Getting to See

Aye....a cloudy and wet morning here in Northern New Jersey. 

We've had four days in a row at the gym. Time to rest, right? 

We have a physical today. Wish us luck. 

What do we got?

Negotiations between the US and Iran continue apace. MAGA accounts are triumphant. We are more skeptical and circumspect, as is our wont. Our own sense is that some sort of deal will be reached. At this point we're not sure what renewing the military campaign can accomplish. Lots of US military aircraft are landing in the ME right now. We shall see.

Meanwhile, Israel blows up Hezbollah's stuff in south Lebanon.

Elections in Britain today. Labour is supposed to be wiped out. Supposed to be. We shall also see. 

War of the Ants... Yesterday we stomped 21 ants. So far we have not seen a carpenter ant this morning (oh, never mind. There's one). But the little ones have appeared in the master bathroom shower. We found their colony though and terminated it with extreme prejudice. We sprayed the exterior of the house with a soap/vinegar solution. The ants' tipping point is nearing. We shall see once more. 

DOGE report.

Task Force Bolivar is ready to break out of the Choluteca Gap. FDN forces (half a dozen task forces backed by US air power) are breaking out of Nueva Segovia and driving south.

After that, we really have no idea what happens. 

We probably need an interlude chapter between the above and the final drive on Managua. 

Art of the Deal?

Good morning, Stroock's Books reader(s) and happy midweek. 

Baaah...a rough night. No idea why. 

At least we don't have to drive anyone anywhere today. 

The other day when working on the lawn we noticed that the tiny little Japanese maple we planted in 2006 had died. It never grew much but every year the maple had gorgeous leaves. Oh well. At least we got to break out the chain saw. 

Pointless nostalgia...2006 was our first full spring here in casa-de-Stroock, and we endeavored to be one of those lawn guys. You know, the kind that spends a couple of ours on Saturdays mowing the lawn, pruning the bushes, planting some new flowers, etc etc. We are no longer one of those lawn guys. 

Iran talks...the terms discussed seem so ludicrously favorable to Iran that they have to be wrong or part of some greater misinformation effort, right? Maybe Trump's making a maximalist offer so he can say, 'See, I tried', right? Maybe. Perhaps Trump's just trying to gin the oil markets*. Right? Right? Otherwise, what the actual ef?

A lot of MAGA accounts are chalking these terms up as a great deal. We don't see it, for now. 

Indiana...five of six called state senate races were one by Trump backed candidates against incumbents who refused Governor Braun's redistricting efforts. MAGA is the GOP. The GOP is MAGA. Note, we are a lot less hostile to Mike Pence than some on the right. What exactly was he supposed to do in 2020? Nevertheless...[Nevertheless, what?-Ed]. Just nevertheless.

Ohio...Vivek Ramaswamy easily won the GOP nomination for governor. Slick politicians are often compared to used car salesmen. But Ramaswamy reminds us of a game show host. We've no idea what his odds are in November. 

DOGE Report.

Mostly editing and rewriting yesterday, cleaning up the invasion chapters, getting everything shipshape and Bristol fashion. 

We've been writing a narrative battle scene from out East German Oberst advisor's POV rather than our typical back and forth between A and B. So far, so good, we guess. 

*Oil's down, like 12 percent this morning. We're going to wish cast that it's the oil thing. 

Will is in a Mood

Good morning, Stroock's Books reader(s) and Happy Cinco de Mayo. This is the 23rd anniversary of our paternal grandmother's death. As is now family tradition, we like to pester her namesake.

We mowed the lawn yesterday. The grass is surprisingly green and almost even. What's up with that?

War of the ants....we remain convinced that soon the enemy will reach the tipping point bringing about victory. 

For the first time in our life, we snapped at a cashier and didn't feel bad about it. 'All I want to do is check out. I don't want to try another phone number. I don't want to apply for a 10% discount card. I don't want to get vaccinated. All I want to do is check out. Clear?' We are getting old and less tolerant of fuckwitery. 

Related...we have another doctor's appointment this morning, and yet another later in the week. We are sick of doctors, doctors' offices, forms, more forms, waiting around, etc etc..

The New York Post tells us that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is prepping a 2028 run for president. Longtime reader(s) will recall that we supported him in the 2024 primaries.* We can think of no better candidate to take up Trump's fight against the Dems and the Deep State. DeSantis would be formidable in the general election.  

DOGE Report.

The FDN and Pan-American advance into Nicaragua continues apace. Events are transpiring. It occurred to us yesterday that we don't know how we're wrapping things up in Cuba. 

Okay...planning and thinking about World War 1990: Battle of the GIUK Gap...is going just fine. We got a Canadian Aurora aircraft. A Canadian destroyer. A Ruski sub. A British carrier hunter-killer group. USS Stirling. The Grognard thinks we should have a Danish ship (why not?).

* Note: our preferred candidate has never clinched the nomination. Paul Tsongas, Lamar Alexander, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani...ours is a long list of failure in the presidential primaries. 

Mega War Force Star and Sterling

Good morning, Stroock's Books reader(s) and happy Monday. 

We did not mow the lawn yesterday. We may mow the lawn today. 

We are tempted to adjust our workout regimen. But why mess with something that is working so well?

Substack Notes is getting glitchy when we try to post pics, links etc, and we are getting seriously fucked off about it. Should we return to Twitter? 

So we watched Megaforce twice last week and thought maybe we'd blog it thus week. We checked our archives and...it turns out we already spent a week blogging Megaforce. Enjoy. 

