Q: What inspired you to write America: The Obliged?

Blame the world we live in. ATO's first draft was written in 2017, and directly inspired by President Trump 'joking' about [the US] having a forever-president like Russia and China. Obviously, a lot changed over time, but I quickly got of the purview that we could have another civil war with all the political vitriol going on around the nation; I thought, "this is impossible, I need to get this crazy thought out of my head" but the more I reflected on how things were going in this country, the more I couldn't resist the temptation to put my fingers to the keyboard and narrate a civil war event in the modern era.

A lot of our thoughts about a civil war rely on silly 1850s-era tropes, and many dystopic novels on the subject always focus on some rag-doll group merely surviving, think The Last of Us; I wanted the point-of-view to look at those in power, the people who actually carry the burden of fixing things, how they react and respond as normal people. That's the biggest issue many people have in our society today, I think. We have forgotten that our elected are everyday people like you and I; they have families, relationships, hopes and dreams, and I really wanted to capitalize on that.

Q: Is that your inspiration for Chase and Derrick?

[Laughs] Oh, Chase and Derrick. So, in the original draft of the book, both characters are crazily different. Like, Chase is married heterosexually and loses his wife in the calamity, and Derrick is this mean pro-President Connor militant; who actually [unalived] Chase's wife but it's not revealed to the reader until after Omaha. Things thaw between the two once this secret came to light. Don't worry, that's not in the book anymore.

As time went on, and things in our nation changed, you know, January 6th insurrection and the election of President Biden and such, I reflected back on things and really decided that Derrick didn't have to be an antagonist, and, you know, there's actually an irony going on in our nation right now in that both political sides want to save the country; Republicans genuinely feel our nation is under attack at the same intensity as Democrats feel our nation is under attack -both sides agree on this tenant. This, realistically, is prime for a civil war; so after much reflection and revision we actually get this misunderstood Republican militant and this misunderstood Democratic staffer in the book that transcend that intense disdain for the opposing political party and find a genuine love, which then creates this sub-plot of how those types of mismatched political-polarities can still love one another.

Personality-wise, Chase represented my sensitive side and Derrick my toxic masculinity side, and to a lesser degree, Alyssa represented my idealist side. Although in the final storyboards of the book right before I sent it off to my agent and editorial team, I realized just how much Derrick is me and Chase my husband, Jacob. So, ultimately, my marriage is the inspiration for the final character profiles.

Q: If you could meet one of the four main characters; Chase, Derrick, Fredrika or Alyssa, which one would you meet?

Definitely Chase. As I said, the characters, even Fredrika, are based on certain elements of my own personalities. Chase is a little bit of an exception. Derrick would be looking at myself in a mirror, personality-wise. Alyssa is definitely me if I were in public office, and Fredrika is really any elder female in my family, so Chase stands alone as the more unique and exclusive character from my perspective.

Q: So... you're #TeamChase?

[Laughs] I am team ATO. I love all the characters in the book equally, there's no Harry Potter in the series, and each character brings with them their own pros and cons, and there's no plot armor to speak of, all of them are vulnerable in their own ways with their own challenges, although I do encourage the readers to pick their favorite.

Q: Will readers see elements of Beneath The Whispering Pines in America: The Obliged?

Well, it's possible. Pines is really an autobiography of my childhood with some fictional elements mixed in to make things less chaotic than they actually were, making things cohesive for easy storytelling. That said, since the characters were based on my personality, there will be elements that harken back to Elijah and Ryan's romance in Pines; notably is that Chase feels exceptionally vulnerable, like Elijah. Ryan is wiser and more cunning on account of being a year older and more experienced, just as Derrick is more wise to what will happen in the second civil war in America. On the inverse, Derrick grew up in a very religious and conservative family like Elijah; while Chase had the normative upbringing in modern America like Ryan. But, I think all told, Pines and ATO both stand exclusively from one another.

Well, as I said, the inspiration of the story originated in 2017 when the authoritarian elements of the far-right started to show themselves nationally. This election obviously has a lot of implications, and, it's hard to say where we will be in 2044. To recall that, 20 years ago, in 2004, the biggest issue of that election was if [Senator] John Kerry deserved his Vietnam medals and if Massachusetts should legally be allowed to have gay marriage and if the War in Iraq was legitimately authorized by the Senate feels almost paltry compared to the issues the nation is facing today. You look at the 2024 election where President Biden dropped out mid-race, Former President Trump is a convicted felon and has had two assassination attempts on his life, there's this shadowy Project 2025 thing, then the issue of the Department of Justice and the attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the impending international conflicts, and COVID, and inflation, and so on and so forth, it's truly overwhelming and it's difficult to say what issues will actually be facing the nation in another 20 years, in 2044.

Q: Election 2024. Will it have implications for the near-future dystopic narrative of America: The Obliged?

Q: What is the defining issue for the civil war in America: The Obliged?

Complacency and disdain for politics. The American people are disengaged, and just trying to survive. I really explore these events from the POV of Chase, and his life in Watseka, Illinois. There's other elements, like the abolition of Social Security, and the election corruption by President Connor, but these all are under that tent of survival. Everyone is just trying to make it to tomorrow.

