As a novelist, if I were to write a thriller in which a federal law enforcement agency knowingly allowed and even encouraged thousands of American guns to cross the border to arm Mexican drug cartels, in an effort to pad their stats to push for more gun control laws, even though innocent Mexican citizens and a US Border Patrol agent were killed in the process, and afterward there would be a huge cover up that went all the way to the President…  I know some reviewers would say that my plot was silly, just some naive right-wing fantasy.

Yeah… You got me there.  Surely no federal agency would be that stupid. Surely nobody in Washington would arm brutal drug cartels just to push their own politics.

Nope.  That’s crazy talk.

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/a-journalist-s-guide-to-project-gunwalker

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/a-journalist-s-guide-to-project-gunwalker-part-two

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/a-journalist-s-guide-to-project-gunwalker-part-three

If you’ve not heard about this, that’s understandable, because even though it is bigger than Watergate, it has been getting zilch coverage outside of a few media outlets. Basically, the BATF knowingly allowed criminals to purchase guns in the US to transport over the border to arm Mexican drug cartels. Not one gun. Not a dozen guns. Thousands of guns.

And this is all occurring while gun dealers were calling up the BATF and saying “I got this guy here buying up all of our AR-15s, and he’s really shady, and we think he’s up to no good.” And the BATF responding with “Oh, it’s cool. We know all about him. Let the sale go through.” And then afterwards the BATF tries to hang these dealers for knowingly supplying weapons to Mexican drug cartels.

As a former gun dealer, let me assure you, when your ATF agent tells you to do something, you do it. Period. I had a good relationship with my inspector. I liked her. That said, I also knew that she had the authority to ruin my business with the stroke of a pen. Any actual wrongdoing or malfeasance on the dealer’s part is not necessary to shut you down.  So if the ATF tells you to let the suspicious guy buy the crate of AKs, you do it.

When this came to light, (when people started getting killed with these guns) the BATF said that it was all part of some big investigation/sting they were running to track the flow of guns. Only they never actually tracked the guns. Guns got sold. Guns got taken across the border. Done.  

Gee whiz, why would the BATF do something like that? Could it have anything to do with our Attorney General constantly talking about how the vast majority of crime guns in Mexico come from America, so all of their epic drug cartel warfare that is literally destroying the country, is somehow our fault, and thus we need to pass more gun laws?  Maybe. Especially when it turns out that the AG’s stats were totally bogus.

Yes. For my non-gunnie readers, those stats you still hear on the news are completely fabricated. The thing about 90% of Mexican crime guns coming from us? BS. And while they’re reporting this, they are usually showing video of stacks of brand new M4s, M203s, and 240Bs. Yes, those are built in America… and sold to the Mexican Army. Just a hint for you non-gun folks, you can’t buy those at your local gun show.

Let’s break this down. The drug cartels literally run Mexico. They are fighting over billions and billions of dollars. They are more powerful than the Mexican government. They engage in open warfare in the streets. It is not uncommon for them to slaughter each other and stack twenty plus severed heads in neat pyramids as a warning to their competitors. (I’ve worked with ICE and Border Patrol and I’ve seen pictures that would blow your mind) More people die violently in Mexico than in Afghanistan. The cartels buy military units. They kill politicians and judges. They have private jets. They have rocket launchers, surface to air missiles, and armored personnel carriers. The drug cartels have submarines.  

So do you really think that Fred’s Sporting Goods of South Texas is the root cause of Mexico’s drug fueled violence?  Friggin’ dur. Of course not. Trying to blame that on US gun owners is a desperate, stupid, ignorant attempt at scoring some political points to push their idiotic and demographically defeated agenda. Fingers crossed, Mexican crime guns were to be their next Columbine.

So along comes Project Gunwalker. Let’s pad some stats! Pass some laws! Budget increases for everyone!

And they would’ve gotten away with it too, until US citizens started getting murdered by guns that dealers never would’ve sold if they hadn’t been ordered to by the BATF.

Since this has come to light, the cockroaches have scurried for the shadows. Laws have been broken. Congressional hearings are being held, and the AG is stonewalling and lying.  At first we were supposed to believe that this was just limited to Arizona. Nope. It is much bigger. Just this week it came out that the Florida office was doing the same thing with Honduras. Honduras! Now other agencies were involved and their heads are all saying that they were answering to somebody else.

