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Mike beliveau, duelist1954 on YouTube and a gun mag writer for 40 years has passed today from pancreatic cancer. The announcer from his son is on his channel
I knew he wasn't going to be around for very long after his diagnosis but it really is a shock at just how quickly pancreatic cancer will kill you. Guntube is far worse off for the loss of Mike Beliveau.
As I said I'm probably being petty as shit but it really just rubbed me the wrong way since he asks people for money so he can keep going places and covering guns.
That ain't petty at all. The dude is independently wealthy and is still e-begging like a common OF thot. It's gross, and it makes me glad I stopped watching him years ago.
That ain't petty at all. The dude is independently wealthy and is still e-begging like a common OF thot. It's gross, and it makes me glad I stopped watching him years ago.
I've thought about getting a book or two from his book company before but the ungodly price always put me off. Plus his refusal to do a lower-cost version and his extra refusal to do e-books for us who don't want to spend like $70+ on a book about chinese warlord guns, or shitty british bullpups, etc. Citing "muh piracy".
I've thought about getting a book or two from his book company before but the ungodly price always put me off. Plus his refusal to do a lower-cost version and his extra refusal to do e-books for us who don't want to spend like $70+ on a book about chinese warlord guns, or shitty british bullpups, etc. Citing "muh piracy".
His books cost $100 because they're low production 1000 page full color books with gilding and embossed covers. You don't have to buy them, but you also don't have to rage because he wants to sell a quality product instead of yet another Amazon self-published eBook. Image-heavy books also suck to read on eReaders.
His books cost $100 because they're low production 1000 page full color books with gilding and embossed covers. You don't have to buy them, but you also don't have to rage because he wants to sell a quality product instead of yet another Amazon self-published eBook. Image-heavy books also suck to read on eReaders.
Of course you can criticize him for it - they’re almost two entirely different markets. People who want a quality physical display piece, and those who want to just read it.
He is refusing to sell the book in a form the latter group wants - why can’t they be annoyed at that?
You are confused - I don’t care why or if he likes physical books, i spend as much time thinking about it as the mystery of whether he puts sugar on his cornflakes or whether he sits to piss.
It’s a simple concept; if an author cares about their work actually reaching people, which they should if the point of the book is anything but masturbatory indulgence, what format the author likes couldn’t be more irrelevant - what matters is what format the people who would potentially buy it like.
It’s also bizarre you seem to think it’s either or - have the fancy embossed cover physical book, charge whatever you like for it, and have the ebook.
Ian is not anywhere near stupid - he knows this. For whatever reason, he hasn’t made an ebook available, it’s perfectly reasonable to complain about.
Its bizarre:
“ it pisses me off there’s no ebook”
“That’s because he wants a nice physical display quality book stupid”
“That’s nice, I don’t want that, but would still like to learn about bullpup musket designs briefly prototyped in late spring 1873 in southern Guatemala by French colonizers of a Basque background using imported iron from Iceland that had 3% more manganese than average, so I’d like an ebook option”
“Heheh, you really are a stupid piece of shit, haven’t you noticed he has books on his bookshelf”
You are confused - I don’t care why or if he likes physical books, i spend as much time thinking about it as the mystery of whether he puts sugar on his cornflakes or whether he sits to piss.
It’s a simple concept; if an author cares about their work actually reaching people, which they should if the point of the book is anything but masturbatory indulgence, what format the author likes couldn’t be more irrelevant - what matters is what format the people who would potentially buy it like.
It’s also bizarre you seem to think it’s either or - have the fancy embossed cover physical book, charge whatever you like for it, and have the ebook.
Ian is not anywhere near stupid - he knows this. For whatever reason, he hasn’t made an ebook available, it’s perfectly reasonable to complain about.
Its bizarre:
“ it pisses me off there’s no ebook”
“That’s because he wants a nice physical display quality book stupid”
“That’s nice, I don’t want that, but would still like to learn about bullpup musket designs briefly prototyped in late spring 1873 in southern Guatemala by French colonizers of a Basque background using imported iron from Iceland that had 3% more manganese than average, so I’d like an ebook option”
“Heheh, you really are a stupid piece of shit, haven’t you noticed he has books on his bookshelf”
I like the idea of Headstamp -- I've bought several of the books -- but an entire volume on the development of a camo pattern used during the Vietnam War? I like dives into esoteric topics as much as the next military/gun nerd, but they seem to be pushing the limit with some of them. Ian has enough fans to push out books about Japanese tobacco but I notice the web site has inventory of previous books these days -- used to be a release would be completely sold out pretty quickly.
