I got the following post to the comments of my post about Monster Hunter Nemesis being up for preorder on Amazon.

Larry:

I learned that Amazon offers for sale videos, books, DVDs and other materials by one Anwar al Awlaki, a propagandist for Al Qaeda, who was taken out by by a U.S. drone missile some months ago.

I confirmed this with my own search!!

I was outraged that Amazon sells for the terrorist group that inflicted 9/11 on our country. I asked them quickly expunge every instance of this odious filth from their web site. Their response was to the effect that they would pass my email up the line. Well, al Awlaki is still for sale there. I swore to never again do business with Amazon, and to inform every person and group I know of their irresponsible money- grubbing.

Maybe Amazon will listen if you and other top authors threaten to pull their publications from their website. Thanks.

I started writing the following response, but it got kind of big, so I figured this deserved its own blog post.

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Wow. Thanks for putting me in a really shitty position this morning, where I am absolutely powerless to do anything of meaning, but if I don’t then I must support terrorism. Or even better, I don’t support terrorism, but I’m only motivated by money, oh that filthy lucre! So if I don’t ruin my business agreements and violate my contractual obligations, even if I fundamentally disagree with your idea not just on 1st Amendment grounds but also practical ones, I too must be “money grubbing” and the terrorists win.

Here is why I will not be threatening anybody with boycotts for this topic or any other.

First, if I threatened to pull my stuff off of Amazon they would laugh at me.

Second, it is one of the biggest retailers of books on Earth, so they would laugh at me as I went bankrupt.

Third, I couldn’t legally pull my books off anyway because I’m under contract to a publishing house. I do not control my printing or distribution. Amazon has a relationship with Baen and Simon & Schuster, not with me.

Fourth, I’m not in the censorship business and I’m not the threat of boycott type. I hate that blackmail strong arm tactic. It never works. Even by you posting this it puts me in an awkward No-Win situation. So if I do something, I’m screwed, and if I do nothing, I must be pro Al Queda, and thus screwed. Hey, thanks.

You want to take up your problems with the retailer (it won’t work either) but leave authors out of it. All you’re doing is putting us in a bad spot. You’re probably going to get the same exact response from any other author you ask too (or at least any author who understands how business and contracts work). I can’t speak for them, but I’m guessing that my co-author Mike Kupari (who went to Afghanistan as an EOD guy and risked his life disarming Al Queda IEDs) will tell you the same thing. You could ask noted sci-fi author (Lt. Colonel) Tom Kratman to pull his books off of Amazon because it also sells books by a terrorist asshole and see what his response is too. I’m sure it would be hilarious.

A cursory search shows that Amazon also carries Mein Kampf, the Turner Diaries, and Rosie O’Donnel movies. Pick a hundred awful topics by a hundred awful people and there will probably be books on there worthy of your outrage. Amazon also has the Satanic Verses in stock, a book critical to Islam where the Iranian mullahs actually issued a death fatwah against the author, so I suppose if some prominent authors felt bad about the mullah’s hurt feelings they should contact Amazon and threaten to pull their books, right? There are books on there by Ted Nugent and Wayne LaPierre too, so after Sandy Hook maybe some super concerned anti-gun authors should have demanded that they were pulled, because of how insensitive it is to have books by those gun nuts.

My gosh, as I continue my search they’ve even got the Anarchist’s Cookbook! I haven’t read that for 25 years, and if I recall correctly there are a few nifty bomb recipes that worked great, and a few others where you’ll probably lose at least a hand.

But if your personal cut off is that we should only ban books by people who have motivated/enabled/caused the deaths of Americans, then hey, start with Margaret Sanger books. For sheer body count, Sanger’s accomplishments dwarf Al Queda… Only hers are all little tiny bodies, and that particular racist eugenicist is a liberal icon today.  I just checked. Sanger books are on Amazon too. And on 1st Amendment grounds, I think that is great. Political speech should always be allowed, even when it is by complete scumbags with idiotic ideas. No matter how repulsive your political philosophy you have the right to share it.

This is America. You want to proclaim something, no matter how idiotic it is, you have that right. And the rest of us have the right to debate it, make fun of it, and pick it to pieces. No matter how vile or ignorant. Hey, look, Piers Morgan wrote a book. Good for him.

Hell, and I actually know people who have bought various Al Queda authored books from Amazon. Except they work in the American intelligence community, and it was so they could understand the people they were trying to find in order to kill them better.

