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Two of my innovations are features with the eyebrows "Lore from Yore" and "Book-Tasters." I have a lot of material on hand for each of these. I hope to have one of each in each issue of Smokelore.

Depending on getting reprint permissions where I need 'em, "Lore from Yore" will be excerpts � some as long as entire chapters or complete articles � from old books and magazines. I have a wealth of material by Colonel Whelen, Bob Hagel, Robert Ruark, Jim Corbett, Theodore Roosevelt, Ken Waters, my cherished master of the craft Archibald Rutledge, and other earlier writers of great stature and skill. Criteria for each will be their readability and their reader value.

Instead of the usual book reviews that combine the traits of high-school book reports and publishers' puff sheets, "Book-Tasters" will be a near-clone of "Lore from Yore" � long, carefully selected excerpts from new and recent books, some as long as entire chapters � so that you can (a) enjoy the piece for its own sake and (b) have a better idea whether you want to get the book, too.

Smokelore will include material on the gun-rights issue as often as I can get good material in this category.

One distinguished writer said that the only thing that he didn't like about "Lore from Yore" was that he hadn't thought of it himself. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

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A word to the wise, to whom it may concern, etc �

Your submissions arrive under a cloud when you send 'em as submissions to "Smokepole."

I wonder whether spelling, inattention, or whatever is your only problem � but either way, I have a bit less incentive or inspiration to even read stuff that's sent to "Smokepole."

Neither do I feel terribly warmly disposed toward criticism or disparagement of writers � especially gun writers � especially specific gun writers, including those who may deserve it.

Both high quality and positive, constructive material define and describe the goal of Smokelore.

When even the announcement alone evokes frowny faces, inane comments, and disparagement before the first issue arrives on-line, the need for material of the highest possible positive quality is already obvious. Smokelore won't appeal to everybody, won't please everybody, may not please anybody all the time, but we're going to try to get as close to that ideal of perfection as we can. Please be patient with the new child that Smokelore is going to be for some time. (Heck, it's still gestating � let's not consider abortion or even punishment for its sins yet.)

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... another good thing to keep in mind is the old pros' principle � unknown to or ignored by many younger writers whom I've gotten otherwise good material from � that the less the Editor has to massage your material to make it publishable, the more likely he is to like it. This applies equally to (a) what he has to do to get it in the first place, and to (b) what he has to do to it once he has his eyes on it.

I'm getting links to unknown (to me) web sites, where I guess the idea is that I'll get good Smokelore material there, with absolutely no hint or clue what to look for or expect to find there. Such indirect "submissions" are not encouraging or inspiring.

Attached Microsoft Word files are good. So are WordPerfect files. Or you can copy your Whatever files and paste 'em right into your e-mail.

Just editing the typical submission is enough of a chore, given the poor spelling and grammar of so many good writers (you should see how rough some of them are!) � having to find it and pull it out from under the hay stack, club it into submission, hammer it flat, and nail it down makes it less than appealing.

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Good posts! With advice like this, writers can do a lot of editing by themselves prior to ever worrying about a refusal because of having no clue as to what's of interest. Clarity has much about it to recommend itself. A clear outline of what's likely to be of interest, along with what isn't, is a big step forward in getting people to respond.

This whole thing gets better by the minute.

I'm no kind of "X spurt" on smoking food, and wouldn't think of playing one on TV or patio, so I've been collecting books and other guides to the process and special cook books of smoker recipes.

� which leads to a few questions �

� Should Smokelore include such material, occasionally? (A regular feature on smoking food would seem, at first blush, to be overkill.)

� If so, should such coverage treat how to do it (and how not to do it), or recipes, or both?

� Do we have any expert smoker chefs among us who'd send me good articles and-or recipes from time to time? Or should I occasionally share material that I've gleaned from this special sublibrary� of mine?

� ... which also includes books on grilling and deep-frying, FWTW2U

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Years ago, for other outdoor magazines that I helped to get started, I put together a writers' guide that ran to a lot more than the single page that I set out to write. I sent copies to about fifty writers, and it was well received. I don't have a word-processor copy any longer, alas. If I can lay my hands on the single hard copy that I hope that I still have, I'll post it at the 'fire or publish it in Smokelore. I get the shudderin' heebie-jeebies just thinking of trying to do it over from scratch. IIRC, it ran to about eighteen pages.

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Ken,

I am no writer. I have wanted to be published, but have never really endeavored to try. I also don't believe that I have any depth of knowledge about anything, other than law, to back up what I might put in print. And who but lawyers care about law?

I completely agree with your take on always being a shill for the manufacturers. I understand you have to be willing to do that in your line of work, and often its done well, sometimes you don't even know it�s an "advertisement".

What I'd like to read: a treatise on how the gun writers of note and popularity shaped and effected the masses shooting desires, and how that ultimately shaped the commercial end of manufacturing. Including some "what might have been's...like would we really love or even know the .270 had Jack O' never been born?" "What effect did WWI and WWII have on sporting gun development and why?"

You could make this a series of articles, and treat it like a Seinfeld episode where you have 2 or 3 different totally independent themes working, that all merge or at least relate in the final chapter.

I don't think I have ever had an original thought, so this may have been done to some extent or other. I just thought I'd put my word in.

