rlfj: Blog

I am well along in writing my next story, The Grim Reaper: Reaper Security Consulting. I have received excellent advice and editing from grynslvr2 and jjmcdonald7911; I can't thank them enough. I will probably be able to start publishing within the next few weeks. I was originally planning to wait until after the election but said the hell with it. If we end up in a Civil War, I'll just have to edit the story as needed.

Here's an odd request for assistance. If anybody knows the Table of Organization for an Arleigh Burke destroyer, let me know. I am looking for the ranks and job descriptions for the officers on a Burke-class ship. I just haven't found anything on Google, or maybe I just don't know what to specify for. Thanks.

Many thanks for the answers to the last question. Very helpful. Now I have another one. Anybody know about disability pensions? Are they forever? Do they end if you get another job? Stuff like that. Definitely working on the next story, where Grim has a disability pension. About ten chapters in, but just getting started. Thanks.

Working hard on the next GR story. Looking for some technical help. Has anyone taken a cruise on Royal Caribbean from the Port of Miami prior to November 2018? I ask for that specifically because in Nov 2018 Royal Caribbean began using a whole new terminal complex, Terminal A. According to my research, before that they used Terminal G for their cruise ships (and maybe still do.) I've never cruised out of Miami and am looking for some information on the terminal and boarding procedures for a time period prior to the new terminal. Many thanks!

For technical reasons, my blog post can't post on the home page. For my latest, check my blog page. Thanks.

One of my readers passed along this interesting item. I read it and found it a bit spooky. Interesting, though.

http://concealednation.org/2019/09/man-targets-extremely-skilled-sniper-nicknamed-the-reaper-during-attempted-robbery/

In other matters, several readers have sent me notes about what is happening in Kurdistan and the similarities to what happened in A Fresh Start. Again, a bit spooky, but more importantly, quite heartbreaking.

For those curious, I am in the process of writing The Grim Reaper: Reaper Security Consulting. I already have a number of chapters outlined and at least six written. Unlike Adventures In Southern Law Enforcement, this story will be more like the original in that it will be a continuous narrative. GRASLE was written more as a series of individual police related incidents that all built towards the finale. It will take place beginning immediately after GRASLE in mid-2018 and continue through the next ten years, ending in mid-2028.

That does not mean I will be publishing it any time in the near future. I might not actually publish this until early 2021. Why the delay? Politics! While much of what is going on in national politics does not directly affect Grim and his family, the idea that it will have no effect is naïve. It certainly will affect those around him. For instance, best friend Bo Effner is an ambitious Republican District Attorney looking to be named a US Attorney. What happens if President Trump is reelected - or not reelected? Grim himself will be working with a variety of police departments across the south. Will politics affect his business or affect the communities he will be working with?

Or could things become even worse? I have never seen our nation more polarized. Many have described the current state of affairs as bad as the late 1960s, when Vietnam and civil rights became toxic topics and civic unrest became commonplace. Personally, I think it is worse than that. (I was around for it.) I think the level of insanity is rapidly approaching the levels we saw a century earlier, when slavery tore apart the nation. The Civil War killed 620,000 out of a national population of about 31 million. A similar disaster at current population levels would kill over 6 million Americans! Impossible? Watch the news! If you listen to what the base of each party is saying I cannot imagine where anybody is going to find compromise. I could easily write a story about the descent of America into a post-apocalyptic hellscape, but it is just too depressing to consider.

Anyway, I have a reason to hold on publishing the story until 2021. I want to see if we still have a country to publish it in.