You want to get people to read the hell out of a book? Get somebody somewhere to ban it. If only I could get a bunch of morons to burn a bunch of my books on a bonfire and get it on the news, that makes for great publicity. But you got me thinking, so I went and looked on the site itself. If you search his name, you come up with critiques and news articles about his crap way before you get to his crap. One of the books you’re pissed about is ranked 1,101,112, which means that it sells a copy once in a great while.  Another one of his articles doesn’t actually sell enough copies to get a rating. Sure, you could let this asshole fade away into obscurity, but don’t worry. I’m sure if you organize a righteous internet campaign to ban it you can get this thing up to number 1, no problem.

So no, I will not be contacting Amazon about this, sorry. If that makes me a bad guy, so be it. I think Al Queda is evil and every time one of them gets blown to hell an angel gets its wings (or was that a Ranger gets his tab? Never could keep those straight).  They are wretched scum, but the wonderful thing about this country is that we don’t hide wretched ideas. We confront them.

EDIT

Because the fun never stops on the internet, I got a response:

Of course you’re in a shitty position.  When faced with an ethical dilemma,anyone with a grain of decency finds themselves thus.

I’m unimpressed with your four reasons for not pursuing the issue.  Each had to do with either the state of your pocketbook or your helplessness in the face of strong opposition.  I would imagine that the executives at Krups and Thyssen used a similar rationale in the 1930′s and 1940′s.

Man, where did you learn your negotiating skills – using shovels on Holsteins?  I wasn’t asking you to fall on your sword.  Rather, it occurred to me that if you and some other primo Baen authors suggested to your publisher that he, too, faces the same ethical dilemma, he might give it some thought, and perhaps pass on his concerns to Amazon.

Given your off-the-edge rant that lumped a real mass murderer with a fictional white supremicist apocalypse, and a true woman’s rights advocate (Is that truly the LDS position on abortion?), it looks like I pushed the wrong (right?) buttons.

In case you’re wondering, I do have a dog in this hunt.  My son had clients at the World Trade Center.  If he had been there that morning, he likely would have died in that massacre.

Well, that’s a shocker. And here is what I posted in response:

Yep. Just like I predicted. Because I disagree with you, I am money grubbing, morally bankrupt, and support terrorism. Sure. Because it is either that or your idea is just stupid.

If you consider that rather polite and detailed response as to why what you are asking me is an “off-the-edge rant” then you have lived a sheltered life.

You missed the big reason, even though I didn’t put a #5 by it. Hint, it is all the stuff in the second half about how I believe in Freedom of Speech, and will not ever pressure any vendor of books not to carry a book of political thought I disagree with. Ever.

Apparenly you were too dense to get that the examples I provided were of various works who would be hated and despised by some group, and by your criteria, they should be banned. You bring my religion into it, well how about this? It is my personal religious conviction that the founding fathers were inspired by God when they wrote the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the first right on there is the right to freely share political thought. It is a fundamental guiding principle of America that all idea, no matter how vile, are open for discussion, and squashing political discourse is the desire of statists and tyrants.

You pushed the wrong (right) button? Yes. I hate censorship. I hate statism. I hate anyone who would infringe upon the basic fundamental principles of American governance based upon their feelings or their personal concerns. And above all, I hate bullies.

So instead of trying to coerce me into doing something I disagree with how about you go talk to those other primo authors yourself? Go talk to my publisher. See what their response is. I provided a couple of names above who also have “a dog in this hunt”, so go for it.

http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=1476736553

And a head’s up about my Amazon links. Anytime you enter Amazon through one of these, no matter what you purchase once you are there, I get an advertising refferal bonus. It doesn’t cost you anything over what you were going to buy anyway. So if you are going to do your Christmas shopping online, keep my blog in mind. 🙂  (think of it as a tip jar)

The Drowning Empire is a weekly serial based on the events which occured during the  Writer Nerd Game Night monthly Legend of the Five Rings game.  It is a tale of samurai adventure set in the magical world of Rokugan.

If you would like to read all of these in one convenient place, along with a bunch of additional game related stuff, behind the scenes info, and detailed session recaps, I’ve been posting everything to one thread on the L5R forum,  http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=295&t=101206

This week’s episode has our session recapped by Paul Genesse.

Continued from: http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/the-drowning-empire-episode-36-isao-faces-the-water-dragon/

Letter to Admiral Yoritomo Naota from Akodo Toranaka

Honored Admiral Yoritomo Naota-sama,

I must inform you of the annihilation of pirates known as the Serpents of Sanada. My companions and I massacred approximately eighty of them, and can account for the neutralization of eight of their nine ships. I suspect the lone ship we did not find was used to transport the assassins that attacked your home recently. I cannot verify this, but regardless, their capabilities are much diminished and if my estimations are correct, less than ten of them still live—if that many. I believe that almost all the pirates not accounted for were slain during the attack on your home, but there may be a handful who still draw breath. If we come across them in the future, they will not survive the meeting.

