Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Second Bat Guano War
    The Second Bat Guano War
    The Second Bat Guano War
    Ebook429 pages6 hours

    The Second Bat Guano War

    By J.M. Porup

    3.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    From former Lonely Planet author J.M. Porup comes this gritty South American noir...

    Rats ate his baby daughter while he partied in a disco. Now Horace “Horse” Mann is a drugged-out expat teaching English to criminals in Lima, Peru. Oh, and doing the odd favor for the CIA.

    When his Agency contact, Pitt Watters, goes missing, Horse's desperate efforts to find his only friend lead him to a Buddhist ashram on the shores of Lake Titicaca. There Horse uncovers his friend’s involvement with a group of Gaia-worshipping terrorists who want to kill off the human “disease” infecting the earth.

    Can Horse find his friend in time? And when he does—will he want to stop him?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJ.M. Porup
    Release dateNov 5, 2012
    ISBN9780988006980
    The Second Bat Guano War
    Author

    J.M. Porup

    How does technology change what it means to be human? J.M. Porup is a journalist and futurologist who studies how exponentially-increasing innovation disrupts the social and political order. He is also the CEO of the LatAm Startups Angel Funds, a Latin America-based accelerator focused on scaling startups globally. He has covered computer security for The Economist, Bitcoin for Bitcoin Magazine, and the Gringo Trail for numerous Lonely Planet guidebooks. His award-winning novels and plays include The Second Bat Guano War, Dreams Must Die, Death on Taurus, and The United States of Air. Porup is a member of the Lifeboat Foundation's Advisory Board, a distributed think tank dedicated to preventing human extinction. ** Visit his website at www.JMPorup.com ** Or read up on existential threats to life on earth at www.BorgyBorgyBorg.com ** For thought-provoking essays on technology, subscribe to his newsletter: www.JMPorup.com/mailinglist.html ** Follow him on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/toholdaquill ** Or strike up a conversation on Facebook: https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008591675719 What others are saying about Porup's books: THE SECOND BAT GUANO WAR "Absolutely insane. Very bitter, very real... Would love to see more stories like this." "Don't go on this ride unless you're prepared to look into the abyss." " Vulgar, obscene, repulsive, and just overall a very good story." "What a great ride. Gritty and compelling!" THE UNITED STATES OF AIR "Had me laughing so hard that my stomach still hurts!" "Porup takes a swipe at the war on terror in a manner that is original and avoids the blatantly obvious. It would be too easy for any writer approaching the same subject to employ a semi-realist Orwellian tone, but this novel takes the humorous low-road." "Porup seamlessly addresses indefinite detention...The overrun surveillance state...The neverending War on Terror...And a frightening and ubiquitous NSA surveillance state that "wiretaps" your toilet instead of your phones." "The puns also abound, as do the guilty giggles in this often excrement-strewn sleuther. A dark comedy." FOOD-FREE AT LAST: HOW I LEARNED TO EAT AIR "I laughed til tears rolled down my cheeks!" "This diet has saved me so much money, I can now afford a bouncy castle in every room!" "Great satirical book." "I think I will get my Angel wings soon."

    Read more from J.M. Porup

    Related to The Second Bat Guano War

    Related ebooks

    Hard-boiled Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Temporary Arrangement

      Oct 2, 2023

      A Temporary Arrangement
      19 min read

    • Article

      Dark Tales

      Dec 2, 2021

      Dark Tales
      6 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems by Phillip B. Williams

      Dec 15, 2017

      The masters are yet dead. Wanting to be human,I tried to rewrite The Waste Land. The canon’s reachcasts ruinous light. The masters’ pens breachthis page where, above, my own hand spectates. Babylonrisen, exorcism in reverse, whose nature upended now?