Oh look, today is Star Wars Day. We've nothing to add. We're sick of Star Wars. Here's an idea we once had, Star Wars: Star Destroyer Lance. 

Actually, for this blog today is Ohio National Guard Day. IYKYK.

A bit of sad news as Yankees radio legend John Sterling has passed away. Anyone following the New York Yankees from the early 90's on knows his velvet, dulcet voice. He was just pleasant to listen to. Here's one of our favorite Sterling calls. "And the New York Yankees, on the precipice of defeat, tie the game at three!' Yankeees win. Thaaaa Yankees win! Rest in peace, king of the air. 

DOGE Report.

Yesterday we did a lot of thinking about World War 1990: Battle of the GIUK Gap. Our Grognard, who's been pestering us to do GIUK all year, is delighted and hard at work. 

Over the weekend we watched some YouTube vids about selling books, marketing books, etc etc. We do this a couple of times a year to fight complacency. We learned a few things but didn't get any new ideas. We investigate and ponder but don't know what to do, other than write more books.  

There is no magic bullet. We grow one reader at a time.

Will's Good Idea for the week of 5/3/26

Good morning, Stroock's Books faithful, and happy Sunday. Don't skimp on the post-Church lunch buffet now. 

It's May 3rd...why is the temp 47 degrees this morning?

We had a gout attack early yesterday morning. Fab.

We should mow the lawn. We probably won't.

Our sojourn across the dread-Hudson River for a visit with our dad went just fine. On the way out we had dinner at the Croton Colonial Diner. The Corton Diner has been a Stroock family stable for decades, and even shows up in A Line Through the Desert. 

It's a weird thing, walking through the house in which one grew up, which one moved out of 30 years ago. We deal with this in a short story we've written four The Fourth Day. 

On the way home oldest daughter said she had a test on the Middle East and needed us to explain Desert Storm and the Iraq War to her. We got emotional. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 5/3/26.

So we thought about World War 1990: Battle of the GIUK Gap during our drive yesterday. Meh.

Okay...Marines on Iceland. USS Stirling (remember her waaaay back in Arctic Storm). Nimrods and Orions patrolling the gap. A Soviet submarine (Vologda from Norway). A NATO submarine...What else?

Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders. 

Arrgh...gout attack. Which make sense. Yesterday we did something really stupid. We lit an Arturo Fuente (our first in 17 days and 6th of the year) and cracked open a bottle of chianti. Serves us right. 

The Things.

We have lowered the price of World War 1990: Ireland, which has 29 ratings for a 4.2 average. Ireland also has its first one-star rating. Wanker.

World War 1990: Ireland Kindle Select pages read remain strong. But digital and softcover sales were way down last month, and that's a problem. A problem we don't know how to solve. 

A great week with World War 1990: The Managua Campaign.  FDN forces are advancing south from Ocotal (break out your map) while Task Force Bolivar is about to break out of the Choluteca gap, take Somotillo after a Sandy spoiling attack, and open the coastal plain to Managua.  World War 1990: The Managua Campaign is 45,000 words. May is going to be a great month. Maybe even the month [What does that mean?-Ed]. We dunno. 

We'll be crossing the dread Hudson River today (assuming this gout subsides). Meaning we'll have a combined three hours of drive time. During which we'll think about World War 1990: Battle of the GIUK Gap. 

Friday Ef it All

Good morning, comrades, and Happy May Day. Gonna have the Soviet National Anthem in our head all day. Just effing great. 

Time was we'd crack some May Day jokes here or on FB. But we're still pretty fucked off, so all we're going to say this May Day is better dead than red. 

FB tells us we posted this 12 years ago today: 'In honor of May Day I'm writing some of the Politburo scenes in the new novel right now.' That's World War 1990: Operation Arctic Storm, people. 

Mrs. Stroock and I met with our financial guy yesterday. We're doing fine. 

War of the ants. Lots of live ants. Lots of dead ants. We can't even tell where they're coming from. We just look up and, 'Oh, there's an ant.' Their resilience and ability to absorb casualties is remarkable.

Middle East....Hezbollah is waging a low level war of attrition against Israel with drones. Meanwhile Open Source Intel reports the Israelis destroyed 40 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon. So relax, doomers. Also 'Unemployment sits at 3.2%, inflation remains below 2%, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has climbed roughly 20% since January, and the shekel has strengthened about 7% against the dollar.'

Supreme Court...the Supreme Court wars began in the summer of 1987 when Ted Kennedy (of all people) led the charge against solicitor general Robert Bork's nomination to the court. There followed decades of Dem shenanigans against Republican nominees. This led to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refusing to hear Barry Soetoro's nominee to replace the late Antonin Scalia,  culminating with the Brett Kavanaugh fiasco, and finally Amy Comey Barrett's election year nomination to replace RBG. Have the Dems learned anything? No, of course not. They're promising to pack the court. What can we say, Dems. Ef around and find out. We enjoy their angst. 

Republicans should escalate the Supreme Court Wars by impeaching Justices Sotomayor and Kagan on the grounds that they were not properly seated because the president who nominated them was ineligible to hold office. 

As far as the court's VRA congressional district ruling goes, we make no predictions, except one. The redistricting race will affect the outcome of the midterms in ways we don't anticipate. 

Oh, and all this talk about the GOP having a huge structural advantage next decade is the inverse of the Emerging Democratic Majority thesis from the 2000s. How'd that work out