James S. Peet, Author, novelist, and all around good guy!

I was recently asked by a reader to post Veronica’s Mastodon stew recipe, so here it is (remember, you don’t need a whole Mastodon, just a small part of it).

Ingredients:
2 lbs Mastodon* – hindquarter is best, but just about any muscle part will do
flour – 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 TB light olive oil (make sure it’s light!)
4 cups broth (Mastodon, beef, veggie, or whatever you like)
1 lb potatoes (Russet or Yukon Gold)
1 lb carrots (big, fat, juicy orange ones!)
1 lb onions (Walla Walla sweet is the best)
4 large or 8 medium Crimini mushrooms
4 stalks celery
1 TB minced garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
salt & pepper to taste**
2 TB flour mixed with water into a soupy slurry
1-2 bottles of red wine (Merlot or Cabernet-sauvignon)

Cube Mastodon into 1″ cubes, then coat with flour/salt/pepper mix.

Peel and cube or chop the veggies. Cubes shouldn’t exceed 1/2 inch.

Heat the oil in a large skillet/pan at medium-high heat. Once the oil is heated (spit into it – if the spit pops and spits back at you, it’s ready – if that’s too unsanitary for you, then you don’t belong in the Corps of Discovery and you can just add a drop of regular water), add the flour encrusted Mastodon. Sear the meat, then add the broth, the chopped/diced veggies, garlic, and salt and pepper (go light with this stuff initially, you can add more later, but you can’t take it out – and remember, most broth has salt in it). Open one of the bottles of wine (you did remember the wine, didn’t you?)

Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Pour a glass of red wine. Stir occasionally (the stew, not the wine!). Cook for 25 minutes. Enjoy the wine. At the 20 minute mark, taste the stew for flavor (i.e., is there enough salt and pepper? If not, add more) and stir in the smoked paprika (replace the lid and keep simmering).

Mix flour and water to create a soupy mixture. This is for thickening the stew (although the flour on the Mastodon has done some of that already).

Once the stew is done cooking (that 25 minute thing), add the flour/water mixture and stir it up. The stew should thicken nicely. If it doesn’t, just add more – it’s chemistry!

Ladle the stew into bowls and serve with the red wine. If you want, you can also heat up some French bread to have something to sop up the remaining stew with, but it’s not necessary (and way too many carbs!).

Buen provecho!

*If you don’t have any Mastodon, substitute it with Mammoth. If Mammoth isn’t available (or you don’t know the difference between a Mastodon and a Mammoth and you think they’re they same thing, but none is available), then find another dead animal to substitute – such as musk ox, yak, bison, elk, deer, pronghorn or whatever – just not chicken, turkey, alligator, or anything that tastes like chicken).

**Everyone’s taste is different, so you add what you like – remember, too salty and it sucks – not enough salt and you can add more. Same goes with pepper (well, not really for me, but for mere mortals, maybe).

Finally, somebody came out with the closest thing to the PDW-1. This guy took a Ruger LC Carbine (in 5.7x28mm NATO) and chopped the barrel down (to 9″, which is 3″ shorter than what I envisioned) and put on a sliding stock from a SIG. Check out this video!

I saw these questions posed by a reviewer on Openings and thought I’d respond to them (questions are italicized)

Questions.
They use old-fashioned airplanes, for which they first have to build airstrips. What is wrong with helicopters!! I know they had helicopters in Vietnam. But maybe that’s painful to remember. Saigon, you know.

Three issues regarding using helicopters: range, payload, maintenance, and that doesn’t include the need for flight training (easier for a pilot who is already trained on single-engine fixed-wing to transition to twin-engine fixed-wing than to transition to rotary-wing).

Let’s talk about range and payload – the helicopters in Vietnam (usually Hughes UH1 (several further designation, but let’s go with the utility helicopter, the UH1B) had a range of 318 miles and a payload capacity of 3,880 lbs, as opposed to a range of 1,307 miles the payload capacity of 8,740 lbs (more than twice that of the Huey) of a DHC-4 (mind you, I’m using maximum numbers – range changes based on payload).

