Bidinotto's New Novel

[Reidy]

(Passing this along from my inbox)

Friends and colleagues,

I just wanted you to know that I've made a big leap -- from nonfiction- to

fiction-writing -- with a suspense thriller that draws heavily on my past

investigative writing about crime and the legal system.

"HUNTER: A Thriller" is part spy mystery, part crime thriller, and part

romantic suspense novel. I'm proud to say that it has been receiving stellar

advance-reader reviews on Amazon and elsewhere.

"HUNTER" is now available online, as an ebook, at:

Amazon's Kindle Store: <http://amzn.to/lTVLOm>

Barnes & Noble.com: <http://bit.ly/jDjSQI>

Smashwords: <http://bit.ly/mPpIJa>

Also, a print edition will be available within the next two weeks at

Amazon.com.

If you enjoy mysteries, thrillers, or romantic suspense -- or fiction that

deals with serious ideas -- I invite you to click the preceding links, and

to read a free sample of the book at the Kindle Store or Smashwords.

Thanks much, and I hope you enjoy "HUNTER."

Best regards,

Robert Bidinotto

[Greybird]

Right up there with Kay Nolte Smith's The Watcher, I suspect, also a foray into crime fiction. Its sole virtue was that it diverted me from the pain during a week-long hospitalization in 1987. Mostly from its being so excruciatingly bad that I nearly forgot about my gall bladder. (Which I ended up keeping. I gave the book away shortly thereafter.)

I haven't yet read any foray into fiction by someone describing himself or herself as Objectivist that is at all adept or interesting, except when taken up in extremis. That hardly speaks well for the protégés of The Master. (Rand would never let herself be described as The Mistress.)

[Reidy]

For the most part I agree about Smith. Elegy for a Soprano was interesting as à clef gossip about You Know Who but barely readable as a mystery story. On the other hand, A Tale of the Wind is the of the all-time novels for me. I'm going to buy and read Bidinotto's book and then decide.

[caroljane]

For the most part I agree about Smith. Elegy for a Soprano was interesting as à clef gossip about You Know Who but barely readable as a mystery story. On the other hand, A Tale of the Wind is the of the all-time novels for me. I'm going to buy and read Bidinotto's book and then decide.

This is interesting. I don't have a Kindle or the desire or means to get one, but I'd like to see a sample of this genre.Could some kind soul post some excerpts? Objectivist fiction is pretty thin on the ground. I understand Kira Peikoff's novel is being published next year??? so maybe the field is widening.

[Reidy]

I couldn't find any excerpts, but you can buy her works for not much money at Amazon.com / Books / Kay Nolte Smith. Google brings up a fair amount of information on her.

[Rich Engle]

Per Bob's post on Facebook:

YOU DON'T HAVE TO OWN A KINDLE OR NOOK to download and read an ebook like "HUNTER" on virtually any device: PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc. Just go to the link below and get a free "Kindle app," which will let you buy and read it. Hey, the ebook's only $3.99, and the "app" is free. What do you have to lose (except your past respect for me as a writer)?

Free Kindle Apps

[9thdoctor]

For the most part I agree about Smith. Elegy for a Soprano was interesting as à clef gossip about You Know Who but barely readable as a mystery story. On the other hand, A Tale of the Wind is the of the all-time novels for me. I'm going to buy and read Bidinotto's book and then decide.

I read Country of the Heart and Catching Fire. I liked the first better, but both were worthwhile.

[Greybird]

Per Bob's post on Facebook: [...] Hey, the ebook's only $3.99, and the "app" is free. What do you have to lose (except your past respect for me as a writer)?

Oh, that last, with his slams at libertarians, was lost long ago.

Still, as to Kindle: I don't buy anything that has Digital Restrictions Management technology on it, and which limits my placing it or playing it on any device I wish. Amazon's permission to read his book is revocable any time they wish. That's what I have to potentially lose.

[Rich Engle]

Per Bob's post on Facebook: [...] Hey, the ebook's only $3.99, and the "app" is free. What do you have to lose (except your past respect for me as a writer)?

Oh, that last, with his slams at libertarians, was lost long ago.

Still, as to Kindle: I don't buy anything that has Digital Restrictions Management technology on it, and which limits my placing it or playing it on any device I wish. Amazon's permission to read his book is revocable any time they wish. That's what I have to potentially lose.

Well, it didn't sound like you were much interested in the first place, so sounds like no loss for you . . .

[sjw]

Per Bob's post on Facebook: [...] Hey, the ebook's only $3.99, and the "app" is free. What do you have to lose (except your past respect for me as a writer)?

Oh, that last, with his slams at libertarians, was lost long ago.

Still, as to Kindle: I don't buy anything that has Digital Restrictions Management technology on it, and which limits my placing it or playing it on any device I wish. Amazon's permission to read his book is revocable any time they wish. That's what I have to potentially lose.

Sounds like a policy of cutting off your nose to spite your face to me.

