Friday, Jews, Russians, Whatever

Good morning, Stroock's Books Kibbutzim, and shabbat shalom. 

Gonna be a scorcher today, with temps climbing to the mid-90s. 

So like an idiot we hit the gym yesterday even though we'd been to the gym the previous six days. However, when we felt a bad muscle pull coming on, we decided to not act like an idiot, and cut off our workout. We love the gym. We do love it so. 

Ben Shapiro* has been slamming (rightfully so) Candace Owens, Tucker etc for their relationship with and the former's tour of Russia. Huh, and there's American anchor Rick Sanchez working for Russia Today. Huh. We admit of late to reconsidering our past relationship with Inforos, for which we were occasionally called a Russian troll. Whatever. 

We wrote newsy, 800 word op-eds about American politics and current events. Everything we ever wrote for the Ruskis was 99 and 44/100ths percent true. Otherwise, we wandered the streets of San Francisco looking for 'nuclear wessels'. We stopped writing for Inforos when the Ruskis invaded Ukraine. 

Do we miss our gig in which the editor valued our contribution and paid us the agreed upon amount on time? You're damn right we do. In an ideal world we'd have written about the American view of the Ukraine War. But events won't allow it. Oh well. We shrug in the most Mediterranean way possible and return to our coffee. 

What Will's Watching: we restarted Justified last night. Why did we ever stop? We do miss that accent. Reminder, our maternal grandparents are buried in Livermore, Kentucky. 

An interesting article at the JPost about the rise of Gadi Eisenkot in the upcoming Israeli election. Our own sense is that Naftali Bennet has blown it. According to the Times of Israel, Eisenkot is rising. Wanna make the case for Eisenkot? We're listening. 

Right now, we'd put Netanhayu's odds at no better than 50/50. But should the Iranian regime collapse, he'd probably win. As far as Iran goes. Eschew doomerism. 

DOGE report. 

We had a fantastic day yesterday. 

We smoothed over and straightened out the BAOR chapter, and it should be in good shape for the actual counterattack. 

We rewrote the Irish army counterattack scene in the Battle of Ardee chapter. 

*Shapiro presents some horrifying stats about Russia. Do click over and watch. 

Down a Thursday

Morning, all. Temps begin the day in the mid-50s but will climb to 90 this afternoon. 

Six days in a row at the gym. It's time to take a break. 

We need more coffee....ah, there we go. 

Our local basketball team is in the NBA finals. We could not care less. Sorry, we're just not an NBA guy. The World Cup is here too. We don't care a whole lot about it, but we'll watch some matches. Why not?

War of the ants...we've spotted some little ones. But we haven't seen any big carpenter ants in the house for a week or ten days. 

Thursday...Thursday downer. 

We should be in a better mood, yet we aren't.

Reader(s) probably have an image of an author sitting in his study, furiously pounding the keyboard and ripping the page from his typewriter (IYKYK). Actually, most mornings ours is more like a cubicle job, like Office Space. Some days we even do that thing where we stare at the computer and pretend to work (IYKYK). We're actually just doomscrolling.  

In truth we feel stuck. Sales wise we've probably peeked as an author. We're not worried. Not yet, anyway. 

And no one seems interested in our magazine article queries. 

And we're bored. We're not quite bored with this blog. But we're bored AF with Substack, which feels like just another social media failure. See also Twitter and Gab. We're bored at night too. We've access to every movie and TV show ever made and we can't find something to watch. We can't think of anything to read, either. It's soooo weird. 

DOGE report.

Same. Lot's of progress on both fronts [So what are you so down about?-Ed]. Dunno. 

Your Post of June 3rd

Aye, Stroock's Books readers. A faire morning to ye all. 

After never settling in the night before, last night we slept the sleep of the dead. We are tired and groggy. 

Temps will climb to the mid-80s today. 

We still don't feel we're enjoying the late spring and are baffled as to why not. Too much to do, we guess. 

Do you people want a political roundup after yesterday's primaries? Neither do we. Bla-bla politics, bla-bla elections.

So this weekend we put together a rad-80s playlist of fun songs, including some forgotten 80's mystery clicks, as Ace would call them. Anyone else remember Lou Gramm's Midnight Blue? The list is mostly 80's stuff you've heard, Steve Perry*, J Geils, INXS, etc etc. Just good, fairly basic rock songs backed by a lot of talent. The kind of songs played at an 8th grade school dance in 1988.