On maintenance, while I don’t have the numbers, it’s pretty clear that with helicopters, like airplanes, it’s based on hours of flight (cumulative). Flying slower for longer times (600 miles at 127 mph equals about 4.7 flight hours vs. 600 miles at 215 mph equals about 2.8 flight hours) means maintenance will have to be done more often than flying faster for less time.

On a personal note, as to the Saigon reference, I lived in Laos from 1971-1974. I vividly recall the evacuation of Saigon in April, 1975 (something our current president facilitated by not allowing President Ford to obtain money from congress to us the US Military to delay NVA forces long enough to ensure a more secure evacuation. I also worked as a volunteer in the refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border when the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia. At the time, I was in high school. How many other high-school students do you know who helped removed dead people from a field-expedient hospital? So, yes, I do recall Saigon and the aftermath.

They get in long distance airplanes to map the world, with difficult refueling. Zeppelins (airships, dirigibles) had circled the world in 1929. Explored the North pole in the 20’s. They flew passengers across the Atlantic on regular lines…

One of the purposes behind the Monarch plane in the Corps of Discovery series is to fly high, so as not to be seen with the naked eye, or if seen, to be confused with a bird at a lower altitude. As I write speculative fiction, I can design my own equipment :-). Clearly, a dirigible wouldn’t fit that requirement.

In Openings, the issue is flying long-distance between Eastern Washington and the gold country of California. Again, a DHC-4 requires a crew of two and can be refueled by transporting readily available avgas through the portal. While dirigibles can carry more and travel longer distances, they also require more crew members (the Hindenburg had a crew of 36, and that doesn’t include the necessary ground crew and docking infrastructure) and helium or hydrogen (hard to obtain readily or transport safely through the portal).

So, I hope I answered your questions as to why I did what I did vis-a-vis aircraft in Openings.

Well, here I am, more than two weeks out from the 20BooksVegas22 conference, and still testing positive for Covid. Grrr!

At least the fever has passed (about a week ago). According to the CDC, I’m free to roam around with a mask on. Meanwhile, I’ve been in quarantine from the fam since before Thanksgiving. I missed that Thanksgiving, so we’re having another one tomorrow (hopefully I won’t test positive tomorrow).

If you have Covid, stay away from others, drink lots of OJ, and try to do something constructive (I’ve had no creative ability for the past two weeks, so it’s been mostly reading other people’s work and watching YouTube videos). One of the books I read was Kevin Ikenberry’s “The Crossing”, a good jaunt into John Ringo’s 1632 universe. Highly recommend it.

Want to meet me in person? Join me in Lost Wages next Friday at the Readers & Authors Vegas Event (RAVE!). I’ll be there with hundreds of other authors attending a conference for Indie-Authors.

I’ll be there with several paperback copies of all four novels – so if you want a signed copy, then show up and get one (for a price, that is).

Okay, so maybe I haven’t said much about this here, but I’ve been nominated for the Prometheus Award. This means I join the likes of Andy Weir, Corey Doctorow, Robert Heinlein, C.J. Cherryh, Larry Correia, Neal Stephenson, Eric Flint, Terry Pratchett, John Ringo, David Weber, Harry Turtledove, Michael Flynn, L. Neil Smith, James Hogan, Steven King, Ursula LeGuin, Samuel Delaney and, of course, one of my all-time favorite authors who led me into the field of crosstime adventure, H. Beam Piper, in being nominated for this award. Here’s a list of all nominees, finalists, and winners.

It would be great to win, or even be a finalist, but I’m humbled just to be nominated. This tells me that somewhere out there, somebody thought my book was good enough for such a prestigious award. Thank you!

If you’ve never heard of the Prometheus Award, it’s an award given by the Libertarian Futurist Society to the author of the best Science Fiction novel that promotes freedom and liberty. It’s been around since 1979.

If you’ve ever wanted to hit the open (dirt) road, here’s an article on Tips for the TAT I wrote for Expedition Portal.

It’s that time of year when the 20Booksto50K conference takes place in Las Vegas, and I’ll be there again. As with last year, I’ll have a table set up in Bally’s in the afternoon of November 18th, so if you want to come by and get a signed copy of any of my novels, or just to meet me and chat, come on by.

