ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC WEB SITE     HOME ABOUT THE AUTHOR ABOUT THE BOOKS HOW TO ORDER Reviews: There are more than 80 Enemies Foreign And Domestic reviews on Amazon.com There are now over 40 Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista reviews on Amazon.com as well. Books on the Right: A Nativist's Paranoid Vision The Southern Poverty Law Center, by Susy Buchanan July 2007 In 1973, a Frenchman named Jean Raspail wrote a bitter and paranoid novel about the "invasion" of his native land by starving Third World refugees. The book was a racist vision of the consequences of non-white immigration, aided and abetted, in the author's view, by the weak-minded liberals who failed to resist it. For almost 35 years, The Camp of the Saints has been a Bible to the radical right. Now, courtesy of former Navy SEAL Matthew Bracken, comes the American version — a portrait of the apocalypse Bracken fears will overtake America thanks to undocumented immigration from the south. The book is a fictionalized version of the Aztlan conspiracy theory — the idea that Mexico is secretly planning a "reconquista" (reconquering) of the seven states of the Southwest — that now animates large swaths of the anti-immigration movement. It's being plugged on extremist websites, in gun magazines and similar electronic venues, and on immigrant-bashing radio shows like Peter Boyles' program on KHOW-AM in Denver. This isn't the first angry, self-published novel from Bracken. His new book, Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista, is the second in a series that began with another paranoid fantasy about gun control and evil agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, a favorite bête noire of the extreme right. His latest book, marked by an enthusiastic interest in busty women, is a xenophobe's racy vision of hell. [A long detailed plot summary with numerous "spoilers" is snipped here. It can be read at the SPLC link.] Domestic Enemies plods along between the over-the-top action sequences. Bracken oversexualizes his gun-loving heroine, devoting as much prose to her breasts as he does her weapons — which is a lot — and many minor players come off as one-dimensional caricatures. But a sexy heroine shooting guns of varying calibers at liberal, communist, open-borders villains in a world destroyed by immigration and multiculturalism is an irresistible fantasy for the audience this genre of fiction attracts – no matter the novel's numerous flaws. Of course, this fictionalization is hardly necessary, even for those given to this kind of thing. All one need do is listen to real-life zealots like Glenn Spencer, head of the hate group American Border Patrol, who puts it like this: "Our country is being invaded by Mexico with hostile intentions. When it blows up, they can't say we didn't tell them, when the blood starts flowing on the border and in L.A. We're [talking] about la reconquista." David Codrea, GUNS Magazine, February 2007 Matthew Bracken's latest novel is a brave book. It's brave because it's a sequel, and expectations from a readership that embraced his first book, Enemies Foreign And Domestic, are high. It's brave because he believes in the grand purpose of the right to bear arms, and that runs against the mindset of mainstream publishers. And it's brave because Bracken makes a harsh prediction of where this country is headed should the unchecked flow of illegal immigration not be halted and reversed. That the protagonist is a female of part Arab descent, and that she is joined in her quest by Americans from all heritages, will not matter to those who usurp the banner of diversity to promote intolerance of dissent. And those will be many if sales show DETR is being widely read. And it should be widely read, because the potential for events to unfold as described seems inevitable based on current trends. Bracken nails the probability of near future disintigration of the Republic with terrifying prescience. In his words: "Reconquista begins five years after the end of EFAD, with a leading character from the first book in a detention camp for suspected terrorists ... this allows the reader to experience a significant deterioration of the state of freedom in American. The plot takes that character on a journey across the Southwest, which is then in the opening stages of a low-intensity civil war." Bracken's latest page-turner takes us down dark paths. Their twists fill us with dread. But through this he manages to instill hope -- in his characters and his readers -- that if we can summon up the courage to say, "No more!" and to act, we can once more win back the right to consider ourselves the land of the free and the home of the brave. John Ross’ Review of Domestic Enemies I’ve long felt that one of the most difficult tasks for a novelist to pull off is creating the willing suspension of disbelief in the mind of the reader. It is for this reason that, with very few exceptions, the genre of Science Fiction leaves me cold. Almost always, I find myself feeling that the author is just spewing out an endless stream of whatever made-up nonsense came into his mind. The exception to this is when the story asks its audience to accept a single impossibility (or near-impossibility) as fact, and the writer then weaves a “What if?” tale in which all the characters behave logically and consistently in the face of the one anomaly: What if a man somehow became invisible? (This