Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders and Shonna Tova.

We got in a Judaism last night at our new synagogue and will get in another this morning for the new year. 

This being 5787 our synagogue needed armed police officers for security. We made sure to thank them. Thank you, they replied, as we're pretty sure they're making overtime on the gig. 

We managed not to lose a lot of the day watching 9/11 footage. This year the internet had a lot of videos of people jumping from the towers. Maybe it's just the algorithm. We dunno. We'd seen most of the videos before. Some we'd seen in the days after 9/11. Some we'd forgotten about. 

Those of you who know us know we mostly post nice things on FB and vent on Substack. Yesterday we vented on Substack, a bit. 

Let's get to it.

The things.

We've been posting a book every day on Substack, with no noticeable result. 

We worked all week on World War 1990: Thatcher's War, editing what we had and writing the final chapter. All that remains is the epilogue. World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 75,000 words. 

We worked a great deal on the Soviet Sub story. Something just doesn't feel right about armed townspeople climbing the conning tower onto the deck. We may change the sub to a 'fishing trawler'. We'll see. We still need one last story. No idea. Ideas welcome. 

The 5th nuke novel is 52,000 words. 

We opened World War 1990: The Managua Campaign for the first time since 27 May. Whoa. 

These novels are all coming together slowly and will continue to do so, until they come together all at once - in 2027.

That Day Again

It's always good to wake up the morning of 9/11 and see there's been no terrorist attack - yet. Give stabby time. 

Shonna Tova, Stroock's Books reader(s) and happy 5786. The Israelis rang in the new year with a bang. 

We're not doing this today. We're not gonna do it. We will probably make next week 9/11 week. 

In the meantime, let's wrap up 80s Week...for now. The 80s were a light decade, a fun decade. The 80s were also big. Big hair. Big clothes. Big bright colors. Big sounds too, like heavy metal and synth pop. The 80s were also a confident decade. An American decade. The 80s were a decade of Ronald Reagan telling us how great are, building up the military, and using it to pressure the Soviets. 'We win. They lose,' Reagan said of his plans for the Cold War. During the 1980s, America believed in itself again. 

What Will's Watching, The Pendragon Cycle. Okay, we finished episode-1. TPC is about Arthurian legend, steeped in the mists of late Roman Britain as the empire retreats and the barbarians advance. If there was an Arthur, and there probably wasn't, 5th century Britain is when he lived. TPC feels like an early medieval epic. The land is green and foggy. The musical score sounds like a cross between Braveheart and Dune - lutes, lyres and the like. The characters feel Anglo-Celtish. What we're saying is TPC is immersive. 

We like the characters but we're running into the Game of Thrones problem in which we can't keep the name's straight, 'Sir who, now?'  Also, the plot is moving slowly. 

Be that as it may, episode 1 was pretty good, 3/4.

Midterm convention notes: JD Vance is going to be president some day. Maybe 2028. We also liked RFK Jr's speech. It was tragic really, as he lambasted the Dems for turning their backs on the parties' roots; the party of FDR, JFK, Harry Truman, even Bill Clinton. Those guys liked America. 'We can do even better' the late Rush Limbaugh used to say of JFK's message. He was right. 

Political note, local: Gabby Gifford's PAC is slamming Tom Kean for votes against gun control laws and saying he's weak on crime.

DOGE report.

The Soviet sub story in the 5th nuke novel is advancing.

We have begun the Irish Ranger Wing's assault on Heath House. No it's not a smaller Irish version of the SAS's raid on Moscow. 

Alright, we gotta get out of here or we're going to lose the morning watching 9/11 clips. 

Watching the 80s

Good morning, Stroock's Books professionals. 

We are sore, tired and grumpy after back-to-back days at the gym. We should probably be taking days off before workouts now, no? We are 53 after all. 

We were not mentally, emotionally, or spiritually prepared for the NFL last night. Nevertheless we watched some of the Seahawks/Patriots game. Who won? 

Political note, national: We caught a good chunk of the GOP midterm convention. Trump does ramble, doesn't he? After more than a decade since he rode the golden escalator, there's no getting the man to focus on the speech and the message. We were waiting for Hannity's interview with JD Vance, but Trump just wouldn't wrap things up. Trump did look tanned, rested and ready, though. We also enjoyed Scott Bessent's speech. We'll see if Trump can drag the GOP over the finish line one last time.

