Updates

Aye, a faire Saturday morn to all Stroock's Books people. The sky is clear and sunny. The fog is lifted off the lake. We are tired after a day of hiking and boating. Fireworks tonight.

As we write this we're indulging in an late AM beer and Arturo Fuente while the womenfolk hit the outlets. Why not?

Mrs. Stroock and the girls spotted a huge porcupine last night. 

The actor Ryan Renolds (a Canadian FFS) said some very dumb, ill-informed things about the 80's. The great Mark Judge rises to the defense of the decade. Next week will be 80's week here at Stroock's Books. We recall a lot of angst. Exit question: are we looking at the 80's through rose colored glasses? Discuss in comments. 

Saw this on Substack, 'Most self-published authors sell fewer than 100 copies of their book, mainly because they started marketing it after they published it.' This sounds smart, at first. Clever even. That's the problem. What difference does it make if one markets a big before it's on the market or after? A Line Through the Desert sold a hundred copies - the first year. And we spent thousands marketing it. We could (and have) go on and on. 

The Things.

We slogged, my how we slogged, through World War 1990 Thatcher's War. The Howth chapter is better. Much better. Is it finished? Don't make us laugh. What's that principle where one gets 50% closer to a goal and then 50% closer and 50% closer yet again? We dunno. But there we are. [It's frustrating but you are making progress-Ed]. We are Ed. We are. 

Woman Are Crazy Week: Last Xanax

Good morning from the pastoral splendor of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. As we write this the lake is shrouded in fog. Temps should reach into the mid 80s today. The sky is clear. There will be boating. 

FB tells us that ten years ago we were here with friends, two neighborhood families. All the kids were BFFs. Ah....we named that motorboat after our grandmother's hometown, Waterproof. The naming didn't appease her spirit. She haunted Waterproof...from beyond the grave. Reminder: do not mess with southern women. Ever. Even though we're a blue belly, the blood of the South pulses through our veins. We should have known better. She seems okay with the pontoon boat, though. 

Driving outside of town, we saw a bear just lounging on the side of the road like he owned the place. We slowed down and rubbernecked. The girls snapped some pics. 

Political note, local: One cannot go on YouTube without seeing an ad for Congressman Tom Kean. And he talks about...healthcare. Kean has the advantage of incumbency, massive name recognition*, and more cash. His campaign strikes us as motivated and aggressive. We saw a poll that has Kean and challenger Rebecca Bennett tied at 45.** If they really are tied after Kean checked himself into the nuthouse and disappeared for a couple of months.... NJ07 should be a bellwether. This blog awaits events. 

One juror is holding out in the Lindsay Clancy case, they say. One lone man, we imagine. But who knows? It takes a strong man to resistance the persistent demands of a class of women unused to be told, 'No, you can't do that'. We shouldn't speculate [Yet you are -Ed]. We are, Ed. We are. 

World War 1990: Korea: This is one book. One. Ya hear me? [Oh please, Korea could easily be a trilogy Ed]. That's what we're afraid of.

DOGE report.

Before we hit the road yesterday, we continued our slog through the Battle of Howth. We are slogging well. 

We also read through our DEW Line story. The half we've written looked good. Plenty of setup, atmosphere, and character. But what happens?! We've no idea. A problem. 

*This website is using a picture of his dad, former governor Tom Kean.

**Okay, looks like they're normalizing a poll from last spring. That being said, Kean and the RNC and third-party groups are spending a lot of money in NJ07. They wouldn't being doing that unless they thought they could win. 

Women are Crazy Week: Fourth Xanax

A cloudy and wet morning here in New Jersey.  We awake tired and sore.

Today we decamp to the Berkshires for Labor Day. Saturday night there will be fireworks on the lake. We're all packed but there's some cleaning that must needs be done before we leave.

A date looms. We are in no way physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually prepared. Yes, we're speaking of 9 September, the first game of the 2026 NFL season. 

Speaking of not being prepared, Middle and Youngest Daughter return to school next week. They're fine. We're not. Dunno. 

Women are Crazy Week, 4th Xanax. We see Gloria Steinem has died. We'll say nothing about the woman or her legacy, and keep our quips to ourselves, because we ain't the left. Then we remembered the crazy succubi rallying for Lindsey and the hung jury of nine women and three men. Does one of the poor men on the jury get a 'just one of those days' pass were he to strangle his children? This blog suggests that we reach back, to the purer time of our forefathers and have them all burned at the stake, metaphorically. Also, reference. Reminder: feminism is ALWAYS bad for women. 

Israel Hayom, runs a story on security procedures and spending at American synagogues. Yep. Our own synagogue has armed security during the High Holy Days. Larger congregations have permanent armed security. The next great terrorist pogrom will be against the Diaspora. Stabby is persistent.

