Dennis Latham: Life, Fiction, and the Pursuit of Madness

Don't swim where you are a top snack on the menu. There is background for me in seeing this movie. It is based on a novel by a writer named Steve Alten. In 1995, we had the same agent in Los Angeles, Ken Atchity. Doubleday published a review copy of Steve's novel Meg. Ken Atchity asked me to look at the review copy from an editing point of view. The computer spelling correction program Doubleday used made a ton of mistakes, and I suggested other brevity changes. The book came out to limited success, and was not made into a movie until now. I'm glad it made it to the screen. The movie is nothing like the original book, but was based on its concept. If you had read the original Jaws, which was a lousy book that had to be rewritten a zillion times, you would realize the movie made everyone afraid of swimming in the ocean forever (except for crazy people). I no longer go out over my knees. I like my limbs too much.  The Meg  is like Jaws in that respect. Something 75...

On the list of most dangerous jobs. The 5 Most Dangerous Jobs In America 1. Police Officer (Job was always dangerous but has now made it to the top of the list as criminal behavior, terrorism, and anarchy are the new norm for some people .) 2. Preacher Wife (Being the wife of a preacher has a high mortality rate, an unusual number of preacher wives die under mysterious circumstances, disappear, or are  murdered. Women: think twice before you marry that smooth talking preacher. When he gets a jealous woman on the side, known as a *THOT, your days are numbered.  Start sleeping with a gun.) 3. Dog Ball Checker (Indiana has a dog ball tax, 2.00 for female dogs and 4.00 for male dogs, paid yearly. If you lie and get caught, you can be charged with perjury for not claiming dogs or lying about gender. Someone has to check dog balls in every county. Since dogs don't like strangers checking their balls without a fight, this is a very dangerous jo...

The government spent 500,000 dollars to see if shrimp get tired on treadmills It didn't matter. They just printed the money. There Is No Real Deficit I've never heard anyone say: "I better hold back some of my money to help pay the deficit." Did anyone ever tell you they had dreams about the deficit? Yet, all you ever hear about from politicians is the deficit, like we should be concerned.  There is no deficit.  We just print more money. When Nixon took us off the gold standard and nothing backed our money up that's when real corruption began.  The Social Security Fund hasn't existed since President Johnson took the money during Vietnam. It's just another tax. How can you run out of money for an account that doesn't exist? How can you have a deficit when you print your own money? The Federal Reserve and the government tax us on money they print and pay themselves back with interest on money they print. They don't really ...

This VC Flag made on rice paper. I've had it since 1967. In Vietnam we had the Phantom Jet for close air support. While on operations, the jets would drop bombs in front of us, especially, if we were about to enter a Viet Cong village or enemy soldiers were in the open. Close air support was often an understatement. The pilots had to be good to keep from killing us along with the enemy. The Phantom would scream over, tilt up and drop a 500 pound bomb that looked like a wobbling cigar. A black smoke cloud would rise, and then the shock wave, a living thing, would ripple outward. You could see it coming, like an ocean wave, right before you heard the heart rate altering blast. Then shrapnel would patter down on your head, often mixed with minute fragments of anything else the bomb destroyed, including people. It was the only time I ever felt sorry for the enemy; humans should never be exposed to such destructive power. That's how I got the paper VC flag in the picture...

(This entry has had a lot of comments, and I'm glad it can help bring Nam vets together or to help find each other. If you have a comment, please attach your name to the comment or from this point forward it won't be published. I've received many comments that are phony and obviously made up, submitted by anonymous submission. I do screen all comments. Click the photo to enlarge. Semper Fi.) This is the Liberty Bridge (click to make larger) in Quang Nam Province in Vietnam during July of 1968. Of the 14,000 Marines killed in Vietnam, 10,000 were killed in Quang Nam Province. (Figures in comment section show a little under 7000 KIA in Quang Nam.) This was late in my tour on July 2. The bridge had been blown once again by the enemy to isolate the Marine base at An Hoa. I was a 50 caliber machine gunner on a convoy to resupply the An Hoa Firebase. I called this the River Styx because it had a ferry boat. Once you crossed the river you entered a nightmare hell on earth cal...

The end of an era? New Year's Resolutions This year I'm once again on New Years...giving up skydiving, rock climbing, any Alfredo sauce, alcohol, watching all pro football, peeing outside, and most gambling. It's a tough call. And since I'm a man, keeping my hand away from my crotch. (Back in the 50s that's all we had to play with most of the time.)  Tough habits to break.

A typical Sunnyvale resident back in the days I spent there. He never attended groups because he would sit on his own face. Written at Sunnyvale Mental Rehab in Fermonga, Ohio. A Short Excerpt From A Book You'll Never Read Chapter 41 Vito Nazarini and Monk Spitzanelli watched as the man they were supposed to kill stepped from a parked car. In a moment, they were at his side. "Hey, Frankie," Vito said to the victim. "Big Elmo says dat you is supposed to take a ride wit us, ha-ha." Frankie Garbaroni knew his executioners well, and though trapped with two ice picks jabbing his back, he had a plan. "Big Elmo who?" Frankie said. Vito and Monk looked at each other, and Frankie knew their limited third grade education might save his life. "Frankie, you know who it is," Monk said. "Big Elmo Maraconzon, uh, Maracuzzo, uh, you tella him, Vito." "Hell, Monk, I can't a pronounce dat nam...

