Mike keeps wanting to rename the livestreams “Slack Ops,” and this one might just fit. We don’t have a guest this month; it’ll just be the three of us. So, this might well be a bit more free-form than usual. Expect talk about writing, politics, philosophy, and probably a few other things that I can’t foresee. Come and join us.
We’re doing something a bit different for the stream this month. Instead of directly talking about books, we’re going to get into culture. Specifically, the doomerism that is infecting much of the online discourse lately. Larry Correia joins us again, since he and Brad Torgerson got into the subject with a bunch of randos on Twitter lately. Despair and demoralization are the path to defeat. You’re not being “enlightened” by embracing them. You’re just making failure inevitable. Come join us.
Today’s the day. Follow Pallas Group Solutions into the violent darkness of the Frontiers of Chaos. A killing in Seattle A massacre in Northern California A mysterious new client In the aftermath of what appears to be a targeted killing, a mysterious billionaire approaches Pallas Group Solutions with a new job. He seems to be more interested in their intelligence gathering capability than security. None of them are prepared for what they find. In a whirlwind of violence and intrigue, the contractors of Pallas Group plunge into a world of human trafficking and elite capture. And find themselves on the hunt for an underworld facilitator who’s closer than they expected. It’s a pursuit from the Pacific Northwest to the Tri-Border Area of South America. And as the bodies pile up, things can only get darker. Get it in ebook, paperback, or hardcover today. (Audio will be in production soon.)
It’s finally here for you audiophiles. Silver or Lead is out on audio. Threats Lurk in the Shadows…. And Sometimes in Plain Sight The Pallas Group Solutions Contractors have put the hurt on Chinese operations in Mexico. In the aftermath, alliances shift and powers that hadn’t appeared to be involved before start to take a hand. In a world of unrestricted warfare, PGS has to adapt. While the Chinese covert war has changed axes, Chris and his fellow contractors head south to deepen the disruption, entering into the Northern Triangle of Central America. But their involvement is no longer as clandestine as they’d hoped. And new foes are joining with the old to come after them. Can they stay one step ahead? As some people have pointed out, yes, the title came from Pablo Escobar’s infamous ultimatum, “Plata o Plomo.” The police (or whoever else) could take his silver, or they could die. While this story isn’t about Pablo, who’s long dead, the principle remains the same, and we see it in action quite a bit in these pages (or hours, if you’re listening to it). Check it out.
The phone buzzed, and Nick King grimaced as Vicky sighed. It wasn’t an angry sigh. While she looked like a supermodel, and could sometimes sound about as vapid—though Nick was pretty well convinced that those instances were her version of sarcasm—she had made it clear that she knew what she was getting into, and while she might not like sharing Nick with the job, she was more willing to do that than not have any of him at all. For Nick’s part, he was still desperately holding off on thinking through her hints that he needed to meet her dad. It’s not that I’m scared. I’m just wondering just how fast this is really going. After all, they’d only been dating for a couple weeks. She seemed to have plans, and he was still figuring out just where he stood. After all, he’d seen some pretty horrific drama over women in his day, and he was wondering where the catch was. He grabbed the phone. “Sorry, babe.” He almost flinched at using that term, but Vicky just rubbed his arm with a smile. She liked it when he called her that. His eyebrow went up as he looked at the
Seattle wasn’t the place for an armed Good Samaritan, but I couldn’t exactly let the guy murder our mark, either. Not that I had any particular attachment to Wise, but I also didn’t know for sure why we were supposed to be surveilling him in the first place. The client had been almighty close-mouthed about that part, and only the fact that I trusted Thad “Goblin” Walker as much as I did had led me to accept the mission as briefed. He had to have a reason for accepting as vague a tasking as this one, so I’d play along. That meant, though, that without knowing for sure that Wise was a bad guy, I couldn’t just sit by and watch him get stabbed to death in the street. Wise wasn’t paying attention to anything but the traffic, angling across the street, probably mainly to avoid the homeless weirdos on the corner. So, he didn’t see the hitter in disguise as the armed bum moved toward him, his hand dropping low, the knife now concealed in his palm and sleeve. The man was speeding up, the façade of chemically-enhanced vagrant falling away as he closed in on his prey. This
“Here he comes.” Ken was looking up while I lounged in the opposite chair in the outside dining area of Matsu. In most places, that wouldn’t have been a great position for surveillance. Sitting out in the open like that wasn’t giving me a warm and fuzzy about our tradecraft. That was assuming a couple of things, though. The first, that our target had the situational awareness to notice us, which he hadn’t in the last two days, and the second, that anyone looked at anyone else for more than a passing glance in this city, anyway. We weren’t a mile from the Alaska Way Viaduct, which was a notorious homeless camp in a city that was increasingly becoming one big homeless camp. The cops only went certain places, and the rest of the city was on its own. In fact, there were two obviously homeless people, one of them aggressively gesticulating and yelling inarticulately, just down on the corner. So, the urge to not make eye contact with anyone was even stronger there at the moment. That actually made life easier for us. Sucked to be a Seattleite, though. I would have thought that a sushi restaurant on the
Okay, so it’s a little past mid-year, but it’s been a busy year so far. I’ve been a little remiss on the blog here, so I’m going to try to get back to weekly posts, at least. With Frontiers of Chaos done, look for some preview chapters coming up soon. This weekend is the Galaxy’s Edge Fan Expo in Whidbey Island, WA. I’ll be there, with books and some merch, along with Jason Anspach, Walt Robillard, Doc Spears, Joshua Gayou, and Tom Trimbath. It’s a new and pretty small con, but it’s growing. If you live close enough, get your tickets and come on out. Speaking of Galaxy’s Edge, my contribution, Order of the Centurion #7 – Always Legion, is complete and already with the GE Insiders. Hopefully it should be out this fall. Having written Silver or Lead and Frontiers of Chaos back to back, I’m going to be taking a short break from the Pallas Group Solutions thrillers, and starting work on a science fiction series I’ve had in mind for a long time (going back to high school, as a matter of fact). Wargate Nova will be publishing it, sometime early next year. Big space battles, big land battles, aliens, intrigue, and all the
Tonight, we’ve got Jim Curtis (he publishes under “JL Curtis“) joining us. Jim was a Naval Flight Officer, a military contractor after retirement, and is now an author, writing several series and a lot of short stories. He writes contemporary thrillers set on the US-Mexico border, The Bell Chronicles series of Westerns, and the Rimworld series of SF stories. Come and join us. I realize there hasn’t been a lot here on the blog except for livestream posts lately; I’m working on that. Almost wrapped up with Frontiers of Chaos, and there are some more Wargate Books projects in the offing. Lots going on. Stay tuned.
Tonight, we are joined by Dave Butler, author, editor, and real-life bard. We’ll be talking about writing, publishing, and just about everything else under the sun, so come join us.