      6 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      May 1, 2022

      If I call myself unlovable, I am, practically; if I say itenough times: unlovable. Then, like practical magic, I’m hollow as old garlic; I’m distance-skinned.I’m a long, mean package, a terror-dyke, a nag, a squinting, slut-spun hag—it’s easy, really

      5 min read

    • Article

      Duncan Hannah

      Sep 15, 2017

      Duncan Hannah
      25 min read

    • Article

      Foxes

      Jun 15, 2019

      What’s worth happening happens in deep woods. Or so my daughter tells me. Her plotlines: In the deep woods someone is chasing, someone else is getting hacked. Hatchets are lifted, brought downdowndown. Men stutter blood onto snow. A cast of animals—s

      17 min read

    • Article

      The Mirror Test

      Dec 1, 2020

      always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; butwhat if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?;you mean to say that after all you are really goingto be the kind of woman who the baker won’t letnear the bread? —Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl” In the eighteen

      19 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Girl, Banana

      Aug 21, 2023

      By the time I was 25, there were only two things I remembered about Mumma. The first was that she smelled of watermelons, the second was that we were happy. We’d taken our father’s name of course, but a name is only half a story. The other half exist

      6 min read

    • Article

      In the Prison of Your Skin

      Feb 1, 2019

      In the Prison of Your Skin
      11 min read

    • Article

      Righteous

      Jan 22, 2019

      Righteous
      8 min read

    • Article

      ‘I’ve Shown So Much Of Myself To The World’: The Witcher’s Anya Chalotra On Power, People-watching And Being A Perfectionist

      Dec 11, 2021

      Anya Chalotra is watching me. I have half-threatened to order a Venezuelan sandwich from the chalkboard at the London café we’re in – we are talking just after lunch – but I don’t trust myself to maintain a serious line of questioning and not get gua

      8 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Sophia Shalmiyev

      Dec 20, 2019

      Let us begin at the natural home of all the white-men-are-garbage controversies and go right to the crotch area. The post A Year in Reading: Sophia Shalmiyev appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      All Of Us Here

      Jun 4, 2020

      All Of Us Here
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Jason R Jimenez

      Dec 10, 2019

      Can you imagine a world without frogs? Or even less of them? What is the night without a symphony of croaks? I want to ask that to everyone. The post A Year in Reading: Jason R Jimenez appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Six Dart Out

      Sep 10, 2023

      Marc figured the girl was a vegan. Her puke had overflowed the sink and run onto the floor—tomatoes and rice marinated in microbrew lager. He’d told Vegan Girl to slow down, but her friends had won the turning-21-peer-pressure battle. Admittedly, Mar

      9 min read

    • Article

      Nick Laird

      Dec 15, 2017

      I was trying to write like an adult.I had children.I was at the end of something. As I waited at my table by the window for the coffee,I saw that the sirocco had depositeda scrim of dust on the sill overnight,and it was the dark red of powdered blood

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Jean Chen Ho

      Dec 17, 2020

      (Doesn't it seem like poets are always trying to kill you, a little? And thus reminding you of your vulnerability, your aliveness.) The post A Year in Reading: Jean Chen Ho appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      At The Bend Of The Road

      Jul 20, 2021

      At The Bend Of The Road
      18 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Nov 1, 2018

      I heard a scientist speak about new discoveries on multitasking.Apparently, it is beneficial to multitask only when doing repetitive things that are meniallike dishwashing, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of babies,and not while doing something ce

      4 min read

    • Article

      Longer on Moon

      Sep 22, 2022

      Longer on Moon
      19 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Second Bat Guano War

    3.5/5

    6 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      The Second Bat Guano War is the story of one man's quest to find his friend and in the process stop a war. The friend, however, works for the CIA and is enmeshed with drugs, dissidents, and disappearances in Bolivia. I did not like this book for several reasons. First, much of the story is told as flash-backs -- long flash-backs which sometimes go on and on. At some points, I had difficulty figuring out was it a flash-back or not. Second, the 'hero' of the book is cocaine snorting American living in Bolivia with a dark secret. I didn't like him and, honestly, I didn't care if he was killed or not. Ditto with most of the other characters. Third, the plot plodded. The subtitle of this book was "A Hard-Boiled Spy Thriller", so I was expecting lots of action, intrigue, and mystery. But there was little of this. Even the sections where there was action seemed flat in the telling. And finally, the most fatal flaw in my mind was that until 75% through the book, there was no clear threat. Thrillers usually have a clear threat towards the beginning -- something which the characters are fighting to prevent -- but this one did not, or only had a minor hint of one.I read this book to the end because (1) I felt an obligation to read it as it was from Member Giveaway and (2) I had hoped it would improve as it reached the climax. In hindsight, I wish I had stopped after the first 2-3 chapters. Overall, I would not recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      Blurb…..

