Guns Books

Boston's Gun Bible is probably THE book every gun owner and freedom loving American should own. Few Americans truly understand the Bill of Rights and the 2nd Amendment. It's not about hunting, nor is about personal protection. First and foremost, it is to protect Americans from an overbearing government! Boston's Bible gives you the information you need to make intelligent choices in every phase of selection and use of firearms.

That said, the original edition was released in 1998. We were in the depths of the Clinton efforts to disarm Americans. He revised it in 2000 with many important updates, and revised it again in 2002, which this version happens to be. That was the last revision. A newly revised edition is sorely needed.

It's been six long years, and many important events directly bearing on firearms, their ownership and use have transpired. The gun ban expired, which opened millions to ownership of guns more evenly matched with government forces. The development of the 6.8 SPC round for combat use in Afghanistan and Iraq. Laser optics. Wartime R&D have put many new features and materials in play. New manufacturers have come; others have gone. The Supreme Court has revised laws on gun ownership. All of this needs to be accounted for in any book purporting to be a Bible. And that means timely revisions.

The other reviews here accurately reflect strengths and shortcomings of the Bible. Even as it ages, however, it is aging gracefully, and you should surely own and study religiously the most recent edition.

I'm not sure if I can say anything more descriptive or relevant than the previous reviews, but I will say that this is an EXCELLENT book. If you are a gun owner or have ever considered owning a gun, this is the definitive resource for you. Before you buy, sell, or have any further dealings with firearms, you owe it to yourself to read this book!

I've read several of the other pro-gun and Second Amendment books offered by such noted authors as Bracken, Ross, and Rawles. They are all excellent works in their own right. However, Boston's Gun Bible (BGB) differs from all of the others in that, it is a purely non-fiction and factual book, based on detailed research. No gun-owner's library should be without it.

Buy this book and read it. You will not regret it.

Boston's Gun Bible is a very informative reference for almost everything relating to firearms. Boston offers advice and reviews for a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to): handguns, semi-automatic rifles, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, sights, optics, scopes, rangefinders, night vision, ammunition, knives, self-defense tactics, laws, regulations, and rights. Not afraid to state his opinion and back it up with facts and figures, he does a good job of separating fact from philosophy, and extensively covers both. Boston's style of writing puts an unwritten "and I mean it" after every sentence.

Boston's Gun Bible is partitioned into five parts. Part I begins the book from the ground-up by first defining a number of terms. Next comes a review of basic firearm safety, followed by a review of self-defense scenarios, defensive tactics for a number of situations, and a chapter dealing with guns and tactics specifically for women.

Part II exhaustively (and I mean exhaustively!) covers many semi-auto 'battle rifles', like the M14/M1A, FAL, and AR10, and battle carbines, like the AK74 and AR15. Boston not only numerically rates each rifle against tens of individual criteria, but elaborates (sometimes extensively) on each. Part III covers all other types of rifles, handguns, and shotguns with the same detail.

Part IV covers the acquisition of firearms, whether through private sales, gun stores, or gun shows. Boston hits many of the caveats associated with firearms ownership, as well as recommends a number of items for immediate purchase. A chapter is devoted to the practices, operation, and jurisdiction of the BATF. Boston also covers how to inspect firearms prior to purchase, and how to haggle a fair price. Reloading, cleaning, sighting, and shooting are all covered in the last chapter.

Part V and VI mainly cover topics like firearms rights (and rights in general), regulations, and disarmament. This is done as concretely as possible through commentary, recommendations, research, essays, news clippings, etc.

When it comes to firearms and self-defense, Boston certainly knows what he is doing. Boston's Gun Bible provides valuable information, confident recommendations, and an uplifting philosophy. This book is definitely worth its cover price. I highly recommend it.

Superb resource book with an unbelievable amount of information. I would have gladly given it 5 stars except there are a few typos here and there. I will strongly recommend this work to even those who are not firearm enthusiast. You might just become one and will certainly learn a great deal. An expert will discover within this book that there is a lot left to learn.

Boston really gives you alot to digest in this book. It is an excellent read and gives lots of information on different rifles, pistols etc.. Anyone who strongly believes in their 2nd amendment rights should read this book. Some of it might seem abit overboard, but hey, whose to say....read it and decide for yourself!