World War 1990: Korea: the end point of this war will be a massive US/Allied aerial and sea bombardment of China. At least three carrier battlegroups will be off the Chinese coast. 

Campaign notes, national: on the one hand Rasmussen (the gold standard) has the Dems up 5. On the other, Harvard/Harris has the GOP up 2. Bottom line, the race is anyone's. 

DOGE report. 

We worked on the Howth battle and some aftermath scenes all day yesterday. We'll work on it more today. 

It may be time for Ireland to enter the rest period. 

We've two short stories to finish in the 5th nuke novel, and one more, probably, to write. We shall ponder this on the trip up to the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction. 

Women are Crazy Week: Third Xanax

Happy midweek, people of Stroock's Books. 

Brisket last night. No gout this morning. One must keep one's fingers crossed. 

We got some rain last night and it's drizzling this morning. 

Florit Shoihet asks if Jews are 'frogs in a boiling pot.' She's writing specifically about British Jews, but the answer across the West is yes. Yes, even here in America - though admittedly less so. Shoihet talks about the normalization of antisemitism. She writes on Substack, where we saw so much Juden hass that after a while we became numb to it. 

Related, At Alma, an assessment of Hezbollah's current capabilities. Nut-graph, as the J-school losers would say, 'Hezbollah’s force model on the eve of October 7, 2023, no longer exists. The broad invasion plan to capture the Galilee has been neutralized; the defense plan, with an emphasis on the area south of the Litani and the contact line, has collapsed; and the massive fire plan no longer exists in its previous form.' A lot more assessing follows. The Israelis killed about 10,000 Hezbollah terrorists and made great slaughter of its military and political leadership. See Operation Grim Beeper. Hezbollah is now a dispersed guerilla force preparing for a long-term campaign against the Israeli security zone in Lebanon. In other words, here we go again. Still, the above is no mean feat. 

Women are Crazy Week, Third Xanax: the Lindsey Clancy jury remains deadlocked. That woman has her supporters. What can one say? There'd be no excuses, no supporters, no protests, if Patrick Clancy had strangled the children to death. None. And almost all men would want him strung up in front of the courthouse after conviction. 

Campaign notes, national: The NY Post ran a story saying Dems lead in 8 senate races. True. But many of those races are in red states. and we'd be stunned if those poll numbers held. It's happened before. See for example Tennessee in 2018, where Phil Bredesen and Marsha Blackurn were tied through the summer. Blackburn raced ahead in the autumn though and won handily. 

World War 1990: Korea...it's easy to imagine that after the Norks invade South Korea, the US would bring tremendous military force to bear. Not in this universe. Actually, it took a while for the US to get its act together in the Korean War too. Instead, the US will approach the invasion reluctantly. In the five years since WWIII, congress has slashed defense spending. A lot of experienced military personnel of all ranks are in civilian life now. There will be a significant anti-war caucus at home, left and right *cough-Pat Buchanan-cough*.

DOGE report.

We are almost done fixing the battle of Howth. Almost. 

Women are Crazy Week: Second Xanax

Happy September everyone. Temps remain in the 80s this week. But one can feel the autumn in the cool night. We await, we await. 

Another good day at the gym. We see the results in the mirror. But we remain sore and tired. It's time for a real gym break. Is it also time for a new regimen? Maybe going back to four machines (rope pully, rower, elliptical and....). Two back to backs a week? Maybe. 

9/11's 25th anniversary is approaching and we've no idea what to think or if we should think anything at all. We did a piece of for the Kremlin on the 20th anniversary. Maybe we'll just reprint that. What were people doing on December 7, 1966? We don't know. 

Vice President Vance met with the Republican Jewish Coalition yesterday.  This blog prefers Ron Desantis for 2028, which has almost no chance of happening. The nominee will almost certainly be Vance.  We are meh about what we've heard from the meeting so far. We'll wait for more reporting. *

Women are Crazy Week, legal edition, which is what triggered Woman are Crazy Week: three men sit on the Lindsay Clancy jury, and they're having to explain to the gals that you don't get to strangle your children to death just because your hormonal and having a bad day. We stole that from someone, We don't remember who. 

Seriously, a FB friend of ours was working his way through the case, and we commented that Clancy should be locked up in a hospital for the criminally insane for the rest of her life. We see this as an act of mercy, as it's obvious to us that Clancy is nuts. A mutual female friend said that Clancy's husband was not innocent. 'Up your dosage and try taking it with a glass of white wine,' we didn't say. 

World War 1990: Korea...So after World War Three China has ambitions. They're looking north actually, as officially the Chinese government thinks Siberia belongs to them. Look it up. And the Soviet Union is weak and probably wracked by civil war. But tidying things up to the east seems like a good idea. To that end China props up and strengthens Kim in North Korea. Kim goes rogue and attacks South Korea. 