Please know that the pirates were dispatched with much prejudice, and no mercy was given.

We first encountered them when they attempted a night ambush of our ship, The Friendly Traveler, using three of their own inferior craft. Captain Yoritomo Oki had been purposely sailing very slowly through their known territory and attracted them to us. Oki-san boldly turned and attacked the three pirate ships, and using the catapult he acquired, we disabled two of their ships. The third, and the smallest pirate vessel, we rammed and crushed into the sea. The approximately thirty pirates on the three ships were all killed, save for their leader, a dishonorable dog named Sono, whom we captured. He gave us the location of their secret island camp and we proceeded to the small island off the Coast of Dark Mist that night, making it in time for a dawn attack.

My companions and I, less than ten of us, launched a surprise attack and swept through their hideout. We slaughtered approximately fifty of them, and confronted their leader, a warrior called Kosugi the Vicious. She proved to be a powerful warrior and before she died by my katana, she inflicted a grave wound upon myself, and one upon Moto Subotai. He and I shall all recover, but all of the Serpents of Sanada are dead.

We are now continuing on to the Ivory Kingdoms and will deliver the shipment you entrusted to us. We shall also continue our search for Doji Chonitsu, to warn him of the potential imposter who may have impersonated him at your residence. Or if we find out that Chonitsu is guilty of theft and sending the assassins to your home, we shall take appropriate action, and deliver his head to you. I understand that if a head is preserved in a cask of soy sauce it does not rot. We shall deliver Chonitsu’s head to you in this manner.

Humbly and with much respect,

Akodo Toranaka

Letter sent to the Shogunate in Toshi Ranbo by Akodo Toranaka—though it is not signed by him.

Honorable Masters,

We have arrived in the Ivory Kingdoms. Along the way we have learned that the Oracle of Dark Water was in league with the Sanada pirates. He commanded one of his underlings, who was in command of the pirates, a woman named Kasugi the Vicious, to attack shipping along the trade route, and perhaps other activities. Many Mantis ships and others had fallen prey to them. We killed all of the pirates we encountered, nearly eighty, including Kasugi. See the copy of the letter I sent to Admiral Yoritomo Naota. Honorable Naota has helped fund our journey and outfit our ship, commanded my Captain Yoritomo Oki. Naota has given us a shipment to carry to the Ivory Kingdoms. Of course, this is only a ruse, and Naota has only given us one small barrel of soy sauce to carry on our ship. Naota’s assistance will help add to our cover, but our loyalties lie where they have always been.

We have also learned of an agent of evil, Doji Chonitsu. I’ve included a complete copy of the information I’ve gathered on him, including the journal of the dead Scorpion clan investigator, Yogo Tanaka—possibly killed by Chonitsu. His body was mauled, as if by a wild animal, though no animal tracks were seen. If you have not already investigated Chonitsu’s contacts in the empire as a whole, please do so, or follow whatever course of action you think is best. We shall be investigating him in the Ivory Kingdoms and plan to confront him at some point. I wonder if Chonitsu is fomenting war between the Mantis and the Crane on the behalf of his true master, possibly the Dark Oracle of Water. I have no proof of a connection between Chonitsu and the Dark Oracle, but we shall continue to investigate.

A Humble Servant of the Emerald Empire

From the Private Journal of Akodo Toranaka, 10^th Entry

Written in the days before arriving in the Ivory Kingdoms for the first time

Our journey to the Ivory Kingdoms has gone well. Captain Oki has proved himself, as I had hoped. We put our faith in him, and our lives in his hands. The added responsibility has matured him, and he did not drink as much sake during our voyage. He was reckless at times, but his judgment proved sound, though I did question his decision to face three enemy pirate ships, the Serpents of Sanada, when we did not know how many warriors we were to fight. Our total number of fighters was ten, which includes our most capable crewmaster, our Shukan, Hisao, and our two new Crane friends, Doji Shunya and Daidoji Masafuni.

We had heard that the pirates numbered one hundred. Ten to one odds on the water was not to my liking, for I am a pragmatic realist. I believe we could have had a victory against one hundred ronin sea dogs, but the chance of a few of us dying, and our ship being damaged was quite high. When Captain Oki gave his orders to turn and fight I admit to being concerned. We had lowered some of our sails, and there was no chance of us out running the approaching three ships. It was not a good tactical situation, but my worry and fear were misplaced. I was wrong not to trust Oki’s judgment.

