The re-release this month is A Few Good Men. I briefly considered changing the name to Uprising, but since it was published first under A Few Good Men, well…
And no, the title isn’t Baen’s fault. It was the only title that came to me. Hey, I never claimed to be good with titles.
Anyway, Caitlin Walsh and I are planning (plotting) a comic book of a few good men. Well, a graphic novel, because I think it’s going to run to at least 100 pages to get even all the plot down. Might be 150. Hard cover, kickstartered. (Which means we’ll have to look up the prices, etc. to set the amount.) I think it fund and be fine. She is very talented, and I have started to get comic scripts. We’re going to do the first 20/30 pages, as soon as I get her a script.
For those who haven’t read my science fiction, this is the book of the USAian revolution at least in part of the Earth.
So, because today I’m torn between despair and hope more than usual, here is a sketch that Caitlin made, and a uh maybe a bit spoilerish but not too much for a book that’s been out ten years excerpt of AFGM.
My soi-disant father must have been very good at training servants, whatever else he might have been bad at. And perhaps that was not a big surprise, since after all he meant to make servants of every person under his rule.
What I mean is, they came in to clear the remains of dinner and didn’t seem even slightly discomfited that Nathaniel Remy appeared to have dissolved into thin air. Perhaps they thought I’d let him out without anyone noticing. At any rate, they were the least inquisitive people imaginable.
I’d lingered over fruit and coffee, thinking I’d just made the biggest mistake of my life, but unable to feel sorry for it. If I held out, I’d be holding out in the name of what? Not being a joiner? Being contrary to the end? There was nothing to gain by that, and so much to lose. I looked at the pile of gems on my desk, and thought that at the very least I owed it to all those dead people, those destroyed people, not to go without a fight.
I locked the gems away on my desk drawer, I called the servants to clear the table, and I went to bed.
And woke up with Nat Remy calling out, “Lucius? Are you decent?”
“What?” I was awake immediately, as I was whenever someone came into the room, but this seemed rather early for a moral enquiry. Goldie jumped on the bed, tried to lick my face and in the darkness, I patted him and pushed his hindquarters down.
“Are you dressed? Dressed enough to be seen by people?”
“Oh. Yes.” I was in shorts and a light shirt, and though no one would call it a formal outfit, I’d need to go to the most distant and strange parts of the Earth to be arrested for indecency.
“Good,” he said. And then “Light.” Lights came on.
He stood in front of the secret door, which was closed. Martha stood on his right, and Abigail, blushing, on his left. Why was she blushing, I wondered? She was very young, and maybe she’d never been in a male’s bedroom before. On the other hand, my bedroom was hardly indecent and I, sitting on the bed, patting the idiot dog, might be disheveled, but otherwise wasn’t even mildly titillating. Then again perhaps she’d taken in the implications of Nat’s secret passageway, in which case . . . it was none of my business. Surely she didn’t think it had been built in a week. Martha just smiled at me in a matter-of-fact way, then walked across the room and opened the door. Sam came in. By this time, I was feeling seriously alarmed.
“Is anything wrong?” I asked.
Sam shook his head, and it was he who spoke, “It was judged easier to have Abigail and I carry proxies for the other members of the twelve than to have all of us get together here, or have you flown elsewhere. Our intelligence gathering tells us there’s been a flurry of activity by Scrubbers. We’re not sure what they’re up to, and we are not about to take risks we don’t need.”
The other members of the twelve. The Sons of Liberty were all young hotheads. And Sam and his wife knew nothing of what their children were involved in. And I was innocent as a babe unborn. My house was not just filled with Usaians. It was filled with dangerous revolutionaries. And liars. And yet, I thought better of Sam for doing something about the injustices and crimes that crossed his desk every day, rather than sitting still and letting evil go on.
Sam had the grace to blush a little at my expression, then shrugged. “Sometimes, telling the truth will only endanger all those who depend on you, and to whom you swore to keep silent so they’d not be found out.”
I inclined my head and didn’t say anything. He cleared his throat. “Nat tells us . . . That is, he says you’re willing to admit to believing everyone should be assumed to have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as a fundamental right. And that the purpose of government is to protect it. Before he left the meeting, previously, he secured people’s vote that you be allowed to join our organization on probation, if you professed such beliefs.” Was his smile totally ironic? “Of course, I suspect two or three of them, at the time, thought it was more likely for them to get hit by a meteor that had lain in ambush in an alley, waiting for them to walk by. But we got them to agree to your full induction, and we’ll do it before they can retract that. That way you’ll be a full member. And we’ll avoid another internal battle.”