All Americans,especially Congressmen ,must read this book and we will understand the wisdom of the drafters of our U.S. Constitution and why WE MUST MAINTAIN IT TO DEFEND OUR NATION, ESPECIALY IN THIS AGE OF TERRORISM!!!!

BEFORE WE KNOW IT, IT COULD BE TOO LATE.
MR CHARLES SMITH
NEW BRAUNFELS,TX 78130

Excellent book. We are given true stories of individuals that escaped being seriously hurt or killed by criminals because they were armed. This book gives us information which the liberal press refuses to give. If the majority of people had this information, we would probably see more folks buying a firearm and learning to use it.

America Fights Back is just a collection of news stories and newspaper articles organized into various chapters. I was not impressed.

Most reports in the book are from 2000 to the middle of 2007. Some are a little older as the one where Kip was subdued by 4 unarmed students.One of the reports was from my area, I remember when it happened. The message is you do not have to sit and wait to be killed when you are in a gun free zone.

This is an amazing book about those who have survived and won the worst of fights. Also, It informs us of the need for media to report the truth. If you have ever had reservations about firearms or believed they are something evil this book should open your eyes about the redeeming qualities of firearm use by law abiding people. When a threat so great as that by the media and anti-gun groups is at a constant, this book alone should convince anyone why they should be armed and armed at all times. This is an amazing piece of work that has been long overdue. This should be a must read for all people who are concerned with there personal safety and what they need to do to secure it! If any one book slams gun control into it's place, this book is it!

Good:
This book has an amazingly solid plot, written by someone who ascribes regular human emotion and behavior to his characters. Every character in the book is relatable, gives the reader much more to care about in the story.

Larry has the technical stuff down pat. He should-- the guy owns a machine gun shop, and is probably the most knowledgeable guy in Utah on what he does.

The bad:
Lots of syntactical and grammatical errors. I know this was guerilla published, but a lot of syntactical errors should not have made it through. There were two errors that cropped up quite frequently:
1) Misplaced commas; and
2) Usage of "their" as a gender-neuter possessive. A sample would be: "If a person does this action, then their right to drive is revoked." A 'person' is singular, 'their' is for plural.

I'm not one to let bad grammar get in the way of a good story though. I'll buy the sequel when it comes out, and I'll recommend this book as well.

I recommend starting to read this book on a Friday - or some day when you don't have to do anything the next day. That way, when you can't put it down and have to stay up all night to finish it, you'll be able to sleep in...

This is a fun, fast paced read that is very hard to put down. I enjoyed all the charactors and the references to "real life" movies, people, and events. There is enough weapon info to keep the gun people happy, but not so much that those of us who don't care about the differences get bored or frusterated. The ending was predictable, but not exactly. There were still a few surprises. Thoroughly enjoyable with lots of monsters-this would make a great action movie.

Loved the book. It was funny, action packed, and I have recommended it to quite a few friends, some of whom have already started to recommended it to their friends. All of us agree, a superb book.

However, most of us were very annoyed by the typographical errors. Bad comma use got to me, and at least twice quotation marks were used when no one was speaking. Hope the author keeps writing, it was completely worth it.

I recently read Monster Hunter International by Larry Corriea. I have to tell you I waffled on buying this book. I mean I had this fear of Night of the Living Dead, Zombie Apocolypse stuff that was poorly written and didn't fit into anything that interested me. But, I read some of the reviews and I picked up on Larry's website and I thought I would take a shot at it. So, I duly brought up my Amazon account, and ordered the book. At the same time, I was ordering a bunch of other stuff so I thought of it as kind of a impulse buy.

Best impulse buy that I ever made. The book is a page turner, and one I had a hard time putting down. There is little or no, slow spots in the read. From the first few pages this thing moves the plot along quickly and efficiently, introducing characters as necessary and providing just the right level of detail to set the visuals of the situation.

Is the plot predictable? Maybe at times but for the most part it twists and turns, and just when you think it is going to go straight on for a bit, it pulls a wild left turn and zig zags all over the place.

Larry pulls in aspects of many different historical cultures and weaves them almost seamlessly into the story telling . Sorry Larry, there were a couple of abrupt points so you don't get the full seamless comment. However, I think that they abruptness may have been appropriate to the scene on occasion.

I wish I could write a story that is half as entertaining, and half as well written.

This is a damn fine book that you need to go out and read.

