With Charles' blessing. . .

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jdkinman
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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#16

Post by jdkinman »

The Annoyed Man wrote:
MOA wrote: Well, I've nearly finished the book, and there are some average ordinary Americans who have heroic roles in the story. Dillon Cole is some kind of ninja god, but there are a few regular folks with concealed carry licenses who acquit themselves very well with a number of different kinds of handguns and a 12 gauge pump gun in one case. They just don't have as prominent a role as Cole does as the primary protagonist.
:cheers2:

Hi Annoyed Man and fellow DFW-metro-madness inhabiter,

Dillon's not really a ninja-god as he only has two physical encounters in the book (the second one being in the very last chapter). In the back-county pool hall/beer joint, his opening two moves are actually moves taught to us in SERE school way back in the late 70's. The third move is just an old fashioned bar-brawl move, and the last is a basic arm-bar hold/submission hold and one of the first submission holds I learned in judo back when I was in junior high.

His other physical encounter is in the water and trust me, even an old competitive swimmer like myself can't do karate moves in the water--that is a whole nother environment! We used to play water-polo in the off-season and you learn every dirty trick in the book and I DID employ a couple of those in the final scene. ;-)

The main character is a good shot, however, but gives credence to the old line of "Excuse me, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, son. Practice."

I shot a lot of IPSC during my LE days and I saw some other-worldly shooters, even in the LE world. I'll tell ya right here and right now, the US Secret Service boys and girls can just flat well shoot! So can the Mississipi Highway Patrol. And back in the day (mid/late 80's, I remember being in a LE match with some McKinney PD officers who were shooting their issue S&W Model 29s in a four-inch barrel loaded with factory .44 Specials. . . THOSE boys could dang well shoot!

Dillon Cole is a retired advertising executive, so strategy and tactics are a strength of his, along with presentation skills and power of persuasion. His "legendary" status in LE came from finding three Top 15 fugitives, which in that line of work with the USMS is like winning the Super Bowl three times. But you find and catch those guys with brains, not brawn, so combined with his friends and former boss at the NRA's ad/pr agency, Cole helps "keep the skeer up" in seeing the big picture of gun-owners and CHL holders holding and defending the line.

One of my primary objectives when writing Above Reproach was to portray gun-owners as the good guys and demonstrate that there are still law enforcement folks who see gun-owners as not just the good guys, but the most integral defense against all enemies (foreign/domestic) that we have. This is displayed in the incident in Pocatello, Idaho when the cops congratulate the CHL holders who stopped a shooting before it even started.

But most of all, I just wanted to write something that was fun to read and made you feel GOOD about being a gun-owner, CHL holder and defender of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. :txflag:

JD
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The Annoyed Man
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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#17

Post by The Annoyed Man »

jdkinman wrote:
The Annoyed Man wrote: Well, I've nearly finished the book, and there are some average ordinary Americans who have heroic roles in the story. Dillon Cole is some kind of ninja god, but there are a few regular folks with concealed carry licenses who acquit themselves very well with a number of different kinds of handguns and a 12 gauge pump gun in one case. They just don't have as prominent a role as Cole does as the primary protagonist.
:cheers2:

Hi Annoyed Man and fellow DFW-metro-madness inhabiter,

Dillon's not really a ninja-god as he only has two physical encounters in the book (the second one being in the very last chapter). In the back-county pool hall/beer joint, his opening two moves are actually moves taught to us in SERE school way back in the late 70's. The third move is just an old fashioned bar-brawl move, and the last is a basic arm-bar hold/submission hold and one of the first submission holds I learned in judo back when I was in junior high.

