JIHAD BUBBA
JIHAD BUBBA is my latest fiction book. It will soon be published by Equus Publishing.
Set in a future United States, go-along get-along Bubba tries to survive and take care of the people he loves, but somehow just can’t manage. Anything that can happen does. Finally, Bubba decides he’s Not Going To Take It Anymore. In his own way, Bubba goes Full Jihad, with unpredictable consequences for everyone.
You won’t stop laughing while reading this sci-fi novel about a futuristic Rainbow society with smart-alec robots and flying cars that is ruled by braless Social Justice Warriors, where voting is banned as an evil invention of white males, and where kitchen utensils are outlawed but bank robbers walk free.
Are books dead?
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The above strip may give an idea of what kind of writing I like to do. Exotic, odd, detective and crime, alien invasion, satire, in short whatever is Just Plain Weird. But if one does not read, one can not write. And if one does not read widely and in depth, one can not write with originality or with deep meaning.
The strangest thing I have ever heard was when I recently overheard someone say “I was so bored I almost read a book.” My response: “This person must be the most boring person alive. He knows nothing at all.”
Failure to read is an illness that is spreading across the US. I heard a radio interview in which the speaker had the audacity to say: “There’s other ways of being smart than reading. As far as reading at any level, people are dependent on their phones, and that thing is going to be reading to you soon. within 15 months no one is going to be reading anymore, just like no one writes cursive anymore. It’s all block printing today. It’s all movies now.”
Where do I start since my head exploded… For one thing, programmers must program the phones, and they have to read to make that happen. As for movies, that is an inferior method of learning, in fact video format actually inhibits learning because it triggers emotions and shuts down contemplation and rationality. Thus our society of “triggered” SJWs who were raised on movies rather than print.
As for print, I write cursive not only in English but in Russian. How can one appreciate novels in Russian, or in other languages, if one only watches movies? There are millions of books in dozens of languages that will never be made into movies or ebooks. They will remain ink on paper until that paper disintegrates in the distant future. That knowledge will then disappear. People who do not read books that (thankfully) will never be made into Hollywood movies are destined to remain victims of Hollywood’s propaganda, unaware of the extent of their ignorance and social conditioning as they wander like zombies looking for something to get triggered about. Failure to read is so widespread that 13 high schools in Baltimore are now graduating their students at a third-grade reading level. And don’t ask about math. That requirement is gone entirely.
I am currently reading about 10 books. I am always reading about 10 books. I listed the current crop in a previous newsletter, so I won’t list them here, tho the list of course has changed as I finish some and begin others. One that I didn’t list is the Quran.
The Quran is very interesting. Not to those who only read English, of course, because I understand that it is quite boring if one tries to read the Quran in that language. But for those who read Arabic and know something about history and Islamic affairs, the Quran is fascinating. In Arabic, it is high poetry and rhythmic liturgy. Traditional Muslims regard it as revealed by God, uncreated, its protected Platonic form existing in the mind of God before the creation of the world.
Yet it has peculiarities. Such as a verse rebuking people who make too much noise near Muhammad’s rooms, or entering without announcing themselves, or well-wishers bothering his wives. One verse condemns to eternal perdition an uncle and his wife who supposedly put obstacles in Muhammad’s path. Other verses seem to be magical incantations such as one might recite for protection in the presence of an evil jinn, or before embarking on a hazardous journey, recitations that perhaps long precede the advent of Islam or the appearance of the Quran.
I am reading the surah entitled al-Fath, or The Opening or The Victory. It was allegedly revealed in 628 A.D. after Muhammad failed in his first attempt to enter Mecca, when he instead concluded the Treaty of Hudaybiyah with the uncooperative Meccans. This surah is interesting because it mentions for the first time (if we believe the standard line on the chronology of the surahs) the Sakinah, the Torah, the Christian Gospel, the name of Muhammad, and the Masjid al-Haram. The Sakinah is translated as “tranquility”, but the Arabic word is similar to the Christian Holy Spirit, suggesting that Allah may have a dual nature. The name Muhammad is rare in the Quran and there is reason to suppose it may be an honorific title not attached to a specific person. The Masjid al-Haram is supposedly the Kaaba, which Muslims today circumambulate. But in ancient times it may have been something quite different, and maybe not located in today’s Mecca, but elsewhere. In fact the entire Quran may have nothing at all to do with today’s Mecca, but may have been composed in Jordan or Syria. I am reading it with this possibility in mind. I cannot say at this time whether the Quran is fiction or revealed truth. But I will report more on this in future newsletters.
