Jack of Harts

Featured Post
by on January 19, 2024 at 12:02 am
Posted In: Diaries

We found hyperspace in 2105 and the Great Space Race began. Alliances, nations, corporations, and religions reached out for the stars and humanity spread beyond the Solar System. We learned the answer to one of the oldest questions of all time in 2205. Are we alone? They brought medicines with them that nearly wiped out diseases, and extended the human lifespan into the centuries. They helped us study advanced technologies, and we expanded our colonies hundreds of lightyears from Earth. It was a golden age that many thought would never end.

Jack grew up in a world at peace, his only interests, partying and girls. But then an alien sneak attack killed millions of Americans, and wiped out almost everything and everybody Jack knew. He volunteered to serve and kick the alien scum back to the other side of the galaxy. But the Marines wanted more than people looking for revenge, and cybernetic partners demanded a far higher commitment. If Jack wanted to earn his commission as a Marine Corps fighter pilot, he had to grow up. He had to let himself be forged into something stronger than he’d ever wanted to be. He had to live up to the name of his squadron.

The Republic of Texas Marine Corps Fighter Attack Squadron 112. The Cowboys.

 Comment 

Crazy Coyote Movie

by on January 15, 2026 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I used Grok Imagine to the come up with a good image I wanted for the cover of Crazy Coyote Chaos. It took a while to get it right, but in the end I found what I wanted. A cool picture that had the atmosphere I was looking for.

The next thing I wanted was to get it in motion. To make a movie of it. I wanted the Cowboy walking into the arcade while the kids kept playing, with a booming laugh coming from somewhere. It took a while to get what I wanted. The kids turned around to look at the guy, so I had to change the prompt to tell them not to. The cowboy kept turning to show his face, but I didn’t want that either. More directions. Sometimes the laugh wasn’t right.

In the end, after many iterations, I finally found a movie that followed all my directions and did what I wanted. And here it is.

I hope you like it.

https://jackofharts.substack.com/p/crazy-coyote-movie

 Comment 

Crazy Coyote Chaos Art

by on January 14, 2026 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I went to Grok Imagine to create the Crazy Coyote Chaos art file for use as my cover image. I opened up my copy of the story and typed in the scene as I wrote it. A few extra commas and some basic formatting. Ran through a bunch of options. Didn’t like them. Put in some clarifications. I kept iterating through the ideas and drilling down into more and more tweaks until I found an image I wanted. Grok Imagine is getting better and better at creating images and videos, and I’m impressed that it really nailed what I was looking for. After a lot of iterations.

In the end, this nailed what I wanted. A rustic Cedar wood and beam arcade with classic arcade titles in it, smoke and fluorescent lights, and everything else. I doubt it looks anything like the real arcade at that time did. I know it’s smaller. But I was looking for a theme, and this got the theme.

And it looks darn good if I say so myself.

 Comment 

Crazy Coyote Chaos

by on January 13, 2026 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Crazy Coyote Chaos was written for a Raconteur Press open call asking for tales of peril in the arcades. I chose to move my monster hunter into the nearly-modern day and twist the mystical in with the technological. The base question was, what if an Indian Trickster spirit took over an arcade game and used it to lure unsuspecting people into the game world. After much study of period games, I created Crazy Coyote Chaos and went with it all the way. I did a lot of research on the arcades of the time, finding out when the Indian Casinos started arcades, and finally found my time and place for the story. This is my first offering of 2026, and I hope you enjoy it.

Let there be Chaos….

https://jackofharts.substack.com/p/crazy-coyote-chaos

 Comment 

Iran

by on January 12, 2026 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Reports continue to come out of Iran via Starlink and other services. Whatever methods of communication the government has not shut down.

The reports I’ve seen show bodies in the streets.

Protestors in prison.

Some reports say hundreds of dead. Others say thousands dead.

Iran is threatening to shoot Americans all over the world if we do anything to support the protests. And they’re calling to negotiate.

But will Trump act before they can meet? Or will he make them an offer they cannot refuse?

Will the son of the last Shah of Iran become the next head of state of Iran? Or will the Islamic Caliphate continue to slaughter Iranians who just want to be free of their rule?

Iranians are not our enemies. They are some of the nicest people in the area. They have a culture going back thousands of years. A history. Yes, of history of death and destruction. But also one of culture and order. What will win in the days ahead? Will it be death and destruction? Or will culture and order win out? It’s awful hard for to happen. It’s rare. But sometime it does happen, and I pray this is one of those times.

 Comment 

Iran and Minneapolis

by on January 11, 2026 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

A woman was shot dead by law enforcement in Minnesota not long ago. There was something going wrong in the area and she called the police for help. They sent a car with a pair of officers in it and she went out to talk to them in her night shirt IIRC. One of the officers saw her coming, pulled out his service piece, and shot her dead.

Another woman was shot dead by law enforcement in Minnesota a bit less long ago. There was something going wrong in the area and she took her vehicle out and started harassing law enforcement. Parked in the road in front of them. Taunted them. Danced on the horn and screamed at them. And when several officers exited their vehicles to approach her and detain her, she slammed on the gas and hit one of them. The one she hit with her vehicle, pulled out his service piece and shot her dead.

Something like over two thousand people have been killed in Iran by law enforcement because they are protesting the regime. Women are tortured to death in Iranian prison for stepping outside without the “proper” head covering. A Hijab, properly tied up to cover every hint of their face and head. Law enforcement snipers shoot women to death for the crime of stepping outside their car near a protest.

Look at which of these killings gets the most media attention in America. Look at which of these killings the Democrat Party protests against and which they try to hide, or in fact support the killers. Look very carefully at which of these killings they want you to be most offended by. The things they cheer and the things they support and the things they boo all tell what manner of people they are.

And while we are measuring their natures, we see nations and cities in chaos and fire again, because that is what some people want.

 Comment