This is a great book to get familiar with all the different models of S&W revolvers. I needed a book that would help me identify different revolvers and this book is the one. I believe this book will help anyone looking to broaden their knowledge of S&W firearms. What I like about this book is the color photos and detailed descriptions of each model. This book should be in every gun enthusiast's library.

As a firearms dealer there is a need for referenca materials that I can use & depend on, both for my business & as a service to my customers. This is the BEST S&W book I have come across.

Best, most useful reference text I've seen on the subject. A very valuable reference for the collector. Very well done. Couldn't be more pleased.

Book is very well put together, good pics, detail, etc. Wish there was more serial#.

This book has invaluable information for all gun enthusiasts, not only S & W collectors. Very well written and illustrated. A "must have" book.

if you want to know what the south end of Quang Nam province was like in 1968-69, this is it. i was there, just like johnny clark; but i was in 1/7. he's done a great job of capturing the feel of the time.

This is one of the best books I've read. The writer says in the end that some of this is fiction, or that certain characters are made of multiple people he knew, but the bulk of this story is true, regardless of who it happened to. I have yet to know someone who read this book and did not have to fight back tears at least once. I have read this book 4 times now. I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

I read this book at the suggestion of a friend (Sgt. Watson from the book). It was one of the quickest page-turners I have ever read. The reader is quickly made to realize the challenges of war as well as the personal sacrifices made by our soldiers. Anyone who is a soldier or knows one will appreciate this honest and well written account of this group of Marines' tour of duty.

My buddy and I are stationed at Camp Fallujah, Iraq. By luck, when we got back inside the wire from a night time patrol, having been in a little piece of hell called "The Zaidon", we found this book in the library tent.

We thought that no one understood the horrors of combat, but Johnnie Clark, in this riveting book about the Killin Time, tells it all.

Sometimes, when the violence and the absurdity of war bring my men's spirits down, I read them an exerpt from the book...here's one of our favorite passages:

"Let's go", Chan said, I hesitated, I wanted to help the chief, and then those last words kept coming back to me: "Don't stop for the wounded".

Semper Fidelis,
The War Dog Marines at Camp Fallujah, Iraq.

This book is terrific. I've been reading war stories for 40 years because I find personal accounts of combat to be riveting. This book stands out as one of the best of the hundreds I've read. My compliments to the author. This was just as great the second time around.

This book presents many different real life self defense scenarios. Each one is different and it shows what ordinary people do in in different life threatening situations and it also talks about what happens afterwards. Very informative book.

This is a must read for any concealed handgun carrier! The stories are real and the analysis and reflections are great. A great book for all women who carry a firearm and even better for those who don't. A very good story about and tribute to Mark Wilson, the hero of the Tyler Co. Courthouse shotout and a high school running buddy of mine. RIP Mark Wilson

This book should be in everyone's library. I am an NRA certified pistol & rifle instructor. We have spent considerable time providing especially women with free basic pistol. We saw wonderful transformations of these women as they became empowered with self confidence, now knowing that they could defend themselves aaannnd their loved ones around them, now that they not only had that rightfully named EQUALIZER, but they knew how to use it!

"The difference between a liberal and a conservative is one armed robbery."

That says it all and so does this book. Thank you Chris Bird!

After dealing with the half-truths in the media on any incidents involving firearms in the U.S., I was pleased to read this collection of no-nonsense, factual summaries of ordinary citizens defending themselves and others with their personal weapons. Many of the cited statistics and law enforcement reactions are sobering, and a reminder that, as citizens, we need to be vigilant in protecting our civil liberties. A must read for any gun owner and a book to be passed along to the non-gun owner.

Few people, even non-golfers, can escape ever having heard of Ben Hogan. Maybe you don't know exactly who he was, but the name is oddly familiar.

To golfers, Ben Hogan is as close to legend as anything. Other players, even Bobby Jones and Tiger Woods, lack the mystique which has encompassed Hogan, even many years after his death.

What few of us know is just who he was. This information may not be so pertinant to people who play the game, since they are mostly interested in his swing. However, anyone who has touched even in a small way on part of his career realizes the great mysteries that lie in his life and being.

"Hogan" may not answer everything satisfactorily, but it comes as close as any are likely to get. This covers his life in as much informative detail as could be needed, and presents Hogan not so much in a less-than-glamorous light, as is common to biographies, but rather in a "judge for yourself" presentation of evidence for what made the man what he became.

