2006: the third day

Well, well, well. Guess what showed up this morning [Your period?-Ed]. Very funny Ed, you newt. No. We got gout. It's minor, so far, but nevertheless. [Nevertheless what? And what do you mean by newt?-Ed] Just nevertheless, and think about it. Newt...King Knutson or Knut...start playing around with the letters, babe.

The Israelis held their political primaries last night. The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli politics remain deadlocked. The great Hugh Hewitt interviewed an Israeli journalist on the upcoming election. We learned a lot, and recommend reader(s) click on over. Personally, if we had a vote, we'd be persuadable, meaning we're up for grabs. 

On the one hand Bibi's done well and seeing him back in office would piss off all the right people. On the other hand the nation needs new leadership and a Haredi draft law. Only Gadi Eisenkot can deliver that. On the gripping hand neither bloc has a majority. Our guess is that were Eisenkot to beat Bibi head to head, President Herzog would give him first crack at forming a government and he could peel off a few Likud members. Who knows? We shrug and drink our coffee. 

Exit question: is it possible that Israeli polls are as broken as American polls?

In the wake of serial plagiarizer and fabulist Jasan Arday's suicide, many in the Yookay are calling for press regulation, censorship and 'Jason's law'. Quite right. The media is the enemy of the people. The media needs federal regulators, federal content editors, and a five day waiting period before filing a story. And ban anonymous sources. Reminder, fellow MAGA hats, there is no reason for the right to defend the media, even in this case. No reason whatsoever. Know your class enemies.* 

2006...Huh we weighed more then than we do now. This was the summer we began putting on weight. Eating a dozen perogies for lunch and chasing them with half a bag of Doritos will do that. We noticed that September on our first substitute teaching gig. We buttoned a nice pair of khaki pleats we wore the previous spring. Uh oh, we thought. We'd hang on to that weight for more than a decade.  By the time of our heart thing in 2015 we were pushing 270. 

This was also the summer we were really into the fall of the Philippines in 1942. We'd outlined a story about an teacher [Big surprise-Ed] with a legit 4F who lies his way into the army and ends up being in the Corregidor airborne assault (Rock Force) in 1945. Huh again. Maybe that's our stand-alone novel idea. 

Otherwise we were kinda bored and just waiting for the school year to begin. 

DOGE report. 

We did some work on the Soviet sub short story. Things were going fine and then we got stuck. We dunno. 

The World War 1990: Thatcher's War readthrough continues apace. We are nearing the, 'It is What it is, inshallah,' phase. [Meaning?-Ed] This is it. This is the novel. 

*If we saw, say, an ABC or NYTs reporter drowning, while we would throw [insert pronoun] a rescue buoy, we wouldn't jump in the water to help. We're not getting wet for those bastards. Enemy of the people. 

2006: the second day

Baaaaah! We swipe the air and drink our coffee. That late summer humidity has settled in here, bringing with it morning overcast, fog, and general dankness. While one has a few summer things left, this morning one finds oneself looking forward to the pastoral splendor of Yankee autumn. 

Envy us, Johnny Rebs. 

Three days in a row at the gym. We've done all of our exercise routines but have not yet decided how to reorganize and reorder them. After looking at summer beach pics though, we're cutting out crunches, leg lifts and the like. What's the point? They ain't gettin' results. 

2006...What was in the news? The Israelis were fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon and blew it. The Iraq War was raging. Little did we know the tide was already turning. That June the US killed AQI head Abu Zarqawi. Anbar Awakening had formed. The Dems were getting ready to romp in the midterms. History rhymes, they say. 

We'd finished A Line Through the Desert and were about to have a bunch of military history magazine articles in print. We decided to submit short stories to sci-fi and fantasy magazines and began doing so in the summer of 2006. We never even came close.** It was for the best. We'd written a very Mary Sue sword and sorcery short story and we're glad it's never seen the light of day. We dodged a bullet there, or a dagger anyway.

DOGE report.

We read through a couple of chapters of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. We're getting bored. Which means we're getting to where we need to get.

We did some research and scut work on the Irish Army Ranger Wing raid on Heath House. Soon?*

We read through the DEW Line story. Still not sure where things are going. 

We are plugging along on the Soviet sub story. This one will be interesting as it's the first time we've bounced between POVs in this universe. 

*This should not be as epic as the SAS raid on Moscow, but something more than the Norwegian army's raid on the Soviet held airstrip. 

**We have five short stories in print now [Show off-Ed]. 

2006: the first day

Good morning, Stroock's Books people. It's a brand-new week. 

A second day in a row at the gym. While it feels good to be back, we're thinking it's time to modify our workout routine. We don't know how though and are experimenting with combinations. 