How high does this go? Well, it sure isn’t looking pretty for the President. This is bigger than Watergate. A crime was committed in Nixon’s administration and he tried to cover it up.  The same thing is happening here. But at least in Watergate, nobody got killed.

So where’s the outrage? Where’s the 24/7 media coverage about this travesty of justice?  Oh, I forgot, Nixon was a Republican.

Even if you are a huge supporter of gun control (and I really don’t know why you are reading this blog if you are) innocent people have been killed and our Justice Department is complicit in it. If you aren’t angry then there is something wrong with you.

Place your order this week.  http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/ah-correia-larry.php  If you want your autographed MHA personalized, you’ll need to get your order in this week.  If you don’t care, and you just want a signature, then you’ve got more time to order. 

I just need to get all of these signed and in the mail soon to make sure they arrive in plenty of time. 

Oh, and coming in the next few days, the 2nd Monster Hunter Design Your Own Patch Contest. 🙂  Like last time, the winners patch will show up in a book. (Monster Hunter Legion in this case) Details coming soon.

I spoke with my publisher. I’m hoping that you guys aren’t sick of me yet, because there are going to be a lot more books coming out over the next few years. 🙂 

I’m happy to say that in the future you will see the following from me:

1. A sci-fi/post-apocolyptic/steampunk collaboration trilogy with John Ringo.  (but you guys already knew about this one)

2. The next two novels with Mike Kupari in the Dead Six series. Swords of Exodus and Project Blue.

3. Much more Monster Hunter, including Monster Hunter Legion, Monster Hunter Nemesis, Monster Hunter Guardian, and Monster Hunter Omega.

4. More Grimnoir Chronicles, including book 3 of the trilogy, Warbound, and two other stand alone novels set in different time periods.  1908 and 1859.

5. An epic fantasy trilogy. I can’t say too much about this one yet, but it is excellent. I’m loving the universe. I grew up on epic fantasy and this will be my first foray into the genre. It is a big, sprawling world, filled with violence, intrigue, slavery, religious fanatics, and one really mean ocean.  

6. A stand alone sci-fi novel about a reality TV show where teams of contestants compete to overthrow a small African country. More will be said about this one later.  Super Author John Brown said that this one is the most interesting pitch he’s ever heard.

Basically, I’m booked for the next 8 years. Figure 2 books a year with other shorts and so forth. It is nice to never have to say that you’re bored. 🙂

Today, I want to talk a little bit about why you guys are so awesome, and then once I’ve got you sufficiently buttered up with flattery, I’m going to ask you a favor.

For a relatively new writer, I’m doing pretty darn good. A couple of years ago I was a self-published nobody. I just wanted to write a book that was a salute to B movies told from the perspective of the heavily armed side of society. (i.e. My People)

I stuck Monster Hunter International out there on a few gun forums, and my advertising mainly consisted of blogger friends like Mad Ogre, Lawdog, Preacherman, Tamara, and others telling their readers to check it out.  And you guys did.

Apparently y’all liked it.

All of a sudden  MHI was a hit. A lot of things fell into place. Believe me, I was more surprised than anybody. It blew up huge. Baen picked me up, and from there MHI did even better.

Now here we are, just a few short years later, and I’ve got a slew of books coming out, I’m nominated for a Campbell, the 2^nd MH novel was a NYT bestseller, and I’ve sold the rights to make an MH TV show.  (nothing new to report on that yet).

I get asked all the time how I pulled this off. Trust me, it wasn’t me. It is because my fans are just that friggin’ cool. Ever since the first book came out, you guys have taken pride of ownership in the MH universe.  I’ve got pictures of people sporting the patch all over the world, quite literally. There’s MH fan fiction! People are dressing as MH characters at parties and cons! When you get a picture of a guy running the door gun on a Blackhawk in Iraq or a Ranger riding in the turret of an uparmored humvee in Afghanistan, sporting the MH Patch, it hits you. Holy crap. These folks really like this stuff I made up.

That’s humbling for a writer, and I promise to try and not screw it up.

So that was the flattery part. Now for the favor.

