I want my biases out on the table before I start this: It's no secret I'm a big fan of Matthew Bracken's first book, Enemies Foreign and Domestic, and said as much in my review last year.I haven't read Matt's sequel, Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista. I've just started it, but admit I'm caught up in what I've read so far. Also, Jeff John at GUNS Magazine just gave me the green light to write a review for the magazine.
As I've said in prior announcments, Matt is going to be checking in today from time to time and answering questions from WarOnGuns visitors as time permits. If you have a question you'd like to ask him, just post a comment at the end of the interview.
That's about all the introduction we need. Let's jump right into the interview.
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DC: Without giving any spoilers, set the story up for me. How does Reconquista tie in with EFAD, and where do you take it from there?
MB: Reconquista begins five years after the end of EFAD, with a leading character from the first book in a detention camp for suspected terrorists. That is the only character from the first book who is carried over. The five year time period allows the reader to experience a significant deterioration of the state of freedom in America. The plot takes that character on a journey across the Southwest, which is then in the opening stages of a low-intensity civil war.
DC: Your sequel speaks to a very specific kind of subversion by a very specific demographic. What do you say to people who are concerned about xenophobic or racial implications? Can a person of Mexican ancestry enjoy this book and agree with its sentiments? How about a person with a libertarian “open borders” philosophy?
MB: I dismiss any charges of xenophobia or other racial implications out of hand. You either believe in the Constitution and the sovereign borders of the USA, or you don't. Millions of illegal aliens who have invaded the USA believe that the Southwest was "stolen" from Mexico, and that they have the right to take it back. This is totally bogus "junk history" which I would be happy to detail at any level. There are also millions of Americans of Hispanic descent who are loyal citizens who hold the Constitution and our sovereign borders dear. Many of the positive protagonists in Reconquista fit that description. The racists in this debate belong to groups like "La Raza," which are racist organizations on their face. As far as "open borders libertarians," I hope and trust that they will hate this book like the devil hates holy water. I consider them traitors and Quislings, and I despise them. I am unashamedly an American who believes in the rule of law, the Constitution, and defending America's sovereign borders.
DC: Apathy seems to be rampant among gun owners, with only a small percentage involved in basic activism—out of 80 million estimated gun owners, something like 5% are even NRA members, and harder core groups, like GOA and JPFO attract significantly fewer members. Do you believe that Americans who won’t do the easy things—petitioning, rewarding and punishing candidates, lending financial support to myriad efforts toward peaceful redress of grievances—would take extreme risks, put their lives, fortunes and sacred honor on the line, and actually take up arms to reclaim their Republic? If so, why?
MB: Most Americans will not even sign an on-line petition, much less put their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor on the line to save their Republic. Unfortunately they are too busy earning a living and paying their bills and their taxes to worry much about what will become of the nation they will hand over to their children. I believe that the USA is on the road to becoming a third world nation, and I feel great sorrow for our children. After 225 years we have finally managed to debase and squander our national legacy, and our children may well spit on our graves for our apathy and self-absorption.
DC: What has the response of gun owners been to this and your previous book? What kind of numbers do you need to get major publishing houses to set aside their prejudices and see the profit potential in introducing this book to the same mass audiences they appeal to with novelists like Tom Clancy?
MB: The 6,500 gun owners who have read EFAD love it and many of them tell me that it's the most important book they have read in many years. I hear that copies are passed from person to person and that is gratifying. It's extremely difficult for a no-name first-time-author to crack through the left-tilting PC-ridden world of mainstream New York publishing, which is why I opted to self-publish. The numbers I've sold via the internet, with no promotional budget, have finally gotten some national publishing attention. However, I don't hold out much hope for a serious publishing contract unless lightning strikes, the way it did for Tom Clancy.
A short anecdote: around 1980 or so, my father was a member of the Navy League in Baltimore, and Tom Clancy was an insurance salesman who had just written a book called The Hunt For Red October. Incidentally, Clancy graduated from the same high school in Maryland that I attended, ten years ahead of me. Clancy, who had no "real" publishing contract, was giving free lectures and selling his book off of tables. (Clancy had managed to obtain a small print run from the Naval Institute Press, which specializes in reprints of obscure naval histories.) At a Navy League function, my father bought a signed copy from the totally unknown author. Later, through a stroke of luck and some superb "guerrilla marketing," a copy of The Hunt For Red October was given to Ronald Reagan, who was photographed carrying it, and the rest is publishing history. (We still have our own signed first edition "Naval Institute Press" copy of Red October, but my dad had the habit of marking books up with underlining and marginalia, so it's probably worthless.)
However, in my case, I see no hope at all that our current President would be caught dead carrying Reconquista, which is a strong indictment against his open borders and pro-amnesty positions. In my case, I'll have to continue to grind out my own promotion via word of mouth, one reader at a time. The best promotion for my books are my books, but this type of promotion takes a long time.
DC: How about the “gun rights groups”? Did any support EFAD with reviews/recommendations, and have any shown an interest in promoting Reconquista? And same basic question—what kind of acknowledgment are you getting from talk radio programs, gun magazines, other media?
MB: Some small state-level gun rights groups have given me kudos, but the national groups such as the NRA have never indicated that they even received, much less read, the copies of EFAD that I sent to their officers with very nice letters. I'm not sure why this is, but that is their problem. I have a few theories.
A few gun magazines have carried reviews of EFAD for which I'm grateful, particularly GUNS magazine, which ran your review.
DC: Are you conducting your own publicity campaign? What about book-signing appearances at gun shows, talks at gun clubs, etc.?
MB: For Reconquista, I'm sending out books in clear poly mailers to a fairly large number of radio hosts and producers, mainly across the Southwest where the illegal alien invasion is a burning issue. I just moved from San Diego, and I can tell you that gun rights never rose above about "topic nineteen" on the list of talk radio subjects, but the alien invasion occupies more than half of every talk radio hour in the Southwest. Reconquista might get some traction on talk radio, even if I have to literally throw copies over the transom.
As far as gun shows, I've been fortunate to be invited to the SHOT Show the last few years by Kasey Beltz of Accu-Shot, who has been a big supporter ever since he read an early edition of EFAD. Just attending the SHOT Show has been a tremendous education. It is nice to be greeted at the SHOT Show by many gun-writers and shooters who are "names" in the industry. That has been very gratifying. I really haven't done book-signing appearances other than at the SHOT Show.
DC: I’ve read some comments that show you have a core of enthusiastic readers who obviously love your work. What can your fans do to help promote your book and get it before a wider audience?
MB: I have postcard-sized reproductions of the covers of both of my books, which folks can post on the bulletin boards of their local shooting clubs and so on. The cover cards are free for the asking through my website. It also wouldn't hurt if either of my books were mentioned on local talk radio, that's for sure. I've had maybe a dozen radio interviews from Tucson to Fairbanks discussing gun rights, and I'm told I'm a good guest. I think talk radio might lead to a breakout, especially concerning the topicality of Reconquista. But whether it does or not, I'm in this for the long haul. I'm a full-time writer now, and eventually I'll break through in a big way. I think my books convey important messages that need to be heard by millions of Americans, about the dangers facing our nation in the very near term.
DC: Is this a trilogy? Will we see Foreign Enemies in the next year or two?
MB: This is a trilogy, and the third book will be called Foreign Enemies. It will take place in an America that is shattered and experiencing a terrible economic depression and social disintegration. I would not put a time frame on when it will be finished. I just hope the national economy in two years is such that it will support endeavors like writing and selling novels.
Matt Bracken
Florida
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