Shayne

-It's only $3.99.

[Greybird]

Per Bob's post on Facebook: [...] Hey, the ebook's only $3.99, and the "app" is free. What do you have to lose (except your past respect for me as a writer)?

Oh, that last, with his slams at libertarians, was lost long ago.

Still, as to Kindle: I don't buy anything that has Digital Restrictions Management technology on it, and which limits my placing it or playing it on any device I wish. Amazon's permission to read his book is revocable any time they wish. That's what I have to potentially lose.

Well, it didn't sound like you were much interested in the first place, so sounds like no loss for you ...

I was more than mildly curious. Bidinotto is a quite capable writer, though that never is equivalent to being a fair or an even-handed one.

Fiction would not have the deficiencies of some of his non-fiction, as you can rarely claim a writer is being fair or not with a world he or she wholly creates. (The "rarely" comes in with such an exception as a roman à clef, where readers are left to divine who's really whom.)

[As to DRM:] Sounds like a policy of cutting off your nose to spite your face to me. It's only $3.99.

It's also a terrible precedent, abetting such restrictions. I could give away (or sell) my hardcover copy of The Watcher when I'd had enough of it. You are not allowed to do that with a Kindle eBook. You buy a license, not a book. Amazon can and does revoke such licenses by remote control (though they haven't done so in the past year or so, from all reports).

Public pressure got Amazon to move its music sales from DRMed files to unrestricted MP3s, competing on quality and availability, rather than continuing with the privileges it could use through the demented provisions of the DMCA. This dragged the rest of the industry, especially Apple, behind them. It's high time this happened with books.

[sjw]

It's also a terrible precedent, abetting such restrictions. I could give away (or sell) my hardcover copy of The Watcher when I'd had enough of it. You are not allowed to do that with a Kindle eBook. You buy a license, not a book. Amazon can and does revoke such licenses by remote control (though they haven't done so in the past year or so, from all reports).

Public pressure got Amazon to move its music sales from DRMed files to unrestricted MP3s, competing on quality and availability, rather than continuing with the privileges it could use through the demented provisions of the DMCA. This dragged the rest of the industry, especially Apple, behind them. It's high time this happened with books.

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

Shayne

[Greybird]

It's also a terrible precedent, abetting such restrictions. [...]

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

Unfortunately, you and the other Borg who are pushing a universal regime of draconian "intellectual property" enforcement, whether it coheres in the digital age or not, are getting the ear of legislators. As routinely, and for decades, has happened with every industry that turns to the whip-hand of law when its business model is dying.

And without regard for how that hands new, sweeping, and utterly arbitrary powers to government. What a lovely "minarchism" it is that you (and, as it happens, Bidinotto) espouse.

"Expert Body" To Decide [in the UK] Which Sites to Block for Copyright Infringement

Blacklists, ahoy! "PROTECT IP" Act sails on to [uS] Senate floor

Edited June 24, 2011 by Greybird

[Rich Engle]

Um, sjw was kidding. See?

[sjw]

Um, sjw was kidding. See?

Yes, I was kidding, because the fact is that he already is assimilated, he just isn't aware of it.

Boycotting is generally a futile gesture. It's like a slave who refuses to sleep in the house his master provided on the grounds that he wants to hurt the master's home-building business, and not even because the slave opposes slavery in principle, but because the slave is angry at the food choices provided to him.

Shayne

[Reidy]

First off, do we know for a fact that Hunter is under DRM? This conversation begins to look a little silly if it isn't. A discussion of DRM isn't necessarily silly, but using this book to kick it off might be.

Second, I don't see what the problem is. I've rented homes, cars and heavy-cleaning equipment, among other goods, with the understanding that I couldn't give them away and with various restrictions on what I could do with them, who could use them, how long I could keep them and so on. I've also bought homes, cars and various consumer goods with rented money. Decades ago people rented books through lending libraries, and e-books are bringing the practice back.

[sjw]

First off, do we know for a fact that Hunter is under DRM? This conversation begins to look a little silly if it isn't. A discussion of DRM isn't necessarily silly, but using this book to kick it off might be.

Second, I don't see what the problem is. I've rented homes, cars and heavy-cleaning equipment, among other goods, with the understanding that I couldn't give them away and with various restrictions on what I could do with them, who could use them, how long I could keep them and so on. I've also bought homes, cars and various consumer goods with rented money. Decades ago people rented books through lending libraries, and e-books are bringing the practice back.

The problem is:

1. Not being able to actually own/control digital content you have paid for.

2. Draconian government monitoring and punishment, which both over-punishes people who broke a law, and harasses and sweeps up innocent people who didn't.

Shayne

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I had a feeling Robert was going into fiction simply by observing his enthusiasm for the thriller writers he interviewed when he was editor of The New Individualist. It's great to see a talented Objectivist writer step up to the plate.

