If you're a fan of one-stop shopping, you'll love Black Eagle Force: Eye of the Storm, because this novel has it all: Nail-biting excitement, edge-of-your-seat action, fast-paced drama, and even laugh-out-loud humor. Believable characters, gritty, realistic dialog, and picturesque descriptions that provide a "you are there" sensation that will leave you wanting more. Bravo
Ken and Buck!
Loree Lough, author of 80+ award-winning novels, including From Ashes to Honor [#1 in the First Responders series].
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
EXCERPT from Chapt. 1 of Black Eagle Force - Sacred Mountain.
EAGLE NEST RANCH
SOUTH TEXAS
Ten thousand feet above the Eagle Nest Ranch base for the Black Eagle Force, Jill "Lucky" McElheney with her WSO, Glenn "Bug" Haug, Mike "Cowboy" Hermann and his new WSO, Maria "Double D" Sanchez, were putting their stealthy M600/A Black Eagles through a mock dogfight. Maria was the newest WSO/Pilot to join the Black Eagle Force. She was a five foot, six inch tall beautiful Hispanic woman with long silky black hair. A former Captain in the Marine Corps, she was also a crack F-18A Super Hornet pilot.
The M600/A Skycar®, a four nacelle VTOL, Vertical Take-Off and Landing, craft manufactured by Moller International, had been modified extensively starting with ultra high tech avionics and a stealth coating of multiple layers of a radar deflecting type of Teflon like the F-117 Nighthawk. The Teflon coating had a major difference, however, its final layer was a new clear photo voltaic, color spectrum frequency modulating coating containing chromatophores developed by resident electronic genius design gurus, Blaze Hermann and Gears Formby that could, when electronically activated, change color to match its surroundings like a chameleon. When inert, the M600/A was a flat black, but upon activation, would become a light sky blue when viewed in clear day sky, a dull gray in cloud cover, a dark blackish gray at night or even multicolored digital camo if under 500 feet AGL or on the ground. The sensors covering the entire skin area of the craft decteded the ambient light spectrum and controlled the chromatophores on the opposite side of the craft. The BEF named this new technology, LIZARD in reference to the Chameleon lizard that inspired Blaze and Gears to mimic with their electronic wizardry.
Lightweight Dragonskin armor, composed of silicon carbide ceramic matrices, Graphene sheeting and titanium laminates, were installed inside the aircraft's skin under critical cockpit, avionics and engine nacelle areas. The Skycar® was re-designated as the M600/A Black Eagle by the BEF.
The M600/A was twenty six feet long, fourteen feet wide with the rear nacelles folded up and twenty-two feet wide with the rear nacelles extended. It had a gross weight of 3,800 pounds with eight 1500 cc rotary engines for the four nacelles, developing 170 hp each. A Blaze G2A 7.62 mm six barrel, rapid fire, Laser targeted, electromagnetic coil gun was mounted in center of the aerodynamic nose. Six Griffin LRX 415s missiles on two triple launch pylons flanked by two PAASM, Precision Attack Air-to-Surface Missiles, pylon mounted on top of the rear wing nacelle supports and four AIM 92 Stinger heat seeking air to air missiles were mounted under the front wing nacelle supports. M600/A Black Eagle had a top speed of over 400 mph with a ceiling of 36,000 feet and four passenger capability plus weapons. The fuel cells were self sealing inert foam-filled type bladders under the passenger compartment and gave the craft a range of over 700 miles. M600/A could be in-flight refueled and was a deadly, stealthy combat craft indeed.
As briefed, Jill and Mike closed on each other from a three mile distance at an altitude of eight thousand feet AGL over the Texas brush country just north of the Rio Grande. With a closure rate of eight hundred knots, pilots in each Black Eagle would just barely be able to pick each other up visually as they came together with a hundred feet of planned vertical separation.
"I've got 'em," Mike announced to his WSO.
"Contact," Maria noted as the relayed radar image from the Manta URF circling high above them appeared on the weapons systems display screen. The radar signature of the stealthy Black Eagle craft was less than that of an American Red Breasted Robin. Without a flight information transponder in ON status, neither aircraft would have shown up on the most advanced fighter radars and was visually almost undetectable. Maria called out the range,
"Eight hundred yards and—"
Maria's update was cut off as Jill transmitted over the secure BEF frequency.
"Fight's on!"