      Rats ate his baby daughter while he partied in a disco. Now Horace "Horse" Mann is a drugged-out expat teaching English to criminals in Lima, Peru. Oh, and doing the odd favour for the CIA.


      When his Agency contact, Pitt Waters, goes missing, Horse's desperate efforts to find his only friend lead him to a Buddhist ashram on the shores of Lake Titicaca. There Horse uncovers his friend's involvement with a group of Gaia-worshipping terrorists who want to kill off the human "disease" infecting the earth.


      Can Horse find his friend in time? And when he does--will he want to stop him?


      I haven’t read much fiction set in South America, scratches head……..err change that to none whatsoever, though I’m sure there’s something from Bitter Lemon Press on the pile that’s set in Argentina………..off now to look it up……….yeah – Rage by Serge Bizzio.

      Well having contributed to several Lonely Planet travel guides for the region, the author has a familiarity with the locale and paints a vivid picture of the seamier side of Lima.


      Porup introduces us to a variety of miscreants; a Chinese drug dealer, a corrupt cop, whores, a pick-pocket, a CIA assassin and Horse, himself – as in hung like a….


      Horace, close to rock-bottom after losing his daughter and wife is surviving giving English lessons to criminals, trying to numb his pain with a daily cocktail of drink, drugs and soulless sex.


      Meeting Pitt in a bar, brings him a small sense of purpose. Pitt, son of the American Ambassador and a clandestine operator for the agency befriends Horse and drags him into an agency operation.


      Complications arise with Horse screwing Pitt’s mum and Pitt turning rogue. Horse seeking to find some answers encounters his wife in the sanctuary of a crazed cult, one with big plans for the world’s future.


      Horse has to choose between allowing Pitt to complete his latest mission or achieving some measure of redemption.


      The Second Bat Guano War is a decent read, depicting some of the less savoury aspects of life in a South American capital city. The characters whilst not always likeable are interesting and entertaining.


      Porup throws in some history lessons as well, explaining the legacy of bat guano and the way it has shaped this part of South America. Some pithy observations on corporate America add to the blend.

      On the whole, different but enjoyable. 4 from 5.


      I read this one as a free download from Smashwords. It’s available from Amazon on Kindle and will be in print sometime soon.


      Visiting Porup’s website he has a previous book out – The United States Of Air, which has attracted some decent reviews and which I might be checking out once I’ve put a dent in the TBR mountain.