Nat cleared his throat and I thought he had suppressed laughter and it occurred to me that if any members of the council thought that they were too stupid to hold office and perhaps too stupid to live. Nat Remy was not a honeypot, and he might be the world’s worst missionary. But he had inherited from Sam a kind of bullish gentleness that would keep bringing a point up, ever so gently but so continuously that the subject of their efforts couldn’t help but surrender.
I didn’t doubt that I’d been steered to this point. I’d need to be an idiot to not have noticed. But I was sure of one thing: Sam hadn’t cooked those records. Contrary to popular belief, a complex narrative spanning centuries was hard to create without leaving huge holes. Heck, it was hard to create a simple lie spanning hours. Which was why most novels were enjoyed despite the holes in the narrative. And those records held. Which meant, whether he’d arranged for me to ask for them or not, the reasons I was doing this were real.
“So,” Sam drew himself up straighter. “Lucius Dante Maximilian Keeva, do you believe in Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness as individual rights?”
“Yeah,” I said and tried to avoid the three Remy siblings staring at me from my right side. They all looked rapt, as though they had no idea what came next.
“And have you read, and do you believe in, the Constitution of the United States of America, and believe, if followed, it would create a nation that would respect such rights?”
“Yeah,” I said. Because it was easier than to explain I thought it had terrible loopholes and flaws, but would create a state superior to anything else before or since—at least as far as my reading of history went—and infinitely superior to the stability we’d endured for three hundred years.
“Do you realize the Usaian religion is proscribed in most of the Earth and that, if revealed as a member, you could be summarily or publicly and lengthily executed?”
“Yeah,” I said, at which point it occurred to me that I was being asked life-changing questions, while I sat on the bed, with Goldie lying across my legs. It didn’t seem right. It seemed like it should take place in an elaborately decorated hall, with flags flying and bands playing.
“And are you ready, nonetheless, to become a member, and to work towards the reestablishment of a republic under that constitution, even if it should mean the loss of—”
I fished the answer from what I remembered of my reading. “My life, my fortune and my sacred honor.”
Someone sniffled. I thought it was Abigail. I hoped it was Abigail.
“And do you promise to keep secret and support your fellows in this fight to the limits of your ability, and not betray anything or anyone to the authorities no matter what persuasions are used?”
“Yes.”
“Then Lucius Dante Maximilian Keeva, welcome to the brotherhood of free men.” And then, to my profound and stunned shock, Sam Remy stepped close and kissed me on the cheek. And I’ll be damned if his children didn’t repeat the performance.
“And now,” Sam said, “that you are one of us, do you agree to let us use the seacity as the basis for the start of our great work?”
I nodded. I had realized, sometime while reading those awful gems, that I wasn’t going to be the Good Man by the end of this. Not if it worked. I’d be lucky if I still had my life at the end of this, particularly if we won. And yet it was worth it. If I had my life it would be enough, anyway. I’d never wanted to be the Good Man.
“Then, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great joy to proclaim the revolution.”
According To Hoyt 
It’s pointless to check results. After all, the counting will continue until the Democrat wins. I hope to be wrong, but with this attitude going in, at least I’m not disappointed.
Well, I have seen discussions pointing to Democrats trying to make out that it’s not a Red Wave unless it is of literally unprecedented proportions.
We shall see.
You’re right. Cursing at the TV won’t change anything.
This always makes me weepy. Thank you, Sarah. The first time I read this it crystalized and put into words the idea that I had long held, thar government could not take away fundamental human rights. It could only infringe upon them, an important distinction.
There’s taking away, then there’s ownership. The government may take rights away, but it will never own them. We can and will take them back.
G-d willing and the creek not rising. In this book, after 500 years, but yes
This time around I’m buying the book in dead tree so I can grab it to read whenever.
If your kid is like my kids, first you’ll have to yell “Who took my Hoyts and didn’t return them!” before you can reread.
Hey, why are there no books on my ‘loaner’ shelf?! You kids need to remember to Put Them Back, otherwise I’m not putting any more books there!!
Each time a kid moved out, we got another Heinlein collection. I’m seriously considering buying the Virginia collection for the company, so I can be sure those don’t walk.
It’s reference, dang it!
I can’t tell you how many MHI or Hard Magic copies I’ve ‘loaned’ out, never to return. Heinlein goes the same way. Turns out the same way with my Firefly boxed sets, too….
This is why I never loan books. I put those books on my shelves because I wanted to KEEP them. If you want to borrow a book, go to a library. If I like you enough and you’re really jonesing for your own copy, I’m happy to buy one and gift-wrap it. But there will be no loaning.
Have you considered that you might be doing it wrong?
You could, out of impulsive generosity, give someone deserving your old copy, then buy yourself a new replacement. That person feels good, knowing that you freely gave away a cherished book, and you end up with a new copy to replace the copy that was getting a little worn out. Win-win!
And the author gets a little residual . . .