The third Monster Hunter book comes out next month. Monster Hunter Alpha turned out excellent and I’m not just saying that because I’m biased. The eARC came out a little while back, and the feedback and reviews on it have been great.  It is an Earl Harbinger novel, and he is such a badass that writing him is really a lot of fun. Basically, in any situation, I ask myself “what would a tough Clint Eastwood character do here?” Then I take it up a notch. In MHA, I got to expand the history and scope of the MH universe, introduce new characters, new adversaries, and set up the next couple of books.  Monster Hunter Legion (Owen) and Monster Hunter Nemesis (Franks).  

So please tell your friends.

That’s the favor. Word of mouth is the best advertising ever. If you guys like MHI and MHV tell your friends to go get Monster Hunter Alpha. (preferably on preorder or the week it comes out) MHA comes out on July 26^th.  If you’ve got a blog, and you want to plug me there, I will say nice things about you to your friends.  Facebook, Twitter, bathroom graffiti, I don’t care. Share the love!

If you want autographed copies, here is where you go to get them:  http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/ah-correia-larry.php  (I’m doing signed bookplate stickers this time, because I can’t afford to fly to Minnesota again, and it is too expensive to ship 10 cases of books to Utah, have me sign them, and then ship them again).  If you want personalization, put that in your instructions. I’m flexible like that. (however, keep in mind there is only so much space, okay? Last time I had a few people ask me to write small novellas, and there is only so much space on a book plate!)

If you don’t care about my lightning-like signature or a lovingly handcrafted MH smiley face with horns (or is it a penguin, you decide), you can get it at most bookstores, every B&N, or Amazon.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439134588/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1T854VBN44ETA49JBWQT&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Now, on the preorder or release week thing, let me explain. Here is a little peek behind the curtain into the publishing industry.  This is a very competitive business. Making it onto a bestseller list spurs future sales and boosts your career. The biggest and toughest one to get on is the NYT. MHV made it to #27 when it came out.

Some of you may remember when I went around with an idiot about how this meant that I wasn’t a *real* bestseller. Let me break this down. The NYT is broken up into fiction, non-fiction, and young adult. We’re looking at fiction. The NYT only shows the top 35 fiction books in three categories. (hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market paperback).  So I’m competing against every paperback fiction book on sale in the country.   

This next part is important. It is based on books sold during that week.  So you can have a book that sells ten thousand copies in a week, and zero copies the rest of the year. That book will be a NYT bestseller. You can have another book that only sells a thousand copies that week, but sells a thousand every other week of the year. That book will sell way more copies than the first one, but it will not make the NYT.  That’s called velocity. 

The velocity part is why the release week (and the preorders that ship that week) are so very important.  A book will normally sell the most when it first comes out.  So, barring something that comes along later to cause a bunch of publicity (Movie adaptation, Oprah book club) you either make the list when you release or not at all. 

Okay, so how competitive is it?  Take a look at this list of urban fantasy releases in July:  http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/06/fiction-affliction-diagnosing-july-releases-in-urban-fantasy-and-paranormal-romance

There are 30 books in the same genre as MHA coming out in the same month. And that is just Urban Fantasy. (which I think is a silly place to put a novel that takes place entirely in rural upper Michigan, but they’ve got to shelve me somewhere).  That doesn’t count fantasy. That doesn’t count sci-fi.  And all of fantasy and sci-fi are tiny compared to the thriller market.  And thriller numbers are nothing compared to romance.

And we’re all competing to get on the same list.

So, for those 35 slots on the NYT that week, an author is up against literally hundreds of other new books.  The week Hard Magic came out, on Nielsen Bookscan (which is like the Nielsen TV ratings, but tracks most of the book sales in the country) I the 19^th bestselling fantasy novel in the country, and that wasn’t enough to get onto the NYT. And that was with having something like 8 True Blood or Game of Thrones novels ahead of it.

And there is a lot of marketing/advertising money pushing some of these books too. I love my publisher, but we are not that big compared to some of the Manhattan giants. I’m pretty sure their monthly doughnut budget at a few of those places is bigger than our entire annual advertising budget.

The kicker of all this is that despite how dang hard it is, you guys still managed to put MHV on the bestseller lists. That is one hell of an accomplishment.  During MHV’s release week on the Nielsen Bookscan, it was the #4 fantasy novel in the country. That’s impressive.

Basically, I’d like to do it again.

So please spread the word, mighty Monster Hunter Nation. MHA is out on July 26^th. Let’s kick some literati ass.

http://baen.com/contests-july.asp

EDIT:  For all the people asking questions, beats me. It isn’t my contest. 🙂