Jill pulled back hard on the stick as the two diminutive craft crossed paths in opposite directions, She rolled right and climbed steeply. Both Jill and Glenn strained against the four and one half G acceleration that pressed them hard against the black Recarro leather covered bucket seats. The M-600/As did not have anti-G suit capability like larger active duty fighters. Both fliers tightened their abdominal muscles and performed the visceral "grunt" maneuver like fighter pilots in World War II had learned to do in order to combat the debilitating effects of high G maneuvers.
Mike broke into a hard level right turn as both he and Maria were straining with their heads on a swivel to see where Jill's Black Eagle One had gone. When he finally picked her up, he was dismayed to find her above him and to see she had turned inside his radius, was inverted, pulling down toward his six o'clock for a high angle off shot.
Damn, she's good! Mike thought quickly. He pulled the power back to eighty percent and rolled out of the turn while sharply increasing back pressure to force the nose higher. G forces increased to a full five Gs as airspeed began to fall off quickly.
"Two fifty! Two hundred!" called out a grunting Maria.
Up above in Eagle One, Jill was setting up for a simulated Stinger shot. She concentrated on the HUD display and watched as Eagle Two appeared to rotate almost 90 degrees in a small space on the top of her canopy. Her airspeed hovered around the 300 knots and was starting to climb rapidly when Glenn dryly announced,
"No tone."
Jill didn't respond verbally to the call out. She released back pressure and allowed the small craft to accelerate under zero G conditions as she rolled wings level. Her chance at a missile shot was gone and she only had two or three seconds to put some much needed distance between her and the deadly Laser guided coil gun in Eagle Two.
"Flare, flare," she repeated and Glenn toggled the inert switch twice.
If the combat conditions had been real, two silver cylinders would have been ejected from the top of the fuselage to decoy any heat seeking missile. Each contained a chemical compound which, when activated, oxidized at a temperature of 1100 degrees Celsius. It was well within normal fighter afterburner range, but without the telltale magnesium visual flare to give away the aircraft's position.
In Eagle Two, Mike had pulled the pipper for his Blaze G2A toward the nose of the rapidly disappearing Eagle One. He watched in his HUD as the tiny target jinked up and down to keep him one step behind. Suddenly, Eagle One disappeared.
"Damn, she went LIZARD on us!"
"That's not fair!" Maria exclaimed.
SOUTH TEXAS
Ten thousand feet above the Eagle Nest Ranch base for the Black Eagle Force, Jill "Lucky" McElheney with her WSO, Glenn "Bug" Haug, Mike "Cowboy" Hermann and his new WSO, Maria "Double D" Sanchez, were putting their stealthy M600/A Black Eagles through a mock dogfight. Maria was the newest WSO/Pilot to join the Black Eagle Force. She was a five foot, six inch tall beautiful Hispanic woman with long silky black hair. A former Captain in the Marine Corps, she was also a crack F-18A Super Hornet pilot.
The M600/A Skycar®, a four nacelle VTOL, Vertical Take-Off and Landing, craft manufactured by Moller International, had been modified extensively starting with ultra high tech avionics and a stealth coating of multiple layers of a radar deflecting type of Teflon like the F-117 Nighthawk. The Teflon coating had a major difference, however, its final layer was a new clear photo voltaic, color spectrum frequency modulating coating containing chromatophores developed by resident electronic genius design gurus, Blaze Hermann and Gears Formby that could, when electronically activated, change color to match its surroundings like a chameleon. When inert, the M600/A was a flat black, but upon activation, would become a light sky blue when viewed in clear day sky, a dull gray in cloud cover, a dark blackish gray at night or even multicolored digital camo if under 500 feet AGL or on the ground. The sensors covering the entire skin area of the craft decteded the ambient light spectrum and controlled the chromatophores on the opposite side of the craft. The BEF named this new technology, LIZARD in reference to the Chameleon lizard that inspired Blaze and Gears to mimic with their electronic wizardry.
Lightweight Dragonskin armor, composed of silicon carbide ceramic matrices, Graphene sheeting and titanium laminates, were installed inside the aircraft's skin under critical cockpit, avionics and engine nacelle areas. The Skycar® was re-designated as the M600/A Black Eagle by the BEF.