Pro tip: don't complain when random packages of stuff the womenfolk ordered from Amazon or Walmart arrive. More packages will arrive today, as is their wont, and most certainly tomorrow. It's a biblical deluge of carboard and packing materials. The wise man just smiles and says, 'Yes dear'.

We've stopped reading the Israeli press. It's a hodgepodge of new sites presenting an incoherent jumble of stories. Half of the articles are analyses masquerading as news. Whatever. We're sick of thinking about it and are content to enjoy the rubble.

Related...more Juden Hass from the right. The bulk of the Juden Hass we get on Substack comes from that direction these days. They're just pissed that the latest man mom brought home from the bar was a Jew. Still, other than humor and yo-mama jokes, we really don't know what to do about the rising Juden Hass. We'll Jew harder, we guess. 

2006...this time 20 years ago we were waiting out the summer. 

We were looking forward to getting back to subbing at Bernards High School. Fall '06 would be a our last good semester there after a great two years. Beginning in January '07, well, we'd be Mister Mom.

We were meeting with a contractor to discuss finishing the back basement room at the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction. Living space expansion was necessary as the combined family had two kids and two more on the way. Mrs. Stroock was pregnant as was our stupid sister. 

When we returned home, we stopped directly at Barnes & Noble to pick up the latest copy Strategy & Tactics Magazine, which had our long treatment of the Duke of Marlborough on the cover. This was the beginning of a great run of magazine articles that would last years.

A Line Through the Desert was done and we don't remember what we were writing. We must have been working on a magazine article. Up Front at Zama is our best bet.

We were just good enough at guitar to play some chord progressions and leads. 

Our hair was approaching shoulder length. We'd cut it three days after Oldest Daughter was born. A mistake. We should have stuck with it till spring. We're too old for that crap now. Oh well.

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 8/16/26

Good Sunday morn to all Christians, except the C of E. Losers. Reminder, Britain is finished. 

Moving on [Please-Ed].

Blog traffic is way up. We've no idea why. As usual, Blogger stats tell us absolutely nothing we want to know about where the traffic is from, who's linking to Stroock's Books, etc, etc. The traffic is mostly bots and spam, we think. 

Yesterday we mowed the lawn. Got to the gym, which felt good. The scale says we're back down to 243 pounds or 17.3 stone. We won't convert that into Canadian, moose eating bastards. 

One of our critics has packed it in. Should we slam that critic? We think we should. But not today. [Why?-Ed] Why not? [Did not your late friend Kathy Shaidle* warn how draining and pointless internet flame wars ultimately are? -Ed] She did, Ed. She did. Still...[Still what?-Ed] We are loath to get down in the muck with the pigs. We get dirty and the pigs like it. But sometimes family business must needs be settled. We've done it before. [That was a good piece-Ed] So was this. We don't even remember who that guy was anymore. And sometimes it's personal. 

We find ourselves thinking of the past as is our lot [You do that too much -Ed], milestones, anniversaries and the like. Usually 20 years, not 25 is what matters to us. It's 2006 week all week here at Stroock's Books. Enjoy. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 8/16/26...

We had no breakthroughs on any future projects...we need to update that page, don't we? Remember, we're thinking of one standalone book, probably on a new platform. 

No breakthrough on To Liberate Mars. 

We do find our selves thinking about World War 1990: Ireland and the 5th nuke novel a lot. 

If we were to start a third universe, what would it be? 

*What's Warren Kinsella doing these days?

Saturday Updates

Ah, it's good to be back, as Tony Stark once said. 

A long trip yesterday with some traffic backup and a whining cat. Good times. Nevertheless, we are home where everything is just as we left it. 

The lawn needs mowing.

We needed a gym break, we got a gym break. The body feels tan, rested and ready. We'll think about possible new regimens today. 

What a trip, though. Two weeks at the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction in the Berkshires. We can't recall a better long-term stay. We come away pleased with the endeavor. And we'll be back Labor Day. 

And so begins the final phase of the Stroock summer. 

Our man in Norway sent us some very tasty Norwegian chocolate.

Otherwise there's not much to report. 

Let's move on to the things, shall we? 

The Things.

Okay, we really fixed up a lot of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. We read through half the book. More work remains. In fact the read through was so successful, we're going to do another read through this week. 

Also, we've figured out where Mr. Adams is staying during the war and how 14 Intel-the Group figures that out. The Irish Ranger Wing will strike once again. 

World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 72,000 words. 

We began another nuke story. Soviet sub, damaged by Coast Guard cutter, sends crew ashore to retrieve needed medical supplies, etc. Runs into angry and armed towns people. Reader(s) will get the drift. 