Ken,

As for the smoking/grilling question...I love the smoker and the grill and would be glad to relate any knowledge I have, though it be garnered from online or cookbooks.

I would write about handloading. I have been doing it for almost 40 years now and it is my favorite past-time. I buy old rifles in wierd calibers just so I can load for them. I wish I could write like Ken Waters and be as prolific as he was. I enjoy trying as many different combinations as possible and I can afford to see what works best. My only downside is once I find the magic combination for a given handgun/rifle, I stick to it forever until I get bored and want to try newer powders/bullets. But handloading is my passion and I get so relaxed in my little room I can stay there for hours.

I would write about hunting trips. I just got back from a Mexico Coues hunt I conducted and I must say from a hunters view it was great. The comradery, new friendships, practical jokes, and events were worth writing about itself. Add the great hunting the 4 bucks killed and you build a better story. To top it off you include the scenery, sunsets, smell of the campfire and all in between, you have a memory for a lifetime.
It is hunts like this that make me keep hunting. The only thing better would be having my dad there.
Stories like this and trips like this are worth gold.

Enrique

That'd be an interesting article to do the reasearch for and to read.

I've had an idea about tracking rolling around in my head for the last couple of years. Problem is I'm a [bleep] tracker! Maybe at the end of it I could close with "Now do exactly opposite of what I did".

Primers-----a real study from an engineering point to dispell or concur with "Are some primers Harder than others" Keep seeing on many reloading forums how CCI primers are so much harder than others and no one using them anymore because of this fact ?? Have loaded thousands of CCI and never had a problem.......

I'm new here at this fire and I like what I see here and plan to spend more time. I 've spent too much time writing and reading politics in place of guns, so I think I would like to write about guns. Specifically, old guns I have known. From years back, those old feel good guns that I have owned or used or guns my dad used to shoot. Guns like a turn of the century model 94 in 38-55 or that old model 30S that I really learned to shoot or my hard won model 720 Remington. Yeah, that's it old guns. Good shootin'.

Murphy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I like ballistics. I'd write comparisons of cartridges of similar types both rifle and handgun. I just read Combat Handgun. Some articles had charts with only group size. That's only part of the story. Without velocity and energy the story is not complete. Couldn't they rent or borrow a chronograph? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

I would write hounds. A collection of stories from those who had really good hounds. Knowledge of this, will soon be gone.

There are a few topics which seem to be rather obviously passed over in deference to others which play as virtual re-runs. One I can think of is an article on pressure variations (or not) between identical as well as differing rifles of the same caliber using published loads as exactly identical to published stuff save for the lot numbers. An extension of that, perhaps a multi-part article, could be loading these rifles to the published velocities using whatever it takes - safely of course- to get there and showing the pressures that are needed.

It would be fun for me, perhaps not very interesting to most, to see an article on how guns behave in deep cold - not just cold ammo or guns which are taken from a freezer and fired but shooting guns and loads which have been "soaked" in the cold for periods of time and fired. I'm talking -20 to -40 F temps and pressure testing and chronographinging a variety of loads.

An article on the velocity loss of varying projectiles as they pass through various types and thicknesses of materials.......

Just a couple off the top of my head.

I would have two monthly articles:
ARTICLE 1 - it would be 'classic guns" and I know there are some similair, but it would basically go over the various types of known and not so well known guns, like the Savage 20, The Lee-navy, the recent Raptor, etc.
ARTICLE 2 - I would have collections of sotires from both writers and readers concerning thier guntrades, particularly the strange or spectacular ones. i must have enough to fill an article myslef!

How about the trials and tribulations of being a small gunshop owner?

How about some interviews with uniformed and undercover police officers and federal agents regarding their jobs and the types of procedures and gear they favor?

Or a story about attending or selling at a gunshow? Limitless opportunities for humor abound!

How about doing MYTHBUSTERS? Try and blow up a .40 Glock with its unsupported chamber! Buy 50 Kel-tec handguns and test them for reliability.

And last but not least: How about organizing your readers and commissioning some special run guns that the manufacturers are hesitant to build for general distribution: 10mm pistols, left-handed rifles in less-common calibers, SIG p239 in 7.62x25, you get the idea...).

Ken, I have been thinking about this for some time ,as I have been working on a article or story for about six months. One of those never ending projects that seems to get set aside when a new project comes along, I have been trying to finish reading this one particular book for at least ten years. Any way I would do a story/article on a hunt that I did this past season. I used almost all the same equipment my father or grandfather would have used in 1957-59 or so. Winchester 94, 30-30. Filson jacket and canvas pants wool socks and shirt. Redwing boots. Case knife, and other period gear that my dad or grand dad would have carried or used. Still a work in progress. my writing skills need some polishing up but it has been fun to do the research so far.

Bullwnkl.

I'd write the sort of things that I like to read. For me, hunting is nigh on the be-all, end-all. If I can't be out hunting, I like to read about tales of hunting trips. If I don't learn from it, or laugh a bit with the writer about what s/he didn't know, it can still be an ejoyable read. On rare occasion I'm able to find an old magazine, and I like those articles. They aren't full of "I used this equipment" stuff. They are about the land and the animals and the hunting of them.