His other physical encounter is in the water and trust me, even an old competitive swimmer like myself can't do karate moves in the water--that is a whole nother environment! We used to play water-polo in the off-season and you learn every dirty trick in the book and I DID employ a couple of those in the final scene. ;-)

The main character is a good shot, however, but gives credence to the old line of "Excuse me, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, son. Practice."
Thanks for the answer JD. I myself am a former competitive swimmer (once had my butt handed to me by no less than Mark Spitz), and understand full well the limitations of fighting in water. When I say "ninja god," I'm writing from the perspective of an overweight white haired and gimpy old fart who has trouble getting the front sight into focus anymore. :mrgreen: Compared to me, even v-rog is a ninja god, and when I saw him a couple of days ago, he was using a walker and had come over to borrow one of my canes.
"rlol"
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”

― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"

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jdkinman
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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#18

Post by jdkinman »

The Annoyed Man wrote:
jdkinman wrote:I myself am a former competitive swimmer
Don't know about you, but my knees and shoulders took a beating. Started swimming at age 5 in AAU. By the time I was in the TAGS 10-12 age group, I was swimming the 200IM and 100 butterfly half the meets, then in the 13-14 age group, started swimming the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. Distance events and butterfly--that will wreck your shoulders and knees. Playing baseball (catcher) only exacerbated the damage.

I sound like a bad bown of Rick Crispies when I get out of bed (snap, crackle, pop).

JD
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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#19

Post by The Annoyed Man »

jdkinman wrote:
The Annoyed Man wrote:
jdkinman wrote:I myself am a former competitive swimmer
Don't know about you, but my knees and shoulders took a beating. Started swimming at age 5 in AAU. By the time I was in the TAGS 10-12 age group, I was swimming the 200IM and 100 butterfly half the meets, then in the 13-14 age group, started swimming the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. Distance events and butterfly--that will wreck your shoulders and knees. Playing baseball (catcher) only exacerbated the damage.

I sound like a bad bown of Rick Crispies when I get out of bed (snap, crackle, pop).

JD
Yeah, both of my shoulders are shot and sound/feel like they've got sand in them. Knees aren't as bad, but they're not perfect. But the main thing is my lower back is completely shot. Had to have a fusion/discectomy a few years ago and have a bunch of hardware in there now, and the condition of my back is a large part of my physical limitation.

I was primarily a butterfly sprinter (100 & 200) who also swam 100 and 200 IM and 100 freestyle, and the fly legs of medley relays, as well as an occasional leg of the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. But mainly I swam butterfly. I didn't start swimming competitively until I was a high school freshman, but my coach entered me in a few AAU events while I was swimming in high school. That's when I took such a drubbing from Spitz. My other high school sport was football, but I was never more than an average player. It was fun though.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”

― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"

#TINVOWOOT
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jimlongley
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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#20

Post by jimlongley »

jdkinman wrote: . . .

His other physical encounter is in the water and trust me, even an old competitive swimmer like myself can't do karate moves in the water--that is a whole nother environment! We used to play water-polo in the off-season and you learn every dirty trick in the book and I DID employ a couple of those in the final scene. ;-)
I wasn't fast enough for the swim team, but held the school's unofficial underwater swim record for decades, thus I played water polo myself. While executing a spin pass in the El Adem Royal Air Force Base pool in Libya in 1968, I inadvertently kicked an opposing player in the mouth, knocking out two of his teeth and inflicting a multiple stitch avulsion laceration on my big toe. His traumatic extraction was so clean they were actually able to re-implant the teeth. I scored the only goal against the RAF in that rather one sided contest between the USN and them.
jdkinman wrote: . . .

The main character is a good shot, however, but gives credence to the old line of "Excuse me, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, son. Practice."
My late wife, a concert level pianist in her own right, used to say that, ending with " . . . or just rent the place."
jdkinman wrote: . . .

One of my primary objectives when writing Above Reproach was to portray gun-owners as the good guys and demonstrate that there are still law enforcement folks who see gun-owners as not just the good guys, but the most integral defense against all enemies (foreign/domestic) that we have. This is displayed in the incident in Pocatello, Idaho when the cops congratulate the CHL holders who stopped a shooting before it even started.