Finishing this story and the DEW Line story will get us close to 60,000 words. One more story, no? If you've ideas, let's hear them. 

The 5th nuke novel is 46,000 words. 

The Last Morning of the Second Week

Another fine morning to you all. Today the Stroock family will be returning home after a most successful two weeks amidst the Berkshire's pastoral splendor. 

Some HR lady/middle school vice principal type* here on the lake is circulating a letter protesting the 'excessive noise' from the Israeli summer camp. Lol, lighten up, lady. These kids spent large parts of the last three years hiding in safe rooms and bomb shelters. In other words, get fucked. 

Related...The great Steve Sailer asks, Are Jews an Ethnicity? Our answer to that question is, we don't know. Our 23&Me tells us we're 48.6 percent Ashkenazi Jew. Thanks, dad. We're actually darker complexioned than we look at first glance. But we've blue eyes and blond hair. Thanks, mom. Put us in a lineup with Jerry Seinfeld and Ben Shapiro and we'd stand out. Jews are of course a desert people. Even now, as we write this we feel the allure, the pull of the Holy Land.

We don't pay much attention to British politics these days. There's no point. The country is finished. But Nigel Farage (whom we're not even sure we support anymore, the wanker) was being investigated for some trumped up corruption charged, resigned his seat in parliament, ran for reelection - and romped. If one believes the charges against Farage, great. We've got some Arkansas real-estate opportunities you're going to love. 

DOGE Report. A kind of herky-jerky day where we never felt comfortable but never-the-less got a few things accomplished. 

FB tells us we posted this fifteen years ago today, 'Tentative story list: surfer dude in Vietnam, a German nat in the IDF, a defense of a Pacific island in 1941, a disgruntled Brit Merc in Africa (think Wild Geese), something Jake Bloom- I have no idea what, some Americans in the Philippine Insurgency C. 1902 and a sequel to To Defend the Earth called To Attack Mars.'

So that's what we were thinking about back then. Bear in mind we had two novels in print, A Line through the Desert and To Defend the Earth. Israel Strikes was but a gleam in our eye. 

We're off to pack and clean up. Wish us luck. We'll report from home tomorrow. Update...we have an old fashioned clothes washer here. You just dial to the setting you want, and that's what the machine does; 40-50 minutes. Our fancy hi-tech close washer at home seemingly ignores the settings we select and takes 60-90 minutes to do a load of wash. Smash the machines. 

*We looked up the author. Everything about her says, 'I'm a WNBA exec and I don't know what a woman is.'

Thursday: the Second Week

A very foggy good morning to everyone. The lake is covered by fog...oh, now it's lifting.

Another full day here at Lake Buel. Youngest Daughter has taken a liking to fishing and caught at least a dozen blue gills yesterday. Of course it's up to dad to unhook 'em. We boated. We kayaked while Middle Daughter paddle boarded. The Stroock family enjoyed its evening boat cruise. 

Hot Air reports on the Wisconsin primary vote tally fiasco. Subhead: in which NBC's Steve Karnacki realizes Trump was right about 2020. We love this story. God help us we do love it so.   Reminder: believing the 2020 election was fair is the conspiracy theory. Here we are at the Bedminster Stop the Steal* rally the Saturday after the 2020 election. We stand by every word. Trump won.

DOGE report.

We are struggling on. We've read through everything till the invasion of Ireland. That's half the novel. That half looks like what it's going to look like. It still feels a bit jumbled though. 

We had an idea for another 5th nuke novel story. A US navy destroyer sails into San Fransico Bay, and it's a nightmare. 

The other night we dreamt we were writing a story about a space cruiser skipper, that is a CA in space. And we liked it. 

Related...no real ju-ju for To Liberate Mars. 

We had an idea about a sword and sorcery novel. It's mostly just LOTR**, which alert reader(s) will have noticed has been on the telly a lot lately. Three siblings. Two princes have opposing personalities. A young princess is confined to doing princess things, as the Queen is long dead and she fills that role. The young princess has spent her life reading the great histories. In the continent-wide war that follows, she comes to advise her father, the King [Not bad-Ed.] I know, right? 

*Note how we sneak it we're an author. We come off as poised, reasonable, charismatic and handsome [Ew-Ed].

**Fun fact. We only tried reading The Lord of the Rings in the mid-2000s and we didn't like it. We didn't like it at all. Our inspiration would be Dennis L McKiernan's Mithgar - which is a LOTR knock off.

Wednesday: the Second Week

Hello stalwart Stroock's Books reader(s), and happy midweek. We're enjoying another fine morn here on Lake Buel. The sun is out. The fog is coming off the lake. The air is cool and dewy. The weed cutter is out and making a hell of a racket. 

