Paladin Press
Vol. 29, No. 3 Catalog
Reaping fortune from blind fear and delusions of mercenary grandeur, Paladin Press caters to the weekend warrior, basement bomb maker, and general “cloak and dagger” wannabes. With titles along the lines of Contingency Cannibalism , Dead Clients Don’t Pay , and my favorite, Improvised Explosives- How to Make Your Own , this is a no man’s land of paranoia. If you seriously need a book on Floor Fighting (the art of maiming an attacker who has, by some fluke, actually put your potbellied ass on the barroom floor), then you need to hang out in a better class of place. Founded by the publisher of Solder of Fortune , I bet that most sales from this catalog come from pasty-faced men who live with their parents, imagining the world outside as one big kill zone, and who want to be ready when the deal goes down.
This issue of the catalog focuses on Y2K, touted as something just shy of Armageddon, an event that requires advanced knife skills, wire-tapping, and the ability to “go undercover.” That information will come in real handy, I’m sure, when the power flickers. If not, then I’m sure quite a few men will use the books to skip on child support and unpaid parking tickets. Yes, we have freedom of speech – and this stuff is certainly protected by such concepts – and of course they don’t mean for anyone to actually go out and kill someone using the tools they sell. A clever disclaimer of “for academic study only” pussies them out of any responsibility, as I’m sure their legal team has assured them. This is likely the most reading many folks can master in a month. Thank heavens for that. Keeps the bookstore aisles clear of gun battles.