has been done successfully several times.) What if a twelve-year-old boy found himself in a thirty-year-old body? (The movie Big, with Tom Hanks.) What if the South Africans developed a time machine that could take them and their equipment back to a date in the middle of the Civil War, but no earlier? (Harry Turtledove’s Guns of the South.) Stephen King, of course, is the master of making his readers fall into a story with a central premise that is impossible. Writers of political novels have considerably less leeway in what they can reasonably ask their readers to accept as a given. Political novels can’t ask us to believe something we think is impossible. The further they stray from existing conditions, the more likely the reader (this one, at least) will be unable to accept the imagined situation that the author lays out. In one infamous, racist (and excruciatingly boring) “novel,” the author gave us an America where, for racial reasons, rape was no longer a crime. Yeah, right. In Unintended Consequences, set in the present day, the readers are asked to accept that a principal player in the BATF would arrange to plant evidence so as to invoke the asset forfeiture laws. Since BATF has been dinged in court before for doing just this, there should have been no suspension of disbelief there. Then readers had to accept that the BATF agent might have had the bad luck to schedule these illicit efforts when someone with skills and intelligence was watching, unseen, from nearby. Unlikely? Yes, but worlds away from impossible. In Matthew Bracken’s first novel, Enemies Foreign and Domestic (also set in the present day), he asked us to accept that a principal player in the BATF would engineer a mass shooting at a football stadium and frame a homeless man for the crime, so as to increase nationwide antigun outrage and pave the way for his own BATF “strike team” with sweeping powers. Though asking us to believe a government agent would engineer premeditated mass murder for political advancement is a bit of a stretch, the “evil and overreaching government agent” is a common (and to my mind, perfectly acceptable) antagonist in the world of fiction. Bracken’s sequel to EFAD, Domestic Enemies: the Reconquista, is set about five or six years in the future. Domestic Enemies’ underlying theme is the retaking of the Southwest by Hispanics who view this region as rightfully theirs. This is not a new concept for me; when I was in college in 1978, a Hispanic campus group calling itself La Causa espoused these same goals. My chief memory of them was that they seized control of and “occupied” the school’s snack bar to increase awareness of their plight. (They were unamused when I then told them, okay then, no cheeseburgers; fix me a couple of burritos with hot sauce instead.) Domestic Enemies: the Reconquista doesn’t just ask us to accept that Hispanics want to retake the Southwest. It asks us to accept that in a few years they will have nearly completely achieved this goal. In Domestic Enemies, we are shown a New Mexico with a milicia to enforce existing fictional “Spanish only” and “land reform” laws. Storefronts with signs printed in English are regularly razed, and large estates owned by gringos are seized and turned over to formerly illegal aliens. All of this is done with official state sanction. The entire state of Arizona is a nightmare where the lack of a similar milicia means a constant state of siege between Arizona residents and invading hordes of thugs, similar to those Mel Gibson battled in Mad Max II: the Road Warrior, but with different accents. Citizens in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona regularly abandon their homes and take only what they can carry in their vehicles to the “free states” of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Got the picture? Domestic Enemies asks us to assume an America circa 2011 that has secret detention camps for ordinary citizens, an America with hyperinflation (gold $7000/ounce, gasoline $30/gallon), an America that has replaced the old paper currency with new “blue bucks” at a 1-for-10 exchange rate, an America where lawlessness in the big cities and political corruption everywhere exceeds anything seen in real third-world hellholes in 2006. Is this too much to swallow? You be the judge. The protagonist in Domestic Enemies is Ranya Bardiwell, the heroine of Bracken’s first novel. The story begins with Ranya escaping from an indefinite sentence at a detention camp after she learns that the son she gave birth to (and that was taken from her) upon her incarceration was adopted as a newborn five years ago by FBI agents in Albuquerque. Thus begins Ranya’s odyssey to track down and reclaim her son, and this is the central storyline of the book, set against the hellish backdrop of the Reconquista. The Ranya of EFAD, Bracken’s first book, was a bit too saccharine for my taste (Snow White is who she reminded me of.) Five years of hard labor in the detention camp has tempered her considerably, and in Domestic Enemies, I found myself cheering Ranya’s pragmatism, inventiveness, and cunning. Without throwing any spoilers out, let’s just say she and Cindy Caswell would likely be kindred spirits… Finding her son is Ranya’s main mission, and Bracken wisely avoids having Ranya singlehandedly stop the Reconquista. Instead, she picks her shots where she finds them, and manages to throw a few major monkey wrenches into the works of a corrupt government