I'm probably repeating this again, but Headstamp has weird priorities indeed. I still consider the old Collector Grade books the best gun books I've ever read, because they are essentially history books married in holy union with gun reference books. Of course, the political leaning of some authors is debatable and sometimes sourcing is sketchy, but they're still top of the line. They're starting to get increasingly dated though, upgrades/reprints would be great (for example, Rough Forged, the updated version of the CG book about G41/G43s, is a magnificent book up to modern standards). Or maybe translating some of the great foreign language books that are increasingly rare ( Drei Linien by Wrobel, or the pipe dream of having Chumak's russian books translated). Or an updated version of the FG42 book with modern research.
I fully understand that book and publishing rights are hard and reprinting them could mean lawyers an' shit. But doing just safe stuff on increasingly niche subjects cruising on mere star power/pseudosocial connection is.... suboptimal, from my point of view. Books about 40mm grenades in Vietnam, custom camos and japanese tobacco are more deserving of less lavish and more practical forms instead of high-cost stuff that sells just because Ian is somewhat involved. The fact that a lot of them are coffee table books strong on pretty pictures and weak on text is another sore point. Sooner or later even star power will lose its shine, and the next book on shoe laces during WW1 will sit unsold, I fear.
However, if it's successful, I guess I'm not the target and it is how it is.
I'm probably repeating this again, but Headstamp has weird priorities indeed. I still consider the old Collector Grade books the best gun books I've ever read, because they are essentially history books married in holy union with gun reference books. Of course, the political leaning of some authors is debatable and sometimes sourcing is sketchy, but they're still top of the line. They're starting to get increasingly dated though, upgrades/reprints would be great (for example, Rough Forged, the updated version of the CG book about G41/G43s, is a magnificent book up to modern standards). Or maybe translating some of the great foreign language books that are increasingly rare ( Drei Linien by Wrobel, or the pipe dream of having Chumak's russian books translated). Or an updated version of the FG42 book with modern research.
I fully understand that book and publishing rights are hard and reprinting them could mean lawyers an' shit. But doing just safe stuff on increasingly niche subjects cruising on mere star power/pseudosocial connection is.... suboptimal, from my point of view. Books about 40mm grenades in Vietnam, custom camos and japanese tobacco are more deserving of less lavish and more practical forms instead of high-cost stuff that sells just because Ian is somewhat involved. The fact that a lot of them are coffee table books strong on pretty pictures and weak on text is another sore point. Sooner or later even star power will lose its shine, and the next book on shoe laces during WW1 will sit unsold, I fear.
However, if it's successful, I guess I'm not the target and it is how it is.
I've been eyeballing John Parshall's new book. It's about 1942 and what all the sides were doing during that time month by month with the month highlighted on the right side of the page. With maps and timelines. 1280 pages. Published by oxford university press. Hardcover $36. Ebook is $17. Ebook was originally with black and white maps but people wanted colored ones so he had his publisher re-release it and also has the maps in full res for free on his website. Took like 16 years of research and writing. Based af dude.
Hey @Othais have you ever considered letting Mae host an episode, reversing roles so she does the educatifying while you talk about shooting and ergonomics? No reason, just occurred to me a while back. I know the research and writing is probably the part of the job that takes the most effort, but perhaps an occasional role swap might give you a bit of a breather and also have Mae take centerstage.
Assuming, of course, either of you were interested in that swap.
Hey @Othais have you ever considered letting Mae host an episode, reversing roles so she does the educatifying while you talk about shooting and ergonomics? No reason, just occurred to me a while back. I know the research and writing is probably the part of the job that takes the most effort, but perhaps an occasional role swap might give you a bit of a breather and also have Mae take centerstage.
Assuming, of course, either of you were interested in that swap.
The only Guntuber that comes across as a potential spree killer to me is weaponsandstuff93. It’s ironic because he is a British YouTuber who lists his pronouns and collects weapons that aren’t even allowed to buy functional guns. He is becoming more and more unhinged as time goes on. Not really politically unhinged, more like suicidal unhinged. He puts himself in AI videos where he gets to experience nuclear meltdowns and gets excited when he hears a nuclear power plant might take damage.
The only Guntuber that comes across as a potential spree killer to me is weaponsandstuff93. It’s ironic because he is a British YouTuber who lists his pronouns and collects weapons that aren’t even allowed to buy functional guns. He is becoming more and more unhinged as time goes on. Not really politically unhinged, more like suicidal unhinged. He puts himself in AI videos where he gets to experience nuclear meltdowns and gets excited when he hears a nuclear power plant might take damage.