We did some light yard work yesterday as we found a vine growing up the side of the house and attaching itself to the sat TV wires, which need to be reset. We ain't gettin' up there. Sorry, but we don't do roofs [He said 'roofs' in his dear neighbor's Minnesota accent-Ed]. 

Speaking of the Upper Midwest, DSA loon Francesca Hong narrowly lost the state's Democrat Gubernatorial primary last night, despite polling way ahead. That's the second big DSA polling miss (after El Sayed in Michigan). Pollsters don't know how to poll for the DSA, and the commie bastards aren't as strong as they think they are. 

Huh we saw on the lake FB group this note from the Israeli camp, 'Anyone planning fireworks this weekend? Would love to be prepared for worried campers...' That is, all those Israeli kids have the yips from 3 years of war and are jumpy around explosions. 

This blog is getting a metric-fuck-ton of traffic lately. Any of you newbies wanna buy an alternate history, science fiction, or military fiction novel? Start with something small and self-contained, like The Austrian Painter: What if Germany won the Great War?

Our childhood best friend, from like - the 80s, turned 50 yesterday. Those to lads are both fifty now. Remarkable.

DOGE report. We read through another couple of Thatcher's War chapters yesterday. One seemed rambling and disjointed. Which may not be a problem. We're making progress thought. Shoring up those chapters is the big task of the day. September 1...1 September...

Tuesday: the Second Week

Morning glory, as the great Hugh Hewitt likes to say. The air is cool with a slight breeze. The lake like glass. As we write this a wake border is passing across the water. The weed cutter is humming and droning down at the southeast section of the lake. The Israelis up the shore a making quite a racket this morning. They were having a great time last night, too. 

So yesterday afternoon we were sitting here on our deck, reading through World War 1990: Ireland's Armagh chapter, when we heard some stirring and rustling across the canal. We looked, stood up, and then knocked on the family room window. 'Look. Out. Side,' we said. 

For on the far bank of the canal was a large black bear, and two cubs following her. They walked along the bank to the beaver lodge, where mama-bear growled and poked around for a bit. The beaver was pissed and spent the next hour cruising the canal until he was satisfied the bears had moved on.

Look, like 99.56 percent of America, we don't care about the WNBA. We've watched part of one Indiana Fever game and admitted we were entertained. We'd watch another Indiana Fever game. But we remain in awe of the league's inability to get out of its own way. Two NBA vets are declaring for the WNBA draft. Good. More will follow, this blog predicts. The league is convening a meeting to determine what a woman is, we guess.

WNBA, you deserve this.

The racists and heterophobes in the WNBA resent Caitlin Clark because she's the most popular player in the league despite never winning a championship and, you know, being white and straight. Listen, butch, we got news for you. In the late 80s Michael Jordan was the most popular player in the NBA despite not having won a championship. In the early 2000s the NBA's most popular player was Alan Iverson despite same. Don Mattingly holds a mythic place in the hearts of Yankees fans despite...readers will get the point.

Imagine the late David Stern needing to hold a meeting to determine what a woman is or letting butch brutalize Caitlin Clark. Reminder, Stern dragged the NBA out of its moribund 70s and made Bird vs Magic the best sports rivalry of the decade. Mister we could use a man like David Stern again. We can't decide whether to end this post with 'Feminism is always bad for women' or 'WNB dalenda est'.

Monday: the Second Week

A fine morning here in the Berkshires where we begin our second week at the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction. We're not sure when we're returning to the New Jersey hinterland. Wednesday? Saturday?

The reinforcements have withdrawn. We've made a tentative agreement to gather once again here in mid-October and clean out the garage. We will also sit in session and make some decisions.

This being the Berkshires we've only heard back from 33 percent of the contractors we've contacted about doing some work on the house. A few plumbing matters need attention. Trees must needs be felled. We ourselves have done a fair amount of work around the yard and house, but only a fair amount.

The air is cool and still. So is the lake. The Israelis down the lake are making quite a racket. Sup with that? So's a truck down the road which seems to be perpetually backing up.

We got out twice for some boating yesterday. You know, put a couple of torpedo tubes on her, a quad-50, a 20mm, and you'd really have something there.

Glenn Reynolds marks the 25th (25th!) anniversary of Instapundit. From time to time herr professor has linked to our books, causing an 'instalanch", that is, a sales spike. Instapundit is still part of our daily read, and will be so long as the blog exists.

