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Or rather, snow evening. I was going to go out for dinner last night, but when I went to my driveway around 6:30, I discovered that Old Man Winter had deposited a sheet of freezing rain, rendered even more slick by a layer of sleet. For variety's sake, he was following that up with a mixture of snow and sleet. I drive an SUV, and have since before they were cool. They say Mister Colt made all men equal. Well, ice makes all cars equal - equally likely to slide off the road.
So I decided to pop a bottle of wine, broil a steak and stay in. There being nothing of great interest on TV, I read my copy of SHOOT Only at the Red Airplane. I mentioned that Bill Coons, the book's author, had contacted me, and that I would post a review.
SHOOT Only at the Red Airplane is exactly the kind of book that should be self-published. If you're interested in obscure WWII history or aviation, this is something that will interest you. Bill spent his service in WWII working on a target drone squadron. During (and after) the war, various radio-controlled aircraft were used as flying targets for Army and Navy gunners, and Bill's well-researched book provides a lot of first-hand information as to how these craft were developed and used.
Bill's prose is merely serviceable, and the editing and layout is OK, but this is really what historians call a primary source - what you use to write the more formal history of an event.
In other news, Goeff Nelder, a fellow struggling SF writer based in England, gave me a plug on his blog. I shall have to look at some of his stuff.
So I decided to pop a bottle of wine, broil a steak and stay in. There being nothing of great interest on TV, I read my copy of SHOOT Only at the Red Airplane. I mentioned that Bill Coons, the book's author, had contacted me, and that I would post a review.
SHOOT Only at the Red Airplane is exactly the kind of book that should be self-published. If you're interested in obscure WWII history or aviation, this is something that will interest you. Bill spent his service in WWII working on a target drone squadron. During (and after) the war, various radio-controlled aircraft were used as flying targets for Army and Navy gunners, and Bill's well-researched book provides a lot of first-hand information as to how these craft were developed and used.
Bill's prose is merely serviceable, and the editing and layout is OK, but this is really what historians call a primary source - what you use to write the more formal history of an event.
In other news, Goeff Nelder, a fellow struggling SF writer based in England, gave me a plug on his blog. I shall have to look at some of his stuff.