as she pursues her goal of reclaiming her son. The second (and lesser) protagonist in the story is Alex Garabanda, the FBI agent who is the boy’s adoptive father. Alex has considerable domestic problems of his own, along with a growing alarm at what he sees in New Mexico, and the FBI’s unwillingness to do anything about it. Bracken strikes just the right tone with Alex, and with five-year-old Brian as well. Coping with these intolerable conditions are a diverse group of supporting characters who will likely remind you of friends you know; regular folks making the best of an awful situation. Bracken gives us a great crop of antagonists, from Basilio Ramos, a note-perfect rendering of the archetypal vain Latin heartthrob who has discovered the joys of absolute power, to Homeland Security honcho Bob Bullard (carried over from EFAD), to the real-life bad guys you love to hate: billionaire socialist hedge fund operator Peter Kosimos, bipartisan socialist U.S. Senators Kelly and Montaine, and socialist former U.S. President “Weasel Dave” Whitman. A couple of the minor bad-guy characters are a bit over-the-top, such as the Reconquista-loving college professor from New England, and the adoptive mother’s steroid-fueled bulldyke girlfriend (an IRS asset seizure agent), but I’d say they fall within the accepted realm of artistic license. There is one very minor character whose presence is so ludicrous and unrealistic that I think Bracken should delete him altogether from future printings of the novel, but maybe that’s just me. The action in Domestic Enemies is exciting, and as plausible as you will find in works of fiction. The technical details, at least the ones where I have any expertise, are dead on. The question remains: Is the America of a few years’ hence portrayed in Domestic Enemies believable? This book addresses in fictional form a serious problem deserving of our attention: the problem of illegal immigration, “anchor babies,” and the long-term effects of a massive influx of people to our country who have no interest in adopting America’s culture of individualism. My fear is that the nightmare conditions Bracken asks us to imagine for 2011 America are so far from what we have now, that mainstream readers (and reviewers) will dismiss his book as delusional ranting. That would be a grave error. John Ross, author of “Unintended Consequences” Sierra Times review of Domestic Enemies by “Lady Liberty” Sep. 7, 2006 Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista is the sequel to Bracken's well received Enemies Foreign and Domestic (though The Reconquista can stand alone, Bracken suggests and I agree that the first book offers an important foundation to the events in the second). The first book was good enough that I was anxious for the sequel; after waiting two years, I'm delighted to say that The Reconquista was worth the wait. Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista begins almost exactly five years after the conclusion of Enemies Foreign and Domestic. Ranya Bardiwell is back in the United States, but the country is one she can barely recognize. Secret work camps have been established in various parts of the country where political dissidents are imprisoned and must endure forced labor. An out-of-control national debt in combination with such sky high expenses as entitlement programs and the War on Terror have resulted in rampant inflation — and the actions taken by the Federal Reserve to temper the problem have only made it worse. Cameras, spies, and domestic surveillance are everywhere. And the politically correct treatment of illegal aliens in the recent past has resulted in an effective takeover of the US southwest by Mexican and other south-of-the-border nationals. Ranya doesn't care about these things other than as the obstacles they represent in pursuit of her primary goal: she wants her son back. The child, who was taken from her as an infant, has been adopted by government agents who live in New Mexico. Alexander Garabanda is an FBI agent, and his wife Karin works for the IRS. Together, they've been raising Brian as their own at least until Karin leaves Alex for another IRS agent. But even as Karin works to take Brian from Alex in the throes of a vicious divorce, Ranya begins her trek to New Mexico where she fully intends to recover her son or die in the attempt. Everything is complicated, of course, by government surveillance and a determination by the authorities to silence any who might know more than they should about the deep-seated corruption that reaches the highest places. Even worse for Alex and Ranya, though, is the fact that New Mexico is effectively under control of the Mexican milicia which has made the American authorities titular at best. Danger abounds for any who don't subscribe to the goals of the so-called Reconquista and aren't the most militant of socialists, and it's only a matter of time until Alex and Ranya both get caught up in circumstances well beyond their individual control. Meanwhile, treason and betrayals of causes large and small abound, and the viciousness of those who would gain and hold control knows virtually no bounds. Former ATF agent Bob Bullard is back and, holding true to the Peter Principle, has been promoted to the level of serious incompetence. But even he's making plans to escape the inevitable when was used to be the United States of America is parceled and distributed to those whose demands will be met in the name