Military History Photo Friday: The Chakram, India's deadly frisbee

No, these aren't toys, but they did inspire those Aerobees that we played with as kids. These are Chakram, an Indian weapon. They're razor sharp on the outside, generally about 5-10 inches in diameter, and are thrown (carefully) like a Frisbee or twirled on the forefinger and then released. Accounts say Indian warriors could throw these long distances with great accuracy. Medieval Indians understood aerodynamics and made the bottoms flat and the tops curved like with the wings of an airplane.

It's unclear when the Chakram was first invented although it's certain they're very ancient. They were mainly used in northwest India, especially by the Sikhs, who continued using them into the 19th century. One account mentions street criminals using small chakram in Calcutta as late as the 1940s.

While the chakram were long-lived as a weapon, I'm not surprised they didn't spread to a wider area. Like many unusual weapons, the chakram was trying to replicate something that could be more easily accomplished in another form. A bow is easier to use and deadlier, which is why you can find bows in pretty much every culture. These are neat, though! Anyone want to practice with one and get back to me?


Top photo copyright Sean McLachlan. Taken at the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford. Bottom photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Radio Hope is done!

Done! My post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope came out to 71,161 words, 315 pages, and took 28 days!

Tomorrow: editing!

If you want to check out the first 51,000 words, Radio Hope is a free ebook on Smashwords. Anyone who sends me feedback will get a free copy of the ebook once it comes out in February.

Whew! Now that that's over I can get back to more blogging.

I met the National Novel Writing Challenge, so have a book on me!

My post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope made it past the 50,000 word mark yesterday, meaning I beat the National Novel Writing Month challenge in 20 days. As I write this the word count stands at just over 51,000. I think I have about 10,000 more words to go, certainly no more than 15,000. Barring a real apocalypse, I'll be done at the end of the month.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've posted this work-in-progress as a free ebook on Smashwords, available in all formats. I've now updated it, uploading an edited version with several more chapters added. The reason I’m posting this for free is so that you, the reader, can have input in the creation of this novel. What do you like about it? What do you think needs work? What characters would you like to hear more about in later Toxic World books?

Alerting me to any typos would be much appreciated too. :-)

Drop me a line at seansontheweb (at) yahoo (dot) com with your feedback and I’ll make sure you get a free electronic copy of the final book when it’s released on February 1. And keep an eye on this blog for regular updates!

Please repost and share!

Oh, and here's the blurb-in-progress:

An aging citizen of civilization's last community finds leadership thrust upon him. . .
A female gunslinger yearns to find a place to raise her son away from the chaos of the wildlands. . .
A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to a village mired in toxic waste. . .
And with the Righteous Horde descending on New City to convert and conquer, all three will have to rely on each other to survive.




Graphic courtesy flickr user Sarah G.

Help me destroy the world, one page at a time!

I'm now 39,000 words into my National Novel writing Month challenge. My dystopian novel Radio Hope is going well. It's sort of Firefly mixed with Mad Max with a bit of pirate radio thrown in.

I've posted this work-in-progress as a free ebook on Smashwords, available in all formats. The reason I’m posting this for free is so that you, the reader, can have input in the creation of this novel. What do you like about it? What do you think needs work? What characters would you like to hear more about in later Toxic World books?

Alerting me to any typos would be much appreciated too. :-)

Drop me a line at seansontheweb (at) yahoo (dot) com with your feedback and I’ll make sure you get a free electronic copy of the final book when it’s released on February 1. And keep an eye on this blog for regular updates!

Please repost and share!

This photo of the Namibian ghost town Kolmanskop is courtesy Harald Süpfle via Wikimedia Commons. To learn more about this eerie ghost town and to see more photos, check out an article I did on Kolmanskop.

Wild West Photo Friday: Apache Scouts

The Apache gave the U.S. government no end of headaches with their raids and defiance of American expansion. Some Apache, however, joined forces with the government to fight against their own and other tribes.

The Apache scouts were some of the most valuable Native American scouts in the U.S. Army. The first all-Apache units were formed in 1871 by Lt-Col George Crook. He mostly recruited Apache who had peacefully settled on the reservation, but would also accept captured "renegades". As he put it, "the wilder the Apache was, the more he was likely to know the wiles and stratagems of those still out in the mountains."

The scouts soon proved their mettle, and in his annual report for 1876, Crook's successor, Col Augustus Kautz wrote,

"These scouts, supported by a small force of cavalry, are exceedingly efficient, and have succeeded, with one or two exceptions, in finding every party of Indians they have gone in pursuit of. They are a great terror to the runaways from the Reservations, and for such work are much more efficient than double the number of soldiers."

Jump the cut to see a closeup of these guys.

The Apache way of war

"You want us to ride around your wagon circle making perfect targets while you shoot at us? I don't think so, paleface!"