At Spiked, Brandon O'Neill says, 'There’s nothing the digital left loves more than an untimely death.' He goes on to list the left's depraved joy in the death and murder of various people with whom the left disagrees. We've seen it first hand from people we know. From people we like. We will probably see some prominent Dem deaths in the coming months. Hold your tongue, fellow MAGA hats. 'They do it to us' is no excuse. They are not our teachers.*

What Will's Watching: PBS's Billy Joel 100th concert at MSG. This blog is a huge fan of Billy Joel, of course. The man's music has been with us our entire life. We've seen him in concert a few times ourselves. We often complain about aging (and aged) rockers who can't do it anymore. But aside from missing a few high notes he wrote while in his 20's, Billy Joel can still do it. In fact, he brings it. We were thoroughly entertained. Fun aside, the girls learned about telethons, this being a PBS broadcast, 'And viewers like you.'

We've checked and it seems we've never had a Billy Joel Week here at Stroock's Books. We did write this. Also this Monday (not) Metal. We should have a Billy Joel Week. Alas, this week is not that week.

*Reference. Verbatim from Lion of the Desert. Had we knot sited, would that have been plagiarism? We don't think so.

Will's Good Idea for the Week if 8/10/26

Another glorious Berkshire morning to Stroock's Books reader(s) out there from Cambridge Bay to Tierra del Fuego [Wow-Ed]. We know, right?

We got out on the boat for some swimming and sun time. The skies finally opened up last night. 

The Stroock family + reinforcements and one very special guest ordered Chinese. Later the girls and their cousin + very special guest went for ice cream. 

So we've been reading about World War II in the Med, thank you Brian E Walter, and we had a thought about the Chinese navy vis a vis the USN. In WWII the Italian navy had plenty of good, well designed ships and seagoing know-how. But they lacked the Brit's 300 + years of operational history and doctrine. China is in a similar position, no? There is no substitute for the USN's 80 + years of operational history and domination of the Pacific. 

Oh, and Happy Nagasaki Day. They started. We finished it. 

Will's Good Idea for the week of 8/9/26.

New indy projects? Who can say. We can't. that is, we can't say what we'd want to write. A one off novel. More character driven. We have three start dates. 1 January, 21 June, 21 September 2027.

Saturday Updates

A faire Berkshire Saturday morning, Stroock's Books people. The sky is cloudy and a nice breeze is coming off the lake. 

As usual the weather babe promised lots of rain last night, but very little fell. The Berkshire Mountains break up cloud formations, and Lake Buel resides in a bowl braced by a ridge on the southwest side. 

Reinforcements arrived last night in the form of various sundry relatives, adding to the familial ambience of the house. We have plenty of room. 

No interesting wildlife sightings yesterday. 

The Thing(s).

Alright...alright now. We know where things are headed with Ireland. And we began another read through. The first two chapters, Intro and Protestant Violence are fine. The latter doesn't have a concluding scene. This is where we can insert a Heath House set up.  Boom. World War 1990: Ireland is...70,000 words. 1 September....1 September. 

No luck on any other fronts. We shall try again today. If we were to write To Liberate Mars, what would it look like? As we recall the initial assault lead by Admiral Maha Ganesan didn't go well. The Jai have bases on Mars and both moons...hmmm.

Berkshire Shabbat - The Bobcat

Another glorious Berkshire morning to all you Stroock's Books reader(s) out there.  

Reinforcements are arriving this afternoon. 

Waking up here, the air is usually still and cool, though we're in something of a heat wave right now, for the Berkshires. Temps are in the low 70s this morning and will hit the mid 80s today. 

Early morn, one hears birds. Maybe a fish flopping in the water. We are always reminded of our grandmother's feet shuffling along the floor in the morning stillness. We do the same now when we wake up. 

Yesterday we spotted a bobcat in the yard. We've heard the coyotes. About the only wildlife we haven't interacted with up here are the bears. Keep your fingers crossed [For interacting with them or not interacting with them? -Ed]. We don't know. 

We got out on the boat yesterday for some swimming. No sunset cruise. We did a fair amount of yardwork. Since we can't get up here as much as we like, there's always yard tasks waiting, which is nice [Is it?-Ed].

DOGE report. Sitting on our deck overlooking Lake Buel, we went over the post battle of Dublin scenes and started a few more scenes. Looks like World War 1990: Thatcher's War is going to culminate in the Irish Ranger Wing raiding Heath House, County Kildare, where Gerry Adams is holed up.  God bless Captain Liam Cox. 

We are on track [For what?-Ed]. To have the rough draft finished by 1 September [Big talker-Ed]. 

Writing a third To Defend the Earth novel and redoing the covers for same and To Survive the Earth is not a bad idea. Today we shall dwell upon some ideas for To Liberate Mars. In theory, if TLM did well that would open the door for future novels in the series. 