What Will's Watching: We started The Daily Wire's Pendragon Cycle yesterday. Here's director Jeremy Boreing's pitch. We're halfway through episode-1. It's a bit all over the place, but so far, so good. We are entertained. We'll say more tomorrow. 

Watching the 80s....ah 80s television. We miss it. Rather, we miss the feeling that there was something important airing at prime time and we'd enjoy it. In the New York metro area, viewers could choose from the three networks plus three local stations and PBS, which didn't really count. 

We'd watch Bugs Bunny after school, GI Joe, Transformers, Heathcliff (it was on) and Voltron - Lion Force. Later inte in the afternoon, the locals reran 70s era dramas like Little House and SWAT. 

Our father being an NBC News man, we were an NBC family. By the mid-80s, NBC positively dominated prime time TV. The Cosby Show was number-1. Mr. Cosby (as the cast called him in interviews) was his own cultural force. Mr. Cosby was America's dad. There followed Family Ties, billed as a show about 60s parents with 80s kids. These were still very much nuclear families, but in both shows mom had a white collar career. Cheers came on at 9. It was just a rejiggering of 70s stalwart Taxi, except at a bar. And at 9:30 came the zany and whacky Night Court. Night Court showed us post-70s New York. The city had already bottomed out in 1976 and remained there. This was a world of petty crime, public nuisances, prostitutes and transexuals. There was a lot of 80s angst in Night Court. This being the 80s, Night Court usually turned serious and ended with a moral to the story. 

NBC aired the gritty crime drama, Hill Street Blues from 1981 through 1987. Most other police dramas were about car chases and shoot-em ups. The procedural and moralistic Law and Order was a major break-through when it began in 1990, and a revelation. In 1987 NBC replaced Hill Street with the glitzy Los Angeles legal drama, LA Law. 

Other networks aired nighttime soap operas at 10 PM. Their actresses were sex symbols and fashion plates. Today no one under 40 knows who they are. Younger reader(s) have probably heard of Dallas. But Falcon Crest? Knots Landing? We don't think so. 

Back then cable meant HBO, Cinemax and the Movie Channel, ESPN, CNN - WGN Chicago and TBS Atlanta - for some reason. In the 80s we watched a lot of Cubs and Braves games. Our house got cable in 1982 and the first thing we watched was...MTV. 

We vividly remember the first videos we saw; Stray Cats, Spandau Ballet...For several years MTV was downright bad. It was like a radio show being simulcast, a VJs talking about and presenting videos. Eventually the record companies figured out music videos were a 4 minute advertisement for the album and spent money accordingly. Eventually MTV started the Top-20 Video Countdown and then 1800-Dial MTV. Wikipedia tells us that and we vividly recall Motley Crue's Home Sweet Home, and Def Leppard's Poor Some Sugar on Me, each held the top slot for months.

These were far more important to us than whatever was on the radio. Later MTV began Remote Control (do click over), an irreverent game show about....television. Stand up comedy was huge in the 80s (a golden age) so MTV launched The MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour.

The dramas were melodramatic. The comedies were at once light-hearted and serious. Women had big hair. Men had mustaches. Father had many mishaps. Mother ran the house. After two hours of sitcoms, dramas ran at 10. 

DOGE report.

We began the Heath House operation (needs a code name).

We also worked on the Soviet sub story. 

Vote the 80s

Good morning, Stroock's Books readers, and happy midweek. Rosh Hashanah looms, the Jewish new year. As we wrote the previous sentence we realized that Rosh Hashanah falls on....9/11. 

Do we have to do the 9/11 thing? We do? We sigh in resignation. But we'll remember our way...

We've always recalled 9/9 and 9/10, weirdly so we think. On Sunday, September 9th, Mrs. Stroock's Eagles played the Rams, and we were slightly annoyed at all her cheering and clapping. The Redskins got creamed and we went into a white-hot rage the next day because we weren't able to listen to Sports Talk 980's (Washington)* recounting of the loss. That night our own Giants opened their season in Denver. The next morning, after hitting baseballs in the field next door, we tuned the radio to 66 WFAN to hear the local sports guys talk about the game. The time was about ten after ten, and there was some news...

