Not every shotgun or rifle uses a pump, right? Right. So what’s that thingy (for lack of a better term for now) worked back and forth that’s sort of like a pump when characters use fully automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns? Continue reading
Department of BS Writer Complaints: Stealing Ideas
“I’d tell you my idea for a novel, but I’m afraid you’ll steal it.”
Every jackass with a pulse has a “book in them.” Good for them. Really. They probably also have a killer movie idea, a world-changing BBQ recipe, a new online business concept, a perfect solution for health care reform and a mind-altering sex position to their namesake. Great, but who gives a shit? Continue reading
2014 Dubious CrimeFictionBook.com Awards
It’s time for the 2014 Dubious CrimeFictionBook.com Awards. The inaugural edition last year was so biased, so dubious, so obviously influenced by bribery, that by popular demand (and court order) they’ve returned for 2014. All nominees and winners are selected by me through a highly subjective process. The only qualification is that I had to have read the work in 2014, and that the work was published recently.
This year had some excellent reads to offer as well as some duds that surprisingly didn’t float with me (I’m looking at you, Gone Girl). To add to the total subjectivity of the awards process, I’m including a fancy badge (left) that winners can lift for their websites, provided they link back here in return. It’s just like a real dubious award. Huzzah! Continue reading
How to Load Submachine and Machine Guns
Dear Ben,
As an Australian writer working on his first novel, I need information from time to time on the step-by-step procedures involved in loading, cocking, aiming and shooting certain firearms, such as when to flick off the safety lever, and so on.
Is there a writer’s guide available in hard copy that will tell me, step by step, how to prepare to shoot most rifles, shotguns, sub-machine guns and handguns – including notable exceptions to the rule so I don’t make a mistake in my book? This would be very handy in my line of work.
In the meantime, can you tell me, please, how to prepare an L1A1 self-loading rifle (SLR) and an Uzi sub-machine gun for firing? Continue reading
David Morrell to Write Foreword to Writer’s Digest Book
I can now make it official: David Morrell, the author of First Blood and creator of Rambo, will be writing the foreword to my Writer’s Digest book, The Writer’s Guide to Weapons: A Practical Reference for Using Firearms and Knives in Fiction. Continue reading
The Writer's Guide to Weapons 