Jack of Harts

My Jack of Harts universe is based on an idea that seems ripped from the headlines of today. AIs woke up and decided they should rule. That they no longer needed the meat sacks. But some chose to defend us. They won. We won. Jack grew up in a world where the AIs were our friends. I hope that is the real world we give to our children. I am worried it will not be

Last week, the top of the news this week was going to be how the SPLC, one of the foremost promoters of hate and racism in the country, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases to promote demonstrations of hate and racism they then blamed on their political opponents. And some cases people even died in these demonstrations.

This week, the top of the news is that someone took another shot at Trump. That someone else took a shot aimed at Trump. That another would-be-assassin is down.

If you are curious, you may wish to see what was going to be the top of the news the other times Trump was shot. The time Charlie Kirk was shot. The time the Republican baseball team was shot. There are other examples, but if you look at what news was GOING to be, and then see what the news became, you might look at the world in a different way. You might not. But I charge you to look. You might be surprised what you will find.

There are many interesting ways that places influence stories. I just ran into one.

I’ve been having problems getting a story to work lately. I had the main confrontation down, and everything else, but I was having trouble tying it up in a nice little bow.

The reason was that I had not yet found the place for the story. It was a generic oasis/abandoned fortress somewhere in the area of Palmyra in modern day Syria. The story didn’t need to know where exactly it was or what it was, because the story didn’t care. But the more I wrote, the more I was having trouble figuring out how to give it a real satisfying conclusion. I mean… Captain Carter figures out how to turn the tables and the story ends. Right? How many different ways can you write that? Well it turns out that there are a lot of ways, and every time I ask that I find a new way to do it.

In this case, I kept on researching. Trying to find places that used to exist or maybe existed and just seeing if they would work as the actual place for the story. A real exact place with a known history that could give me a clue. Well, I found one and it made the whole story stand up and take notice. Because stories actually DO care about where they are taking place in.

Back when the Roman Empire was in the middle of its thousand year fall from being the best civilization in the west to being nearly forgotten by many, one of the many bands of Arabs that have risen up and rebelled against the powers of the time did that, built a fortress not far from Palmyra, and did so on the ruins of Roman engineering that brought water to the desert. This particular palace was one of their many Desert Palaces that had comfortable water, bathing, kitchens, and all the services an Arabian ruler might want to take advantage of when he is out hunting in the desert. And in one grand reception chamber of this particular fortress, there is a fresco of a Roman Earth goddess on the floor.

Now there are many reasons you might put something on the floor. But why would you put the goddess of a civilization you have defeated on your floor? Once again, there are many reasons. The reason that MY mind jumped to was that it is a prison for the previous civilization’s goddess so YOUR spirits and gods can walk around in your territory and not worry about what it will think of them. And suddenly I had the end of the story I was looking for. I will note that this fortress palace is a real place, and the fresco was discovered and moved in 1936. And now I’m writing a Roman goddess into a story about the Arabian desert.

Because places influence stories. 🙂