New for handgunners: Extend your pistol accuracy with the Latham bipod The Latham Bipod Christmas Special You may have heard about it, but probably not because most people wouldn't dream of owning a bipod for their pistol. But marksman Dennis Latham has the answer with this general purpose fold up bipod that slips easily in your pocket or on a belt loop. In the picture above, Cecil Pettigrew, is seen holding a derringer equipped with the Latham bipod system. "I just clamp that sucker on there and have increased my effective range from eight feet to up to twelve feet. It's enough to save your life in a bad situation like a bar fight or church Bingo." Hardcore critics argue that the concept of a bipod on a derringer is ridiculous, and by the time a right handed shooter put it in place and balanced the bipod on the left forearm (from Latham instruction manual), the shooter would probably already be shot by the bad guy. Plus, it looks like a cheap rifle bip...

As soon as I find the missing manuscript, I'll write some more on the tales of Guilford. But until then, a Guilford Santa may be coming your way. From my King of Guilford...or is it fiction? Hire a Guilford Santa This Year...or maybe not.

This picture makes about as much sense as the logic behind this story. Give Us Your Muskets Last Night on Fox News I saw a guy who represented some anti-gun group led by Gabby Gifford. They want to ban muzzle-loaders as weapons of mass destruction. They claim that equipping a muzzle-loader with a silencer will make someone able to become a mass shooter. They don't care that a silencer does not completely muffle a gunshot or doesn't make sense to put a silencer on a powder flintlock. They don't care that it is a single shot cap and ball weapon. They don't care or understand that it takes at least a minute or two between each shot to rig a muzzle-loader to fire again, making it the least likely to be a weapon of any kind of mass destruction. All they care about is trying to regulate the deadly muzzle-loader because it fires a .50 caliber ball. Next they will ban any mention of the Revolutionary War in schools as evil because of muskets. I can see it no...

    Bizarre stories from the alternative reality. © Copyright 2000 by Dennis Latham From the story collection Sudden Victims 2008 Originally published in Gothic.net   Squeeze After the court hearing, Gina seemed on edge during the ride to dinner. She had changed during our six-month separation. The gray streaks had been dyed black, and she wore bright red lipstick. A green dress, cinched tight at the waist by a thin green belt, accented her weight loss and made her eyes bright emeralds. "You look a lot younger."             She stared out the passenger window. "So do you, Michael."             "Younger?"             "Full of yourself." She glanced at me before turning away.             "Thanks. I guess your new lover bends to your every need."           I realized then how much she had wa...

The Haunted Dining Room. The Spirits On Vacation Nothing new to report this week. All the spirits in our house have been quiet for weeks. They do that at times, and just when we think they are gone they will show up again. Our dining room is like a train station for the other side. It fills up at times, and then empties out for awhile.  I wake up early, but I never get up between 3 and 4 am if I can help it. I believe there is more activity during this time. Everything with ghosts seems to happen around the number 3. Has to do with the Holy Trinity. I believe it. We have had too much going on here over the years to deny it.

After Marine Corps Boot Camp and ITR (me on left, my sister, and my adopted brother Little Joe). On leave (age 20) right before we went to Vietnam in 1967. We survived, but we believed back then we would probably die in Vietnam. Kill, Kill, Kill I had been in boot camp at San Diego for probably six weeks. I'm not quite sure how long because the constant torment days ran into each other and one was like the next. I had even gotten a Dear John letter from my girlfriend about the third week into boot camp and I just shrugged and tossed it. I was in enough trouble just trying to deal with boot camp. I couldn't worry about what might be my last relationship before getting buffed or shot up in a war.  We were running for miles close to dusk, as we usually did. I hated running. The DI would count cadence by chanting and making us answer or repeat what he said. That was a constant.  His favorite was the "What are we going to do to the Viet Cong?" We would y...

After 70 years, each person should be allowed to make some observations on life and current events. Seventy doesn't seem that old, but I've reached the point where I know more dead people than I do live people. The belief for men is that if you make it out of the 50s, you have a good chance of reaching 80 or beyond. That remains to be seen. I also did some quotes at age 60. A few remain the same. In case I don't make it anywhere close to my century mark, here are a few of my quotes about life and current events taken from my vast experience of having survived (as the Indians would say) 70 snows. I feel like an old Indian Chief in many ways. I can imagine how the old chiefs felt giving advice to young warriors to avoid their coming destruction at the hands of foreign invaders. The young people listen and nod and think it never could happen, just before they run off to their doom. On Credit Cards "When people used to ask me if I worried about credit card the...