That’s all for now. Keep reading! And visit www.equuspublishing.com for more info.
Glenn Lazar Roberts
Happenings at Equus
I have been away from this blog for a good while but much has been happening in the background. Equus Publishing has always been mostly a vehicle for publishing my own works so I have usually declined to publish other people’s works while I waited to attract attention from entities that have more marketing capacity than I possess. In short, I have been waiting to be discovered, confident (hoping?) that good writing and great stories have not yet completely disappeared from modernity. I have had little time to devote to this endeavor. Writing and self-publishing on Equus from the beginning has always been a very part-time activity as I spend most of my time translating Russian and Arabic texts, and helping out my kids, who, thankfully, are now grown and need little assistance.
Now the raw meat. Several months ago a sizable publisher took an interest in my books and a few weeks ago this publisher purchased the rights and signed contracts to re-publish the following novels:
The Glow
The entire 3-book series of the Adventures of Maggie, the Radiated Lesbian Nun:
Judge Crater Takes a Powder (Book 1)
Cross-Dressers From Pluto (Book 2)
The Warriors (Book 3)
I do not yet know the particulars of the re-publishing, whether the new books will be issued under the original format or as second editions. I am confident, tho, that the original covers, designed by Yours Truly, will be discarded. I liked them, but I am the first to admit that the covers were amateurish and not suitable for commercial works.
Meantime, a second publisher has also expressed an interest and a couple of weeks ago I signed more contracts with this other publisher. The first publisher focuses on literature, tho perhaps ‘literature’ is not the best term to describe zany sci-fi works such as Adventures of the Radiated Lesbian Nun. The second publisher prefers more politically oriented works and they will publish my latest manuscript, Jihad Bubba. Jihad Bubba has never been published before anywhere.
Pursuant to both sets of contracts, I am in the process of removing all current venues where the above books are offered for sale. These books should no longer be available for purchase anywhere, in any format, including the Equus website.
The Equus Publishing website will continue in operation—made easier by my switching to a subscriber service for the newsletter, which I hope will make sharing news with subscribers easier than when I was sending newsletters directly from the Equus website, which caused no end of IP issues.
The following books are still for sale from this website: Maalstrom; The Selk King; Frenzy; and my children’s story, The Handwalkers. These have not (yet?) been purchased for re-publication. The pages for my other books will forward the reader to the appropriate publisher for purchase. Quantum Marlowe, in some ways the best book I have ever written, continues to be sold by a third publisher.
As details of these publications, and re-publications, come available, I will enter them on this blog, and send them out via the Equus Newsletter. This blog will no longer send alerts to subscribers when I post here. Blog alerts were too much trouble and sent out too many alerts. I am not a techie and did not always handle alerts correctly. So, looking forward, interested readers should sign up in the new Subscriber box to get my Newsletters with the latest news, or check back to this blog manually.
My college theses also continue to be available for purchase: Sharia Law & the Arab Oil Bust; Islamic Human Rights & International Law; and Commissar & Mullah: Soviet-Muslim Policy From 1917 to 1924. If I am spared the years, I may eventually see one or more of these theses updated and published by a university press. Please note: these are graduate academic works and contain many, many footnotes, sometimes very dense. These works are not for casual reading or the faint of heart. If you are intimidated by footnotes, don’t buy them.
Glenn Lazar Roberts
Maggie Kindles Updated
All Kindle versions of Equus / Dark Lotus Books have been updated with prices lowered to match current market conditions for eccentric works that are Just Plain Weird. All three books in my series the Adventures of Maggie the Radiated Lesbian Nun are now available in Kindles for $1.99. This a dollar more expensive than the Epubs currently available for purchase on Smashwords, but Kindles are easier to deal with and read than simple epubs.