As for the Big Day, we recall going all sour grapes in 2021 after the Biden Regency's disastrous Afghanistan withdraw. Five years later we still have not taste for Toby Keith or Martina McBride. Ah, we said nothing on the 11th. Here we are on the 12th. And we did a piece for the Kremlin which we'll republish in a day or two. 

Vote the 80s....We now recall our perception of the 80s through nightly viewing of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokow (for which our father worked). Younger reader(s), the three network newscasts were a very big deal. So were their anchoes, our own Tom Brokow, CBS's Dan Rather, and ABC's Peter Jennings. CNN is around but it's just not that big a deal, and won't be until the Gulf War. 

It goes without saying that Ronald Reagan was the president. He probably defined the 80s more than any other public figure. The great issues of the day was tax cuts. Reagan got two massive tax cut/reform bills passed, one in 1981, another in 1986. Then as now illegal immigration was in the news. Congress passed amnesty in exchange for closing the border. Go ahead and laugh. AIDS grew in importance year on year. Crime was also a big issue, part of the nation's 70s hangover, though there was little the Feds could do. 

Of course there was the Cold War, the Soviets and nuclear arms reductions. Everyone wanted a arms reduction treaty. Reagan eventually delivered one in 1988. The nightly news would periodically air reports on the effect of a nuclear war.

What else? Apartheid in South Africa. Solidarity in Poland. Speaking of, his eminence Pope John Paul was a regular newsmaker. Homelessness was a big issue. So were failing farms. The Ethiopian famine was broadcast live into people's living rooms. 

Honestly, Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror video captures the spirt of the news at the time. But because it's the 80s, Man in the Mirror ends optimistically.

People can, and still do bash the 80s, but in 1988 Vice President Bush won 53.4 percent of the popular vote (one more point than Barry Soetoro in 2008) and 426 electoral votes. People took a look at the Reagan administration and said, 'We'll take more of that.'  

Political note, local: Tom Kean is running on 'protecting Medicare and Medicaid' and is bashing Rebecca Bennett for 'working with health insurers'. Whoa. 

DOGE report.

We made some tweaks to the Thatcher's War MS. We have a vision for the Heath House raid.

We worked on the Soviet sub nuke novel short story. 

*Back then one could listen to a radio broadcast on a dialup modem. But for some reason 980 wouldn't load on our desktop. 

Look Back the 80s

First day of school! Heh, the state mandated smartphone ban is in effect. 

Wow, what a summer. One trip to Indiana for Mrs. Stroock and the girls, a trip to LBI, and two trips to the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction. And the girls had a pretty full social calendar here at home. We did a lot of taxiing. 

This will probably be the last summer with all that travel. Next year await summer internships, jobs, etc etc. 

Well, we had forgotten about this, our latest article in Military Heritage Magazine: 'Nathanael Greene...General Nathanael Greene became a master of Southern Strategy during the American Revolution.' Seriously, we were paging through the latest issue of MH, which had arrived in the mail last week, and saw the article, 'What the what?' we asked. That article was originally a graduate term paper we wrote in 2004. Now there it is, in print. We urge reader(s) to click on over. Click it!

80's week...During the 80s, technology advanced in a lot of small incremental ways that added up to a big improvement in everyday life. Cable television arrived, as did VCRs. Video game systems were ubiquitous and became better as the decade progressed. The graphics and game play jump from Atari to Nintendo was enormous. Cars were built lighter, more fuel efficient, and safer. 

Overall, life progressed. 

But people in the 80s looked back too. A lot. Boomer nostalgia, by our recollection, began in 1983, with the 20th anniversary of JFK's assassination, and has never really stopped. Some of the biggest coming of age movies Gen-X remembers were about Boomer childhood. See for example Stand by Me, for the boys, Dirty Dancing for the girls. 

And the reruns...we watched a cornucopia of 70s TV in the 80s. Whare to start? Sitcoms like MASH, All in the Family, Good Times, What's Happening. We watched dramas like SWAT, Black Sheep Squadron, Eight is Enough, CHiPs. The elite soldiers in Megaforce wear tan uniforms. 