The M600/A was twenty six feet long, fourteen feet wide with the rear nacelles folded up and twenty-two feet wide with the rear nacelles extended. It had a gross weight of 3,800 pounds with eight 1500 cc rotary engines for the four nacelles, developing 170 hp each. A Blaze G2A 7.62 mm six barrel, rapid fire, Laser targeted, electromagnetic coil gun was mounted in center of the aerodynamic nose. Six Griffin LRX 415s missiles on two triple launch pylons flanked by two PAASM, Precision Attack Air-to-Surface Missiles, pylon mounted on top of the rear wing nacelle supports and four AIM 92 Stinger heat seeking air to air missiles were mounted under the front wing nacelle supports. M600/A Black Eagle had a top speed of over 400 mph with a ceiling of 36,000 feet and four passenger capability plus weapons. The fuel cells were self sealing inert foam-filled type bladders under the passenger compartment and gave the craft a range of over 700 miles. M600/A could be in-flight refueled and was a deadly, stealthy combat craft indeed.
As briefed, Jill and Mike closed on each other from a three mile distance at an altitude of eight thousand feet AGL over the Texas brush country just north of the Rio Grande. With a closure rate of eight hundred knots, pilots in each Black Eagle would just barely be able to pick each other up visually as they came together with a hundred feet of planned vertical separation.
"I've got 'em," Mike announced to his WSO.
"Contact," Maria noted as the relayed radar image from the Manta URF circling high above them appeared on the weapons systems display screen. The radar signature of the stealthy Black Eagle craft was less than that of an American Red Breasted Robin. Without a flight information transponder in ON status, neither aircraft would have shown up on the most advanced fighter radars and was visually almost undetectable. Maria called out the range,
"Eight hundred yards and—"
Maria's update was cut off as Jill transmitted over the secure BEF frequency.
"Fight's on!"
Jill pulled back hard on the stick as the two diminutive craft crossed paths in opposite directions, She rolled right and climbed steeply. Both Jill and Glenn strained against the four and one half G acceleration that pressed them hard against the black Recarro leather covered bucket seats. The M-600/As did not have anti-G suit capability like larger active duty fighters. Both fliers tightened their abdominal muscles and performed the visceral "grunt" maneuver like fighter pilots in World War II had learned to do in order to combat the debilitating effects of high G maneuvers.
Mike broke into a hard level right turn as both he and Maria were straining with their heads on a swivel to see where Jill's Black Eagle One had gone. When he finally picked her up, he was dismayed to find her above him and to see she had turned inside his radius, was inverted, pulling down toward his six o'clock for a high angle off shot.
Damn, she's good! Mike thought quickly. He pulled the power back to eighty percent and rolled out of the turn while sharply increasing back pressure to force the nose higher. G forces increased to a full five Gs as airspeed began to fall off quickly.
"Two fifty! Two hundred!" called out a grunting Maria.
Up above in Eagle One, Jill was setting up for a simulated Stinger shot. She concentrated on the HUD display and watched as Eagle Two appeared to rotate almost 90 degrees in a small space on the top of her canopy. Her airspeed hovered around the 300 knots and was starting to climb rapidly when Glenn dryly announced,
"No tone."
Jill didn't respond verbally to the call out. She released back pressure and allowed the small craft to accelerate under zero G conditions as she rolled wings level. Her chance at a missile shot was gone and she only had two or three seconds to put some much needed distance between her and the deadly Laser guided coil gun in Eagle Two.
"Flare, flare," she repeated and Glenn toggled the inert switch twice.
If the combat conditions had been real, two silver cylinders would have been ejected from the top of the fuselage to decoy any heat seeking missile. Each contained a chemical compound which, when activated, oxidized at a temperature of 1100 degrees Celsius. It was well within normal fighter afterburner range, but without the telltale magnesium visual flare to give away the aircraft's position.
In Eagle Two, Mike had pulled the pipper for his Blaze G2A toward the nose of the rapidly disappearing Eagle One. He watched in his HUD as the tiny target jinked up and down to keep him one step behind. Suddenly, Eagle One disappeared.
"Damn, she went LIZARD on us!"