I still think the RLN covers need updating as well. I had great fun designing them myself, but maybe they’re just too corny for most. Maybe soon.
The Warriors is a parody of the 1979 cult movie classic of the same name, ‘The Warriors’, but set within the broader 3-book plot of brainy but gloriously incompetent aliens from the planet Bogland seeking to flood the Earth with global warming to make it suitable for their frog-like species. Only Social Justice Warrior Maggie P. Squatch, illiterate queen of the Los Angeles roller derby, can stop them.
The Warriors is expected to be available on Amazon in both print and Kindle versions by Sunday.
UPDATED EQUUS IP
Just a note here as FYI that the Equus website recently switched IP’s. Since I decline to use third-party mailers on the grounds that many have a reputation for de-platforming users without notice thereby vaporizing their subscriber list, I instead use a Post SMTP delivery. But this is imperfect and inevitably some Equus notifications have been blocked by receivers’ ISPs because the new IP was not recognized, despite the double opt-in confirmations. There is no 100% solution except to re-signup for the Equus Newsletter at the new IP. So if you are wondering where the Newsletters or Posts went, and you are visiting the website and reading this Post, you may want to re-subscribe as some subscribers’ ISPs, perhaps yours, are rejecting the new IP.
Immanentizing the Eschaton with The Glow
The past two months have been frenetic as I finished my latest novel and transferred the Equus Publishing site to a new host. The Glow is complete, designed, and almost out. The first copies from the printer had a small defect, but for me—always obsessed with immanentizing the Eschaton—no defect is small. New copies are on the way for final inspection. For an explanation of the phrase, see Robert Anton Wilson’s classic The Illuminatus Trilogy, which happily threw POV into the dirt and trampled it into nothingness, to my immense relief. No POV switcheroos in The Glow, however. This book is just straight fun.
Sam Trencher has a problem. To keep from exploding into flames, he must keep the exact same coins in each pocket. Six years ago he left his home town and his girl. Now he’s coming back to find her—but he can’t tell what’s real and what’s not. . .and his temperature is rising.
Listen to Injun Willie: Don’t visit the Round House after dark. . .or you too may catch The Glow. A fast-paced tale of human spontaneous combustion as contagious as Covid-19. This story actually had its basis in certain personal experiences. I will post details about this on my SubscribeStar page where subscribers can read about them for $1. They are not for the faint of heart.
REVIEW: “The Glow, a psychological, Stephen King-type thriller by Glenn Lazar Roberts, is a science fiction, fantasy, horror story set in southwestern Native American country. It is an exciting, fast-paced tale that takes the reader through a roller coaster ride with strong vibes of traditional drug induced tribal folklore blended with unusual alien intrusion. His well-scripted characters are vivid actors who pull the reader into each vivid scene following a twisted plot to [its] climactic conclusion. The Glow is one of the best stories I have ever read.” —E L Russell
Accepting PREORDERS for THE GLOW here.
(Apologies if you received this blog notice more than once during this adjustment to the new host.)
Free Frenzy with plot pics
This post is to let people know that an ebook version of Frenzy is available for free for a limited time at the following Book Funnel promotion. Click here to get a copy before the offer times out. Thanks!
Please consider posting a review at your favorite review site, or shoot me an email letting me know how to improve, or perhaps advising I go into another line of work!
The purpose of the freebies is to generate reviews and let people know the kind of crazy books that I write, given that I am just an individual without the advertising budget of real publishers. Happy reading!
Here are some reposts of the flooding that occurred in Houston’s pedestrian tunnels during Hurricane Allison in 2001, the setting of the plot in Frenzy. I can almost see the piranhas.
Free Judge Crater: limited time only
I am currently offering FREE ebook copies of my book Judge Crater Takes a Powder. This is the first book in the comedy sci-fi satire: Adventures of Maggie, the Lesbian Radiated Nun. I had great fun writing this book, and–warning–it is irreverent, adult, and very funny! The book has no Safe Spaces for snowflakes or the easily offended. From the back cover:
The most famous disappearance of the 20th century is solved as Supreme Court Justice Joseph Crater goes undercover for the FBI in this hilarious satire set in mid-century America, with an eccentric cast of characters including Amelia Earhart, J. Edgar Hoover, Orson Welles, incompetent German spies, Japanese submarines, space-folding transvestites, Mormon mafia, and recipe-obsessed nuns, exposing a galactic conspiracy of aliens intent on flooding the Earth through global warming.