of expedience and entitlement. When survival of the very Republic is in question, how can one woman rescue her son from the powers that be on either side of the political divide? Will Alex remain true to his oath to uphold the Constitution, or will the system chew him up and spit him out if he refuses to go along with the new status quo? Most important of all, will freedom survive? Or will those who believe the promises of anyone in authority help them, either actively or via their inaction, to effectively enslave the civilian population once and for all? I really liked Enemies Foreign and Domestic. I thought it was well written, especially for a first novel, and rang entirely true to reality albeit a reality I wasn't keen on facing. But if anything, Matthew Bracken's writing abilities have improved in this second effort, and that's saying something; far more important, his virtual prescience concerning illegal immigration and its inevitable effect if it's not brought under control is terrifyingly realistic. That's just background, though, despite the framework being integral to the action. Bracken's primary focus is on the main characters, and those characters are well realized enough that I ached for Ranya; was angry for and with Alex; and even empathized with a little boy who just wanted to know where his Daddy was. While a couple of the characters were just a little stereotypical (a certain judge and one IRS agent among them) in both their described appearances and their rhetoric — the point, I think, could have been made a little less vehemently), on the whole, Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista is a must read for those who would like to see our country survive intact and including its freedoms past this generation. The side plots almost don't deserve to be relegated to the side. They're important, too, from the machinations of high-placed federal officials to the nauseating sycophants who side with those they believe will, by hook or by crook, win the battle for the southwestern US. It's telling that Bracken, who formerly resided in San Diego, has only recently relocated elsewhere. It's clear that he believes at least some of what he's written, and he's done a good enough job in the creation of this near-future scenario that I do, too. Enemies Foreign And Domestic review in GUNS Magazine, November 2005 “A stadium massacre leads to the banning of all semi-automatic rifles,” the teaser on the jacket reads. “But who really fired the fatal shots, and why?” The answer, we learn, involves nothing less than a modern day Reichstag fire, engineered and instigated by an evil and ambitious ATF supervisor and his squad of violent agency misfits. The political fallout of the stadium shooting is a national ban on “assault weapons.” With free rein to create more “domestic terror” incidents, and with unprincipled politicians and a complicit media, gun owners are easily demonized as a manipulated public demands more “security.” All Brad Fallon wanted to do was restore his vintage sailboat, Guajira, take his savings from three years of working the ANWR oil fields, and cruise the world. He hadn't counted on his interest and proficiency in shooting being used to entrap him, or being ultimately forced into covert rebellion against rogue federal agents. But back a man into a corner with other men -- all proficient in modern weaponry, and all unbending believers in liberty -- make it clear that you mean to destroy them, and a most dangerous type of resistance is born: a competent one. Author Matthew Bracken has written a thrilling first novel (did I mention this is also a passionate love story?), one that engages, grips and doesn’t let up. He avoids the proselytizing that can plague the liberty genre, and delivers a solid, exciting tale with deep and believable characters. Bracken's background with UDT and SEAL Teams, and as the designer/builder of a cutter that he soloed from Panama to Guam, adds credibility to the technical and tactical details he weaves into the plot. I can't wait for the sequel, scheduled for release early in 2006. –David Codrea, GUNS Magazine, and "The War On Guns - Notes From the Resistance" External link to November 2005 GUNS Magazine review John Ross' review of Enemies Foreign And Domestic I have several complaints about most thriller novelists. First, their protagonists are too often 100% virtuous with no humanizing flaws. Second, the protagonists let their enemies live when you KNOW the bad guys are going to come back and murder their kids etc. Third, everything the government does (hi-tech weapons, military & police tactics, criminal investigations, etc.) functions flawlessly. Fourth, too many stories have all the brilliant thinking and brave actions done by government employees (Special Forces, policemen, Intelligence operatives, etc.) Lastly, some novels have a basic premise that is just not believable. (Clancy's RAINBOW SIX is a prime example.) Novelist Matthew Bracken has avoided these sins almost entirely in his excellent debut novel ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. It is a challenge for any writer to come up with a plot that is at once plausible enough to have the reader accept it but also unlikely enough that it has not actually happened yet in real life. EFAD's dramatic concept is this: Wally Malvone, a lone mid-level ATF executive, engineers (with one accomplice) a long-range shooting into a football stadium and successfully