But most of all, I just wanted to write something that was fun to read and made you feel GOOD about being a gun-owner, CHL holder and defender of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. :txflag:

JD
And thank you for that. I haven't even started the book yet, I have another one to finish first, but it is encouraging to look forward to having a protagonist who doesn't "Click off the safety" on his GLOCK or thing like that.
Real gun control, carrying 24/7/365
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jdkinman
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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#21

Post by jdkinman »

jimlongley wrote:And thank you for that. I haven't even started the book yet, I have another one to finish first, but it is encouraging to look forward to having a protagonist who doesn't "Click off the safety" on his GLOCK or thing like that.
Heh heh heh.

Robert Ludlum put a "silencer" on a revolver and Lee Child put a safety on a revolver.

I'm a HUGE fan of revolvers, but us wheelgun types just seem to be misunderstood. In my book, I have FOUR distinct cases of CHL holders using revolvers to defend themselves. My wife carries a S&W .38 Airweight and my adopted daughter wants a pink S&W Lady Smith (guess what she's getting for Christmas this year along me paying for her CHL class? She turns 21 in a couple of weeks and we continue to work on her shooting, situational awareness and when/where she will be able to legally carry a concealed firearm with a CHL.)

My other pet-peeve is when writers use "clip" instead of magazine as in, "he quickly slammed in another 50 round clip in the Uzi and continued spraying the bad guys with one hand, firing his automatic sawed-off shotgun in the other hand." "rlol"

You can take a lot of liberties in fiction, but not THAT many. . .

JD
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jimlongley
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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#22

Post by jimlongley »

jdkinman wrote:. . .

You can take a lot of liberties in fiction, but not THAT many. . .

JD
Amen to that, or the "smell of cordite" which hasn't been used in 100 years.
Real gun control, carrying 24/7/365
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Sidro
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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#23

Post by Sidro »

Due to the endorsements from here on this book I downloaded it to my Kindle. It will be kept in my collection. Started the book last night at bedtime and got so involved in it that I could not put it down. Finished the book at 4:08 this morning and thoroughly enjoyed Above Reproach. Mr. Kinman has done an excellent job and is most knowledgeable about his firearms.

I read 200 plus books a year and this is a very good read and I reccommend it to everyone. It will be read again! Thank you very much sir for a well told and riveting story that just could happen(or maybe it already is).

jerry_r60
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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#24

Post by jerry_r60 »

Glad i checked out this thread. I'll be looking to add this to my bookshelf....my kids are looking for something to give me for my birthday, this will fit right in.
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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#25

Post by jdkinman »

The print edition is now available at Amazon, and will be available at Barnes & Noble (online) and others in around four or so weeks I'm told.

Here is the link to it at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Above-Reproach-J- ... 691&sr=8-2

Hardback with a dust-cover was going to be cost-prohibitive in my opinion at an MSRP of $34.99. I opted to go with a premium size softback (6x9) full-color wrapped cover for a bit under half that price. Easy to read with eleven-point Times-New Roman typeface on white paper with more than adequate margins.

I'm getting set up to sell signed copies (same price plus whatever shipping costs) on my blog/website. It'll be two or so weeks before that is all good to go.

Additionally, I've had some folks here and on other Texas gun-forum groups ask about having a book-signing. What I'd rather do--and will be seeing if I can work with Charles on this--is have a NRA and TSRA membership drive at a local gun range where we can also do a book-signing and maybe host a gun-bloggers meet and have some BBQ catered in. I already have an excellent caterer who'll throw in on this, and I'm almost positive I have an indoor range who would be more than happy to host something like this.

It'd be nice to meet, shoot, drool over some guns and have some good BBQ while putting faces with names and personalities.

JD

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Re: With Charles' blessing. . .

#26

Post by n5wd »

Just finished the book JD - thanks again for sending along that file! It's on my recommend list for friends/family! Good luck!

Wayne
NRA-Life member, NRA Instructor, NRA RSO, TSRA member,
Vietnam (AF) Veteran -- Amateur Extra class amateur radio operator: N5WD

Email: CHL@centurylink.net
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