RECENT REVIEW: “Roberts interweaves historical fact with castles in the air, dubiousness and irony to create a fast paced narrative filled with the almost plausible as well as out-and-out incredible in this sardonic romp. . . For those who like a bit of sarcasm swathed in quirkiness and screwball circumstance; Judge Crater Takes a Powder should prove to be a worthwhile read. Happy to recommend [it] for those not easily dismayed, repulsed or dazed.” —Authorsden.com
I couldn’t have written a better review myself! Click here to grab your free copy of Judge Crater Takes a Powder. You will have to resubscribe to the Equus Newsletter, but not to worry. Resubscribing has no ill effects. You will still get only one copy of the Newsletter as always. And you can just as easily unsubscribe.
BTW, I am thinking of changing the cover. I designed it and I like it, but maybe it’s too busy for people who are used to making split second decisions in what to read based on the cover. Does anyone have an opinion on whether I should change the cover? I don’t know yet how to include an opinion poll in a Post or a Newsletter, so just email me at glenn@equuspublishing.com if you feel like reaching out. It’s rare for writers to get feedback, so I value each opinion I receive.
Before I move on to a different topic… Judge Crater was a real person. In the first few pages of my book, I relate every fact that is known about his disappearance on Aug 4, 1930. He had just returned from vacation. He did order his assistant, who was also named Joseph, to bring $5,150 from his bank, which in today’s money would be well over $100,000. He did have dinner with a love-interest, a showgirl named Sally, and with his lawyer friend, Bill, at Billy Haas Chopshop. He did leave them around 9 p.m. to walk to the Belasco Theater two blocks over and one block down from 44th St. to see the musical Dancing Partner. He also had a box under his arm the contents of which he apparently did not disclose to anyone, suggesting that he had an appointment with someone. Last item: he was married but recently separated.
He never arrived at the Belasco and for decades his disappearance was a popular topic of conversation, the Depression-era version of the 1970s disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Except there was no evident motive to explain Crater’s absence. And there was never a confession from anyone in gangland. He just walked into the night–and was gone. My book, though wild and crazy, is as good an explanation as any!
Glenn Lazar Roberts
What is Equus About?
Greetings to one and all. There seems to be a bit of confusion among some people who signed up for the Equus Newsletter as to what they have gotten themselves into. I will attempt to set things straight.
FIRST: Don’t miss my latest satire, which is nearing completion, about an average guy who gets kicked around in a Politically Correct America of the future where all the police are gay, domestic robots sue their owners for alimony, and anyone with a Reparations Card can commandeer vehicles at will. Very funny! I will be posting details and excerpts at my new page at SubscribeStar.com. Your support is appreciated.
NOW, on to business: If you signed up for the Equus Publishing newsletter to obtain a discounted ebook—as many have—you might want to take a moment to learn what Equus Publishing is about. You may want to glance at the About Us tab and read it. A few subscribers, I believe, have not done that.
If you signed up for the newsletter, then you also signed up for the Posts that I periodically write. The newsletter arrives complete in your email. The Posts only arrive as a headline; you must click on the link to view the entire post. Newsletters are a bit milquetoast; Posts get into the nitty-gritty. If the heading makes one uncomfortable, one should think twice about clicking.
WHAT is Equus about? Equus is the Latin word for horse. In common English usage it typically refers to stallions, i.e., male horses. As the byline states and the logo suggests, Equus Publishing is dedicated to publishing Books For Men. While all are welcome, Equus Publishing was formed to explore and analyze masculine psychology, male perspectives of gender, and to promote discussion and publication of topics of primary interest to men, including topics that some may find upsetting.
