Sundown (Necon Modern Horror Book 10)

There was a disembodied head that lived on top of the radiator in my bedroom, but only at night. There were things in the shadows in the basement that had no form but were just as happy to catch you and chew you up. It really depends on the story, the market, and my mood when I come up with an idea. More often than not, I write horror that is more character-driven and introspective. That said, I can write— and have written— slam-bam, action-packed horror, too, when that seems to suit the story. Who are some of your influences? In looking back, it seems most if not all the Alfred Hitchcock stories were penned by men.

From what I can tell, The Twilight Zone comics were written and illustrated by men. They seemed like an afterthought among all the male authors. I guess I was more about what made an engaging, terrifying, story rather than if the author was male or female. I started writing very early… stories were inside me that needed to be told. These days, more women are writing horror than when I was growing up.

Or at least more are being published than when I was growing up. I think there will always be more men in the field, though, because I think men generally are more interested in horror than women. Many more men friends do. But because fewer women are in the field, they do tend to get overlooked more often.

Their works are deep, thought-provoking, memorable, gritty, and scary as all hell. These women deserve more bookshelf space. I also have short stories out in the magazine Dark Discoveries 25 and the anthology Shadow Masters. My website has more listings: Sometimes we have to look beyond what publishers push and promote to find other gems among the offerings.

They are there, and they may be the surprise we were looking for.

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He first rose to prominence in the early 's as Budget Director for the Reagan White House, where he arrived with a sharp mind and bright eyes, hoping to serve the cause of honest budgeting among ideological soulmates. What he found instead was an administration that had been hijacked by budget busters on all sides: It was, paradoxically, the Reagan administration that gave rise to the belief that "deficits don't matter", a notion that has metathesized into a lethal mantra now three decades later in the era of Barak Obama.

Stockman believes that the combination of costly imperial overreach and the Ponzi-scheme financial logic inherent in the structure of social entitlement programs has now taken America to a point of no return. The colossal rickety machine continues to lumber along only because the Fed manages the funding cost through interest rate suppression. And that lasts only so long as foreigners go on buying the bonds needed to fund the deficits.

These days are now numbered. And because America had led the world since World War II, its other major economies, including China's, have fallen in line behind us as we all descend into the same treacherous dysfunction. The crack-up, when it comes, will be global. Following his rancorous split with Reagan, Stockman found his way to Wall Street, of all places, like an honest priest stumbling into a brothel.

He then wound up at a private equity firm, no doubt initially believing in that industry's self-defining mission of strengthening free enterprise by ridding companies of waste. What he found himself doing instead was taking control of vulnerable businesses, stripping them of resources, loading them up with unsustainable debt burdens, and plotting profitable exit strategies for himself and his partners.

At one point he was even personally indicted for fraud, and while the charges were eventually deemed groundless and dropped, the former divinity student has to have begun questioning the road he had taken in life. Traumatized by experience, he moved on to become a full time financial writer' He now declaims to us like Cassandra wailing from the top of the temple stairs in doomed Troy. In the bitterly partisan climate of contemporary America, Stockman is refreshingly non-partisan as he slams with equal virulence politicians of both major parties. He despises Richard Nixon for destroying sound money with his decision.

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He holds George W. Bush in even lower regard for accelerating the fiscal doomsday clock by embracing big government, costly military entanglements and lower taxes for rich people all at the same time. Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton actually get off with a lighter touch, since Stockman credits them with at least a modicum of respect for fiscal prudence. Barak Obama, however, is another story altogether, as he has doubled down with the hated Keynesian poison since the day he came into office.

There are, in my judgment, stylistic problems with Stockman's writing. He's shrill and grossly repetitive, and he probably could have covered the ground nicely in this book in half of its pages. He writes in the rolling cadences of an angry prophet, and he at times allows passion to outrun his logic. This book is full of facts and figures, but apparently not wanting footnotes to slow him down, Stockman provides not a single one.

Still, I've learned to trust him, and I find most of his case compelling, despite his exaggerations, his unwillingness to see much good or wisdom in anyone, or his inability to offer practical solutions to the problem he describes. His last chapter is entitled "Sundown In America", which strikes me as far too peaceful a metaphor for the explosive picture he paints in this book.

Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. David Stockman believes that our economy is almost past the point of no return. With a staggering federal debt and a deficit that keeps rising, he considers our economy to be a "setting sun" economy- our best days are behind us. But there's still hope, it's not too late to turn it around.

The book starts off with details on how, in the past, the banks leveraged capital and how their methods of investment were contingent on a constant upward spiral of success. He goes on to talk about how the fed propped Wall Street up with hopes of creating wealth through the stock market and that he believes they have overstepped their bounds.

He criticizes Greenspan for his fiscal policies and compares that bubble to the one we are in today. Most of the book talks about the past and how we can relate it to the present and what we can learn from the mistakes made by our predecessors. The facts and statistics he presents show that the "too big to fail" ideology adopted by the government was incorrect and in fact, many of the companies that received bailouts had sufficient assets to fend for themselves.

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Using AIG as an example, he outlines the overall sector's strengths and weakness during the crash of He asserts that during times of financial crisis, such as the crash of , companies would inaccurately portray sales in order to make their company appear more valuable. Highly critical of the Fed, many of his opinions are based around failures of the federal government to correctly manage the economy. Most of the time, he believes that their attempts to bolster the economy stem from pressure from business, rich people, or other government entities.

He takes the reader through all of the United States' bubbles since before the Great Depression and explains the causes of each one. According to his statistics, most of the bubbles were caused by the Fed unnecessarily pumping money into the economy.

He believes Bernanke and Obama are merely buying borrowed time with borrowed money. The most interesting parts are when he quotes grim situations which highlight the depth of corruption in the government and big banks. In one instance, during the financial crisis of , the Chairperson of the FDIC was "rarely consulted" and when she was, she was commanded: Generally, the government was unable to give reasons because they were acting on the whim of large banks. In another story, a head government official recounts the CEO of Goldman Sachs coercing him into providing the banks with bailout, lest their be dire consequences.

The book has many shocking stories such as these. Each uncovers a different piece of corruption that, when added up, reveals a frightening picture of our government today. It was VERY detailed. There were countless facts and statistics to support his arguments and viewpoints.

It provided a good snapshot into the inner workings of politics and government monetary policy.

He provided factual stories and quotes throughout the book. He focused on many of the large power-players in our economy and their roles in the financial crashes. The book tended to jump from time period to time period. One moment it's about the Great Depression, and the next, it's current.

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It can make it difficult to follow at times. It also makes it difficult to review. It can be repetitive.

Many of the things are said more than once or they are just reworded. It's a bit dry. Even with the stories and shocking data, I still found it hard to concentrate. See all reviews. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway. The Corruption of Capitalism in America. Set up a giveaway. Customers who viewed this item also viewed.

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