I'll be signing autographs and generally making a nuisance of myself SATURDAY AFTERNOON, from noon to 2PM, in the cafeteria level, so please don't leave me standing there like a complete dweeb!
Otherwise, feel free to grab me for a few words. Marshal and I will be doing podcast material from the floor of the show...usually that works out okay! I plan to spend some time at the Decot Hy-Wyd Sport Glasses booth as a "thank you" for the magnificent job they've done with my shooting glasses over the years...I must have a dozen pairs from the many changes in my eyes, and these guys have worked with me every step of the way. Decots are the only shooting glasses I wear, and they don't pay me to say that!
I meant to link this earlier, but the LA Times did a cool article titled "Way of the Gun" last weekend, essentially having fictional characters explain their choice of hardware. The article includes characters written by Stephen Hunter, Elmore Leonard, Michael Connelly and one of my long-time favorites, Robert Crais. This is from Crais' character Joe Pike, detective Elvis Cole's partner:
GUN: KIMBER CUSTOM II MODEL 1911 .45 ACP
“The best semiautomatic combat pistol made. The lowered ejector port, full-length guide rail, beveled magazine well and superb tolerances give outstanding out-of-the-box accuracy and reliability. The big .45 ACP bullet is heavy and slow, but that’s what you want. A lighter, faster bullet will punch through a man, carrying its energy with it. A .45 hollowpoint flattens and dumps its energy into the target like a truck T-boning a Prius. You don’t need to double-tap with the .45. One shot will knock a big man off his feet. LAPD SWAT uses the Kimber. USMC Special Operations Command (Force Recon) uses it. I use it. That’s all you need to know.”That Joe Pike...some cool character, huh? As most of you know, when I was just starting out on this strange journey, I fell in with a genuine character who could have been the model for Mr. Pike, right down to the distinguishing tattoos and trademark grey sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off. He taught me a lot of what I know about guns, not to mention how to repeal of buildings, the joy of night vision optics and what fun it is to be a professional aggressor for police teams. He dropped off the grid years ago, but I got a message last year, "Watch your six." Of course...
I was sorry Raylan Givens from Justified, an Elmore Leonard character, wasn't on the list. Justified wrapped up its season last night, and it was...disarming...LOL!
I've actually thought about doing a SHOOTING GALLERY episode focusing on the guns of famous detectives...that'd be a hoot! One of the most fun things I've done was be a guest firearms instructor at a Mystery Writers of America convention...
Yeah, I've got a Custom II and it took a trip or two to the smith to fix a consistent failure to extract, as well as new springs to get it to cycle properly. Oh, and there's no "full length guard rail", though there is a full length guide rod.
ReplyDeleteSIG Sauer in .38?
ReplyDeleteThat "0" makes all the difference in the world. Baah. Amateurs.
On the good side: Think of how many lace panties were bunched when a pro-gun article was approved at the notably anti-gun LA Times.
Not gonna make it to the NRA show (durn this funemployment!), but hoist one for me at the get-together.
ReplyDeleteBy what process does one go about the "repeal of building"?
ReplyDelete"repeal of a building" i believe usually involves heavy machinery, and sometimes explosives. however "rapelling from a building" requires strong ropes and nerves.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame that writers will go to great lengths to get info for a story and do all kinds of research, but won't do the most basic work to get the details about guns correct. Ejector port? Is that like a teleport room from Star Trek or what?
ReplyDeleteI like Crais' work and read all of it, but the kind of basic errors that he makes in describing a gun wouldn't be tolerated for a minute if he were describing buildings or cars or anything else that people really knew about. Yech.