Robert wrote (and published in TNI) a brilliant semi-story called "Not in My World." This was around June 2008. I tried to find it online, but I can't. His descriptions of action and even Mickey Spillane kind of violence--colored with indignation--showed clearly that he was chomping at the fiction-writing bit.

I wish him all the best in this new path in life. He has always worked hard and honestly and clearly presented his ideas. People may disagree with some of those, but nobody has ever been in doubt about where he stood.

I hold that Robert Bidinotto deserves all the success he can get.

Michael

[Rich Engle]

I've been keeping an eye/in touch some with him on Facebook--good thing to keep up on his doings is to friend him over there.

Hoping the very best for this--I know how hard he has worked.

r

[Rich Engle]

I just bought Bob's book (ooh! 4 bucks, ouch! how DARE he?)

Just reading like I read--start at front, take samples, avoid ending, and so forth.

It is excellent. I'll be running through it every morning along with my usual regime.

He's always been a tight writer, and I am sure he always will be.

As far as all this digression and spoiling goes (thanks, Greybird, for yet another nasty, curmudgeon-like hijack), if that is all a good writer has to look forward to, well, either start drinking, or start fighting, or both.

Someone else buy it. 4 bucks, you can skip half a lunch.

Great work, Bob B.

rde

[Rich Engle]

I just heard from Robert, at length. Things are going very well. Also, he mentioned three things--

1. Thanks to MSK for the warm words (he doesn't have your email address but he said to convey).

2. The DRM controls thing--elective by the author. He has none on his. So that's that.

3. To say thanks to Reidy!

The Kindle reader works just fine. Only caveat is on Macs--if you are below OS 10.5, no workie. I know that only because I happen to also have an older Mac that I just adore and will never part with.

rde

Enjoying the book.

Edited June 26, 2011 by Rich Engle

[Roger Bissell]

I had a feeling Robert was going into fiction simply by observing his enthusiasm for the thriller writers he interviewed when he was editor of The New Individualist. It's great to see a talented Objectivist writer step up to the plate.

Robert wrote (and published in TNI) a brilliant semi-story called "Not in My World." This was around June 2008. I tried to find it online, but I can't. His descriptions of action and even Mickey Spillane kind of violence--colored with indignation--showed clearly that he was chomping at the fiction-writing bit.

I wish him all the best in this new path in life. He has always worked hard and honestly and clearly presented his ideas. People may disagree with some of those, but nobody has ever been in doubt about where he stood.

I hold that Robert Bidinotto deserves all the success he can get.

Michael

I agree with you, Michael. I hope Robert writes dozens of novels like Hunter, and makes millions of $$$ in reward for the excitement and enjoyment he is offering to us.

I'm glad you mentioned Mickey Spillane. Although Robert speaks a lot more of current thriller best-sellers, like Lee Child, Vince Flynn, etc., Robert's writing really reminds me of Spillane, too.

I bought the Nook version (from Barnes & Noble), and it was fun to read on the reader, and highly addictive. Felt that I could NOT put it down, though I had to several times before finding the time to finish it.

So, yes, the book is HIGHLY worth reading. Though it's comparing apples to oranges, I'd say Hunter is far more gripping and engrossing than Atlas Shrugged. The story was fascinating and suspenseful, and the characters were believable and sympathetic -- people I could admire and care for. Care-actors, I like to think of them as being.

As for the intellectual property issue, I agree that one should be able to re-sell something one no longer wants. But in the digital age, that is VERY difficult to enforce. I can re-sell one and only one LP or book or video cassette that I own. But digital copies? If I wanted, I could flood the market with freebies, let alone resales.

Anyway, Robert doesn't have the kind of restrictions on his e-book that Greybird objects to, so fer Chrissake, buy the book, read it, enjoy it, buy copies for friends and loved ones. This guy knows how to write and to entertain readers, and he deserves our support! Mine, anyway!!

REB

[9thdoctor]

Jeff Riggenbach uses his latest podcast to discuss Bidinotto’s novel, mostly as a stepping off point for critiquing latter day Objectivist positions on foreign policy. I haven’t read the book, but I gather it isn’t about foreign policy, it’s an interesting discussion nonetheless. From what he gives away about the plot, I wonder how similar it is to Erika Holzer’s Eye for an Eye.

http://mises.org/media/6585/Robert-Bidinottos-Hunter

[Peter]

Robert’s interview with the author of the Jack Reacher novels was excellent. Now it appears Robert was looking for writing pointers at the same time. And, I always liked his positive letter to the author of “Harry Potter,” who was feeling dispirited at the time which was around four or five years ago. I think JK Rowling was already writing her last two, darker novels in the series.

“Hunter,” was discussed in our local paper on Sunday which reminded me that I had not read it. So I went directly to the author’s site and paid 15 dollars for the book and 5 dollars for shipping. He self published the book so I assume Robert B. will get the full payment from me for his efforts. I will let you know about my experience after I read the book.

Peter

[9thdoctor]

New article:

http://www.hometowna...-vengeance.html