    Book preview

    The Second Bat Guano War - J.M. Porup

    cbook_preview_excerpt.html}˲ǵ寔49[ 1(a=C0JIԋ8 8;p@G'^kU=)*+s?^Q_v_}9}ŗOC՛->؇JͱEXvNM?i~š=ھ)CQ0ok؟Oc?"5C*#穪x> 5cp5>cW~_WCEp y,E w]ckqS9EE[~Y K"VX=/xE;E}|ԷT` :~26#& ~{ ѯB!\q\u[*A\ v'XV76zȅv`')4^}Xşm˧z7a`XA=F8ec>GEǑ?\)W]s UG>#N'raO۩*mS\)7ECx|c SXb%I?ߵ%Nvdk,~ D#]?S˭}oￎyNڶ'o҇nDkq} }@!<6@ðؼІC">%vbDUއᴁبi?k&&+ gs-BJq|f )tm786rU)@q:zGtz6X-SkO>e՜3:r64`-~z ;ܷ]iї 3JMPpN@V$3N;@G[`O%xNO9xmBs/ltG8aq>>8+OpP)0J8Pq07R:U61d\>\6 }{my8Ę5Zu.q&265Y{h @%\gl0Aܪ=bU$Q9NCq֯<!qypIO2?NM4{)UɄ?:?vSF9G)a[XWS)7%Ze*B`:&FM<'uo"I m ,.:OZ\blndBVahspAj79+ǽ( 7`SEC'=<߉4C1 _) C'ڣyv[JÇjgD/Ŷ/8&~˅i.4 IE*6b~j/\]ۛ,{IX$l^34Myxv8Зs(ΩjTˮSlE1J6;Hl ψ_40׍=cVX+}yU1 1;&|h* I#ܚjjNi'C;r+jv| q8JMKFQΦ-W"pAi) ,nG];kscZ.ءmkk mi+R+]uOǦ]2O +J….4Nap ?yF_ۧ oь (h^R5*=l8H)ke2˩ldS?_7r0«\7vAe4=A|;tA#F!zx 醍zz)-nb H2Ͳ\}|v]W+R[ N^HA7g~1f_) jz>scj3efF+oPY.@!,a_G`p73Oړ$U{Pf(>|۪UOC3@:K-+ 8C)6.gv޵'lt.؈`?DCaՎp:)Bz'0 w@PpgשFBȥX=C3}H ;@^ @ @B @YMb._أӴ\ȰG9¬e#FfMUCNAa y l]<5RhTS=ӗfHф n$[/US08w$#(P6zI5T)ɗ.G+-j̧@ `:= B9!.K:kpU얻bĤXW@'FhSߘZۮkx #7Y66l&^gȫ6XJ,v7^v813Ji)Wyv0557SxZ#k#q@kҤ&VgE'/\G ˍ N<']iE0q'+kn&mz;§e xPh|e\/Nt8H BCQeMCHg̩(-kՇՙ}3Ө.o+C9^xsҜP8ii-c"ȸb)@NY8?ޠV(٦W7Ƶs @9?YMQCefhsf[P*H}ZChSpmn[ *qe0㊯o~ftbyJ|D V$wI9}"Ex˳߸LV|\Pjf3lZU jmIgNȕJ=;A]+M"fάݽ{Qg.$^l(eLHâqjW)Hs!ɄZm<(˘cVkv_X|TOk* |mS6}] H.%<"wNB$KqcN,>D1TK m-ĭ'(=]0羟,iZh+e5Y1C/@* ϮH>+fﰿ37j|\( |.U|n\E&@"q8hR|2;cic =uD^f-{G5B Gih JI̜^N.LX`Xa}{>bvUg(z@XgjUjV[C{8N$$$JFϩv%Kpܑ?NC0<h"scJ6밸;~jJs/0 {G:r;(L(%e>{INAE ϡ`& R敞| a޴8ۏ# ~ e9̕1)- @/ΎQpBl (cdwb>H0;lݕ94w-]{1] 9O7𳎫m7SP &]Wlkn$tNĝf=qޔh٨XIK.b(m"+ax|6Z RiFȲ]` U߲Z}̭ D<)2QGɢ>ˣ1b#:xbDQdvS @\t~U 4ɰxS+U]v6y컘 KOMRZE\K>,$[)MxMdz`kl+aV"g"mj =tS"`яxeXVbC l"2Ҷ1-"'ɆW8`eXIX` .%#d~40J+gQOFf5Ij~A,ըK!VQLDYioaˮ1()^@/ +?G.hSaA[yQ&'tᆊ@2tt`STW  =r@%&QxF=A6Y%W؟6-\`u=|#: vrIw=N ;0~"5Kɀ8`lp̓|L\Kz0˯.>T\Vረ9pH͌Po|^7b`) sLGg4\̷P\,̺jPx r$h"X!:sSpΚ -d.CڑXYwoϹQ"TG{CSê1%"YbҲR6UFj*WTAHM;VZO2D&jݜvV.