But Sarah, the results won’t be in for daaaaaaays! The nice man on the news said so!
All voting in-person except for those with a good verified reason. No other mail-in voting required. No ballot harvesting. Photo ID REQUIRED, no exceptions. Each voter is stamped with indelible ink after voting (“purple fingers”). Paper ballots only. All ballots counted the night of the election using multiple shifts if necessary until the counting is done and reverified. All counting open to observers from all parties. NO EXCEPTIONS.
If it’s good enough for the Third World, it’s good enough for us.
Agree.
If the results aren’t in quickly enough? They will get a revolution. particularly since I like the professor over at Legal Insurrection expect bad SH8t to break in about two weeks to ten days. (My birthday, Lord love a duck.)
I think it will take a bit longer than that, only because we haven’t yet felt the full effect of all the idiotic, destructive things the WEF-tards and similar types have been doing in recent years…. but we will.
I do not expect there will be any “amnesty”.
My birthday is today. There’s a happy thought.
Can’t wait for tomorrow morning’s vote counts; don’t even want to know about today after 8 PM Pacific, but I probably will peek around 11.
There’s not really a point in seriously looking at things in TX until after 9PM CST. That’s an hour after polls close in El Paso. I’m not looking until tomorrow.
I’m in California. The election winners are already a foregone conclusion.
However, there’s an abortion measure on the ballot this time around. If we get really lucky, it just might fail.
Not that I really expect it to, though. The last parental consent for an abortion ballot measure here went down in flames several years ago, even though it included a section allowing a judge to stand in for the parents if there was a good reason for it.
Agree
I just got back from our little semi-rural precinct at the local VFD. #357 as of 3:05 pm which is, as near as I can tell, a decent-to-strong mid-term turnout for East Nowheresville. There was a sign on the door loudly stating “YOU DO NOT NEED PHOTO ID TO VOTE,” which is true here. So when I got up to the lady and she asked me my name, I gave her my name, dropped my driver’s license next to her terminal, and said, “The state may not need me to show you this, but I’m damn sure going to do it anyway.” That got a nervous chuckle.
Current odds 82% republicans taking the senate. 94% republicans taking the house. Both up sharply on the day.
Your mouth, G-d’s ears.
And praying to St. Michael the archangel every time my mind wanders to it.
Wanna give us the St. Paddy prayer, too? This is a spiritual war.
The whole St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preaching of apostles,
In the faith of confessors,
In the innocence of holy virgins,
In the deeds of righteous men.
I arise today, through
The strength of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The firmness of rock.
I arise today, through
God’s strength to pilot me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.
I summon today
All these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul;
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.
Thank you for this.
“Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,”
Pity the smiths, to be in such company…
Thank you. This plus the St. Michael are powerful Words indeed.
I may be protestant, but this I can say. Aslan is on the move. How this will end I do not know, but I can see the battle lines. Battle is joined. We are not abandoned.
From your mouth to G-d’s ears. I feel….
“My G-d, MY G_D why hast thou forsaken me?”
I keep hearing this every time I get there (credit Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
Then tolled the bells more loud and deep,
God is not dead nor doth he sleep.
The wrong shall fail,
The right prevail
With peace on Earth, good will to men.
Gotta have a sliver of credibility to make the propaganda work.
We’ll see. It looks like in fraud by mail states, like Colorado and PA, the Democrats ramped up the fraud beyond what they did in 2020. It looks like they pretty much pulled Philadelphia style shenanigans in Allegheny County are going to flip House District 12 which was considered +2-% Republican. Colorado of course is no longer a Republic and it looks like Democrats made sure they could fraud Boebert out of office . We all know about Maricopa County, AZ, and Mercer County, NJ, and I would not be shocked if the commies rig things in California to completely eliminate the Republicans in their delegation,
Again, the Democrats saw the same polls everyone else did (as unreliable as they are) and how unpopular their policies are and kept doubling down as if what they did had no impact on the election. Only people who are confident that the fix is in act that way.
Okay, apparently redistricting changed H12 in PA to a Democratic Party favored district. In most states Republicans surrendered to Democrats’ gerrymandering. They need to learn to fight back, like Trump and DeSantis. Miami-Dade went Republican for the first time in a long time, and for good reason.
They’re frauding big time. Colorado was always impossible. I DID sa ythat. It was all fraud by mail.
Yes, they wanted to eliminate all republicans in CO.
They have made it clear they just want to eliminate all Republicans, indeed all non-radical leftist Democrats, in the fullest meaning of the word. If they could find a way to march everyone they don’t like into camps and kill them all, they would.
A rosary might be in order. Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is patron Saint of the USA. I’ve always had a devotion to Anthony of Padua, I took Anthony as my confirmation name, he’s patron of lost souls as well as lost things. So maybe toss him in too since so many on the left are just lost souls. If they didn’t want to take me down with them I’d be more likely to pity them.
