In
the past, I have tried to use this blog to focus on the writing process and on
the series of books that I've written or am about to write. With this post,
that will change to some degree.
Writers
have historically used fictional characters, locations, and events to discuss
issues of the day. A few examples include:
-
In The Time Machine, H.G. Wells discussed the division of the working class
(Morlocks) and the elites (Eloi).
-
In the original Star Trek television series, Gene Roddenberry (and the series
writers) addressed issues like overpopulation (The Mark of Gideon), racism (Let
That Be Your Last Battlefield), and the Holocaust (Patterns of Force) to name only
three episodes.
-
The creative team behind the M*A*S*H television series used the series to
address the follies of war in general and the Korean and Vietnam Wars
specifically.
-
William W. Johnstone began writing about the growing threat of
Liberalism/Progressivism to America in his Ashes series (and other books) starting
in the 1980s and continued to do so until he passed away in 2004.
Over
the last few weeks, I've been caught up in a serious quandary. I've made
significant headway on the first book in the "Roman's Legion" series,
but recent events on the world scene and here in the United States have
distracted me from my work on the series, interrupted my sleep, and thoroughly depressed
me. The fact that my home state, Arizona, is being invading as a result of poor
governance by Obama and his Administration is the final straw.
Anyone
who has watched the news (and I don't mean the LAMESTREAM MEDIA), read a decent
newspaper, or searched the Internet should be aware of the ever growing list of
scandals involving the Obama Administration and their effects here and abroad.
Actually, everyone should be aware of these scandals but it seems like a significant
percentage of Americans are keeping themselves willfully ignorant. (If you are
not aware of them, here's a list of them as of June 2014)
Today, Senator Dick Durban of Illinois said that Obama could borrow power to push through his immigration policies. Now, just so we're all on the same sheet of music here: there is no clause in the Constitution of the United States for the President to borrow power from any other branch of government. The powers of the Presidency are clearly defined in the Constitution. If any Democrats, Republicans, or Indepentdents in Congress allow Obama to "borrow" (read "steal") anything further powers, then those people will be in violation of their oaths to the Constitution and should be removed from office.
If
these scandals are the result of incompetence, then Obama and his
Administration are woefully inadequate to the task of governance of the United
States of America. If these scandals are part of a willful attempt to
circumvent the Constitution of the United States and the laws of this Nation,
then Obama and his Administration are in violation of their Oaths of Office to protect,
uphold, and defend the Constitution and the People of the United States.
As
an author, I have the means by which to write stories that can address the
problems our Nation now faces in an entertaining and thought provoking manner.
I have a voice and a pen to share my thoughts with others. Whether or not I
make a lot of money with these stories is not important (although I won't lie,
it would be nice!). If I can get just one person to open their eyes and realize
what is happening in the United States at this time, then I will have
succeeded.
So,
where am I going with this post? Well, I was working on a new series of
straight forward adventure stories called Roman's Legion. The events of the
last few weeks tell me that I just can't do it. I have to address the political
chaos our Nation faces.
So...I
am revamping Roman's Legion. I will retain the characters but the setting will
be Terra-Prime and the State of Arizona just before and then following the
Schism between the States. There will be little to no interaction between the
existing Terra-Prime (and by extension, Terra-Bravo) characters other than
those in the background. The political chaos of Terra-Prime (echoing our own),
will serve as a back drop to the Tales of the Arizona State Guard.
I've
got to do some rewrites, add some new characters (and at some point, bump some
of them off!), tweak some events, create some new events, and generally redo
the durn thing! I look forward to doing so and hope that my readers follow
along with me. It promises to be an interesting ride! More on the Tales of the
ASG in future posts on this blog!
**********
I've
had a few sales of Chaos on Terra-Prime, Foothold on Terra-Bravo, Crisis on
Terra-Bravo, and Honing Your Instructional Skills. The first copy of Honing
Your Instructional Skills sold in Great Britain through Smashwords.com.
Chaos
on Terra-Prime presages the creation of an Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East
that we are now witnessing. The effects of the removal of the United States from
the world stage are the motivating factors in Chaos, Foothold, and Crisis.
It'll be interesting in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead to see how
much I write about in those three books comes to pass.
All
four of the books mentioned above are available through Amazon.com,
Smashwords.com, and other online e-bookstores in a variety of e-book formats
for virtually every type of e-reader. I'm even looking into selling them
through Hastings Books and Music in the future!
Chaos
on Terra-Prime $2.99
Foothold
on Terra-Bravo $2.99
Crisis
on Terra-Bravo $2.99
Honing
Your Instructional Skills $0.99
**********
Stay alert, my friends! The feces haven't struck the rotary oscillator...yet!
Jeffrey
© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014
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