"That's not fair!" Maria exclaimed.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Black Eagle Force - Sacred Mountain, Excerpt from Chapt. 5
Leroy Poole stopped momentarily in the shadow of a Joshua Tree and switched his HUD to Manta's IR feed. He was pleased with the progress to that point, and determined the range to the objective was slightly less than 400 yards. A click turned the HUD display off and he swung the personal dual function eyepiece into position over his left eye, tapped the control panel and a ten power digital optical image appeared. Leroy turned his head to the compound and scanned it for movement. Seeing none, he slid the monocle out and up into his helmet and started to take a step. A menacing buzz turned his blood to ice and he froze in mid step. Looking down, he saw a six foot Western Diamondback rattler as thick as his arm, coiled and poised to strike. In the bat of an eye, the deadly viper stuck the side of his upraised calf. The two inch long fangs hung in his BDUs as deadly snake venom stained the tan cloth. He grabbed the agitated reptile behind its triangular shaped head and pulled it clear. The big rattler wrapped his body around Leroy's right arm as his left hand reached for the Randall combat knife in his vest. In a flash, the snake head was on the ground with its mouth still open. He wiped the blood off the razor sharp blade on the snake's body, slid the knife back into its leather scabbard, unwound the still writhing body and dropped it to the ground.
"Thank you Jesus," Leroy said softly as he gave thanks for his impenetrable Graphene full body suit underneath his BDUs.
Posted by co-author, Ken Farmer
www.blackeagleforce.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Eagle-Force/145501815492119
"Thank you Jesus," Leroy said softly as he gave thanks for his impenetrable Graphene full body suit underneath his BDUs.
Posted by co-author, Ken Farmer
www.blackeagleforce.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Eagle-Force/145501815492119
Monday, April 11, 2011
EXCERPT from Chapt. 12 of Black Eagle Force - Eye of the Storm.
Mama Bird was backed into the big central hanger, her rear ramp down at the edge of the big aircraft elevator. Loadmasters were reloading the new M200/A. Jill and Mike were watching with Kit.
"So that's the new fast fighter. Just nose gun, right?" she asked Kit.
"Yep, do over five hundred knots with that fifth nacelle. And with the new coil gun, it'll be like having both cannon and a multiple shot laser guided LAW with twenty times the penetration power. It's a bad dude."
"I guess I'll get to practice flying that little puppy while we're on USS Iwo Jima."
"You guess right. And you'll be in command of the Iwo unit,"
"Do my best," said Jill.
"I know you will," responded Kit.
Mike and Jill embraced.
"Watch your six, girl," Mike said as they hugged.
"I've done this before, Cowboy, you watch yours."
The Loadmasters reloaded the four newly modified M600/A Skycars® back into the massive cargo bay of the C-5M and then closed the ramp.
***
http://www.blackeagleforce.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Eagle-Force/145501815492119 Fan page.
"So that's the new fast fighter. Just nose gun, right?" she asked Kit.
"Yep, do over five hundred knots with that fifth nacelle. And with the new coil gun, it'll be like having both cannon and a multiple shot laser guided LAW with twenty times the penetration power. It's a bad dude."
"I guess I'll get to practice flying that little puppy while we're on USS Iwo Jima."
"You guess right. And you'll be in command of the Iwo unit,"
"Do my best," said Jill.
"I know you will," responded Kit.
Mike and Jill embraced.
"Watch your six, girl," Mike said as they hugged.
"I've done this before, Cowboy, you watch yours."
The Loadmasters reloaded the four newly modified M600/A Skycars® back into the massive cargo bay of the C-5M and then closed the ramp.
***
http://www.blackeagleforce.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Eagle-Force/145501815492119 Fan page.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Notes on the value of our money
Noting that my silver investments are rising rapidly, I'd like to point out a little history lesson and use the Colt Single Action Army as a teaching tool.The venerable Frontier Six Shooter, as it is also called, is familiar to anyone who has ever watched a cowboy movie set after 1873. One of Samuel Colt's most famous and iconic weapons, it has been in production for over 138 years. It has undergone three major changes, but the current model has persisted in its current form for many decades.In the 1939 catalog I have in my gun shop, the basic revolver sold for $37.50. In 1969, two years before Richard Nixon took America of the Gold Standard, it retailed for $160. Today, in 2011, the retail cost is $1569.54 for the SAME GUN. What is going on?
The Federal Reserve a private bank set up set up America's Fiscal Policy, creates money out of thin air by writing a hot check to the US Treasury who then cranks up the printing presses and makes TRILLION$$$ of dollars worth of new US currency. These paper notes, called Federal Reserve notes, are loaned to member banks at ridiculously low (read nothing) interests rates. The problem is that, with fiat currency, there is no underlying "real" money in the US vault (Ft Knox , Kentucky) to back the new currency. In the old days, pre- 1971, you held a Silver Certificate in your hands, and could present it to the US treasury for real currency, ie silver bullion or coins. Today you can't. The result is your dollars held in savings, the money you invest for you retirement and so forth is worth less. Far less in fact.