One should not be surprised that a website entitled ‘Equus’ has something to do with men. Given the outlaw nature of masculinity in modern America, I founded this site to analyze, discuss, and promote masculinity, in discussion and in books. And given that Social Justice Warriors are, almost by definition, anti-male and often trash masculinity as a pastime, this site also often lampoons SJWs and exposes their many antics. I have written an entire series of three satirical novels devoted to lampooning SJWs, called Adventures of Maggie, the Radiated Lesbian Nun. In these very funny novels, lovable Maggie is the ideal SJW.
As you see, Equus Publishing is not calm and sedate. This is controversy. This site is against Political Correctness and says up front: there are no Safe Spaces here for marshmallows, snowflakes, and the Easily Offended. If you like to see honest commentary, and to read walloping good stories, from sci-fi to horror to social satire, then this place is for you. If that makes one uncomfortable, however, then maybe not.
—Glenn Lazar Roberts
Racist writers of yesteryear
I was re-reading an old novel from Edgar Rice Burroughs, one of my favorite writers when I was a teen. He was perhaps the most popular writer of his day, selling more books than almost anyone before him, tens of millions of copies in at least a dozen languages. You may know ERB as the author of the Tarzan books, or the “Barsoom” Martian series, which were made into the movie John Carter of Mars.
He also wrote adventure novels about Venus, the Moon, Jupiter, and perhaps most interesting of all a series of adventure novels about “Pellucidar”, where he postulated a world inside the Earth. This world had stone-age people, animals now extinct on the surface, and seas and mountains all held by gravity to the inside of the Earth’s crust where the horizon always curved up into mist instead of down into nothing as on the surface of the Earth. This world had no night but was permanently illuminated by a bright sun that hung where we believe the Earth’s core to be. Pellucidar could be accessed through a gap near the North Pole, or by drilling directly through the Earth’s crust. ERB had a fantastic imagination.
Of course ERB lived in a different era and his novels were and are typically dismissed as mere popular entertainment. But on occasion he had flashes of brilliance and did not hesitate to use his books to “pellucidate” modern society. Here is a passage from “Land of Terror”, one of the Pellucidar series:
———–
Closer and closer [the stone-age warriors] came, until I [David] could see them quite plainly. They were heavy-built, stocky warriors with bushy beards, a rather uncommon sight in Pellucidar where most of the pure-blood white tribes are beardless.
When they were about a hundred feet from us, their canoes all abreast, a number of warriors rose in the bow of each boat and opened fire on us…
[The stone-age warriors overcome David.]
When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying bound in the bottom of a canoe among the hairy legs of the warriors who had captured me… they were discussing the battle in loud, gruff voices, shouting back and forth the length of the boat… the warrior who had kicked me in the face said, “The prisoner has got his senses back. He can tell us how sticks can be made to give forth smoke and flame [i.e., David’s gun]…”
“We can make him give us the secret,” said another, “and then we can kill all the warriors of Gef and Julok and take all their men for ourselves.”
I was a little puzzled by that remark, for it seemed to me that if they killed all the warriors there would be no men left; and then, as I looked more closely at my bearded, hairy captors, the strange, the astounding truth suddenly dawned upon me. These warriors were not men; they were women.
“Who wants more men?” said another. “I don’t. Those that I have give me enough trouble–gossiping, nagging, never doing their work properly. After a hard day hunting or fighting, I get all worn out beating them after I get home.”
“The trouble with you, Rhump,” said a third, “you’re too easy with your men. You let them run all over you.” …
“Well, Fooge, … if I had such a mean-spirited set of weaklings as your men are, I might not have as much trouble; but I like a little spirit in my men.”
“Don’t say anything about my men,” shouted Fooge, as she aimed a blow at Rhump’s head with a paddle…
“Sit down, and shut up.”
I looked in the direction of the voice to see a perfectly enormous brute of a creature with a bushy black beard and close-set eyes. One look at [Gluck, their chieftain] explained why the disturbance ceased immediately…
As they paddled, they got to discussing me… The consensus of opinion seemed to be that I was too feminine to measure up to their ideal of what a man should be.
“Look at his arms and legs,” said Fooge. “He’s muscled like a woman.”
“No sex appeal at all,” commented Rhump.
“Well, we can put him to work with the other slaves,” said Gluck.
…
[At the village] a number of warriors had come down to greet us, and behind them huddled the men and the children, all a little fearful it seemed of the blustering women warriors.