Anyone curious about this modern legend will get more than he bargains for. Where perhaps the book does not go into his game to the extent golfers may want, the story of Hogan's life is engaging enough without it.

In my very large golf library this is clearly the best book on golf
I have read period. For the first time you get an insight into the "wie ice mon" in what reads like a novel.

This book really only confirmed what I had thought for a long time, behind Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan was a tremendous golfer who was way ahead of his time. Hogan nearly won the grand slam, and could not compete in the PGA because of the fact it started almost the same time the British Open was finishing. As we all watch Tiger Woods try for the grand slam, let us not forget Ben Hogan who was as close as anyone has ever come to doing it. The most amazing part of Hogan's story was the fact he won the US Open after almost dying in a car crash.

Sampson does a nice job with this book, telling about Hogan like he was, stearn and driven, and definitely not writing a fluff piece like some biographies can be. Hogan was tough, and I would equate him as the "Ted Williams" of golf, so good it was hard for him to teach anyone because he set such high standards for himself. I recommend this book to golfers and people who want to read about a remarkable man.

Ben Hogan was a no nonsense, focused champion who realized early in life that hard work was the path to success. Curt Sampson does a great job in presenting the real Hogan, not just the golf legend. This book should be required reading for all golf fans.
Especially the goofs who scream "You da man!" everytime Tiger hits a shot. There will never be another Ben Hogan.

When I was growing up the names of Palmer, Nicklaus, Trevino, Player, and their generation were the top competitors. Ben Hogan was a revered name, but one of past glory. His great year of 1953 was in the past. I had heard about his auto accident and his amazing comeback, but this book helped me see the man who "dug it out of the dirt" through hard work, discipline, and ferocious tenacity.

Mr. Hogan started out with less than most. His father's suicide and the family's subsequent poverty didn't leave him with many open paths to success. He found golf and found that it not only matched his physical skills, but was an even better match for his nearly obsessive temperament.

The swing he developed has become the pattern millions of us try to emulate, although he would find our haphazard approach to the game less than useless. Why we love being duffers would be beyond him. He knew how to work and to practice. I still cannot fathom the kind of internal strength it would take to come back from that terrible leg shattering accident when his Cadillac was struck by a bus. He played in great pain for the rest of his life and had four surgeries on his left shoulder. When I realize that his greatest achievements and most of his wins at major tournaments were after the accident I am simply dumbstruck.

Mr. Hogan was a very private and enigmatic figure. Mr. Sampson does a good job in teasing what facts we know into a good story. We get interesting stories from the golf side of his life (mostly stories told about Hogan by others) and those are very enjoyable. However, I like the way Mr. Sampson puts all that in the context of a real person - a real man. Ben Hogan wasn't a fictional character even though the media version of him was a distortion of the actual hard working man who practiced, practiced, and then practiced some more, who loved his wife, Valerie, and built a successful golf equipment business.

Ben Hogan made a long journey through life and I think this book tells the story well.

For the past several years, there has been a lonely libertarian writing a column for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and now his columns have been collected and sorted by subject. He and I don't agree about absolutely _everything,_ but then, we do agree about the important things, like doing something about the inexorable growth of the Nanny State into an all-devouring shoggoth. If the news media weren't so single-mindedly leftist, his columns would reach the wider audience they deserve.

While writing from a Libertarian and non-religious perspective, Vin takes us across the gamut of current attitudes and the hopes and aspirations of self-sufficient, liberty minded, and responsible persons everywhere. Vin really nails it as to the virus and bacteria infection that holds this land in an ever tightening grip as it chokes our very lives. What kind of virus is this?

1. The Public School. 1.6 Billion dollars later a Kansas City School still cant stop truancy and raise test scores. Vin finally says what many have screamed from years, that you cant fix the public school system because its ALREADY WORKING. Vin give you history of development of public schools, statistics, and then contrasts a public school with home schoolers who are doing tremendously better, at a fraction of the cost, and in fact raises test scores and perfromance across all class, and racial lines!

2. Gun control. I dont even need to describe this canard.

3. Unaccountable Federal Agencies. Whether its the DEA, the INS or even the Farm bureau, the activities of various 'protectors of independance', who used to leave us sorely disappointed, but who know take family farms and get people killed.

4. Restriction of Jury Trials and the rights of jurors to be fully informed of their 1200 year old right to judge not only the facts of the case, but also the law!

