Will's Good Idea for the Week of 3/22/26

Good Sunday morning to the Christian faithful among Stroock's Books reader(s).

Bla-bla Israel, bla-bla, Iran. Our own thoughts:

-The Iranians have pissed everyone off.

-Ignore establishment, whacky left, and retard right media accounts. These people hate America and want us to lose.

-The Iranian street remains idle for a reason. 

-Talk is cheap and useless. 

-Trump talks too much.

-The mullahs talk more.

-The war is going just fine.

-Eschew Victory Disease. 

Exit question: What are the unknown unknowns? 

Quick reminder that the late Robert Mueller tried to lock up Trump and his family and ruined a lot of people's lives. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 3/22/26. 

We are out of here Wednesday evening and out of things till April 3. 

We're sort of all over the place at the moment. We'll be spending some intellectual energy on World War 1990: Ireland. But out primary work will be on the 5th nuke novel. We're gonna try to finish the fourth story about a little boy left home alone, and we're going to try to start another story.  

Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders, and happy Saturday.

Last night we made final plans for the Stroock Florida trip.

We won't be bringing our computer. So we'll be signing off Wednesday. We'll read instead. Wish us luck. 

Looks like we'll be doing some light yard work today. 

The war goes on. And on and on. Trump is easing Iranian oil sanctions and also threatening to send the 82nd Airborne to Iran, and also saying we're just about done, but also sending another Marine MEU. People and pundits are confused. Critics say Trump is wild and incoherent. Ten years after he descended the escalator, one should realize that saying wild and contradictory stuff is part of Trump's negotiating strategy. 

The war on Iran feels like the Desert Storm air war, or the Kosovo war, in which the aerial campaign drags on, until it doesn't. 

The Things. 

The Saturday Updates are a little redundant with the (mostly) daily DOGE Reports, but whatev. 

We had an excellent week with the World War 1990: Thatcher's War Belfast riot chapter. Looks good? Looks good.

We worked a little on the Soviet cosmonaut story. We don't know where it goes, though.  We started a new story about a little boy left home alone in the 5th nuke novel. We don't know where it goes, though. We really should come up with a name for the 5th nuke novel.  Four Days After? When the Bombs Stopped? To smug, we say. 

We got another idea for a 5th nuke novel short story and will probably work on that before heading to Florida. 

Friday, Will's Getting Ready for Florida

Good Friday morning, Stroock's Books reader(s) and shabbat shalom.  

Temperatures are climbing. Buds are on the trees. Spring is just hours away. 

No school today as the kids have Eid off. We're not as exercised about this as some might assume. 

Bla-bla Israel, bla-bla-Iran...we awake to the same recitation of strikes, US, Israel, Iranian. It's all bewildering. A second MEU is heading to the Persian Gulf they say. One needs not be a genius to see that the US and Israel are focusing on regime elements to foment a revolt. People are staying off the streets. When will they take to the streets?

Gas prices approach four bucks a gallon here. What are gas prices there?*

We are bored with Substack and our daily reminders that Israel is great. We troll for Gaza sob-stories and repost them with the admonition, 'Hamas chose war' or 'invading Israel and murdering all those people was a terrible idea' or some such. Reader(s) will get the idea. Most of the grief we get on Substack is from Tucker Carlson fanboys and Groyper types. Right wing Juden hass is real.

DOGE Report.

We worked on two different nuke novel short stories yesterday. We started a new story in which a little boy, say 6 years old, is left home alone. A little boy being home alone is more plausible than modern readers may think. It was the 70s man. Things just worked different. We recall being told to stay on the couch and watch Super Friends while mom ran to the store to get cigarettes. Right? Anyway, he's home alone, no sign of mom and dad, and night is coming.

We read through the World War 1990: Thatcher's War Belfast riots. The chapter is just about how we want it. Do we need views from Government Buildings, Stormont, White Hall, and/or the IRA Army Council? 

Sales of World War 1990: Ireland recovered some yesterday. We'll see what happens today. Ireland has five ratings and two reviews on Amazon, 5 star average, and 8 ratings on Good Reads, 4-star average. We were spooked by a couple of two-star ratings early on, which is unusual. So we're waiting for a few more returns before declaring victory. 

Holy hell, somebody bought a copy of Blooms. 

We leave for Florida Wednesday. 

*Report in American numbers and Yankee dollars only. Sorry, Canadian equivalents not accepted.  

The Post Before the Friday Fek n Fook the Farsis Post

Aye, faire reader(s), and good morning. 

Yesterday we shaved our glorious mustache, much to the relief of the Stroock women. Honestly, we're just not a mustache guy. Never have been.

Bla-bla, Israel, bla-bla Iran. Tomorrow begins the fourth week of the war. A quagmire, a quagmire indeed. The campaign against Iran will drag on, until it doesn't. Anyone else remember the Kosovo thing back in 1999? The US and NATO bombed Serbia, which held out defiantly, indefinitely, before finally giving in? 

NATO/Europe refusing to do anything about the Strait of Hormuz is on point for Europe. The Australians and Japanese are acting like, well, a bunch of Europeans. 

When we head out today we're gonna see gas at four bucks a gallon, aren't we?

DOGE report.

We wrote another World War 1990: Thatcher's War riot scene and edited what we had. Finn Fahy is back. Why not? 

Things are going well, but the problem of the Ardee chapter remains. 

We began a new short story in the 5th nuke novel and worked on the cosmonaut scene.

World War 1990: Ireland sales collapsed yesterday. Time for Kindle Select? We'll wait a little while longer. Ireland has four ratings on Amazon, all of 5 stars, and 8 reviews on Good Reads, of various ratings from 2 to 5 stars for a 4 star average. So far there is only one review, and we know that guy. A very nice man. 

