Jack of Harts Background

by on October 1, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I said previously that Jack of Harts started with a character. That is true, and the Jack of Harts stories I have written in the last decade or so are absolutely built on Jack. He is a character I first wrote in my twenties, when I was trying to hold on to be young. But there is a far older character out there. Going back to the very first stories I ever wrote as a child in grade school, there was a man named Aneerin. I was always writing stories in different universes with different foes, but always there was Aneerin. Old, wise, strong. The immortal defender of humanity who always wore white. So when I began writing Jack of Harts, I found a place for my imaginary friend since childhood. Admiral Aneerin of the Peloran Confederation.

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Jack of Harts Background

by on September 30, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I have mapped out the history of the Jack of Harts universe for hundreds of years in both directions. Complete with master timeline files and all kinds of other things. In depth discussions about some characters and their family histories. But it all started in a starfighter with a wise-cracking pilot and his long-suffering cybernetic partner. That is what I wanted to write. The character came first and the world came second. But the character put boundaries on the world. I wanted a world where someone like that could live. A world where we had done most things right. A world where a boy could grow up fishing on a lake with his father. The background I built to create the world had to reflect that Jack lived in it.

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Presidential Debates

by on September 29, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

This week we had the second Presidential Debate of the 2024 election cycle. Once again, Trump did not attend, and neither did a lot of viewers. And many viewers who watched turned it off in disgust. The moderators for any debate should be there to get the candidates to talk and say what they want to do, so the electorate can make an informed decision on who they want to support. They should not be obsessed with gotcha questions based on opposition talking points. When a question is so ridiculous that every candidate gives it the double middle finger of just refusing to answer, the forum has utterly lost its way. The Republican Party must require that future Republican Debates be candidate debates, not left wing moderator bomb throwing contests.

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Jack of Harts Background

by on September 28, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I started writing the Jack of Harts stories over a decade ago. One of the earlier visuals I wrote back then was that Republic of Texas warships flew the Texas flag over the American flag. Both the names and the visual were designed to give the reader the feel that the world of Jack was subtly different from our own. And this was not long after the story was introduced on a bass boat on a lake with a father and son fishing to show that this world was very much like our own. Even if it was three centuries in our future. This duality of like and unlike is something I have used in all the years since to further tell the Jack of Harts stories. And it has made them better than they would have been without either or both.

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An Author’s Perspective on 2024

by on September 27, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I’m an author, so I see stories. I imagine interesting ones. Imagine the leading Republican Presidential Candidate convicted of Crimes Against Democrats by Democrat juries in Democrat cities. Imagine the Democrats deciding that their leading Presidential Candidate is an incompetent criminal scumbag, so they replace him at the convention. Imagine the Democrat Presidential Candidate refusing to debate with the Republican Presidential Candidate because he’s a felon. Imagine Democrat election officials removing the Republican Presidential Candidate from the ballots because he’s a felon. In Jack of Harts, stuff like this caused America to fracture around 2050. I don’t want to see it in 2024. But imagine if we did…

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