DOGE report.

The fixing of the Battle of Howth...continues. Baah. The writing seems flat. We are entering the 'this sucks' phase. All perfectly normal.

*In our view firing Buckley Carson from the staff would be a good move. 

Women are Crazy Week: First Xanax

Yarp, a sore morning to all Stroock's Books reader(s) except the Canadians. Enjoy swimming in Lake America, hosers. 

We are sore after moving Oldest Daughter into her dorm, which involved dad carrying things and putting stuff together while the womenfolk decorated. [Don't forget berating the parking lot public safety guy for not letting you park in the dorm lot. I believe the word you used was 'retarded'-Ed] It was, Ed. It was. [And you said, 'Na, I'm going to park here-Ed]. And I did, Ed. I did. [Knobhead-Ed].

The older we get, the less tolerant we are of over-officious, power-tripping popinjay. [Like that time last summer when the X-ray nurse asked you to wear a mask?-Ed] Exactly. [Or the kid at the chipotle counter?-Ed]

[What you don't realize is you're just turning into a grumpy old guy who will one day yell at the girl at the Denny's counter because you go there at a quarter after six, thus missing the early bird special-Ed]. Ouch. [Ouch indeed-Ed].

 Also, we hit the gym yesterday afternoon. 

Polar Cub last night because...why not?

Sigh, the last day of August. And with August ending, the High Holy Days loom. Holy Moses, 12 September and...21 September. 

Woman are crazy week, What Will's Watching edition: Dead to Me. Christina Applegate plays Jen Harding, a window grieving over the loss of her husband in an as yet unsolved hit and run. Linda Cardellini is Judy, her BFF with a dark secret. Jen and Judy are Gen-X archetypes, affluent, snarky, sometimes bitchy, privileged. Both are emotionally unstable in their own way. Jen is prone to rage. Judy is prone to despair. We watch them drink wine and cry as they slowly learn Jen's life wasn't all she thought it was, and neither was her husband. Neither are unlikable. We are entertained. 3/4.

So in World War 1990: Korea, the Norks, emboldened by Saddam's victory in the Middle East, invade South Korea. The Norks have great success initially, but are eventually stopped by the US and the ROK. China intervenes leading to a pan-Pacific War. We'll get into China's motivations tomorrow. 

What began as a local conflict becomes a regional war dragging in the Japanese, the Australians, Singapore etc etc. Colin Powell is brought out of retirement to become CinC Western Pacific Theatre.

The year is, 1996 maybe, with the war heavily impacting the election. 

America has fought and won WWIII, but is wondering what is was all about. The world has seen war and genocide in Jugosalvia. Saddam has smashed the Kurds, taken the Iranian oilfields and is master of the ME. There might be a Soviet civil war.

Reminder, we've no idea whether Gore or Quayle wins in 1992. 

DOGE report.

Slowly, ever slowly, we are fixing the Dublin Airport battle scene. Patience. We don't know why or how we got so bad at writing battle narrative. What's so hard about, 'The platoon dropped down to the tarmac and returned fire. At the same time an Irish 40mm gun pumped rounds into the Chinook, killing pilot and copilot.' Dunno. 

Will's Last Good Idea for August, 2026

A faire Sunday morn to Christian reader(s) of the blog except the C of E types. The Presbyterians, too. Oh, and the Methodists. In fact, pretty much all the mainline Protestant denominations. They're a weak, feeble lot. And they don't much like Jews. [You know, you have a long line of Presbyterian preachers on your mum's side. And all that Kentucky heritage is Methodist-Ed] And? 

We told the parking lot guy, a portly young man in a bad uniform and yellow highway jacket, with as much politeness* as we could muster, that the parking lot policy was retarded. 

'The policy is retarded,' we said.

'Well they don't want people parking in the dorm parking lot and unloading their car,' the parking kid said. 

'It's move in day,' we replied. 'Where am I supposed to park. Na, I'm going to park here.'

Anyway, Oldest Daughter is moved into her dorm. 

Will's final good idea for August: A second Korean war, probably alternate history. But it rhymes with the first Korean War. US/South Korea defeats the Norks. China intervenes. But this time there are no restrictions on US actions. We pound Manchuria and hammer the Chinese coast. 

[You know, this could be...-Ed] Don't say it....[a post WWIII World War 1990 novel, World War 1990: Korea. Make it after the election of 1992 with the new president having to deal with the crisis-Ed] Fuck![I can tell by your cursing you like the idea-Ed]  Fuck! [See- and you already have a vague plan for an apocalyptic 2000 war between Israel and Iraq-Ed].

Stroock's Books will toy with this idea all week. 

*The late Mark Stroock II once said in a Young & Rubicam meeting, 'Tell them, indirectly, to go fuck themselves'.