Jack of Harts

Forge of War

by Medron Pryde on November 11, 2020 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

In 2205, we learned the answer to one of the oldest questions of all time. 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 expand 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 when a sneak attack killed millions of Americans, and wiped out almost everything and everybody Jack knew, he volunteered to serve and get some payback. But the Marines want more than people looking for revenge, and cybernetic partners demand a higher commitment. If Jack wanted to earn his commission as a Marine Corps fighter pilot, he had to let himself be forged into something stronger than he’d ever felt the need to be. A man willing to live up to the name of his squadron. A Cowboy.

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Forge of War is available at the following retailers

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The Martian Affair

by Medron Pryde on November 10, 2020 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

We were alone in 2080. It was a new age of space exploration that would forever change humanity. Our probes traveled to every planet in the system, and manned missions blanketed the inner system. Our permanent colonies in Earth orbit, on Luna, and Mars pointed us to a new future in the stars.

Then an unknown objected entered Martian space, crashed through a Chinese satellite, and impacted on the Martian surface. Official reports called it a random piece of space junk. Conspiracy theorists claimed it was everything from a precursor to alien invasion to an embarrassing industrial accident.

Time marched on, and a legion of questions about the incident were never answered. Mars became a booming center of new industry, and eventually a comfortable home for humanity as we terraformed the surface. We forgot about the incident entirely as the years turned into decades and then centuries.

But now we know the truth, thanks to the recently declassified diaries of the man who watched that object arrive with his naked eyes. His name is Sergeant John Christensen, United States Marines Corps. This is his story.

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The Martian Affair is available at the following retailers

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The Family Affair

by Medron Pryde on November 9, 2020 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

Jack grew up in that world at peace, his only interests, partying and girls. But then a sneak attack killed millions of Americans, and his family. He signed up with the Marines to get some payback against the alien scum who’d started it all.

Now Captain Jack Hart of the Republic of Texas Marine Corps has returned to Alpha Centauri after a long and painful mission that left him bruised, broken, and nearly beaten. His mission is to sit back, relax, and spend a few days healing up so he can go back to kicking alien asses back to the other side of the galaxy.

Jack is happy with the healing and relaxing parts, but he cannot simply sit back. What’s left of his family is on Alpha Centauri, and he has to get back together with them. No harm can come from a little family reunion. Right?

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The Family Affair is available at the following retailers

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Dewey Defeats Truman

by Medron Pryde on November 8, 2020 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

We have had a number of failed early calls when it comes to elections over the years. Dewey Defeats Truman is probably the most famous of them in relatively recent history. Though as the years go by, fewer people alive remember that. We are accustomed to knowing who won an election on either election night or the morning after. Most places quickly count the votes, accurately enough to get an idea of who won. Though when the numbers are close, or the charges of fraud or errors are substantial, it behooves us as a nation not to take announcements at face value. The Dewey Defeats Truman line came from faulty polling. They ran a poll, it said Dewey would win, and they trusted it. They didn’t do another poll to verify or to see if trends were changing. They didn’t listen to the people on election day. They assumed what they wanted to know was accurate, and posted their prediction. They were wrong, because the tide of the voting public had changed while they were not looking. Or did not wish to see…

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One More Error… Or Not?

by Medron Pryde on November 7, 2020 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

I’ll make this quick, but another interesting issue cropped up today that is relevant to my interests and experience. One county in Michigan was getting odd results that didn’t match the expectations. They were heavily Republican district, but had far more Biden votes than expected. After some discussions, they went digging and found that their voting software was somehow giving Trump votes to Biden. They had to hand count every ballot in their county and found 6,000 votes for Trump that were not in the original count. Here’s the kicker. They are one of nearly 50 counties in Michigan that use that software according to the company website. And that software is used in 30 States, including the current battleground States that are in contention, if what I’ve read is accurate. Is this a single issue, maybe due to configuration at this one county, or does EVERY polity that uses the software need to do an audit of their votes?

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