ThrillerFest Notes
Look at people in stressful situations to see how they react: where do they sweat from, for instance? From the temple? The forehead?
Take the reader to the edge and then leave him or her there—leave the conclusion up to the reader’s imagination.
There’s a moral bias against fun in literature.
Make your character as complicated as possible—give him lots of problems.
Random name generator: http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm based on names from the US census.
No questions are asked upon entering the French Foreign Legion, and you can even be assigned a new identity so that anyone looking for you won’t find you. At the end of five years’ service you can be granted French citizenship. After World War II, many German ex-soldiers went into the Legion to erase their pasts. Today there are many Eastern Europeans who simply want the EU citizenship.
SWAT – stands for sit, wait and talk
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Coca-Cola in a Can
Press the GLF button – go like fuck.
http://www.killeryear.com/ - website for 2007 debut mystery novelists
Knife Skills - Ray Diosdado, martial arts expert,
He has 14 black belts in different martial arts. Every martial art trains you for a different type of combat—there is a specific art for each specific style of combat.
For example:
Blade Arts are a backup weapon for silent entry
Judo and Jujitsu are for disabling an opponent
Filipino martial arts are intended for use in the jungle
Filipino Combat Systems: http://www.fcskali.com/
When following someone, don’t focus on the target directly, because people have a sensitivity to being watched—a sort of sixth sense. Instead, focus on a spot on the ground directly to one side of the person, and keep him or her in your peripheral vision. That will keep the target from feeling that sensation.
Take advantage of knowledge of how the victim will respond to govern the situation. Sentry removal is quick and silent. Don’t show the blade to your opponent because he would cry out. Instead, reach around from behind only as far as necessary to insert the blade into the side of the neck and then thrust forward with it. Cutting a tendon there is like flipping a switch; you shut the person down immediately. A person will bleed out from a cut to the neck in 20-30 seconds.
Two different ways to kill with a knife—timers vs. bleeders. A bleeder, like the femoral artery or the jugular, will bleed out very quickly. A timer, such as a shallow cut to a lesser vein, will kill you but will take a longer time. You can kill either by slicing open one bleeder, or you can make many shallow cuts to timers.
When you cut a bleeder, the blood can spurt up to 30 feet away. Immediately after you cut someone, slap your hand over the cut to keep it from spurting, then spin out of the way-- position yourself out of the line of spurting blood before you release it. That’s how you keep from getting splattered with the victim’s blood. Also, blood does not show against a black shirt.
There are non-metallic blades which can be carried through a metal detector without detection, including a carbon fiber blade with springs made from cobalt.
For self-defense, you need a knife that is small and easy to maneuver quickly. There is a knife called a hideaway, which is essentially a razor blade with a handle. It has a ring so it can slip over a finger, and then you hide the knife in the palm of your hand.
http://www.hideawayknife.com/main.php
Large knife vs. small knife?
1. If you are grabbing and wrestling with prey and you stab the person with a large knife at close quarters, the knife blade can go right through the victim and into you.
2. A small blade is good for cutting bleeders—a series of quick shallow cuts
Understanding the weakness of body armor will help you get around it. You can also use quick cuts to get through a Kevlar vest. The knife blade won’t penetrate the vest, but you can use the blade to hook the edge of the vest, then slip the blade under the vest to cut. This is a good use of a curved blade—to catch the edge of the vest and then slip under it.
The curved blade is called a Kerambit, and it’s very easy to cut yourself with it.
Knife blunders:
1. A knife can slip out of your hand
2. You can break your wrist stabbing someone
3. You can fall in the mud and stab yourself
In a knife fight it’s not whether you get cut—it’s if you get cut in a bad place.
You have to adjust your mindset when entering a knife fight—you have to be wiling to see your own blood and keep fighting.
Ray suggests training with a beer in your hand, because one of the places you are most likely to get into a fight is in a bar. One idea of training is to remove the flinch response and the fetal response. These responses can make it easier for your attacker.
A seasoned knife fighter is like a ghost—you can’t see him or feel him. You can’t fight against him because he anticipates and follows your actions.