I aroused only a mild curiosity. The women who had not seen me before looked upon me rather contemptuously.
“Whose is he?” asked one. “He’s not much of a prize for a whole day’s expedition.”
“He’s mine,” said Gluck. “I know he can fight, because I’ve seen him; and he ought to be able to work as well as a woman; he’s husky enough.”
“You can have him,” said the other. “I wouldn’t give him room in my hut.”
Gluck turned toward a man. “Glula,” she called, “come and get this. Its name is David. It will work in the field. See that it has food, and see that it works.”
A hairless, effeminate little man came forward. “Yes, Gluck,” he said in a thin voice, “I will see that he works.”
I followed Glula toward the village; and as we passed among the other men and children, three [men] and three children followed along with us, all eyeing me rather contemptuously.
“These [men] are Rumla, Foola and Geela,” said Glula; “and these are Gluck’s children.”
“You don’t look much like a man, said Rumla; “but then neither do any of the other men that we capture outside of the valley. It must be a strange world out there, where the men look like women and the women look like men; but it must be very wonderful to be bigger and stronger than your women.”
“Yes,” said Geela [one of the effeminate men]. “If I were bigger and stronger than Gluck, I’d beat her with a stick every time I saw her.”
“So would I,” said Glula [another effeminate man]. “i’d like to kill the big beast [Gluck the woman chieftain].”
“You don’t seem very fond of Gluck,” I said.
“Did you ever see a man who was fond of a woman?” demanded Foola [the third effeminate man]. “We hate the brutes.”
“Why don’t you do something about it, then?” I asked.
“What can we do?” he demanded. “What can we poor men do against them? If we even talk back to them, they beat us.”
[David meets another captive from the outside world.]
“To what woman do you [Zor] belong?” I asked.
“To Rhump. She’s a she-jalok, if there ever was one; and you?”
“I belong to Gluck.”
“She’s worse. Keep out of the hut as much as you can, when she’s in it. Do your sleeping while she’s away hunting or raiding. She seems to think that slaves don’t need any sleep. If she ever finds you asleep, she’ll kick and beat you to within a inch of your life.”
“Sweet character,” I commented.
“They are all pretty much alike,” replied Zor. “They have none of the natural sensibilities of women and only the characteristics of the lowest and most brutal types of men.”
“How about the men?”
“Oh, they’re a decent lot; but scared of their lives.”
[While working in Gluck’s garden, David is attacked by one of the muscular women and strikes her in self-defense.]
Gluck turned to the woman I had knocked down. “You tried to beat one of my men?”
“He stole food from the garden,” replied the woman.
“…nobody can beat one of my men, and get away with it. If I want them beaten, I’ll beat them myself. Perhaps this will teach you to leave my men alone,” and with that she hauled off and knocked the other [woman] down. Then she stepped closer and commenced to kick the prostrate woman in the stomach and face.
Gung seized one of Gluck’s feet and tripped her. Then followed one of the most brutal fights i have ever witnessed. They pounded, kicked, clawed, scratched and bit one another like two furies. The brutality of it sickened me. If these women were the result of taking women out of slavery and attempting to raise them to equality with man, then I think that they and the world would be better off if they were returned to slavery. One of the sexes must rule; and man seems temperamentally better fitted for the job than woman. Certainly if full power over man has resulted in debauching and brutalizing women to such an extent, then we should see that they remain always subservient to man, whose overlordship is, more often than not, tempered by gentleness and sympathy.
[Gluck finally kills Gung. Gluck the enormous woman chieftain turns to David.]
“You are the cause of this. Gung was a good warrior and a fine hunter; and now she is dead. No man is worth that. I should have let her kill you; but I’ll remedy that mistake.” She turned to Zor. “Get me some sticks, slave,” she commanded.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“I am going to beat you to death.”
——————-
We can each think our own thoughts about ERB’s views expressed in Land of Terror. But when I see Social Justice Warriors enthusiastically promoting violence and calling for an end to long-established international legal norms such as free speech, the rule of law, and democratic processes, I can’t help but think that I see some similarity to Gluck and her woman warriors.
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