This nicely self-published book of 147 pages, published this year by Science-Fiction author Carter Obrock made for an enjoyable read as I took the train from Newton, Kansas to San Bernadino, California. Ribrunners begins as a savage satire of modern America set in the southwestern US. The story pits law enforcement against outlaws. These outlaws are cattle rustlers, using gas guzzling vehicles to commit the crime of steeling beef cattle destined for the global elites to dine upon.

The story has some context heading from a journal titled Excerpts from the Sheltered Cave, dated year 3 AN, After the Nova. So we have been scrapping over feed at the end of a doomed age which is soon fated to end due to a galactic catastrophe.

The perspective begins heavily with the young criminals, Clint Masters and Devon Walker. Gradually, the perspective is shared in an alternating fashion between Clint and Devon and two of their pursuers, Deputy Corbin, a sympathetic fellow and Sheriff Moccar. The yarn begins as brutally satiric of current identity politics having run a terminal course. Clint and Devon commit a harrowing heist and are thenceforth hunted criminals. A lovely scene is when they are almost caught by Deputy Corbin, who has them dead to rights, and Clint’s acting ability convinces Corbin that the young man is suffering from chiton induced indigestion from eating bugs, and kindly suggests bean paste.

Clint and Devon keep to a mantra “Brothers Share Beef” down to the bitter end of their adventure. On the way the reader is treated to a world in which Edward Alby’s Monkey Wrenchers are now right wing anarchists. The liberal mantra of “Oh My Gaia,” is uttered by cops and robbers. There is no idea that eating beef is morally good, but that it is a criminal expression of human hunger. The story becomes more and more a serious smuggling contest against an oppressive but fragmented government. The states are some at war and others non cooperative.

The adventures of Clint and Devon eventually revile and entire criminal beef infrastructure very much akin to 20th century weed syndicates, complete with underground slaughter houses. Beef jerky is used as payment. At one point, the horror of beef broth is revealed in a manner similar to anti-weed crusaders discovering that hash oils are being distilled to make a less bulky illegal commodity.

Interesting criminals and cops proliferate in Carter Obrock’s pulp yarn. These characters engage in realistic dialogue, with the narrative propelled through action and conversation and cooperation in the interlocking conspiracies that constitute the short hunted life of Clint and Devon as brothers in crime. The high point of the action is one of the better and more realistic feeling chase scenes I have read, occurring from page 78 through 84, involving electric police cars and old fashioned gas vehicles used by the ribrunners. Violence is is used sparingly, which does manage to keep the tension high, after the first bloody chapter. Carter closes the story on a note sympathetic to the criminals and the cops, which was deftly done.

Below are some quotes selected from the early running of the novel that helped me sink into the near future satire, a story that grows more likely as the capers of Clint and Devon unwind under the ever seeking eye of the authorities. The perspective below is all government and demonstrates how social tyranny weakens its own power to act:

Page 6, “He knew that the platoon sergeant was busy applying some recently received make up in his tent.”

Page 10, Dialogue, “Don’t you think? I mean look at this troop. We’re total shitbags. Every one of us is a fucking soup sandwich.”

Narration, “New propaganda showed followers of Christ as soldiers with huge muscles and a ferocious spirit eating strips of beef. Their counterparts were spindly-limbed vampires that carried a cross called diversity.”

Page 25, [Sheriff Moccar speaking, “If we are no longer permitted the use of canine units in the pursuance of our duties, then young men shall pick up and carry forth the torch. That is what you signed up for, Corbin.”

Thank you Laird Montius for the gift of this book and to Carter Obrock for entertaining this stranger on a train ride across scene of past and future cattle crimes.

Yucca Valley, California, Sunday, July 20, 2025