You don’t have to be strong to thrust a knife into someone. You can stick the knife in then hit it with the palm of your hand to drive it farther in—so the victim can’t easily pull it out and use it against you.
Different blades have different characteristics—each blade leaves its own unique mark and depth of cut.
If a victim sustains multiple cuts while still alive, then you can assume that the killer was a seasoned knife fighter and knew what he was doing. As opposed to a crime of vengeance or passion where the killer continued to cut long after the person was dead.
For training, use foam rubber blades and then aluminum training blades.
We have a natural response – if you get a pin prick, you feel it and jump back, but you would not feel a thrust or a slice in the same way.
A person with knife skills will always carry more than one knife—a primary, a backup, and then disposable knives for throwing. The throwing knife is cheaper, more likely to rust. Never throw away your good knives.
Ray Diosdado is accurate at throwing a knife within 15 feet. Keep in mind that the knife will rotate a half turn every six feet, so you need to consider how far you are from your target in determining the position of the knife as you throw it.
Recognize if the person you are up against has good knife skills. Someone who can flip the knife around and catch it, for example. That person may demonstrate those skills in other ways, too—for example in flipping a ketchup bottle in the same way. It’s hard to mask your own training.
The most common mistake of bad guys is to toss the knife back and forth between hands, because one hand is certainly the weaker, and an opponent can take advantage of the time when the knife is in the weaker hand.
If I can create an opening for my opening—leaving my side vulnerable, for instances, then I can predict how he will behave and take advantage of that knowledge.
If you don’t have a knife, you can stab someone with a ball point pen or cut with the edge of a sharpened credit card. The strongest fighters are those who can thrust.
Protective Service Detail – Bodyguard – Nick Hughes
In a bodyguard course, one of the first assignments is to plan out how you would kill a public figure. You must create a detailed plan, which gets you thinking like the enemy.
When trying to assess a target for violent action, it is important to follow the target for long enough to establish a routine, which may take three or six or eight weeks. Eventually the pattern will begin to emerge—even if it’s only an action that the person takes once a week or once a month.
The bodyguard’s job is to disrupt any routine. For example, Nick might make five different dinner reservations in five different names at five different restaurants. Only pick the choice from a hat just before leaving for dinner.
80% of assaults on principals take place in vehicles. It’s very difficult to carry out an assault inside a residence because of the ability to secure the property. There is much less ability to secure a vehicle, and the vehicle travels through a wide variety of unfamiliar territory.
While driving, Nick is constantly considering the possibility of assault. If I were going to attack here, how would I do it? That way he is prepared if someone does make an attack.
Street Fighting – Nick Hughes
Most martial arts centers are really glorified day care facilities—Nick calls them McDojos.
The average martial arts fighter, even a black belt, can easily be beaten by the average street fighter. Why? Because the goals of their training are so different.
The key is in tactics, technique and mindset. For example, an officer responds to a situation with a sniper. The officer needs tactical skills to evaluate the scene and know, for example, to take cover behind the engine block of the car. You can be the best shooter in the world, but if you don’t have good tactics you don’t even get the chance to take your shot.
Technique is the ability to aim and shoot. The key to developing technique is to practice. Ideally to be able to shoot with both hands in case one is disabled.
Mindset is the ability to shoot and kill a real live person. You can be a terrific shot on the range, but when the order comes down to shoot to kill, you need the right mindset in order to be able to follow that order.
Merchandise sources – Robert E. Lee Seibert
Royal Robbins – travel & adventure clothing
5.11 tactical pants
Surefire flashlight
PTZL headlamp
London Bridge Trading Company – manufactures for Rangers, Seals, etc. Medical supplies including tourniquet with ratchet, Velcro tourniquet.
Baht bracelet – based on the weight of Thai gold. Can break individual links off and use as currency.
Gun Notes – Robert E. Lee Seibert
All revolvers are pistols, but not all pistols are revolvers.
A pistol should be fast coming out of the holster and slow going back in. You should verify by sight that the pistol has been correctly holstered.
A 22 target pistol has no recoil.
The minute of angle refers to how far the bullet will deviate from the aim at 100 yards. An MOA of five means the bullet will deviate five minutes from the aim.