Midweek Meandering

Good midweek afternoon, Stroock's Books faithful.

We have shaved our beard but have left a glorious mustache which drew a few compliments at the gym yesterday. Of course the Stroock girls are aghast, horrified. 

So Venezuela beat the US in the World Baseball Classic final. Congrats. We watched several WBC games. Many of those games were close and packed with tension. We think this year's WBC was a huge success. 

Thanks to marketable stars like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, a great World Series last year and the WBC, baseball has passed the NBA and is now the second most popular sport in America, don't you think?

The New York Post says, 'The Oscars are struggling to keep audiences glued to the screen. The 98th Academy Awards drew just 17.9 million viewers on ABC and Hulu. That’s down 9% from last year and marks the lowest audience since 2022.' A boring and bloated broadcast. Cut the Oscars down to two hours and stick with the awards people care about. No one cares about best editing, etc etc...

Bla-bla Israel, bla-bla- Iran...The Israelis are bombing all Litani River crossings and have three divisions on the Lebanese border with elements inside Lebanon proper. Mobilization of reserves is coming. We awoke to another assassination of a some high profile Iranian regime type. We can't keep track anymore. In any event, ka-blamo. Ah, the intel minister. Ah, okay. We remain optimistic but cautious. Where does this thing go? 

As always, beware Victory Disease. 

DOGE Report.

We edited three scenes in World War 1990: Thatcher's War and started another. Good craic. 

We worked on our Soviet cosmonaut story in the third nuke novel. We plan to start another story today. We know where this story begins, but have no idea where it's going. Which is fine. 

Sales look to be down today. We'll see. Kindle Select kraken at the end of the month? 

Irish on a Tuesday

Aye, a faire St. Patrick's Day afternoon to all you Stroock's Books reader(s) in Ireland and the Irish diaspora. Also to anyone who likes a wee nip of Irish whisky. 

War of the ants. We haven't spotted an ant since deploying the interior and exterior traps. 

Oh, dear lord. We knew right where this was going the moment it started. Those dirty bastards. 

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Israelis took out Ali Larijani and the head of the Iranian Basij. Near as we can tell Larijani was the highest ranking survivor of the Iranian leadership. He ain't surviving no more, is he! The JPost says, 'The military also announced that it killed the IRGC's Aerospace Force chief. An Israeli official also confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that the majority of the Basij leadership was eliminated overnight in the Israeli airstrike.'

Is there gonna be anyone left with which to negotiate? 

The Times of Israel tells us, 'Trump slams allies’ low ‘enthusiasm’ for his proposed coalition to open Hormuz...' That includes Spain, Germany, Britain...What good is NATO and Europe again? No good at all really. Ursula van der Whatshername begs for American help in Ukraine, but (declining) economic powerhouses like Britain and Spain won't (and can't BTW) dispatch a frigate to secure their own oil's transport through the Strait of Hormuz. Also, Europe has (ahem) restive Islamic populations.

Related, via M. A. Rothman a fascinating Tucker Carlson clip from 1999 on Pat Buchanan's alleged antisemitism. Tucker's right, more or less. Gee, Tucker used to make a lot of sense. What happened? We think Tucker's just spent too much time out in the Maine woods. Ruminations on Pat Buchanan segue nicely....

DOGE Report.

Sales of World War 1990: Ireland were decent yesterday and should remain decent today. Soon will come the time to release the Kindle Select kraken. 

We wrote and/or edited three Belfast riot scenes yesterday and helped set the stage for foundational characters to perform the acts they must needs perform. We were/are pleased. We shall edit those scenes and work on a few others today. Exit question, who else from World War 1990: Ireland shows readers the Belfast riots?

Hmmm...back to back pub scenes...and on St. Patrick's Day too. 

The Day Before St. Patrick's Day

A happy pre-St. Patrick's Day and St. Patrick's Day Eve to Stroock's Books reader(s) from Cork to Derry, Belfast to Dublin [St Patrick's Day Eve? Not a thing -Ed]. No, it's not. But we are using the holiday, such as it is, to hock World War 1990: Ireland on Substack [People love spam in their feed. Good craic. Just cracker-Ed]. Shut up, Ed. You're from Liverpool. 

While World War 1990: Ireland (have you purchased your copy yet? If so, please say so in the comments) falls in the Amazon rankings, sales remain strong. Midway through this month, royalties are already triple what they were last month.

Speaking of Ireland...[Oooo segue -Ed], what we working on this week? We started one of the Belfast riot POV scenes, using that bevy of Irish characters one sees at the beginning and end of World War 1990: Ireland (which you should totally buy if you haven't already).  This should keep us busy for a couple of days. 

Moving on...[Thank you-Ed].

Israel has launched a new incursion into southern Lebanon today a 'targeted ground operation'. It's unclear if this is the big one.  Probably not. Battlespace prep? Probably. The IDF is 'preparing a massive ground operation' though. Reminder, Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government, so national infrastructure is fair game. 

NATO is waffling on sending ships to hold open the Strait of Hormuz, which is sooooo European. Australia and Japan are nixing the idea too. So what good are these military alliances again? Stroock's Books believes America has no interests east of Iceland. 

The war will go on. Bla-bla number of vessels sunk, bla-bla we destroyed the Iranian space program.The bombing stats are impressive. We admit it. We are reminded of the Desert Storm air war, which went on for five weeks. During this time the Pentagon assured the public that Iraq and Kuwait remained, 'Target rich environments'. So remains Iran, one supposes.  Exit question: at what point does the American/Israeli bombing campaign tip over to diminishing returns?

Ant War II: we haven't seen any ants since we deployed interior and exterior traps. We remain wary. We saw one of the those leggy insects in the basement but let it be. Those things thick ants are a delicious snack.