As the meme says, youngsters today may think of the 80's and see day-glo, pink and gray, and glitz, but we recall earthtones, wood paneling and shag carpet, especially during the decade's early years. Just watch Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). The kids still have one foot in the 70s, fashion wise. Those button-down shirts are in earth tones, and the hair is still floppy. Here's Def Leppard's Photograph (1983). The colors are subdued. The hair isn't big. Def Leppard's hair isn't big till Hysteria (1987). Here's Poor Some Sugar on Me (1988). Now there's some late stage 80's colors - and big hair. 

DOGE report.

We awoke knowing what we want to write today. Always a good thing. We're writing a plot point that helps establish the massive riots breaking out in Belfast and wraps up a plot arc. Huh, we've no idea what supposed to happen to Finn Fahey and his news crew. We wrote a scene where they come to a roadblock...but never finished it. 

Wither the 80s?

A rare miss for this blog yesterday. We had lots to do before leaving the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction, and is now normal, the drive home left us exhausted. 

And a late post today.

Happy Labor Day, Stroock's Books reader(s), you union lay-abouts, time servers and goldbricks. 

The womenfolk are going shopping. We'll be mowing the lawn. 

So it seems the Alliance for Deutschland has won a major victory in Saxony. After getting 44.6 percent of the vote, the AfD isn't far right. The AfD is the center. Don't get too excited. The establishment will never let them form a government. 

It's 80s week all week here at Stroock's Books in response to Ryan Reynolds horribly ignorant and Canadian take on the decade. We bet he pours syrup on his moose rips, eh? 

First let's define the decade's parameters. This blog believes the 80s begin on election night 1980. The 80's end in the summer of 1991. The end date is staked to music. Most people will say, ah, of course, Nirvana's Nevermind. But we're thinking of one-hit-wonder Jesus Jones' Right Here, Right Now. Listen to the lyrics, RHRN is the perfect capstone to the decade.  

We've asked online if those of us who remember the 80s are looking back at the decade through rose colored glasses. Everyone who responded said, 'No. Of course not. What kind of ridiculous question is that?' or some such. Still, we recall a lot of angst. 

Here's Billy Joel's 80's stanza from We Didn't Start the Fire (1989):  'Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide, Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz, hypodermics on the shore [Yay, New Jersey!], China's under martial law, rock-and-roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore,' Which is spot-on. The man does not present a happy-go-lucky decade.

Everyone our age starts with the same worry, nuclear war, stoked by movies like War Games and The Day After. Nuclear war was a very common childhood fear, referenced in at least one Simpson's episode. A kid could reasonably look up at the night sky and wonder, are they going to push the button? But a kid could also worry about environmental gloom and doom; global warming, rainforest and ozone layer depletion, overpopulation. The Ethiopian Famine was the biggest international news story of 1984. AIDS was the covid of the time. 

The 80s saw plenty of moral panics, Heavy Metal being the most prominent and hilarious issue. Then as now plenty of people and organizations (see for example the Moral Majority) called for censorship. Televangelists (Jimmy Swaggert, Jim and Tammy Faye Baker) were all the rage. 

The over make-upped Tammy Faye is an extreme example of the 80's innate tackiness with big hair, shoulder pads and too much makeup for women. Girls used a lot of hair spray. A lot. We dated a few of them in the 80s. Don't touch the hair.  Men wore three-piece suits with white collars and slicked back their hair (Gorgon Gekko style). By 1985 the colors turned bright. We complained about 70s fashion in the 80s, but weren't we just as bad in our Hawaiian shirts and jams? Let's not talk about two-toned jeans.  By 1988 dayglo was everywhere -pinks and yellows and greens - uck.  Every high school was marred by black heavy metal T-shirts; Iron Maiden, Ozzie, Dio, Slayer, etc etc. 

And everything had to be cool. In The Wedding Singer, Adam Sandler captured the 80's zeitgeist with his rapping granny bit. Grannys rapped. Kids rapped. Dogs rapped. 

DOGE report. The Battle of Dublin-Howth aftermath chapter seems to have come together. The things are where and what they need to be, if a bit abrupt. It's September, World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 73,000 words, and this thing needs to be completed.

This week we'll write the raid on Heath House. We'll need some sort of concluding chapter after that. 

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.