But our original thought was to write a standalone novel and publish it on a platform other than kindle. Upon this idea we shall dwell also. 

Berkshire Thursday - the Snake

A good Berkshire morning to Stroock's Books reader(s) across the United States, Commonwealth, and Empire. And Happy Hiroshima Day. They started it. We finished it. 

Sitting in the house our grandmother lovingly decorated and maintained, opposite the canal she used to clean out so her two grandchildren could play in the water, we can't help but recall that that woman never forgave the Japanese. Wouldn't by Japanese cars. Related, we have Chinese neighbors who won't buy Japanese either.  

Anyway...An overcast morn here in the Berkshires. The weed cutter is out. That thing takes up half the Lake Buel Association's budget. The Labor Day fireworks take up the other half. Someone is swimming the middle of the lake. There's an....who the fuck set their car alarm here in the woods? 

A simple day, yesterday. We didn't go out on the boat till evening, the girls 'weren't feeling it' they said. 

We spoke to the wastewater treatment people about a long needed repair to the system, and have contacted a few tree companies about taking down some trees which if we don't drop them, mother nature will. 

The deck is getting some repairs next week.

Have we ever mentioned that second homes can be time consuming and expensive?

Last night we were coming in from the deck when the family heard us exclaim, 'Ahhhh! Shoo! Shoo!' A snake was lounging on the front stoop. He was a harmless water snake. Nevertheless, we asked, 'Snakes. Why does it have to be snakes?'*

Reader(s) have no doubt heard that scandal plagued Cambridge Professor Jason Arday has resigned. Among other things he's accused of plagiarism. Is not plagiarizing really that hard? Especially for an academic? Back in our professorial days we'd bust a student every once and a while for cutting and pasting an essay from the internet. Sorry, kid. 18 year olds don't write that good. 

Anyway, plagiarism scandals happen so often now we've questioned our own work. Everyone's doin it, right? We got the idea of writing 'we' from the great James Taranto. 'Alert readers' comes from the old Kausfiles blog. The 'outside of laboratory conditions' thing comes from AoSHQ. Some scenes in our novels are inspired by book and movie scenes.**

John Sexton at Hot Air has an interesting story about the growing Exodus (heh) of Jews from blue states. Jewish parents are now choosing southern schools for their kids. Ole Miss and Auburn over Harvard and Yale! Remarkable. Heh, our own grandmother went to LSU, where she knew Giants great Y.A. Title, a little bit, or so she said. Sexton dives into why Jews are traditionally progressive and we think his explanation is at least partially right (Exodus again). 

We ourselves fantasize about returning to our mother's ancestral homeland in Western Kentucky, should we need to. Slap a John Deere hat on our head we'd blend right in. And our girls could walk the streets of Livermore and everyone would just assume they'd belong. Heck when we were a boy we'd play on our Aunt Elsie's sidewalk and people would stop and ask, 'You're Mar-Bess's boy, aren't you?'

The South ain't called the Bible Belt for nuthin'. Prejudice dies hard and some of our fellow Hebrews don't understand that Christ is King is better than Allah Akbar. Stabby lives in our neighborhood and he's starting to give us the yips. We ain't flown our Israeli flag since 10/7. [You see the self-contradiction you just did there?-Ed]. We do Ed, we do. Now get us another cup of coffee, love, and take your time about walking away. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week, Supplemental.

The leader of this blog's Confederate contingent replied, 'It was the one you talked about doing about mars with carriers in space...' Ah, the space-carrier thingy. It'd basically be Wing Commander, good books, BTW.  Meh. Good story idea. Force-K of six escort carriers raids the Naralgian sector base, destroys it, only to detect the newest Naralgian*** Dreadnaught returning from its first shake down. Sort of Operation Hailstone meets Sink the Bismarck.  

Here us out...We commission new covers for To Defend the Earth and To Survive the Earth  and finally write To Liberate Mars. 

*Reference. 

**A name we've banked since high school. Somehow we got Naralgian from Harpoon Scenaraio Editor. We dunno.

*** George Lucas white courtesy phone. George Lucas, white courtesy phone...no, the white phone.  Let's see, George Lucas saw The Dam Busters when he was 9 or 10. So yeah, that movie embedded itself right in his brain. Exit question: anyone know why they can't broadcast The Dam Busters anymore? 

Berkshire Wednesday - the Fish

A glorious Berkshire morning to you all. 

Boating yesterday. Some cleanup around the yard (we need to charge that chainsaw battery). Afternoon kayak. Sunset boat ride.