I saw a recent review that called Surveyor “Far Right/Libertarian Propoganda.” I had to wonder at the reviewers political knowledge level, as the two political entities are miles apart.

As a refresher, Libertarians believe you, the owner of your own body, have complete and total control over it. Any external control without your consent violates the non-aggression principle, which states: aggression, defined as initiating or threatening any forceful interference against either an individual, their property or against promises for which the aggressor is liable and in which the individual is a counterparty, is inherently wrong (sourced from Wikipedia).

That’s pretty much it. Libertarians want to be left alone to pursue their dreams of life without some authority pushing laws onto them. Some libertarians want to go full on “no government at all” and scream “taxation is theft”. I believe the Libertarian motto goes something like “diligently plotting to take over the world and leave you alone.” To those who know little about libertarianism, I recommend reading more (as a primer) at Libertarianism.org.

The Far Right, on the other hand, is the opposite of libertarian, just as is the Far Left. Both the Far Right and the Far Left want to push their ideals on others (which violates the libertarian non-aggression principle). Those on the Far Right are usually nationalists (which isn’t necessarily a bad or good thing), while those on the Far Left push for a more “diverse” society (one that embraces diversity of color/culture/sexual orientation, but not political thought or opinion). More importantly, and the defining trait that separates them from libertarians, is that they are authoritarian. Some examples of far right are Fascists (think Mussolini’s Fascist Italy, Hitler’s Nazi – National Socialists – Germany, or Franko’s Spain) and the KKK. Examples of Far Left include anything communist (Soviet Union, China, North Korea). Basically, those places that killed millions to support their political ideology. If you have to kill people to make your ideology work, it’s not really a good ideology, is it?

You can read more about the Far Right in Wikipedia, but in the US, it boils down to nationalists who are also prone to be white supremacist racists. You will also see the Far Right pushing their version of Christianity on others, and being anti-Semitic, anti-Islam, anti-immigration, anti-gay, anti-transgender, anti-anyone other than them.

So, the key points are: libertarians support freedom through the non-aggression principle; the Far Right believes in authoritarianism that pushes their nationalist racist agenda. Know the difference.

Hard to believe I just rode 9,739.6 miles in the past 49 days on a 411 cc Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle, but I did. A lot of it was pavement, but several thousand miles was dirt roads, gravel roads, and 4×4 paths.

Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway was wonderful – cool temps, nice curves, and good campgrounds. At the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, I hopped on the Tail of the Dragon, a stretch of road that is 11 miles long and has 318 curves. Lots of accidents there (but not your’s truly).

Once complete with the Dragon, I then proceeded into Tellico Plains, TN, where I hopped on the Trans-America Trail (TAT). For the next 22 days I rode mainly dirt roads, gravel roads, and 4×4 trails across Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Oregon. The final destination – Port Orford, OR.

Along the way I managed to dump my bike several times, took one tuck-and-roll fall (in the mud), took many pictures, stayed in many good (and bad) hotels/motels, camped out a lot, and lost about 8 pounds. I also had some minor mishaps with the bike. At one point, the gas tank gasket was leaking gas onto my hot engine. Another time I lost my spare gas can, and the next day my spare water can. I also lost the nut to one of my turn signals – fortuitously, I found it wedged into the space between the spare gas can and the can holder. I also lost my homemade sign that I had dangling off the back of the bike, I’m giving it all she’s got, Captain. I think somebody took it, but no proof.

I found out how to stand on pegs for greater riding stability (I knew it before, but it was reinforced along the ride), how important good tires are, and how to properly lube a chain (something I didn’t do with the first chain, apparently).

On three occasions, I had the opportunity to ride with people from my past – a guy I knew in high school in Bangkok, Thailand, a guy from my college ROTC days, and a guy I knew from my elementary school days in Vientiane, Laos (he was in high school at the time). I also got to see some old friends from Bangkok and Laos along the way. All in all, a good trip.

If you ever plan on doing the TAT, here are some tips: take a dirt bike training course (I did); go for several hundred miles of training rides (I did not); take a tumbling class (I did not – it was all OJT); ride with a buddy, or ride a lighter bike. More tips in an article I’m writing.

TAT on and Buen TAT