Meet the Neighbor
While quite a few people stop by Simple Justice to see whether there's anything here worth a few minutes of their time, some have become regular readers and commenters, offering much to the mix of interest. Some are lawyers, like me, who either want to add their two cents or take me to task for what I've written. But others are people of a higher order, thinkers extraordinaire of far greater accomplishment than just working in the trenches of the courthouse. It's time for you to meet one.
Jdog is the name he uses most often when commenting here, though regulars know him to be Joel Rosenberg. Yes, he's that Joel Rosenberg, renown author of 23 fiction novels, gun enthusiast and certified firearms instructor, supporter of good cops and irascible critic of police impropriety. For a hack writer like me to have someone of such stature spend a few minutes of his time reading my drivel is an immense honor.
Joel makes no bones about his not being a "law talking guy," but on the other hand offers insights far beyond the common man. Joel's insights have provided a master class in understanding where the law succeeds, and fails miserably. And they are invariably presented with wit and humor that challenges the reader far beyond the facial understanding of his words. Don't be fooled by his self-effacing manner, his backdoor "I dunno's." He knows.
So let's get to know Jdog.
The very embodiment of the warrier-philosopher, with a fashion sense all his own, Jdog has done it all.
And if that wasn't enough, Joel has dedicated his spare time to the special use training of small animals, making both safety and that special sense of unquestioning devotion available to everyone, no matter what their disability.
While writing this blawg may be a matter of personal pride and pleasure for me, having a regular reader and commenter like Joel Rosenberg brings a dimension of thoughtfulness, intelligence and proper firearms handling that makes this effort truly worthwhile.
Thanks for hanging out here, Jdog, and for all you bring to the conversation.
Jdog is the name he uses most often when commenting here, though regulars know him to be Joel Rosenberg. Yes, he's that Joel Rosenberg, renown author of 23 fiction novels, gun enthusiast and certified firearms instructor, supporter of good cops and irascible critic of police impropriety. For a hack writer like me to have someone of such stature spend a few minutes of his time reading my drivel is an immense honor.
Joel makes no bones about his not being a "law talking guy," but on the other hand offers insights far beyond the common man. Joel's insights have provided a master class in understanding where the law succeeds, and fails miserably. And they are invariably presented with wit and humor that challenges the reader far beyond the facial understanding of his words. Don't be fooled by his self-effacing manner, his backdoor "I dunno's." He knows.
So let's get to know Jdog.
The very embodiment of the warrier-philosopher, with a fashion sense all his own, Jdog has done it all.
Joel Rosenberg was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in 1954 and was raised in eastern North Dakota and northern Connecticut. He attended the University of Connecticut, where he met and married Felicia Herman (commonly referred to as SWMBO).
Joel's occupations, before settling down to writing full-time, have run the usual gamut, including driving a truck, caring for the institutionalized retarded blind, bookkeeping, gambling, motel desk-clerking, and a two-week stint of passing himself off as a head chef.
Joel's first sale, an op-ed piece favoring nuclear power, was published in The New York Times. His stories have appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Perpetual Light, Amazing Science Fiction Stories, and TSR's The Dragon. His novels have been published by Roc, Avon, Berkley, Tor and Baen Books. He is also the author of Everything You Need to Know About (Legally) Carrying a Handgun In Minnesota and is an A.A.C.F.I and N.R.A certified firearms instructor.
Joel's hobbies include backgammon, poker, bridge, as well as cooking; his broiled butterfly leg of lamb has to be tasted to be believed.
Not to be limited by the published tome, Joel is a contributor to the brilliant blog, WindyPundit, maintains his LiveJournal, a forum at his Twin Cities Carry website, and, lest anybody mistakenly think Joel takes himself too seriously, two websites that show his kinder, gentler side: I can haz gun permit and Jew with a Gun:
And if that wasn't enough, Joel has dedicated his spare time to the special use training of small animals, making both safety and that special sense of unquestioning devotion available to everyone, no matter what their disability.
While writing this blawg may be a matter of personal pride and pleasure for me, having a regular reader and commenter like Joel Rosenberg brings a dimension of thoughtfulness, intelligence and proper firearms handling that makes this effort truly worthwhile.
Thanks for hanging out here, Jdog, and for all you bring to the conversation.
Thank you Joel/Jdog!
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I knew from following the link from "Jdog"'s name in past comment threads that Joel Rosenberg was a Jew with a Gun, but I didn't know any of this other interesting stuff. Although personally I share his affinity for poker and fantasy literature (albeit as a consumer rather than producer), it's the involvement in special use training of small animals for people with disabilities that I find particularly revealing. Thanks for being a good neighbor jdog.
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I meant this reply to be in another post. I don't know how to delete it.
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That's kind of the story of my life.
Seriously: thanks, Scott. I'm speechless.
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Yes, but does he have an elegant, classic British sports car?
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Cars do not impress Jdog.
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True. But people being into stuff -- whether or not it's stuff I'm into -- and knowing a lot about said stuff very much does. (I think it comes with the trade; don't know an SF writer who doesn't like to listen to shop talk, even if it's foreign shop talk.)