5. A lapdog press that does whatever a corporate or government interest dictates. This is why more and more Americans read European newspapers or otherwise use the internet to get the real news. Vin documents the attitude of the press and gives personal experiences with getting his own column published. You need to read Vin's article on the press to fully appreciate the fog let off with the current Iraq situation.

Now all of the above problems are such that they can be solved with the ballot box, and appropriate education. That is why this book is important. When the public propaganda school system is dismantled by default, when the jurisdictions of various government agencies are curtailed by consisten not guilty verdicts by fully informed juries excercising their rights to nullify the law, this apocolyptic revolution that every right wing crackpot spouts as being inevitable will never occur, thank God. ...

I was originally turned off by the title of the book. However, it had been recomended to me by a friend. I have to say that it turned out to be the most thoughtful, well reasoned, documented accounting of just how far out of control the Federal Government has gotten over the years that I have ever read. The point is driven home over and over again in this book that every Constitutional protection you thought you had can be abused, with no consequences, by the Federal Government. Think the money you worked hard for all you life is yours? Think again. Federal police, with local police support can seize it and any other property they covet with impunity. And the cop that takes it gets to profit in the transaction. Think you have a right to a trial by a jury of your peers? Wrong again. Jury picking has become an art, designed to eliminate anyone who may be sympathetic to your views. Think the Constitutional guarantee in the 2nd amendment means what it says? Well, you are probably breaking one of the 20,000 gun laws already in affect, directed against honest Americans like you and I, and don't even know it. And if you are caught by one of these "Special Militia" ( ATF, DEA, FBI that we were warned against over and over by the founding fathers) you will spend more time in jail than a bank robber. Think you cannot be murdered by the Federal Police without justice being done to the ones who murdered you or your family members? You are living in a dream world. This book should be required reading by every 9th grade civics class in America. But of course, as is pointed out in this book, these "Government Schools" will do everything in its power to ensure that your children will NOT understand the true meaning of our Constitution.
This is a Must Read.

Finally someone speaks out against the libtard Clinton dolts who were trying to ruin our lives. It is good, no it is stupendous literature that should be read by every American who does not want to be a zombie slave under a socialistic movement that the Dems are trying to pull about as we speak. Long live our freedom and individual responsibility, so that the lazy turds who want the government to think for them can move to Canada or wherever they want to be relocated to.

Author and journalist Vin Suprynowicz has something to say about the political climate in the United States. He doesn't like the government's excesses of control, the lying, the manipulation, and the almost complete disregard for the constitution. A strong proponent of individual liberty and personal responsibility, Vin covers many topics in this book that relate to government run amok, all with an inspired fervor and a very Libertarian angle.

Starting with the first chapter, Vin talks about where Americans have gone wrong since the founding fathers established the constitutional framework that suited the nation well for so many years. Juries are now "stacked" in an attempt to control the outcome of a trial; guns are confiscated in direct violation of the second amendment; people are sent to prison just because they choose to smoke a plant; and school children are indoctrinated to ensure that they are all slaves to the supreme command of the state, from now and into the future.

After commenting directly on the miserable failure of these various government policies, Vin describes countless examples of how government power has been used to manipulate individuals and destroy their lives. You can read all about hard working Americans who had their rights trampled on by government, like a man who saw his farm business wrecked by government officials who declared areas of his farm a wetland, and refused to allow him to farm on it, then refused to allow it to be used for other purposes either, making it worthless. Another true story covers a woman who was harassed by government because she refused to lie (yes, you heard me correctly) and disclose inaccurate ingredient listings on her company's pet foods.

Vin also talks about the government debacle at Waco and he gives sound reasons for why, he believes, the government is solely responsible for the deaths of the Branch Davidian members. He talks about the failed war on drugs, pointing out how government has used this disastrious policy to erode individual liberty.

Suprynowicz is a very outspoken person, and his in- your- face style might make some people uncomfortable. He frequently resorts to sarcasm and he provides countless examples of how government has ruined people's lives through its ruthlessness and its total failure to follow the constitution.

"Send in the Waco Killers" is well- written and easy to understand. Vin is a skilled wirter who knows exactly how to take an ordinarily complex situation and state it in a way that will make sense to most anyone. This book is one of the best I have read, and it was even recognized by freemarket.net as the "Freedom Book of the Year" in 1999. It's a book that everyone should read, just to see how far government has pushed its will on the people and how we, as a nation, are slowly marching toward a police state as each day passes.

