George MacDonald Fraser’s series of novels about his infamous anti-hero Harry Paget Flashman are thought-provoking, educational, thrilling and most especially – gloriously dark-humored.
Collectively referred to as The Flashman Papers, the books are DEFINITELY for adults only and not just because of the raucous sexual escapades of the main character. The historical and philosophical themes explored are not for the squeamish nor the simple-mindedly outraged.
Fraser’s first Harry Flashman novel appeared in 1969, the same year as the American novel Little Big Man. The two books are similar in approach since they both depict a main character who gets caught up in a series of historical adventures involving Great Events and Great Figures with the events being looked at in a critical light and the figures largely lampooned.
In the case of Harry Flashman, however, the adventures are much more detailed because Fraser used an entire series of novels. (The 4th book in the series, not the 1st, is my Number One listing) Flashman himself is amoral, ruthless and driven largely by his lust for loot and sex.
And therein lies the genius of Fraser’s writing: the reader is permitted to feel THEIR OWN outrage over the atrocities depicted in the novels. There are no shrill lectures in the narrative, just an often bleak backdrop in which the misdeeds of history’s Great Names often make Harry Flashman’s mere monetary and carnal pursuits look almost noble by comparison.
Flashman himself often brings to mind James Garner’s slick-talking gambler/ gunslinger Bret Maverick from 1950s television. Like Maverick, Harry Flashman proudly calls himself a coward who tries to avoid violence and thrives on trying to con or outsmart his adversaries rather than fight them. (But he often winds up having to fight them anyway.)
And like Maverick, the needs of adventure fiction eventually make the claims of cowardice wear thin because – no matter how reluctantly – both Harry and Bret always wind up in situations requiring conduct above and beyond the call. But when it comes to underhandedness “Ol’ Flash Harry” beats Maverick hands-down. Continue reading
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS UBER ALLES – The Democrats very recently brought about a government shutdown on behalf of their beloved illegal immigrants from Mexico. Tone-deaf as ever, the members of DemCorp were stunned by how unpopular that move was and quickly surrendered. 
F.B.I. – FELONIOUS BARACK’S INQUISITORS – Every day more and more information emerges about the illegal way Obama’s politicized FBI functioned as a pro-Hillary sabotage operation during and after the 2016 presidential election. 
THE CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT (1977) – With the latest revelations about blatant abuses by the FBI and other politicized agencies here’s Robert Ludlum’s novel about the dangers of such abuses by BOTH the left and the right. There are Deep State operatives and an ugly “we know best” mentality like in today’s headlines. (Think of fascist garbage like the CIA’s John Brennan.) 
Chancellor’s notoriety also means he gets a lot of conspiracy kooks feeding him “tips” about supposedly real intrigues of varying degrees of believability. Hey, there was no Internet yet, so what do you expect? 
Instead, I’ll deal with the secondary but more active villains: a group of high-level conspirators who go by the code name …
Such obsessed loons spend most of their time filing complaints or hitting the “report abuse” button every time someone beats them in an argument. Such people also try to play with every word that is written by people they don’t agree with, just so they can pretend that splitting hairs over an irrelevant choice of wording means that the other person is “lying” or “wrong.” 
USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association) – 1. FLORIDA NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CONQUISTADORS ### 2. ILLINOIS TECH SCARLET HAWKS ### 3. UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT FORT KENT BENGALS ### 4. OAKWOOD UNIVERSITY AMBASSADORS ### 5. FLORIDA COLLEGE FALCONS ### 
6. SUNY-CANTON KANGAROOS ### 7. WASHINGTON ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY SHOCK ### 8. BLUEFIELD STATE BIG B’s ### 9. NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS ### 10. UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS PATRIOTS ### 
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that I’m an atheist but there is no denying that Islam – the religion founded by the blood-soaked child rapist named Muhammad – is the most homophobic, misogynistic and otherwise intolerant religion in the world right now.
THE ARCTIC DEATH (1927) – Written by Wilford Allen, On A Far World, covered below, was a prequel to this same tale. The Arctic Death is set in the 1930s, which was “the near future” when the story was first published. 