In the movies we're told that the Apache were pretty dumb. As soon as our heroes, the settlers, put their wagons in a circle, the Apaches would ride around it, whopping and waving their guns over their heads, making perfect targets.

Not likely. The Apache defied the U.S. government for a century despite the Americans having greater numbers and better weapons. They did this by launching a classic guerrilla campaign.

The Apache offset their numerical inferiority by focusing their forces on isolated army detachments, giving them a localized superiority in numbers. They were also quick to adopt the latest weaponry, whether through illegal trading or by capturing guns from the enemy.

Their greatest ally was the land itself. Arizona and New Mexico, where the greatest number of Apache lived in the 19th century, is a rugged place, with scarce water and countless mountains and ravines in which to hide. The Apache knew the land well and could strike fast from unexpected directions and disappear into the wilderness.

Read a free excerpt of Radio Hope online!

As you know, I'm busy with National Novel Writing Month. The current word count for my dystopian novel Radio Hope stands at 24,137. I've posted the first three chapters on my NaNoWriMo homepage and I'd love to get your feedback. Hit the link to read it!


Image courtesy New York Zoological Society.

Military History Photo Friday: Crystal Radio in the Trenches

I'm hard at work on my National Novel Writing Project--Radio Hope, a post-apocalyptic tale. I'm proud to say that I've passed the 20,000 word mark in just a week. December will be National Typo Correcting Month!

My story revolves around the residents of New City, the only large settlement in a toxic wasteland filled with bandits, scavengers, insane chemical sniffers, and bloodthirsty cultists. One of the few sources of information is Radio Hope, a mysterious station broadcasting programs about medicine, agriculture, food gathering, and other survival tips.

No one knows where this station transmits from or who's behind it. Since you need electricity to operate a radio, only a lucky few can receive its transmissions, until a mysterious trader emerges from the wildlands with a supply of crystal radios.

Crystal radios were the first popular radios. They rely on a crystal detector to pick up radio signals. The crystal uses the energy from the radio waves themselves to power the radio, so no electricity supply is necessary. In the 1920s store-bought radios were expensive and many rural homes still lacked electricity. It was cheap and simple to build a crystal set, though, and soon most homes had one, leading to the boom in radio.

In this image you can see a French soldier in the trenches during World War One listening to a handmade set. I wonder what he was listening to? An opera from back in Paris?

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Spirits of St. Louis Anthology out now!

Missouri publisher Rocking Horse Publishing has just come out with Spirits of St. Louis, an anthology of ghost stories set in Missouri.

It includes my story "After the Raid", an offshoot of my Civil War horror novel A Fine Likeness. For those who have read the novel, it follows the story of Helena, the daughter of the German photographer who gets killed by the bushwhacker band, and how she takes a terrible revenge. Of course a terrible revenge comes at a terrible price. . .

The story also stands on its own in case you haven't read the book (ahem).

Here's the back cover blurb.

Lonely Hitchhikers. Dirt Roads. Tired Soldiers. Strange Children. Mysterious Ladies. Dark Houses. What do they have in common? 

They all haunt the pages of this book.

From the Lemp Mansion to The Exorcist, from the 1904 World's Fair to Jefferson Barracks, the history of St. Louis, Missouri and its surrounding river towns is filled with stories of haunts and the supernatural.

Spirits of St. Louis: Missouri Ghost Stories is a collection of over thirty stories from authors across the globe, celebrating these ghosts, banshees, and shadows.

Do you believe in ghosts? If you believe or not, this collection of dark tales of the dead and disturbed is sure to keep you awake at night. Lock the doors, turn down the lights, and prepare to be terrified.

Globsters, baldknobbers, and Wild West pterodactyls: I'm interviewed on the A to Z blog!

Hey folks. I'm over at the A to Z blog today talking about the A to Z blogging challenge. You'll hear all about cryptids, Ozark vigilantes, and where Clint Eastwood got his trademark grimace. Head on over and check it out!

(oh, hey! this is my 500th post on Civil War Horror!)

Photo of the Chilean Blob, one of the more loveable globsters, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Civil War Photo Friday: Union troops participate in National Novel Writing Month!

Well, it's here. I and thousands of other writers around the world are hunched over our computers or notebooks writing the first chapters of our books. We need to get through 50,000 words to be a National Novel Writing Month winner. I'm planning on winning.

The Library of Congress says these are men from the Army of the Potomac writing letters to friends and family. Actually this is the only known image of the first National Novel Writing Month, which took place in 1861. The war stopped for the entire month of November while men on both sides sharpened their pencils and wrote novels for the folks back home. You can see them all hard at work here, except for the fellow in front who is sewing his shirt. He had been writing so hard the sleeve wore out!

. . .or not. :-)

All I'm going to do today is focus on my novel and write, write, write! I wrote this blog post on Wednesday just to clear the decks. :-)