I gave this book as a birthday present to my boyfriend, who is a lover of vintage robots. He was thrilled with the book! Lots of great pictures and interesting bits of information. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys in robots or vintage toys, either as a serious collector or just someone with a general interest.

As the author of ZAP! Ray Gun Classics, I've looked at a LOT of books on vintage space toys and in my opinion this is the very best one. The diversity of items, production values, factual information and other comments are all superb. I return to this book whenever I need a space toy "nostalgia fix" and I always seem to find something new. No vintage space toy collection should be without it.

More than merely a definitive catalogue of the subject, Blast Off is a socio-historical journey. Toys offer provide the prism through which the authors examine fascinating sociological phenomenon. Make no mistake this is the definitive book for this topic, but it becomes a tour de force by examining the history, economics, and sociology implied by these fascinating products from our recent past.

More than merely a definitive catalogue of the subject, Blast Off is a socio-historical journey. Toys offer provide the prism through which the authors examine fascinating sociological phenomenon. Make no mistake this is the definitive book for this topic, but it becomes a tour de force by examining the history, economics, and sociology implied by these fascinating products from our recent past.

Blast Off! is a fun and fascinating read for any fan of science fiction, space toys, or comic books. It's a beautiful coffee table-sized book with sexy images of robots, ray guns, and toys of all types that make you feel nostalgic even if you don't remember these toys from the first time around.

This book offers a history of "in the know" type stories about specific toys and the personalities who created and purchased them. There's the Buck Rogers XZ-31 rocket pistol that led Macy's and Gimbels into their most vicious price war ever, dropping prices by the hour to support the most successful toy promotion the world had ever seen. And there's the collector Bob Lesser who pays double the sticker price to win dealer loyalty. And there's a never-been-published story of the untimely death of Flash Gordon creator Alex Raymond. Plus the authors offer insight into how toys have affected history, entertainment, and the space program.

If you're a fan of Buck Rogers like I am, you should also check out Blast Off! author S. Mark Young's interviews with Erin Grey in Filmfax (Oct/Nov 2002 and Feb/Mar 2003) for a sensitive rendering of a sensational story.

I kept reading reviews by Lori Lake and I knew she had written some books, but I never got around to making the purchase. Well, I now have two and "Gun Shy" is awesome.

Dez Reilly answers a 911 call and interrupts a double rape. As the first attacker holds one victim, Sarah, while the other rapist tries to nab the second victim, Jaylynn, Dez comes storming thru the door. The second rapist breaks her arm with the bat he's carrying and she loses her gun. With a little help from Jaylynn, she's able to down both rapist cuff them together ankle to wrist.

Dez made such an impression on Jaylynn, she decides to go to the academy to become a police officer. As Jaylynn and her rookie class join the force they are joined up with different officers on different shifts. Jaylynn finally get her turn with Dez and they are a good team. Naturally, there are some rifts, i.e., who's in charge? is there only one way to handle each situation?

Dez is still a little gun shy after her partner, Ryan was killed during a call and she wasn't able to save him. She's afraid to let herself have a partner or to let anyone get close to her.

Well, Dez's rule...no dating cops, is keeping these two from coming to terms with each other. Dez's landlady, Luella is a charming and loving character in this book. She and Dez have a good relationship and they take care of each other. I love the pounding on the ceiling with the broom in order to get Dez's attention.

The kind and caring shown throughout the story shows from all the characters is something you don't usually see in a police/action novel. It's refreshing.

This was an intense book which awesome characterization and great detail to plot. You could feel the electricity between the two main characters.

Gun Shy is an excellent book! I couldn't put it down... All the characters in this book are wonderfully writen! Jaylynn and Des are strong and amazing women. I fell in love with LouElla. She is the little sweet neighbor lady that everyone would love to have! This book was a roller coaster ride that I didn't want to end! Thanks goodness for sequels! This book offers a lot to a reader: Romance, thrill, humor and we can't forget the sex! It also show the power of friendship and taking a chance with your heart. Lori Lake is a very talented writer. I am glad I bought this book! This is a must read and one to keep in your collection. I know I will...