We did not face one hundred pirates, at night, in unfamiliar waters. We fought only thirty and our catapult turned the battle in our favor. Only one of the pirates gained the deck of our ship and he was quickly cut down and captured. Uso managed to turn his allegiance, and we were soon sailing to the secret hideout of the pirates.

Our surprise attack at dawn was merciless. We killed over a dozen before the alarm was sounded, and even more of the enemy died before any major resistance was mounted. One gutless ronin held a captive woman with a knife to her throat as I approached, but I stabbed him in the left eye before he could kill her. The nine of us samurai swept through their camp crushing our enemy, and seeing them driven before us. When they realized that death was approaching the lamentation of the ronin scum was the only sound aside from sharp steel cutting through flesh. Even Isao became a bloodied warrior and crushed a man’s skull with his tetsubo. We harvested the lives of our enemy, but they made one final stand.

Their leader, Kasugi the Vicious, proved quite a challenge, and I shall bear a scar on my left shoulder where her wakizashi nearly found and punctured my throat, but we did not bring only our swords to this fight. When I saw Kasugi, I ordered Isao to use his flare spell, which signaled our Shukan on the Friendly Traveler, as well as summoning the Mantis navy, which would see the glowing sphere in the sky from dozens of miles away.

As I had expected, the pirates and Kasugi looked up at the flare hanging in the sky. The magic lit the morning mist, making it the color of a blood-orange. Upon seeing the flare, our Shukan followed my predetermined order and he launched the pre-aimed catapult. A stone destroyed Kasugi’s hut and the explosion caused her to fortuitously drop her spear and fall to the ground.

She drew her katana, and we charged screaming our battle cries for the first time that morning, as her men rallied for one last stand. They had no chance of victory, but Kasugi injured Subotai before Oki-san shot her in the hand, forcing her to drop her sword. Oki may have saved my life, and Subotai’s with his archery. Subo and I wounded her, and she struck back hard drawing her wakizashi. Still, she could not match my attack, for I am a graduate of the Akodo Bushi School and the Golden Plains Dojo. I took her head and mounted it on her lost spear. Taking her alive would have been advantageous, but she was determined to fight to the end, and I had no intention of bringing the worst of the Serpents of Sanada aboard our ship.

Nearly crippled from blood loss, I followed Uso to defeat the last of the pirates. Uso led the slaughter, and Subotai eventually made me see reason, convincing me to stop, as I could barely lift my sword. I staggered and fell to my knees, almost passing out as Uso disappeared in the mist, killing our enemy with reckless abandon.

With most of the pirates dead, and a few survivors swimming away from the island to be killed by the demons who inhabited the jungle shores, Subo and I stumbled together back toward the ship. Our friends helped us, especially Daidoji Masafuni, and the captives we had rescued came along gratefully. Shintaro seemed most concerned with a samurai woman he rescued, Hotaru Kuroko, of the Firefly clan, of which I’ve never heard. Kuroko and the other women’s nightmare was nearly over.

Mine had just started. A man covered in blood and gore, and carrying Uso’s giant sword, his no-dachi came at us once we arrived near the dock. He emerged from the thick mist, his eyes filled with something like bloodlust and hate. We prepared to avenge Uso and reclaim his sword, but the man paused and wiped the blood from his face, using a flap from a pirate’s tent. It was Uso under the sheen of red, but I did not see the bright light in the bard’s eyes I had come to admire. I do not know what I saw, though it haunts me still.

I worry for Uso, and fear he is touched by darkness now. I have read of men who tasted battle for the first time and became obsessed with killing ever after. I believe this was his first time Uso had taken so many lives, and though he is Lion, he is only a bard, and not used to this kind of action. Subotai and I killed many bandits in the last two years, and still I wonder at the honor of slaughtering opponents with so little skill, but victory must be achieved, and often that means men dying.

Many days have passed since the battle now, and Uso is more the man I have come to know. The strange look in his eyes is gone, though our captive, Sono, the honor-less dog, looks at Uso sometimes as if he is a frightening oni. Uso only smiles at him as if they are best of friends. I still do not trust Sono and would like him removed from our crew as soon as possible.

I have not been able to spend as much time observing Uso in the past days, but he is back to normal, from what I can tell. I have spent many days on Captain Oki’s second ship, which he took from the pirate’s hide out. He allowed me to name it, and so we would not forget who or where we won it from, I have named it, The Vicious Serpent. Oki has put me in command of the ship, though I am no sea captain, and defer to his nautical knowledge. We all hope that Oki’s small fleet will help us in the future. Time will tell.