We saw one hell of a Pike just hanging out on the surface, pushing its gigantic nose out of the water. This thing must have been a two-footer. Damn fish looked like the Lockness Moster. People on the shore pointing a gawking, 'What is that?!'

We buzzed the Israeli summer camp up the lake and heard a couple of counselors chatting in Hebrew [Creep-Ed]. Hey, am Israel Chai.

We'll be dragging trash up to the dump today, a semi-annual ritual. 

What else? We asked Grok, and Grok says the Israeli election is more or less a tie. The new government will be formed by a lot of post election rigmarole and horse trading. We could get behind Yadi Eisenkot, we could. 

DOGE report.

We read over some scenes yesterday. The Irish Ranger Wing should nab Gerry Adams, no? We'd have to set that up. He's hold up somewhere. The Group (14 Intel) figures out where. They contact the Irish government and give Adams whereabouts. Back in Heath House in County Kildare? 

Seriously, guys. Two commenters said we should revisit the old sci-fi project. Which, sci-fi project?

In recent weeks this blog has gotten a huge traffic spike. No idea why. 

Hey, any of you newcomers wanna take a look at our alternate history, sci-fi, and military fiction novels? Looking for a one-off? Give The Austrian Painter a try. What if Germany won the Great War? Two hundred ratings, 4 + star average. 

Berkshire Tuesday - in the sun

A pleasant Berkshire morn to Stroock's Books reader(s) everywhere. The sky is clear. The air is 68 degrees, American. A bit of morning fog remains on the lake. The dew is on the furniture. 

Yesterday we spotted the heron, mad as hell about something and flying down the canal. The heron population has boomed here on Lake Buel. The frog population (one croaked as we wrote that) has suffered as a result. We spotted the bald eagle too, just standing around the yard like he owns the place. 

When one is in the Berkshires, one is engaging in an activity simply by sitting out on the deck in the morning air, a Stroock family tradition lo these 53 years. We are the only Stroock that carries on this tradition. 

We did some yard cleanup between rainstorms yesterday. No boating. There will be boating today. One of the cats caught a mouse last night. 

We also went into town, and among other things, visited The Book Loft, a long established Great Barrington book store, once frequented by our grandfather. Their bookmarks are scattered about the house here. This being the Berkshires, they have a few silly flags, and some commie/woke titles on the shelf. But when one drills down through the muck, The Bookloft is just an indy bookstore, a mini Barnes and Noble. We bought Youngest Daughter a space unicorn rainbow bookmark, $4.

What Will's Watching...The WNBA. No seriously. We saw the Fever were playing and thought, why not? We watched a couple of quarters, and saw Sophie Cunningham get elbowed in the face and called for a foul. Boy the WNBA hates....certain players...don't it? Anyway, were we not entertained? 

DOGE report. 

We're working on the Battle of Dublin aftermath chapter. Three scenes, in various stages of completion so far. This includes the required 'Will Stroock writes about leaders meeting to make a decision scene' also Finn Fahey in Belfast as the city erupts (should I kill him?), and Irish General Parker gathering forces southwest of Dublin and urging the Taoiseach to end the war by giving the British what they want. We can almost see the end. 

Berkshire Monday - in the rain

A rainy Berkshire morning, Stroock's Books reader(s). We are feeling refreshed and invigorated after a decent night's sleep. We are drinking coffee from one of our grandfather's Young and Rubicam* coffee mugs, a gift for the companies' 50th anniversary in 1973. 

We did plenty of lake stuff yesterday. Coffee on the deck. Boating and tubing. Evening barbeque.

The toe is feeling much better. 

The Israelis at Camp Kimana/Halfmoon are having a good time. Lots of drumming, singing, chanting, etc etc. People in the Lake Buel FB group are complaining. We'd say the complainers were Hamas symps, but at least two of them are Jewish. 

Related....we haven't looked at Israeli media this morning because we're sick of thinking about it. 

Bla-bla Trump, bla-bla Iran. What are the unknown, unknowns? Nobody really knows. We are open to the possibility, suggested by Professor Reynolds, that Trump is stringing the Iranians along. Why not? Trump says new peace talks are on. Iran says they're not. Trump can say he tried. 

Oh look! Oil's down - a lot so far. 

Also, military coup rumors abound in Iran, we have heard.  

Thirty-nine years ago today, Def Leppard's Hysteria came out. An absolutely perfect album. All killer, no filler. We can hear the title track's opening bars. We used to be able to play it. Maybe it's just because we're 53, but we're getting emotional just thinking about Hysteria. The album is more than a masterpiece. It's a friend. 

We see we've had an Adrenalize week here at Stroock's Books. But it doesn't seem we've had a Hysteria week. And we won't. We'll wait till next year. 