Q: You use a lot of factual events in the current era to justify the collapse of the United States. Some events are tied to possible near-future possibilities, like dialogue between Derrick and his brother, Luke, where they casually mention the Trump family in exile in Moscow. Do you think the Trumps will flee if Donald Trump loses the 2024 election?

This passage was tongue-in-cheek, a little treat for the political junkies out there. It's really hard to guess what grandeur [Former President] Trump will do next. It's possible. Nobody thought he'd actually run for president; less thought he'd actually win, and I don't think anyone anticipated three elections with him, let alone all the events that happened in 2020, so it's hard to say exactly where Donald Trump ends up if he loses this election.

Q: You speak from a perspective a lot of readers may not fully understand, like the mechanizations of the American political process. How did you learn it?

Well, it's varied. I got into politics in 2004, when I was only 16 and couldn't vote, but I understood that what was happening had a direct consequence on my future. At the time, I was wanting to join the US Marine Corps, and the recruiter was frank that I would deploy to Iraq. That got me active in politics. Then in 2010, I actually ran for office; and got to see the ugliness of what happens behind the scenes and behind closed doors. A lot of bartering and power plays take place, and I think, if the average voter actually witnessed what I did in that process, there would be universal agreement that our nation is compromised and corrupt.

Aside from that, I have spent many years listening to both sides speak and peddle their vision for our nation and their reasoning behind it, I have dated both Republicans and Democrats, non-political junkies alike, and have come to understand the merits of both sides of the spectrum.

The most consequential of that was dating a Pentagon official for awhile while living in the beltway, he introduced me to a lot of politicians during that time. There was this moment where I had just talked to Senator Lee of Utah at a lounge on the national mall, and I was now sharing an elevator with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and I had this surreal epiphany where I came the realization that politicians are just every day people, and they are prone to human error like the rest of us. So, I really instilled that in the characters, making them human, taking risks with dire consequences that weren't immediately obvious to themselves or the readers. There may actually be Olivia Bensons in the beltway, but I never saw them, but I did see everyday people trying their best to lead this wonderful nation of ours.

Q: You sat on this manuscript for seven years. Why?

I have a tendency of sitting on manuscripts [laughs]. ATO certainly went through a period of writer's block, I got to the Convention of Omaha, and just felt I had exhausted my creative storm to write the first draft. I picked it up again in 2020 during COVID lockdowns while working from home, and really wanted to create conflict among the Reddon brothers and explore that dynamic of the storyline. But, I struggled with a catalyst to make that happen, since, at the time, Derrick was still an antagonist himself. It was only when he became an antihero did the catalyst become obvious.

Q: When the negative reviews come in, how will you process them?

I am very comfortable with constructive and unconstructive criticism, I have had plenty over the years. I am aware that my writing style is unique, and it won't appeal to everyone. Moreover, politically charged books such at ATO will strike a nerve with certain political hardliners who will struggle to stomach the events of the book and the tropes and allegories employed to further these key plots along in the story. I do ask that readers give the book a chance, and to reflect on the merits of the characters and their situations before taking out an op-ed on Amazon to peddle political talking points, as the book is meant to be American, not Conservative or Liberal.

Q: Readers who are unfamiliar with your blogs and your first novel, what suggestions would you give them to better enjoy your creative writing style?

Well, I am a literalist, so the verbiage is crass and direct; which may offend some readers. With plot scenes, I enjoy ambiguity with lots of emphasis on reader's using their imagination to draw scenes to completion. I don't, for example, tell you the color of the bricks on the convention hall in Omaha, followed by needless descriptors of their texture. They can be white, red, hell, even purple; smooth, jagged, doesn't really matter. Draw the story from your eyes, enjoy yourself. As narrator, I take great strides to draw up the character profiles for the readers, the scenes themselves are rather open-ended for the reader to draw upon. If you don't have a vivid imagination, you probably will find yourself lacking a good visual of the words you're reading. We have used AI programs to toy with drawing the characters, and the AI seems to understand the concepts of the characters very well, so, I figure if I can draw them for primitive AI programs, then I have done well to draw them for the readers.

Q: What's your favorite chapter? Why?

Chapter 23 was my favorite to write and read, it was a joy to draw together the scenes that play out in the chapter, and to really read into the minds of Chase and Derrick as the honeymoon phase of their relationship starts to wane and they are faced with the insane reality they find themselves in, as the dust starts to settle on the infliction point of the civil war.

Q: Lastly, what message do you want readers to reflect upon when reading the book?

It's actually right after the title at the beginning of the book. "Heaven cannot save a country that doth not want to save itself. Complacent then, the heavens must be, to witness the atrophy of man’s impulse for power."

I want the readers to take that passage literally, that, throughout all the events in ATO, one must wonder why and how this is happening to the nation.

Main Character and Antihero, Derrick Reddon, as depicted by Tensor AI software, in Chapter 21 during "Operation Free Liberty".

Q: Obviously, we want to see an AI render. Which is your favorite?

Tensor AI's rendition of Derrick is right out-of-my-mind for him.