I'm 62 years old. When I was a kid in Houston, Texas my favorite candy bar was the four oz Baby Ruth. I would hop my bike and ride a half mile to a tiny little neighborhood store and buy one - for 6 cents. At convenience stores today, the same bar bring $1.79. At ten years old, I made extra money pulling handbills on every screen door on a mile long street. I would walk up one side and back down the other, with my only concern a could German Shepherd dogs who occasionally jumped a three foot chain link fence and try to bite me. I love dogs but those Shepherds got my handbill bag slung against their barking heads when they got out and made their run at me. For an hours work , I was paid $1.00. Six years later, I made$1.50 and hour on a construction crew in Houston. Married guys with two kids made $1.65, cause they had been there for years.
I was sick of school, but that experience lead me to decide to get a college degree. (Actually two : Engineering management , Farm and ranch management with a couple minors in Psychology and Economics)
So what have we learned today? Besides child labor doesn't pay. We learned that Quantitative Easing (Called QE) by the federal reserve is not a good thing. Printing more paper money without gold or silver in the bank is diluting the value of the money in existence. If you did what the Fed and the Treasure Department do, they would jail you for check kiting and counter-fitting. Those practices are bad, from an individual or a government. The government can rig the Consumer Price index to tell you there is no inflation, but you don't have to take my word for it. Look at the Gas pump. Read the news. Is Oil high ? Is Silver high? Is Gold high? The honest answer is no, they are not rising. The dollar is falling , and fast. In 1990, a dollar bought 118 Yen.
Today you get 84. Pay attention and protect yourself. Read more and learn more.
Buck Stienke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Eagle-Force/145501815492119
http://www.blackeagleforce.com
The Federal Reserve a private bank set up set up America's Fiscal Policy, creates money out of thin air by writing a hot check to the US Treasury who then cranks up the printing presses and makes TRILLION$$$ of dollars worth of new US currency. These paper notes, called Federal Reserve notes, are loaned to member banks at ridiculously low (read nothing) interests rates. The problem is that, with fiat currency, there is no underlying "real" money in the US vault (Ft Knox , Kentucky) to back the new currency. In the old days, pre- 1971, you held a Silver Certificate in your hands, and could present it to the US treasury for real currency, ie silver bullion or coins. Today you can't. The result is your dollars held in savings, the money you invest for you retirement and so forth is worth less. Far less in fact.
I'm 62 years old. When I was a kid in Houston, Texas my favorite candy bar was the four oz Baby Ruth. I would hop my bike and ride a half mile to a tiny little neighborhood store and buy one - for 6 cents. At convenience stores today, the same bar bring $1.79. At ten years old, I made extra money pulling handbills on every screen door on a mile long street. I would walk up one side and back down the other, with my only concern a could German Shepherd dogs who occasionally jumped a three foot chain link fence and try to bite me. I love dogs but those Shepherds got my handbill bag slung against their barking heads when they got out and made their run at me. For an hours work , I was paid $1.00. Six years later, I made$1.50 and hour on a construction crew in Houston. Married guys with two kids made $1.65, cause they had been there for years.
I was sick of school, but that experience lead me to decide to get a college degree. (Actually two : Engineering management , Farm and ranch management with a couple minors in Psychology and Economics)
So what have we learned today? Besides child labor doesn't pay. We learned that Quantitative Easing (Called QE) by the federal reserve is not a good thing. Printing more paper money without gold or silver in the bank is diluting the value of the money in existence. If you did what the Fed and the Treasure Department do, they would jail you for check kiting and counter-fitting. Those practices are bad, from an individual or a government. The government can rig the Consumer Price index to tell you there is no inflation, but you don't have to take my word for it. Look at the Gas pump. Read the news. Is Oil high ? Is Silver high? Is Gold high? The honest answer is no, they are not rising. The dollar is falling , and fast. In 1990, a dollar bought 118 Yen.
Today you get 84. Pay attention and protect yourself. Read more and learn more.
Buck Stienke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Eagle-Force/145501815492119
http://www.blackeagleforce.com
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Interview with Ken Farmer & Buck Stienke.
Check out this new interview with Ken and Buck.
http://manuelmarino.com/movies-teleplays-and-a-brilliant-novel/
http://manuelmarino.com/movies-teleplays-and-a-brilliant-novel/
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