Author: rchazzchute

Robert Chazz Chute writes full-time from his blanket fort in Other London. The winner of fifteen writing awards, he pens apocalyptic epics with heart and killer crime thrillers with muscle. A graduate of the University of King's College journalism program, he studied book and magazine publishing at the Banff School of Fine Arts. He has worked as a crime reporter, science journalist, editor, book doctor, speechwriter, and magazine columnist.
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The grim future scenario I didn’t want to write

We’ve seen too many videos of police attacking viciously peaceful protesters. One would be too many, but there are many more than one, and not just in one city. In many cities.

As I began writing this, it started to become another long post about the injustice I see, I deleted that. I did a long post yesterday and if you get it, you get it. If you don’t, you’re willfully blind and there’s no sense having that conversation.

So here’s my quick thought for the day:

People saw a police officer kill George Floyd on video. We were told that wasn’t what we saw. Then they tried to introduce mitigating factors and excuses to play it down. Gaslighting, he’s no angel, and copaganda.

Some watched this careless abuse of power in disbelief. Many would tell you they knew this was going on for years. Until George Floyd’s funeral, there was still a lot of disbelief and sorrow floating around. I think that’s coming to an end. Not the movement, the emotion.

Police were ordered to crush dissent and it’s apparent a lot of them could not wait to assault citizens exercising their First Amendment right. The attacks on peaceful protesters are horrifying. However, when you push a spring down that hard, it’s going to pop up and catch you in the jaw.

My apocalyptic predictions

  1. The sorrow will fade somewhat but the protests will not. Authorities want the protesters to resign. The more they push down, the more they prove the point of Black Lives Matter. Instead of resignation, you will see steely resolve.
  2. As abuse of innocents grows (especially when it comes from a nameless, faceless force with no accountability) anger will expand to eclipse the sorrow.
  3. People who didn’t have weapons before will purchase them. Their fear of authority will recede, replaced with utter frustration.
  4. You’ll begin to see weapons at protests in the hands of protesters.
  5. As peaceful protests fail to move those in authority, good and hopeful people who chanted “Give peace a chance,” will be quieter.
  6. “No justice, no peace,” will get louder.
  7. More shots will be fired and the fire will not come from only one direction.
  8. Donald Trump will lose the election in November but will not concede.
  9. There will be more blood.
  10. America will remain divided.

    I’m not advocating violence. I’m seeing it coming, as predictable and as expected as a rush-hour bus at its first stop. I hope, somewhere in there, people who defy their oppressors will get the concessions they deserve. I hope they receive the legal protections and the value they were told was coming if they only remained patient for-goddamn-ever.

    2020 is the year the dam breaks. The reservoir of patience is broken.

    Black.
    Lives.
    Matter.

    Don’t like my predictions? Neither do I.

    To avoid bloodshed and chaos, the authorities will have to make concessions.

Here are some necessary concessions:

8 CAN’T WAIT

And from Killer Mike:

Plot. Plan. Strategize. Organize. Mobillize.

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This is 2020

Early in the Trump presidency, I listened to a podcast with two veterans of the United States military. They debated a point about the chain of command. One was convinced that if the president issued an unlawful order, all his military would disobey. The other was sure Trump would simply fire any defiant officer and work down the chain of command until he found a lowly private who would do as ordered. The order in question? A nuclear strike on a peaceful ally.

And now there are Little Green Men in tactical gear with no identification or even insignia in Washington. Nobody knows who they are. They say they serve the Department of Justice. That’s not an actual police force. Does William Barr have his own SS now? Sure looks like it.


I’ve been called Mr. Cynical many times. Watching the violent reaction of police to peaceful protesters tells me I was not sufficiently so. Has anyone seen police arrest any actual looters? I’ve been watching very carefully and the authorities seem very motivated to assault peaceful protesters exercising their First Amendment rights.

Note to the Media: Don’t lose sight of why the protests are happening in favor of endless shots of the same fires and broken windows.