괶ڱ\\U|"Lߒy>w-;%Ěi/{8'lf  mxVQi% P8;'S) s$;[~M봰9[YSz5[8h/I8+djQbǻt U"3 QIM=vxfM>10c"dJmA/8Ľpyz 8x?`by6]3.3X9<Kep\9fEJڥi`YNKo,!=haq;L_媗CBɊٳ<BrܙnƸؤ\WY Y (!m~xFɜŢ`E8ʛ!@ U/֪lüZ*oU"Mf6׬a$ZRMz]);TDg uƾWE+L]Q/!#%wcԛl8ې貊oqڊ!W:sێDFb)]mQJ*\HÐI0ٶ SxKba?ʅdE1+xY`Iܙ 1!̏QBb%@ {22da)>M5[3:iej}w޲y$"Ro#.6rg9uŒcV\yvV'׻j^n y2KRCfֽF)\` $݊ XVCT'$^EfLevy#mFR󕆸?\LΌ77F Fr zd>cs8k=C &PY9FG^|HV T*.bQ|1yiL)4S[)415gR :eQh]ɐkPӉ fk>X7Q!:L(+6TL[l05`뽦_ To4Ue`7ʯu gP!ztyjJ҅5y aDhkWnmywl>3,=xXɒ2%`emPlA䏏8@u~Y,%<4"zU_3ɤyA\(ScE8SZ\[Y9QmR۞bs$%kz:gaV~o/c 7U˗q]Iܲ-«E\7P2ꘞg'<ZBHScY0zݶvihST)S:Wj5Ԙ1-z% YXI\'%e.ƅQP&7sf:BDؼQʉZv R`\I.MvhEƠQs}0?]ę[MܬK1cxrso}C`=?1DI)={7>L%Ēp Q]p޶tYvެrJ*͂41kPr{ݷwnɼ8뜭 jG7 J+޿) &TA+dð?mE@-Jc:FGռxRD{\dL7tTr5 @6:KZ:VNE [s+-aE`̾RᴒQ]84 c;x%FfM=rU!"pͲ2~kvћj%b2g;1[}LS^sjtS *tUGN!Y&;(Eڰ@żzL-m'|݊uW<#-k>Sre?WkRFژ; _OQDӘ@uGddWݥ@L03e*̓osWX-g`s"GᄬRdC6no;liaGbXJЦ&8= \?xq)\/ۢS*Hy ,a,NllH::gq,/L]>0gv_eW#ؓ69KQ>[HSb| ,GmLe\\eZsԣ~[RZE@Zf L2nV*~ &R,s'?l-j'<[#?AϵE#nI͝ZJ_c }.W (Z e \$ c=t2'NT=sʁ^2on+ m&穊G+PAMmҊb%Je⭢7)sE-唻x`J)dX^%ԽR-u>ap}UE{5 (dڈ9Lj.ͳ?i] rvzw Y'mhI@{l aQƏiǦG9\s X>v1XJc+^˖.UoZ~|b-[DũxּeX[to`{v4N>Ɠ5B:ni!/7 -E5W5hCXZvڅ_:n~K};)amBw #܄ɤ/M{W7TY$IzRۄJ{q?e-Yy=^aUVFK}TXkdga3tEuΝ *K崯ʼtCbme7:ABHnY0247Wq)_#m%D5 t`_K8Tē]嬏L@|nu±6rfNyCu-SQޔ٬Ji_/]jMro沵VrLcޖ[s~iDFUwd\?2 §Fm>!llr;<3yV(_0,thOv60NGܗ5ܚgxeʩ59:9VM>B,y"BB[%Oi{Ez.i\ }XBYHq_]#r6+1$ji9j \6+^&SY9l]9L.Ջ^f/97o9 v^襺 |i&3Cx:h*L6Ȉwm jv lО.%Bkk jYEYNXE.T$zLg9^G{JOU:/>/WZXVḷ=iPK& /eUmjBX8ZɴbYiff\rJln7U-79C=)b/gǬQA@\rQ셿y>Yj^(՚bw7rk]`t.#(%zǘK^_J R߶tfb|:!~3Yi]&%Ѡ4y^EM]:ڈ iѾ%`W, oy=P۱nއ&7rR癶NƹQIW}Ա:GXujd Wl#U 9v037Y:ec`vPY3[9pg5Su6^Uqb7N5le>će+tjhe &RUھyjne[= Q` Lݼ/kҳY3s݈7v7P7*zS%}?>D뭟I "flT\n\T)Z/i2m ^_Yb?_B\2sYO}#k'zxdG|?p`!_T'3Ϗr[}0SإST8s\'cg߲ʢwx,ƥf)3< M%ky7KH׵U_:i罍ՑT‡\_ߨ'7XIGȉܟIPV2?F/Lʹ$,Ky"}ǝ4HIUv+zyƜt_-7VM<8Cj .`Uhscพ^C.t$20ѨunWC~xoL4% @d?RoS ZzNO]~ijxI |);2. )[,\5_A.!*:rj~;Gg"FsJ^>! +7K2B[0IŻKV]]kko-Wٚ#xeFr({
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1