A Fire is coming in July
Bringing the Fire
Volume Two of The Lonesome George Chronicles
The battle for America rages deep in the heart of Texas and from sea to shining sea, as citizens from all walks of life fight against both the invaders and the collaborators in Bringing the Fire.
Familiar characters return, including reluctant freedom fighter Whistler, the vengeance-driven Molly Ivins, and George W. Bush, who is trapped in the darkness of a protected bunker as communications with the outside slowly fail. Determined to serve his country to the last, he undertakes a dangerous escape from the safety of the bunker. Loyalties are tested and people die as the last elected President of the United States races to save what is …
Well, hush my mouth.
I used to wonder
“When will I know I’m a real writer?”
Being younger (and certifiably dumber), I imagined the answer would be something like:
- Mansion and starlets rubbing coconut oil on my aching fingers.
- Riots at my book-signings
- Tabloid reports about my coke-fueled binges on croissants and women of questionable virtue during lost weekends in Vegas.
When younger (see above), I was expecting certain kinds of evidence to confirm that I was a “writer.” The fruits of success would be the proof.
And when those fruits (as I conceived of them) didn’t appear, I was downcast. I failed to achieve the rewards, and thus I was a failure.
Then, as so often happens when we’re not looking, I got older.
Fortunately, I …
The First Casualty
Welcome, Instapundit readers. My site, roymgriffis.com, which was briefly wiped out in the devoutly-to-be-wished-for Instalanche, is back up.
(Note: this is the original English version of an Op-Ed piece I was asked to write for Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger on what the election means for the United States)
Trump won.
That surprised not only the Hillary faithful, but a lot of conservatives as well, including me. Because, frankly, most of us (including the candidate herself) figured the end of this movie had already been written.
It may not be known in Europe, but Hillary Clinton had a vast machine behind her: a Democrat National Committee (which, per WikiLeaks, had colluded to suppress the votes of Bernie Saunders supporters), a …
I’m not sayin’ anything, but I’m just sayin’…
HELL AND HIGH WATER: THE CRAZIEST FITNESS TEST OF ALL TIME
The U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer test starts with the equivalent of wrestling a linebacker in a hurricane, and gets worse from there.
Called the Multi—short for Three-Man Multiple Rescue Scenario—it’s the final test a U.S. Coast Guard airman must pass to become an Aviation Survival Technician (AST), an elite swimmer who leaps into water out of a helicopter and hauls drowning mariners to safety.
“The Multi is a fitness test, but it’s also a
This damn well made my day
A very nice review over at Whispering Stories.
“Meeting Charlotte Braninov again was like becoming reacquainted with an old friend. We meet her on her journey from her homeland of Russia on board a ship bound for London. Travelling with her, are the compatriots she met during her imprisonment at the hands of the Red Army. During the sea crossing we witness a different side to human nature when benevolence takes the place of brutality. Charlotte’s altruism continues to shine through as she builds a life for herself and her companions in England.
“…I look forward to much more from this very accomplished wordsmith and I can award ‘The Wrath of a Righteous Man’ no less than a perfect five …
So, the KGB sent me another email
The “Swiss Journalist” wrote: Hi Griff, hope things are well. Can we talk on the phone tomorrow? I have to ask you something…
And I thought to myself: This is how it starts.
It begins with “Can you do me a favor?” and it ends up with you running for your life through a muddy swamp at midnight, being chased down by rifle-toting guards who are accompanied by dogs that don’t respond to commands in English planning on playing “fetch” with my giblets.
So I said, “Sure!”…
Crud and “Cooooool”
I have my once-a-year cold. Nothing miserable, just a low grade energy drain, which means I basically have the ambition to drive to work, work, then drive home and more or less fall into to bed. Motivation for the other things that make life worth living (writing, spending time with The Rib, or wrestling with the cats and dogs) is sadly absent.
Like me, my son Cameron both celebrates and curses our genetics. We’re cheered that we very rarely fall ill to whatever bug is going around, our joints are sound, and so on. We grumble that in the DNA dice game of life, we got the “you will start losing your hair in your mid-twenties” snake eyes.
You win …
A fun chat with “This is Writing”
For those who don’t know you, introduce yourself, your writing and books
Given name Roy Madison Griffis.
Roy for my mom’s father.
Madison from my dad’s father. He was born in deep south, and his birth name was Marion Madison Griffis, but my own father had an inkling such a name might cause me trouble in the growing-up-and-surviving department, so he opted for the middle name.
All that being said, most people call me “Griff.” I was in the Coast Guard about 30 seconds before I became Griff for the rest of my life.
My writing? Along the way, I’ve written
…