Okay, the leader of this blog's Confederate Contingent wants us to revisit the sci fi project from a few years back. Question (asked in Dwight Shrute): what sci fi project?

*Young and Rubicam was a huge Madison Avenue advertising company. Anyone our age saw commercials our grandfather worked on. Y&R got mentioned in Madmen several times. Our grandfather said Madmen is almost 100 percent accurate, except that by 1960 the copy men were Jewish and the art directors were Eye-talian. When we asked why he replied, 'Talent'.

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 8/2/26

Good Sunday, Stroock's Books Christian faithful. We write this from the Stroock ancestral lake house in the Berkshires. The air is a touch balmier than we like. The breeze is strong. We got the boat out last night for an evening cruise and will get her out once again this afternoon for some tubing. 

Unfortunately, the dictates of life prevent us from getting up here as much as we'd like. So when we do finally come, a multitude of projects await us. 

Our toe still hurts. Fab. TBH, we aren't necessarily in the best of moods. And we didn't do any good thinkin' on the drive up [No surprise there -Ed]. Shut up, Ed. Get me another cup of coffee, and take your time walking away [Awww, thanks-Ed].

Has anyone else noticed we've been going down [Phrasing!-Ed] with more and more frequency with nagging injuries? Gout, bursitis, etc etc. 

Moving on...[Please-Ed].

Regarding Spain, Socialist PM Pedro Sanchez, and the invasion of Cueta, we urge the Spanish people to follow the example of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, or El Cid. Click over and reader(s) will see a talented, charismatic, and goodlooking author wrote an article about El Cid some 20 years ago. Holds up decent. 

Trump postponed a massive attack on Iran, they say. Honestly this blog is pretty 'meh' on more military action and isn't sure what more bombing would accomplish. Bomb Iran...Mullahs fall! Yeah sure. 

Let's just get on to the various good ideas for the first week of August. 

As we noted yesterday, World War 1990: Thatcher's War feels like it needs 14 Intel, the Det, or The Group (all the same thing) to add a little umph to the plot. Also, with Dublin all but in British hands (we don't see any problems there, no) we're still not sure how they get Adams or McGuinness. Should the Brits even get them? 

Next summer...we should write a standalone novel and put it out on a new platform. Dunno what though. What's been floating around the ethereal mist of Will's head lo these many years?

Saturday Updates

Baah! We're awake at 4 AM and we don't like it, don't like it at all. And we're annoyed. Which doesn't always make for the smartest writing. So we'll just keep our goddamn mouth shut. 

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

Today we'll head up to the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction for a sojourn to the pastoral splendor of the Berkshires. Wish us luck. Many things must needs be taken care of at the house. 

The things.

World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 66,000 words. We think we need to add another subplot to bring the story together, and to a close. 

We didn't really do anything on the 5th nuke novel. We're three stories away from completion. End of the summer? If one defines summer as ending on 21 September. Maybe. 

Post Doctor, Post Gout, and the Post

Good morning, dear reader(s) and Shabbat Shalom. 

They want how much to prune that tree out front? We can do some of it ourselves but...ladder + chainsaw + Will....

So yesterday afternoon we got ourselves to the podiatrist. We sat in the waiting room for nearly an hour before a young nurse took us to an exam room. She was cute enough, in those hospital scrubs, and spends a lot of time on hair and makeup; scoring a 4/5 on the Stroock Is She Hot scale. 

Anyway, we saw our usual doctor*. Why do we have such a goddamn problem staying hydrated? All we can say is thank you cortisone. Thank you very much indeed.  

Gadi Eisenkot leads Netanyahu by 10 points, but Likud picked up two seats in this latest poll and the oppo bloc only gets 56 seats. Bibi may be unpopular, but the coalition still can't think of a way to take him out. 

Related....Hamas has agreed to disarm, Trump says. Now comes a lot of rigamarole about Israel withdrawing from Gaza. You know, troops can pull back a little and always reoccupy said territory again. Count this blog skeptical, but we don't think it's a big deal. 

the New York Post says, 'At least 18 migrants dead as 49K breached border to reach Spain’s Ceuta enclave from Morocco: ‘Serious humanitarian crisis...’ These people are just looking for a better life and Spain must take them all. God bless Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whom we're sure is up to the challenge. 

DOGE report.

Between wincing in pain and visiting the podiatrist we managed to work on LE Sive's roll in the Dublin thing and the Baldoyle Bay landing. Actually, it's more of an estuary, but whatever. 

*Devotees will recall our disastrous and pointless Rheumatologist appointment last summer, which we're still not allowed to talk about.