Am I the last person on earth NOT to have read Lori Lake's lesbian action/drama novel, GUN SHY, already out long enough to have its sequel UNDER THE GUN? If I'm not, those of you yet to give the book a read should head right on down to your local bookstore and pick it up for one heck of an interesting experience.

My reading of GUN SHY brought to mind a couple of things:

Firstly, whenever a couple of us old-timers, from the heydays of pulp fiction, get together (actually, there are only a couple of us left "to" get together!), to discuss the days before lesbian "literature", we have to admit that in those early days a lot of the gal-gal books were written by us men, writing not reality but merely our male fantasies (and the male fantasies of our male readers) of lesbian relationships. Obviously, we didn't have a clue. Obviously, most of us men still don't have a clue, although a few of us have become enlightened enough, over the years, to admit to our ignorance. GUN SHY is not in the least like the books I, and my male friends used to write, and would likely still write. Anyone looking for a lot of heavy-breathing naked sexual nymphos mud-wrestling up a storm, should steer clear of Lake's book which actually has two mature, intelligent women spending a good deal of time thinking through and discussing their relationship with each other and with others, and just getting on with the nitty-gritty reality of life. Particularly nitty-gritty, in this instance, in that both women are members of a metro-Minneapolis police force.

Secondly, when my German-language short story "Doppelmörder" was published in Lisa Kuppler's anthology QUEER CRIME, and I had critics deeming me "A Master of the Mystery Genre", the latter was for, among other things, apparently my NOT having tackled a tale that incorporated police procedure, because so many of my fellow authors who did go that route got "it" all wrong. The reason I had purposely "not" attempted a story involving police procedure was just because I had sense enough to know beforehand that I didn't have enough of a clue to get it right; it simply required far more diligence in research and time and effort than I figured (and rightly so) I could properly muster. Lake, though, in GUN SHY, has obviously devoted the time and effort to get right the ins-and-outs ups-and-downs of cops on the job. It - from the uniforms, to the locker-room conversations, to the chatter of police-radio broadcasts, to the personality clashes, et al - just reads "right-on" this-is-the-way-it-is.

If I might have preferred one major crime to have infused this novel from beginning to a satisfactory guns-a-blazing-bad-guys-dying conclusion (probably "a guy" thing), I know from what little I've gleaned, by way of research, that most police work is mainly a long series of routine incidents that get reported in the back pages of local newspapers if they get reported at all, with only a very few in-the-spotlight major incidents. So, it would seem, Lake's GUN SHY gets that right, too.

I DO think that if I even thought of eating as much as rookie Jaylynn Savage does (I'm talking food, here), I suspect I'd look like the Goodyear blimp; then, again, I spend all of my day sitting on my fat-getting-fatter rear while Jaylynn is up-and-at-it, making the city safe for one and all. Go Jaylynn! Go Lori Lake! Go to your local bookstore and put down your hard-won cash for this one!

In high school, my friends and I were hooked on the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. We lived an hour's drive from New Orleans and spent many weekends scouring the city to see if Rice's settings were real. They were very real and made the stories jump off the page for us. I mention this because I now live in the suburbs of St. Paul, MN, and have visited many of the locales mentioned in Lori Lake's `Gun Shy.' She writes about real places such as the Como Park area, making this series much more real for me.

Lake brings two Uber characters into a modern-day story of a Xena-ish cop, Dez Reilly, and Jaylynn Savage, the young blonde woman she saves from attempted rape. Following in the tradition of the Warrior Princess and her companion, Jay joins the police department in hopes of befriending Dez. Little does she know the `gun shy' Dez has sworn off love and has no intention of being swayed by a rookie. Of course, Dez doesn't realize Jay has many skills of her own.

A wonderful story of two women who come together in the face of adversity, `Gun Shy' is truly a cornerstone of lesbian literature. Thankfully, Lake follows it with two equally enjoyable sequels (Under the Gun; Have Gun, We'll Travel). If not a must own, this is at least a must read and comes highly recommended from this reader.

Officer Desiree "Dez" Reilly is a veteran cop extraordinaire with the St. Paul Police Department in Lori L. Lake's police action/drama Gun Shy. This reticent Amazon beauty with long black hair, smooth ivory skin, electric blue eyes, and a muscular build is an adept daredevil at police work, but she is extremely cautious (gun shy) when it comes to matters of the heart. While Dez is on the job, she rescues and meets a "whirling bundle of energy," Jaylynn "Jay" Savage, a sharp pre-law student. Jaylynn could not be more different from Dez in stature, appearance, and personality. Jay is a talkative, vivacious, shorthaired, curvaceous blonde, who wears her heart on her sleeve. Dez is in complete control of her emotions...most of the time. Jaylynn falls in love with the tall, mysterious cop, her "hero," at first sight.