arranges for an addled, destitute veteran to take the blame and be killed in the process. Malvone does this because he needs an emergency that will encourage the President to embrace a plan he has put together: Forming a secret "hit squad" comprised of overaggressive ATF agents with disciplinary problems. This squad's duty is to be proactive: identify domestic terrorists ("militia members") and kill them during raids. The trial is in the media, when the cameras see the (planted) contraband retrieved from the slain terrorist's dwelling. Malvone wants to have this hit squad for the obvious reasons: funding, power, and prestige. Naturally, some of the victims drawn into Malvone's web of treachery decide they have no choice but to fight back. At each point in the storyline, as the good guys and bad guys acted and reacted, I kept asking myself if what was happening was plausible. How would *I* rewrite it to make it more believable? In some cases I thought that I would have had the parties react a bit differently, but I had to admit my alternate scenario was not necessarily more likely. The fact is that when you get into the realm of serious, institutionalized government abuse of power in an environment with lots of resourceful, angry, well-armed people and the near-instant information flow of the Internet, you're in uncharted waters. One critic said the female lead was an adolescent fantasy (21 years old, beautiful, motorcycle rider, expert shot, virgin) and I would have given her more edginess, but hey, a lot of readers like their heroes untainted. Anyway, EFAD is an action-packed read, with most of the skill and creativity being demonstrated by the private sector, which is IMO 100% realistic. Send a copy to your favorite Senator or Congressman... EFAD is also good inspiration for me to get back to work on DETOUR, the sequel to UC. No promises, except there should be something in it to offend just about everyone. John Ross, author of "Unintended Consequences" January 2004 In the opening pages, the reader is thrust into a football stadium packed with 80,000 fans on a pleasant September day. As the game is starting, small waves of activity begin erupting from areas all through the stadium. It is soon apparent that people are being shot and no one knows where the bullets are coming from. As the crowd begins to realize what is going on, panic spreads throughout the entire stadium and pandemonium erupts. In a panicked effort to flee their seats, people meet their fate being trampled by the stampeding crowd. Others plummet to their deaths by being pushed by the fleeing crowds from the upper reaches of the stadium. In the end, over 1,000 people have perished. The alleged shooter, a disabled Desert Storm veteran, was located almost 1,300 yards from the stadium, on a perch overlooking the stadium with an old SKS rifle. He was immediately dispatched by the tactical team looking for the source of the incoming fire. That same evening, the President appeared on television to address the nation about the tragedy that has been playing over and over for hours on every broadcast network. With the scoped SKS rifle by his side, the President proclaimed that the nation needed to move to ban military-style rifles to prevent anything like this from happening again in the future. He pleads with Congress to immediately take up the issue. In a knee-jerk reaction move, typical of so many liberals in office, the possession of all semi-automatic "assault weapons" was outlawed, and the public had one week to turn in their now prohibited firearms to the nearest police station for immediate destruction. All semi-automatic rifles are included in the ban, including the common and popular .22LR firearms. It is soon realized that there are a few "low people in high places" orchestrating events to compound on the stadium tragedy in order to take advantage of the momentum of anti-gun sentiment in the misled general public. In the following pages the reader is introduced to a cast of characters who happen to meet by a series of related incidents in the days following the sweeping ban. Previously unaware of each other's existence, events following the gun ban would create a bond they would have the remainder of their lives. As they begin to understand what is happening, it is time for retaliation and the tide slowly turns against those who have perpetrated the horrific events that would scar the nation for years to come. I found this book to be a great read. I usually don't spend much time reading works of fiction but within one chapter, this book not only caught my interest, but also retained it through the remaining 570 pages. This is not a typical good guy vs. bad guy, or "hero against the out-of-control government bad guy" type of read. It is also not a "goober manual" loaded with far-reaching, underlying conspiracy theories. Many of the events discussed in this book are historically accurate and while the storyline is full of twists and turns it remains believable and not too far-fetched. It is obvious that the author has a background involving firearms from the numerous references that are indeed realistic. Firearms mentioned range from the H&K 10mm MP-5s, used by special-ops teams, to the effective and compact Thompson Contender pistol, threaded for a sound suppressor. The characters you meet are interesting and complex, and the storyline has several major events running parallel to each other. The last chapter leaves the reader