One of your countrymen as I remember though Lisbon so ummm maybe not.
Judging by market chatter, the republicans will win a landslide but no one knows. I do remember the absolute glee I felt when the NY Slimes dial started to point to Trump along with the despair when I woke up to slow Joe. I’m looking for glee.
St. Anthony was a Portuguese nobleman.
Is Lisbon actually part of Portugal? Most of the Portagee around here are from the Azores and have very firm views on the subject. Much the same way Irish people regard Dublin or —— blech, spit — Cork.
Yes, Lisbon is actually part of Portugal, regardless of what some people may think.
Well. I could get salty, but Lisbon is the capital of Portugal. My people would tell you no, they’re just some communists who graft off us. So, like DC. But back in St. Anthony’s day, I had an ancestor from Lisbon, according to 23 and me. This is more contentious to my parents than Spanish ancestry, and boy howdee, did they get salty about that and accuse each other. (Almost certainly dad. His family comes from one those areas that changes possessions every other hundred years.) But yeah, he was a Portuguese saint.
I do know both that Anthony was Portuguese and that Lisbon is part of Portugal. I almost certainly have cousins living there, though we’ll never know unless a random DNA test should collide. Soldiers do get around and the Portuguese maidens must have been attracted to my impecunious, though handsome, British officer ancestors. Red hair both runs in the family and is immensely attractive to women. Back before mine turned grey, I was driving the women away with a stick 😜
Come now, we must laugh or we’ll cry. Whatever happens, I intend to laugh and spite the devil.
Indeed. I’m very nervous.
Azores is like Portugal 100 years ago.
Um… someday we’ll do a DNA test 😉
Well aware of the Lisbon v Porto rivalry, so the “salty feelings” are expected.
I was up all night two years ago. Watched the fraud happen in real time. It was a hell of a thing. Not going to lose any sleep over this one tonight. There’ll be shenanigans and delays, followed by weeks of angst and probably violence no matter how this turns out, so I might as well get my sleep while I can.
Me too.
First results are in… Freaking Guam flipped blue to red…. I didn’t even know they had a Congress critter.
If I’m not mistaken it’s some sort of ceremonial, non-voting office, but still…
Because they’re a protectorate. The official is “limited voting privileges.”
I’m showing NH as the first initial results, but I’ll take whatever reds I can get.
Non voting, but yes.
here we go, here we go, here we go. Florida flashes red.
With that, Good night to you all, I’m shutting off the technology, saying my prayers, and going to bed. Say a prayer to Saint Thomas the Apostle, he’s the patron Saint of pessimists and doubters, which so many of us here seem to be, certainly I am,
Here’s to us that’s like us. Damn few and they’re all dead.
Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy. St. Thomas pray for us. All you holy men and women of God pray for us.
St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. .
Interesting how Florida, the third most populous state, gets its voting results in so quickly 5 weeks after a major hurricane with another smaller storm heading this way.
If it takes days in other States it’s because TPTB there want it to.
And I”m delighted Anna Paulina [R – Election Denier] won Charlie Crist’s [R -> I -> D – what principles?] old seat. I finally have a Congresscritter that represents me!
Anna Paulina Luna
WP delenda est…
I managed to get some writing done around a doctor’s appointment and other stuff. Lovely skies here today, and a Beta Reader asked a question that kicked some important stuff out of the hind-brain up to where I can work it out and improve the story. So I’m off to read a little more (The Benedict Option) and pray even harder.
I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow.
And I hit the road for Grand Rapids for a convention.
OK, now the election is over, how long before we stop getting campaign junk mail? 😀
So my plan to attend Mass this morning before work then vote after work was foiled by our pastor going on vacation. No Mass.
I decided to do a holy hour in church instead then. But I had to do that after voting. So it was pitch dark in church as I sat there. The church was open because the Knights of Columbus were having a meeting in one of the meeting rooms but the church itself was dark. The only light was from the Tabernacle candle denoting Christ’s presence. As I sat there in the dark I thought how we often see the light of Christ best when we are completely in the dark. And sometimes it takes this darkness to get our attention. The Israelites went through MANY times of darkness and God was always there for them but they needed those dark times to realize how much they needed Him. Our beautiful country has been very blessed, but maybe we need some dark times to turn toward the true light.
I hope it isn’t too dark for too long, but God knows what we need to turn to Him.
I’m supposing it will be a longer time of darkness than we’d wish.
It always is.
Just a suggestion but you might find IndieGoGo works better for the graphic novel funding, instead of Kickstarter. Kickstarter has a history of cancelling the campaigns of people they have political disagreements with, especially those doing their own comics/graphic novels.