Dispatches Book Review

by Gunguy

Dispatches is the fourth book in the Perseid Collapse series of post apocalyptic books by Steven Konkoly. Dispatches is broken up into two parts, The Big Picture, which gives the reader an insight into world politics without the presence of the US ground troops. We get reports from the Russian invasion of Estonia and the ISIS recruitment of jihadists near Mosul. The first part is a terrifying read throughout and gives terrific insight into what the world would look like if the US retracted it’s armed forces to deal with a massive internal problem.

Part two of this novel, The Little Picture, deals with our friends in Maine. The Fletchers have relocated to Belgrade, Maine. Alex, the protagonist, is beginning to worry about the status of their food supply for their 19 member group. Meanwhile, the Governor of Maine refuses to recognize the Regional Recovery Zone and hostile actions intensify as a result of her decision. Her actions result in a military coup, lots of deaths, and a white knuckled ride in a SUV as Alex tries to return home to his family. During the whole ordeal his son, Ryan, steps up big-time and plays a more prominent role in this book.

Dispatches is one of those non-stop action books that you will read quickly once you pick it up. Steven Konkoly’s writing is powerful and he wastes no words in telling this tale. I felt closure with this book and it was a very exciting finale in the Perseid Collapse series. Luckily this is not the last entry in the Perseid Collapse collection. Many gifted writers have written novelas in the Perseid Collapse World and their works can be viewed here. I look forward to reading them all.

Dispatches Book Four in The Perseid Collapse Series

Point of Crisis Book Review

Leave a reply

by Gunguy

Point of Crisis is the third book in the Perseid Collapse series of post apocalyptic books by Steven Konkoly. Point of Crisis has a very different tone than the earlier books in the series. The Jakarta Pandemic and the first two books in this series are fantastic in that they mix an apocalyptic scenario with human drama and military style combat very well. This book seems to have dropped the human drama in favor of a military government take over of New England.

Point of Crisis is not about Alex Fletcher and his family. This book is about Captain Fletcher and his almost superhuman abilities as a Military Intelligence Officer working against an evil insurgent and blundering bureaucratic leaders. At times he’s an invincible character without flaws or weaknesses single handedly saving all of Maine from the forces of darkness.

This should had been another five star book following the super job the author did with the first two in this series. Point of Crisis is still a great action packed, intelligent, well-scripted story but this book took the story away from the focus on Alex’s family and their survival and more towards a criminal militia group and it’s leader Eli. Long chapters were devoted to cover the inner workings of this criminal militia leader which distracted from the focus of the two previous books. Overall it was a very well written solid book and I enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to Dispatches which is the last book in the Perseid Collapse series and is next up on my reading list.

Point of Crisis Book Three in The Perseid Collapse Series

Event Horizon Book Review

Leave a reply

by Gunguy

Event Horizon is the second book in the Perseid Collapse series of post apocalyptic books by Steven Konkoly. Event Horizon picks up right where the The Perseid Collapse left off as the situation in Boston is set to go to hell in a hand basket.

All Alex has to do is escape Boston with two teenagers and then travel home back to Maine with the area falling into anarchy. Alex Fletcher desperately crawls through the urban jungle of Boston to save his son as well as his neighbor’s daughter. This herculean task is no small feat as the entire USA has been blacked out by a massive EMP blast. Chaos is running rampant and local militias are trying to take over various sections of the east coast including parts of Boston. Many of the militias believe that the EMP blast is a result of a government takeover and they are against any form of government, military or law enforcement presence.

Alex’s actions in this book are about the rescue and the aftermath of escaping Boston with his son and friends. His return to Maine and the defense of his family and friends is an amazing story and only his military training and his abundance of luck gives them a possible chance at survival. This series is well written and entertaining to read. Point of Crisis is the third installment of the Perseid Collapse series and is next up on my reading list.

Event Horizon - The Perseid Collapse Series Volume 2

Event Horizon – Book 2 in The Perseid Collapse Series

First Rawhide Project

Leave a reply

by Woodsbum

A friend of mine gave me an osage orange walking stick that was in serious need of a handle and a way to protect the tip from damage. For those that are not familiar with osage orange, it is a tree that grows in places like Texas and is a very hard wood with thorns that will rip you up. It also produces what we used to call horse apples or hedge apples. The osage orange is also a prized wood for bow construction. In places where it grows, you will also see it used quite often for fence posts since it doesn’t shrink or rot very easily.

