Jack of Harts

The Peloran of the Jack of Harts universe are modeled after the Aneerin of my childhood. Old and wise and strong. Immortal defenders. Genetically engineered supersoldiers as I fleshed them out. They actually can die, but old age or disease is never their killer. Their bodies can regrow anything they lose as long as they aren’t killed dead, and that usually takes stopping their heart and mind and otherwise absolutely devastating their core bodily functions. And with mind backups and cloning chambers, even if you do manage to kill them all the way, they always come back. I wanted a relentless force for good in the universe of Jack, and I designed the Peloran to fit that archetype.

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.

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.