Related....so we graduated from Blue Mountain Middle School in 1988. One of our teachers was a man named Joe Ryan. Mr. Ryan was a big man, 6'6 maybe. His voice carried, you could hear him all the way down the hallway.**  

Mr. Ryan was really into military reenacting, you know, like all those extras in the Gettysburg movie. Living history, Mr. Ryan called it. Well, if you were on his team, you were in his living history program. This meant on Fridays you picked up a toy musket and marched around the school parking lot. Students were required to have a blue or gray jean jacket and march under the proper flag. 

Last week we discovered Mr. Ryan is still around and living history.*** 

DOGE report.

Same really. We're in a good spot where we work on one novel in the morning, and another novel in the afternoon. We reverse the next day. So this morning we'll be focusing on the BAOR story. 

*Best voice in Rock and Roll. Probably deserved a better band. 

** During our own teaching and professorial days, we too were loud with a voice that carried. Thanks, Mr. Ryan.

***Ah, so we see we've blogged this before, albeit nine years ago. Such are the perils of running a blog for over a decade with 6000+ posts. Note that video at the link is from 1988 or 1989. We recognize those faces. One of them is the inspiration for Patricia in A Line through the Desert. 

Primarily So

Good morning, Stroock's Books assorted reader(s). The sun is bright. The air is cool.

Hey idiot! No...we knew what we were doing. Last night, because it was when we had time, we enjoyed our first Arturo Fuente in a month, and a we nip of whisky [We nip?! The Whisky was Japanese!] So it was. In any event we weren't really able to settle down last night and are groggy AF this morning. Worth it. A man is allowed his vices every once in a while. But ugh.

It's primary day here in new Jersey. Bla-bla politics, bla-bla NJ07. Let's just say we know people who plan on voting for Rebbecca Bennett in the Dem primary today. Why not? She's an excellent candidate. Great website. Let's see what absentee incumbent Tom Kean's website looks like. Seriously?  Kean and his people better hope their constituent services and outreach (which are formidable) pay off, bigly. 

Hot Air warns of an oil shock, $150 per barrel, due to the Iran war's disruptions of the oil market....coming in just a few weeks.  This blog hopes two things. One, that the oil execs cited in the piece are sounding the alarm because there's still time to take measures to alleviate the supply disruptions. And B, that Trump is ready for this crisis. Because he's the president. The shock would be on him. 

Holy Toledo, Cleveland and Cincinnati* a lot of diplomatic back and forth yesterday with Trump calling off the Israelis planned strike on Beirut. Trump allegedly gave Netanyahu a verbal tongue lashing. No these transpirings don't bother us. The Israelis can strike Hezbollah targets in Beirut some other time. Meanwhile it turns out the USN has been escorting merchant ships and tankers through Hormuz for weeks. Take that, Doomers!

Take that, but not flippantly. This war is in its third year. The Israeli public and the Israeli military are tired. 

World War 1990: Ireland has fifty reviews for an overall 4.1 star rating. 

We finally got a bad review, from Britain of course:

We stand by our police ranks. Otherwise, we might be bothered by this review, were it not sub-literate. Bollocks to you, mate. 

DOGE Report.

A lot of work on the battle of Ardee yesterday. It's coming along. 

A lot of work on the BAOR chapter in the 5th nuke novel. It is also coming along. 

We do have one 90mm gun scene in Thatcher's War to unsnarl. Wish us luck. 

*A free copy of one of our books to the first reader to get this Gen-X deep reference. 

The Monday in June

Good morning, reader(s) of Stroock's Books and happy June. You know, given our medical issues and self-induced stress over current events [Knobhead-Ed], I know, right - we really haven't been able to enjoy the spring weather. And the weather's been gorgeous lately, like a pretty blonde in her new, just-snug-enough, summer evening dress [Awww thanks-Ed]. We weren't talking about you. 

Gym report... We're back down under 245 pounds, that's 17.5 stone to you Brits. We don't know what that'd be in Canadian (how many beaver pelts to the pound?). And yesterday we benched 300 again- despite not touching a dumbbell since August. We've been doing rope pulleys, rower, tension bands and a hundred + pushups at each session. 