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Most of the titles in the bibliography and the publication of the short story in TSR's The Dragon (familiar to me from my D&D playing days) suggest more of a fantasy genre than SF, though I see you've written in both as well as other genres. I just ordered on Amazon a volume of the first 3 books in the Guardian of the Flame series, which got an average 4.5-5.0 stars from numerous reviewers. It's been a long time since I've read a good fantasy novel, and I'm looking forward to it.
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As to the second: thanks; as to the first: true. I don't see SF/Fantasy as particularly disparate.
(Steve Stirling was once kind enough to say, "looks like you started out trying to be Heinlein and ended up as Sabatini." Which is true enough, if you're grading on the curve -- "Not Really the Prisoner of Zenda" and the other "Not ...." books were really far more influenced Sabatini (particularly St. Martin's Summer, which is appallingly hard to find) than Dumas or Hope.)
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For some reason I've never gotten into SF per se, other than a little Vernor Vinge. I've never read Heinlein, e.g., though I think I should give it a shot. On the other hand, back in the day I read all the Conan books and all the Elric books, etc., so the premise of the Guardian of the Flame series looks pretty cool to me.
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Actually, I have no idea whether you'd want your novels to be associated here with Conan. As I recall the books were better than the movie, but I should have said I read all the Tolkien books and am therefore looking forward to reading yours
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I love the Conan books; they're lots and lots of fun.
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Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
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I don't think so, but he does have a really big gun.
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Depends, I guess. Largest I've got is 629 -- 5" .44 Magnum. Kinda dwarfed by one friend's Serbu BFG. ("BFG" is an anagram for "Very Large Firearm." It's basically a plains varmint-hunting gun, very useful if you've got an infestation of Woolly Mammoths on your property, but otherwise just a toy that makes great big bangs.)
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Uh huh. Well, you're talking about firearms, then.
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Morris is cool, by the way.
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It's how you use it. Plus a safe gun is a gun pointed in a safe direction. Right Jdog?
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Well, yeah. The whole "safe direction" thing is remarkably simple and straightforward, most of the time, but there are, alas, folks whose clueservers are permanently set on A)bort, R)etry or I)gnore.
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That was cool. It's fun to get a fuller picture of someone after having read/seen/interacted with them online.
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Important safety tip: If you're searching on Google or Amazon, do not confuse Joel "Jdog" Rosenberg with a pretender named Joel C. Rosenberg, who writes political/religious books about the middle east. Reading one of Joel C's books when you were expecting Jdog could cause brain damage. Also, Jdog hates it when you confuse him with the other guy, and you wouldn't want to piss off Jdog.
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Well, that's true. I might write a stinging comment, and those can be awfully painful, I hear.
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Absolutely - a pleasure to tweet with and always an unusual take on life and events..... Jew with a Gun and the accompanying graphics - surreally perfect!
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On the recommendations of Scott Greenfield and Mark Bennett, Joel Rosenberg has agreed to host Blawg Review on November 16th, 2009. There's a hook. Nov 17th is the day the NRA was formed, but that's not the only reason Jdog was chosen to host Blawg Review on that particular day. Here's the theme: Large-breasted American women who love to shoot BFGs.
[Ed. note: Theme has been amended to reflect Jdog's slight change in direction of BR.]
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There's actually a whole genre of videos of hot women in (at most) minimal clothing firing full-auto weapons. At least, I think some of them may have been holding something other other; I guess I'll have to go watch a few more to make sure.
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On the recommendations of Scott Greenfield and Mark Bennett, Joel Rosenberg has agreed to host Blawg Review on November 16th, 2009. There's a hook. Nov 17th is the day the NRA was formed, but that's not the only reason Jdog was chosen to host Blawg Review on that particular day. Here's the theme: Large-breasted American women who love to shoot BFGs.
It's nice to know that whatever I write in BR on November 2 will be very quickly forgotten.
At least someone might be able to topple Colin Samuels from his throne.
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While there have been some monumental duds, there have also been a few remarkably good BRs (always including yours, of course). But will Jdog toppled King Colin? Well, that's yet to be seen. Of course, he has yet to play the big breast card.
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Of course, he has yet to play the big breast card.
He doesn't have the nerve.
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That may not be the case; I'll be sure to keep you abreast of the situation, though, so that comment won't make you look like a huge boob.
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Thanks for writing this up, Scott. I was always curious about who that mysterious stranger was who would banter with me about the whole Metro Gang Strike Farce fiasco in Minnesota.
Funny that, in a purely coincidental way, my wife, being jewish, is more into guns than I am and used to work for TSR for a while... but no, her name wasn't Rosenberg.
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Neither is Joel's wife's name.
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Ooh. Snap.
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Thanks for this, Scott. Very nice. It's good to know more about another member of our little community.
I especially liked the illustration for "special use training of small animals."
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Who doesn't love a big, furry, armed beast? Or a lolcat.
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You said it
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We appreciate many things about your site Scott, and turning us onto the JDog is not the least of them. Thanks for this profile of one of the finest characters of the web, and one of our favorite bloggers and commenters.
Very much looking forward to the BFG blawg review.
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