waiting for the sequel. This writer will be anxiously waiting for its release. -Jeff Zimba, "Small Arms Review," April 2005 If you've read John Ross' book, Unintended Consequences, you will love Enemies Foreign And Domestic. As the blurb on the cover states, "A stadium massacre leads to the banning of all semi-automatic rifles. But who really fired the fatal shots, and why?" This well-written novel takes place in the foreseeable near future. The plot is expertly developed by the author, Matthew Bracken. While this may be Mr. Bracken's first novel, the plot is complex, yet easy to follow. The characters are numerous, but easy to remember. For me, the book was almost impossible to put down! The author's extensive military background assures us that all of the firearms references are flawless. You will not read about pistols with "clips" and revolvers with magazines in Enemies Foreign And Domestic. The most shocking aspect of this book was the chilling believability of the story. The author, Matt Bracken, is a self-described freedom addict who loves ocean sailing above all for the pure freedom it often permits. He is a Constitutional hardliner who believes in the original intent of the Founding Fathers of our country. Matt believes that the clear interpretation of the Second Amendment is a pass-fail litmus test regarding the state of freedom in America., and that we may be on the verge of faling that test. He has worked as a welder, boat builder, sailboat rigger and charter boat captain. This is his first novel and he has many more waiting impatiently to be put on paper. He lives in the San Diego area with his wife and two children. Matt is currently working on the sequel, called "Domestic Enemies." Concealed Carry Magazine, April 2005 A sniper opens fire on a crowded football stadium on the first day of the season. The crowd panics and stampedes. A thousand people die ... and the federal government immediately goes not only into gun-banning mode, but into a post-911-type security frenzy that ultimately brings the country FIST (Firearm Inspections Stop Terrorism) checkpoints and brutal demonization of gun owners. The alleged (and quickly deceased) sniper has conveniently used a "military-style assault weapon," and conveniently fits the profile every anti-gunner loves to hate. The loss of freedom looks unstoppable. But is it? And that's merely the opening of Enemies Foreign And Domestic, the first novel by Matthew Bracken, a self-described "freedom addict." Unlike most freedom-movement novels, this one is loaded with action and populated by characters you'll believe, like, and identify with. -Claire Wolfe, author of "101 Things to do 'Til the Revolution" and "Don't Shoot the Bastards (Yet)" Enemies Foreign and Domestic is an outstanding novel. The author manages to weave a lot of useful facts into a fictional storyline. The tale is compelling, the scenario is plausible, the writing is well-crafted, the characters are believable, and most importantly the story is unquestionably VERY thought provoking. I highly recommend that you buy a copy of Enemies Foreign and Domestic. Strike that! Buy at least two copies--because if you buy just one you'll lend it out and it will get passed on and on, and never return! As an author myself I can appreciate the tremendous effort that obviously went into writing Enemies Foreign and Domestic. Matt Bracken's attention to detail is outstanding. He manages to meld the "micro" details with the "macro" scenario almost seamlessly. That is a rare gift. Enemies Foreign and Domestic is indeed a "must read" for every American gun owner. It belongs on the bookshelf of everyone that loves liberty. James Rawles, author of "Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse" The shooting culture and freedom movement have too little good fiction to enjoy, so it was a real treat to read "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" by Matthew Bracken. An exciting, plausible and well-written story about the ATF versus gun-owning Americans who just want to be left alone. Fine fiction doubling as potential prophecy, from an unapologetic defender of our right to keep and bear arms. I highly recommend it! Buy a copy for your gun-phobic family and friends, to clue them into the true patriot's mindset. Boston T. Party, author of "Boston's Gun Bible" and "Molon Labe!" Enemies Foreign & Domestic is as compelling a fictional novel about liberty and the 2nd amendment as you will ever read. It is packed with real life issues right off today's headlines and the political camps on both sides of the issue. It is also just a good, old-fashioned barnstorming novel that you can't put down. In his first at bat, Matthew Bracken has hit one out of the park. Jeff Head, author of the "Dragon's Fury" series of WW3 novels. So much that happens in the book rings so true that I frequently had to stop and remind myself that the story is fiction. The author is both a freedom lover and a former military man which lends passion and authenticity to his story. And of course, the politics of the present day is close enough to the circumstances in the book that the story is quite believable. It's that fact that makes me inclined to call this less an action/adventure tale than a horror story, because frankly, it scared me. But fear can teach lessons, and what you'll learn from reading Enemies Foreign and Domestic is too valuable to miss. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the book is also damned hard to put down. Lady Liberty's Constitution Clearing House Enemies Foreign and Domestic -- Part Deux I was going to simply link to David Codrea's review of Matt Bracken's "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" and nod enthusiastically in agreement with his assessment of the book. But David's passionate advice to me to write my own review of the novel prompted me to give my own perspective. The scenario is all too real... A vicious mass shooting during opening day of the NFL season. Media circus, bloodshed, pictures seared into the minds of millions of the slaughter. Knee-jerk reactions by politicians, who are powerless to stop crime, but have an innate need to deceive the public and appear in control of the situation. Corrupt government agents intent on increasing the authority of their agency and their own power over the American people. Morally bankrupt gun grabbers intent on using tragedy to further their political agenda. A gullible, reactionary public. And a group of gun owners - peaceable Americans who merely want to be left alone, be free to earn a living and live their lives. None of these concepts is extraordinary. It happens all the time. Government corruption is nothing new. Knee-jerk reactions and a rush to pass new laws after a national tragedy is certainly not a novel idea, especially in light of the quick and uninformed passage of the "Patriot" Act after the September 11 attacks. Note how quickly Brady and her cohorts begin their blood dance and concurrent demands for extra gun control legislation after any well-publicized shooting. And, of course, the concept of "If it bleeds, it leads" is still alive and well in the media. Death and destruction make for much more captive audiences. Bracken skillfully combines this set of circumstances and shows us a frightening, and all too realistic, glimpse into what could happen when ordinary, freedom-loving Americans are pushed too far by a band of would-be tyrants set on furthering their own power and agenda. The book is a fast-paced thriller, as well as a tender romance. But what Bracken does exquisitely is evoke appropriate emotion from the reader. The media described the "stadium sniper" (a patsy, by the way, who had nothing to do with the massacre) as a "fanatical gun nut who lived in a trailer containing an arsenal of five rifles and shotguns and over two thousand rounds of ammunition." That sentence alone made me want to reach out and strangle every TV news director and every newspaper editor who has ever used inflammatory language to promote an anti-freedom agenda. And believe me -- there would be a precious few left after I was done. When the President of the United States decided to grandstand on national television by vilifying the gun supposedly used in the killings, craftily using the television cameras to paint a close-up of the evil-looking weapon and spouting verbatim the Brady talking points (read: lies) about so-called "assault" weapons, I wanted to make that rifle a permanent part of his anatomy that would require creative surgical techniques to remove. I wept for the young woman who lost her family, anxiously bit my lip while living through her fury and desire for vengeance, and smiled when she found true love. There are times when Bracken stretches the believability of his characters and makes them either too saintly or too evil to be real. But then again, their value is clear. They evoke emotional responses from the reader -- hate, revenge, sympathy, outrage... Maybe that's what the populace needs to wake up. After all, the circumstances described in "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" are in no way extraordinary. They happen every day without so much as a peep of protest from the masses. Maybe books such as this are what's needed to wake Americans up from their gluttonous, glazed, McNews-induced stupor. Nicki Fellenzer at Liberty Zone: "I'm an Army veteran and a featured writer for both keepandbeararms.com and ArmedFemalesofAmerica.com and a former contributing editor to the NRA's newest publication Women's Outlook. I'm also news director for KeepAndBearArms.com and I have recently taken on additional duties as the media contact for Armed Females of America. Additionally, I am a contributing editor to Concealed Carry Magazine and the Public Affairs NCOIC for the Virginia Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Division." Enemies Foreign and Domestic is very well written, well plotted, had has good character development. I felt as if I could name friends and enemies who could have been characters in the book. This book grabs you, the major premises are easily believable. Matthew Bracken knows his subject, and he uses credible human faults and errors to keep the plot plausible. A major strength is that there are no supermen or superwomen in this book. Dean Weingarten, "The Libertarian Enterprise" Recommended Writer: Matthew Bracken. If the sample chapters are any indication, the upcoming "Enemies Foreign And Domestic" will be an incredible book, a combination of the best aspects of Unintended Consequences (which was an important but weakly written book), R.A. Heinlein's Free Men and much original thought. Oleg Volk, "VolksStudio," owner of The High Road internet firearms forum.     EXCERPTS REVIEWS LINKS CONTACT Free Hit Counter Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Matthew Bracken, All Rights reserved Web Site by Just Fix It Web Services