Right now, Newark is an important front in the immigration wars. Last night New Jersey State police broke up the riot in front of the Delany Hall ICE facility. Governor Mikie Sherrill is not crazy. For those Panicans out there, this is yet more evidence the right is winning the immigration debate. 

Related, the Dems are running a Mikie Sherrill clone for congress here in our own NJ07 district. Rebbeca Bennett is an excellent candidate, an ex-navy pilot like Sherrill and seemingly not crazy. We can tell the GOP is worried about Bennett because we're getting fliers linking her to ICE and Trump in an effort to turn Dem voters away from her. Meanwhile incumbent GOP Tom Kean has been AWOL for a couple of months with some undisclosed health issue. We hope Kean, for whom we not only voted but volunteered, is okay. But right now we'd probably vote for Bennett. Kean last voted on March 5th. Show up to work, pal.

The New York Post tells us that Trump is refusing to accept Iran's surrender. Pointless speculation: are we preparing a massive strike on Iranian assets around Hormuz? 

Israel is getting ready to hit Hezbollah targets in Beirut. What else have the Israelis planned, those clever Jews. Operation Grim Beeper II: the Return? 

DOGE report.

We went over the first half of the Battle of Ardee chapter and liked what we saw. We articulated and improved what we had. It's mostly a character study of Irish army officers, Garda, civilian leadership and whacky IRA guys. We've never written a chapter quite like this. Long time reader(s) know we like some differentiation in novels. The Battle of Ardee stays. 

Damnit these Irish motorways we keep writing about didn't exist in 1990. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 5/31/26

Good morning, Stroock's Books Christian reader(s) and happy Sunday. As usual, don't skimp on the post-church lunch buffet. 

This little bastard is menacing the neighborhood: 

Last night at about 10:00 we were emptying the dishwasher and cleaning out the fridge. We lead the quiet life and we're fine with it. 

One month has passed since our last cigar. Maybe tomorrow. See we shall. 

The Israeli offensive in Lebanon continues. Today they captured Beaufort Castle, which is a very big deal. Amit Segal explains why. Meanwhile Hezbollah fires rockets and launches drones at Israel. The war has reduced Hezbollah from an existential threat to a nuisance. 

Once again, Doomers and Panicans fail to see the military, economic, and diplomatic blows the US and Israel have inflicted upon Iran. Every day the blockade strikes a new blow upon the Iranian economy. Trump is refusing to accept Iran's surrender. He's dragging out negotiations, not Iran. We'll ask the question again: are you such a loser that you don't know you've won? 

So Newark is wracked by anti-ICE riots*. Mikie Sherrill, our so far more or less not crazy governor, did a performative visit to the Delany Hall Ice facility last week. But this weekend she sent in the state police to quell the violence. Today Newark Mayor Ras Baraka announced a curfew. Dems wising up on the whole riot thing?

We submitted a piece to a Substack publication. Wish us luck.

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 5/31/26.

We're switching back to World War 1990: Thatcher's War today. Thatcher's War is 46,000 words. 

You people recall the Battle of Ardee, our 10,000 word description of a British and Irish forces fighting for Ardee. We may rewrite the battle as a bird's eye narrative. Or...what if the Dublin landing is bird's eye. Upon this notion, we shall dwell.

*Newark is half an hour from here and we really don't care what happens there. But these latest events are kind of interesting. 

Saturday Updates

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

We got in a Judaism last night. God seemed pleased. 

A long week, a good week. While the colonoscopy was routine, it was done because we had several symptoms that pop right up on a google search. It's always nice to find out you don't have colon cancer. 

One more test to go. 

Dear Iran doomers, kindly fuck off. The Iranians aren't playing Trump. Trump is playing the Iranians. With each day their economy gets worse. Trump knows this which is why he's dragging out negotiations. Here patience is more than a virtue. It's a weapon. In other words, Trump is refusing to accept Iran's surrender.  

The Things.

We've been very indecisive in recent weeks. For example, we wonder if we should get a new cover for Pershing in Command and have yet to make a decision. WACO: Will Always Chickens Out? We don't know. 

June is almost here. After a great month, we think it's time to put World War 1990: The Managua Campaign down.

Our BAOR story in the 5th nuke novel is coming along just fine. We may end up retconning again, slightly. Or we may tinker with the theme of the novel a bit. Either way, the story about the BAOR counterattacking is in good shape.