Carefully guarding her emotions, Dez is very careful whom she trusts. Estranged from her mother, her father gone, her mentor avoiding her since he found out she was gay, and feeling like a loser at love, she keeps her distance from others to protect herself from any further pain and sorrow. She has also been living with a thick black cloud over her head because of a shooting that left her partner and close friend, Ryan Michaelson, a married father of two young children, dead. Dez deals with his death the only way she knows how-by shutting down her emotions and refusing psychological treatment. The department can make her see a shrink, but they can't make her accept help.

After assisting an officer apprehend the men who broke into her house, witnessing police work first hand, and meeting the woman of her dreams, Jaylynn decides to apply for the Police Academy rather than apply to law school as planned. She feels she can always go back to it after she sees what police work is all about. The rookie excels at the academy and lands a rotation with the veteran cop, who actually requests to be Jaylynn's Field Training Officer. The two women ride together as teacher/student and work extremely well together. They form a friendship in the process, but much to Dez's chagrin, Jaylynn wants more than a working relationship. Jay feels that she has finally found her soul mate even though Dez can be a moody, tough nut to crack. Meanwhile, Dez, scared to death of commitment, pushes the rookie away. Everyone who knows the two, from Luella Williams, Dez's landlady, cook, uniform washer, and surrogate mother, to Jaylynn's best friend and housemate, Sara, can tell there is electricity in the air between the two cops.

Gun Shy is an exciting look at police work through the eyes of police officers who also happen to be lesbians. Lori L. Lake has set a fine precedent with her endearing, witty, action packed story that has plenty of police activity, longing, and romance. It brings to mind one of my favorite TV shows, Cagney and Lacey, a classic 1980's hit about two straight female cops. Gun Shy would be a great model for a contemporary version-two female officers, Reilly and Savage, who not only fight crime, but also have the hots for each other. It would be a big hit too.


Before reading Gun Shy, Ricochet in Time was my favorite book by Lori L. Lake. Her heroines are real, believable, and interesting. What I like most about Lake's writing is that I identify with the characters, even though I lead a different lifestyle. She uses phrases and expressions that I use in daily life. Curling up in bed with a Lake novel is like pulling an all-nighter...laughing, sharing, and gabbing with an old friend. Lake has a way of making the reader fall in love with her characters and really care about them. The reader longs for Dez and Jay to become lovers. I also like how Lake uses the contrary features of her characters to emphasize a point. For example, the dichotomy of Dez: she has white skin and black hair; she is a lion on the outside, and a lamb on the inside; she often comes across as cold hearted on the outside, but she's a warm toasty marshmallow on the inside. Dez is the epitome of the tough cop when she informs Jaylynn that cops don't cry. Jaylynn teaches her that sometimes cops need to cry in order to heal, and that it's ok.

Luella is another great character who is funny, sassy, and provides Dez with more than an affordable place to live-she looks out for her, and treats her like a daughter. She can also whip up a complete hot meal in twenty minutes. Luella is Lake's idea of a "fantasy woman-my own personal chef." If I had a landlady, I'd want her to be just like Luella. Dez reciprocates by doing yard work and repairs around the house, but more ironically, by allowing the older woman to boss her around, when it seems that Dez only takes orders from senior officers. Dez keeps her heart under lock and key, but not with Luella. You can't help but love the reserved cop, especially when you're privy to her vulnerable side. I'm straight and I fell in love with Dez, so I can certainly understand why Jaylynn feels the way she does. Will Dez unlock her heart for Jay? You'll have to read this book to find out.

To say that I enjoyed Gun Shy is an understatement; I loved it. Lori Lake has repeatedly proven herself a noteworthy writer, who I feel will soon find herself in the mainstream market. Currently, she is working on a third book in the Gun series, Have Gun We'll Travel, plus a series of non-gay themed mystery novels. Under the Gun is the sequel to Gun Shy, and I recommend not missing either selection. With an unlimited supply of ideas for novels floating around in her head, Lake's fans will have plenty to read for years to come.