Since I had a blank slate from which to work from, I decided to try my hand at using rawhide. I have never used it before and am quite clueless about the process other than soaking, stretching and sewing…. That is about the detail and extent of the knowledge I had about it so I set out in search of some instruction. Library you ask? Nope. Elderly gentleman that looks like Davey Crockett? Nope again. Local books store, Backwoodsman magazine, or some obscure Foxfire volume? No way….. Youtube!

So step 1 in the process was to find rawhide and some nice looking thread to use to sew it all up. On my way home last night the whole Interstate was actually closed down, thus forcing me to find an alternate route home. This made me think that I was suddenly destined to get my walking stick finished and I took the opportunity to stop by Tandy Leather. $45 later, I was back in traffic and slowly crawling home.

The next step is to make your template/pattern and cut out your rawhide so you can soak it….. I bypassed the pattern thing and just cut off a few chunks to soak. After a couple hours sitting in water it was soft enough to work. At this point I eyeballed the sizes and did some chopping.

Soaked and ready for trimming

Once I had a rough guess as to what shape and size I needed everything and it was all chopped accordingly, it was time to punch some holes and get ready for sewing.

Holes poked

I found that rawhide is so forgiving due to its stretchy nature, it is actually quite annoying to work with at times. It gets slimy, pulls and stretches at the wrong times, and is difficult to judge the shrinkage and contraction as it dries. It really is quite fun.

Once the holes are poked you just start stitching it up. I used a cross stitch pattern that I have seen several sheathmakers use for rawhide.

Sewing it up

Rawhide is much easier to work with than leather. There seems to be an inherent allowance for looser tolerances with rawhide than people allow with leather. I like this as well.

Once everything was all stitched up it looked like this.

All stitched up

One thing I need to figure out is how to tie off the ends of the thread. I just tied and cut for now, but I have a feeling that it will eventually pull loose and I will end up having to redo it. To help this not happen with the handle portion I did a sort of end cap thing. Once I figure out how to professionally tie it off, I will go back and do my version of professionally tying it off. My version is much goofier looking, but will work.

Handle section

I will also research how to dye rawhide and go back later to make it a little less…… Uh… Rawhide like? Not sure how to describe it, but it just kind of glows at this point.

For anyone that starts off on one of these projects, I suggest you do some Youtube research and then look at what some professional leatherworkers build. Contrasting the amateurs online with professional pieces helped to make me understand the idea of crossstitching and the sort.

Good luck to anyone that gives it a try. It is really quite easy and isn’t as big of a hassle as I originally thought it would be.

The Perseid Collapse Book Review

Leave a reply

by Gunguy

The Perseid Collapse is the first book in the Perseid Collapse series of post apocalyptic books by Steven Konkoly. The Jakarta Pandemic was the prequel to this series and introduced us to all of the main charachters. The book was a fast read as the action flowed quickly and the characters were further developed and fleshed out. I liked how the book went into detail about how quickly civility starts to go out the window after the collective memories of the experiences during The Jakarta Pandemic kicks in.

Throughout the book I enjoyed the descriptions of the protagonists friends and family and their interactions. They are written as believable characters who are very prepared and are either scared senseless or tactically proficient. Yet they still have moments when they want to curl up and hide, and instead step forward to do what they have to, even when that means accepting their own weakness or taking on a new role for the good of the group. They aren’t perfect but they are fiercely devoted to each other and they just keep going.

If you’re a prep minded, the moments when the characters discover they’ve made a bad gear choice or forgotten some small thing with critical results will make you reconsider your own plans. I don’t want to give any spoilers but I did find Mr. Konkoly’s approach to the militia issue to be very refreshing since he gives the reader a view of both the positive and negative aspects. The contrast between the two groups is telling and makes for exciting reading.

I highly recommend The Perseid Collapse for anyone looking for a fast paced, action-oriented thriller that will make you wonder what you would do if the lights went out. My only gripe with it is that it ends at a critical moment in the plot. I hate having to wait to find out what happens next. Luckily the next book in the series, Event Horizon, is out and next up on my reading list.

Book One in The Perseid Collapse Series