Our trip has been quite an experience and one thing is certain, our small group is like an army unto itself. All of my friends are good in a fight, even Isao, who has faced his fear of the water at last. He passed his own test, after asking Subo and Shintaro to lash him to the front mast of the ship when we left Broken Wave City. I shall not forget his screams as I stood guard beneath him for a full day and night. Our Crane friends asked if they could put Isao out of his misery, but I refused. The others laughed and made jokes at Isao’s expense, but they are merely uncomfortable seeing someone is such pain. I heard him speaking during the ordeal and believe the death of his mother has caused his fear. She may have been killed by a tsunami when Isao was very small. I do not wish to ask him about it now.

Isao has told us what he saw during his time on the mast, and I do not doubt his recollections. He may have seen the Elemental Water Dragon and the Dark Oracle of Water. They spoke to him, and if what they said is true, I firmly believe our mission is more important than ever. We cannot fail.

I only hope Isao’s madness has passed, and he shall become a full part of our group. We shall need him, and the full powers of a shugenja before the end comes. If he does not pull together his fragmented mind, we may have little chance to defeat the Dark Oracle of Water. Blades may be able to cut water, but they do not cause harm.

Now we are all about to disembark in the Ivory Kingdoms. Our enemies will come for each of us, using our weaknesses to great effect, I have no doubt, but we shall not stop. We shall stand together, bleed together, and die together if necessary.

For now we shall escort our two Crane friends, Doji Shunya and Daidoji Masafuni as they go to deliver a message to their clansmen, Doji Chonitsu. I worry that our conflict with Chonitsu will result in a conflict with these two men. Shunya holds a grudge against Subotai, and wants to face him again. Shunya will never forget how Subotai defeated him at the Topaz Championship in the dueling competition. I worry now that when we find Chonitsu there will be a fight. Shunya will come after Subotai, and I worry my friend will not be able to defeat him. Subo and I must practice our dueling more often.

If we do have to fight any of the Crane, I do not wish to face my new friend, Masafuni, as he was a student of Sensei Kenru, a man I admired greatly. I must find a way to stop the war between the Crane and the Mantis, and still find out the truth of Chonitsu, without causing hostilities to occur.

Perhaps if Chonitsu is found to be guilty of being some sort of supernatural being, as Yogo Tanaka’s journal accuses, we could cause Chonitsu to disappear, quietly and permanently. Uso has hinted at this plan, and when I think of my friend’s eyes, and his face smeared with blood, I think he not a simple bard as he always says. Not all of us Lion hunt in the open, some hunt from the shadows, and I wonder if that is what my father was hinting at so long ago when he told me of Ikoma Uso, and his strange ways. For now, I shall say nothing to my friends, nor to Uso.

The Ivory Kingdoms await. I am not looking forward to the heat and terrible humidity we have felt over the past days. I shall have to wear much different clothing, and it will make it more difficult to hide the stump of my arm. I must find the courage to not be ashamed anymore. All the outcasts of the empire are here, and I must recognize that I am one of them. My daimyo has released me from his service and allowed me to find my own way in the world. This is what I shall do.

I will let the samurai here believe I am not fit to be a Lion, or serve in the Lion armies. I will let them see I am maimed. I will let them think I am nothing to worry about, but if the time comes for violence, I shall be ready, and I will not be alone.

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To check out some of Paul’s regular work, here is an anthology that he edited: http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B00E83GGOO  I’m in it!

To be continued next week: http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/the-drowning-empire-episode-38-das-bu/

Hard Magic is on sale on Audible.com today. It is only $5.95.

If you haven’t listened to these audiobooks, Bronson Pinchot did an amazing job. There is a reason that we’ve won the Audie Award two years in a row (and have high hopes for Warbound doing a 3peat).

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Hard-Magic-Audiobook/B004XMIMHE/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1384448698&sr=1-1

Okay, there is a learning curve involved with running Kickstarters. 🙂

Some folks did not get charged the full amount for their add ons, and a bunch of people have asked if they could order items since we’ve closed. So we needed to come up with a secure way to process credit cards. So Jack has put together this page for your shoping enjoyment: http://mhiswag.myshopify.com/

In other news initial orders have been placed and the work has started on the coins. I’m having a fun conversation with the people engraving the lighters about how I shouldn’t need to fill out a credit application if I’m paying them up front… Sheesh. You’d think I’d been an accountant for a really long time or something.

I will continue to keep you updated on the progress, and I hope to have some pictures of the early production stuff to share too.