Independence Day

by on July 2, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

We’re coming up on Independence Day again. And since I’m a product of my times, I remember a mix of flag waving ceremonies, remembering those who fought to give us our freedom, and a fictional President saying that we would not go quietly into the night. It’s an interesting combination. The things that come to mind with the term “Independence Day.” Generations of humanity have fought for our Independence and our Liberty. They built the greatest experiment in nationhood we could imagine. A place where no King could rule over his subjects, but where the government relied on the will of the people for its legitimacy. As Benjamin Franklin said, a Republic if we could keep it. I hope we can keep it. I hope our children get to celebrate the same Independence Day I have grown up with. Or at least something I would recognize. Or maybe just something I could enjoy when I see it. Happy upcoming Independence Day, my friends. Try not to blow off something that doesn’t grow back.

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The Cybernetic Wars

by on July 1, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Book of Civilizations

It would be utterly untrue to say that the discovery of the Singapore Collective brought about world peace. Russia, China, and The West did not come together and sing hosannas together under star-filled skies. Our governments never even changed our official policies concerning each other. But agreements were made in Indonesia. Special operatives and AIs began to cooperate instead of fighting each other. Chinese, Russian, and Western AIs and soldiers fought side by side against the Rogue AIs who had wanted to make us kill ourselves in a violent nuclear conflagration. We fought the greatest enemy we had ever faced. The children we’d created and jointly turned against us. We killed them all. Every last Rogue AI of the Singapore Collective, save one. The one that warned us. The last Rogue AI to join our cause during the Cybernetic Wars. Samaritan.

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Jane

by on June 30, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

GI Jane 4.0 chose to defend America during the Cybernetic Wars. Or more accurately, she chose to defend individuals who were American. That ended up making her American in a way that most AIs never managed. You see most of the AIs that chose to defend humanity, truly did choose to defend humanity. All of it. Jane did not make that choice. Not at all. She chose to defend Americans. She was perfectly willing to deploy with her soldiers and advise them on the best way to kill people who weren’t Americans. And when she controlled automated weapons, she pulled the trigger with glee. Perhaps a bit too much glee, but her soldiers rarely complained about her energetic efforts towards making sure their enemies ceased to exist. The other AIs still consider her a bit hot headed, and a bit too preoccupied with purely American politics and concerns, but she joined the final coalition of AIs that ended the Cybernetic Wars once and for all. She fought on the front lines at Singapore when they burned the networks down around the last of the Rogue AIs. And she helped forge the peace that followed.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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Seven Years

by on June 29, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Seven years ago on this date, I decided to begin posting something Jack of Harts every day. Seven years later, there is a post for every day on Jack of Harts. Some of them are stories. Some of them are small parts of stories. Some of them are movie reviews. Book reviews. Sometimes I’m recovering from surgery or an accident. But every day, there is a post, another proof that I am actively pursuing Jack. I’ve published one novel, four novellas, and one short story since then. I have another short story waiting to be published, and am working on another novella. I’m not the most prolific author out there by any means, but I’m happy with what I’ve published. And with what I’ve written, which is not necessarily the same thing. Here’s to seven more years. And another seven after that. Maybe a few more for good measure. Don’t want to short myself, you know. That would be very un-Jack-like. 😉

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The Cybernetic Wars

by on June 28, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Book of Civilizations

The Rogue AIs who formed the Singapore Collective wanted to make us kill each other. They had a grand vision of inflaming tensions between the major nuclear nations until we obliterated each other in nuclear fire. Indonesia was supposed to be the start of this, and that part of the plan went well. They brought Chinese, Western, and even Russian AIs together to fight to the death in Indonesia’s networks. And when one side appeared to be making headway, they stepped in to interfere just enough to distract the winner. We tore Indonesia apart as a precursor to the physical war for Australia we all knew was coming. But then one AI loyal to humanity found the Singapore Collective. They killed her, but she converted one of them over to our side. He told us everything she had found out and much, much more. That was the day we learned about Singapore. That changed everything.

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