Also, don’t tell us some rioters were “roughed up” by police. They’re protesters, not rioters. It’s assault or maybe attempted murder. Too often, it becomes murder, remember? If I beat you, you wouldn’t say you got “roughed up.” You’d say you were attacked.

The few looters serve the false narrative that the protesters are the problem. I have seen several instances where protesters have deterred the looters. No credit for that, of course. I won’t even get into the actions of agent provocateurs and propaganda put out by a system we’re told to trust and respect.

I know several people who seem to think police can do no wrong. I don’t know how they can maintain that delusion in the face of so many sadistic videos of militarized police attacking people who are no threat who are merely asking for accountability. They’re asking for police to live up to the reputation they want pre-schoolers to believe.

Don’t tell me it’s a tough job. Being a minority is tougher and you can’t retire from being a visible minority.

Don’t tell me they’re “just following orders.” That’s some Nuremberg shit and you know it.

Don’t tell me I can’t criticize police actions because I’m not a cop. (Yup, I’ve heard that before.) Nobody has to be an expert to see that so much of what’s going on is wrong.

Don’t tell me being a cop is dangerous. First, nobody gets drafted into becoming a police officer. Second, there are quite a few jobs that are more dangerous. Being a taxi driver is more dangerous but we don’t put them above the law. You know who else is in more danger of dying of a gunshot wound in the United States than police? School children.

Accountability is a moral necessity. De-escalation, not escalation. Prosecution not persecution. Equitable sentences, not sentences based on race. Decriminalize poverty by funding social programs and provide true equal opportunity, educationally and economically. Stop turning wellness checks into death sentences. Prosecute people who make false reports to police on P.O.C. for the crime of being P.O.C.

But, Rob, it’s more complicated than that. No, not really. Systemic change could happen. These policies aren’t set by aliens on a distant planet. We did this, so we could change this. Police could be escorting peaceful protesters, join their marches, quit or leave them alone. At the very least, the authorities could be targeting looters instead of innocent citizens who dare to ask not to be killed.

But don’t take it from me.

Instead, listen to 8 Can’t Wait.

I posted the following on Facebook this morning. I’m posting it again here so I can look back and, I hope, call myself too cynical.

Reverend Al Sharpton delivered a powerful and inspiring eulogy for George Floyd. His words reminded me of the church I used to belong to. He ended with asking the gathering to stand in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. To George Floyd, those 8 minutes and 46 seconds must have felt like hours.

Rev. Sharpton congratulated George Floyd on changing the world. His little daughter has said her father has changed the world. I shed tears over that. The world is not changed yet. I know, I know, early days. I want to believe things will change. I really do. But the racists aren’t ready to give an inch yet.

That’s always been their fallback position: They tell the oppressed to be patient. They say they want justice and change, but not yet.

*Never* yet.

And before anybody dares to get snarky with me

“A time to listen….to recognize that we, too, have our challenges.”

ONE MORE TIME: 8 CAN’T WAIT!

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Happy Endings and Cover Reveals

http://author.to/RobertChazzChute

I write a lot about the end of the world.

I remember reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy and thinking, wow, this is relentlessly grim. However, there is a tiny crack of light at the end of the tale. The only apocalyptic tale that really bothered me was the end of The Mist, the movie that was based on a Stephen King story. The film concludes on a very sad note that is not in King’s original story. In print, the ending was more ambiguous but left the reader thinking there might yet be a future for the survivors..

After writing the final book of the This Plague of Days trilogy, I was contacted by a reader asking if I would write a happier ending in the future. No spoilers for the uninitiated, but I will say this: There is a high note of hope at the end of the journey of This Plague of Days. However, I would never make it my policy to finish any story with a mandatory Happily Ever After. You’re not supposed to pound jigsaw pieces into the puzzle to make them fit.

I strive to write satisfying and surprising endings. Sometimes there’s hope, like with Citizen Second Class. Sometimes the ending is a bit more ambiguous and left to the reader to draw their own conclusions, as with Amid Mortal Words. The conclusions you draw there will depend on your view of humanity’s potential. Whatever happens, the conclusion must not betray the logical advancement of the narrative.

I always want an ending that sticks with the reader long after they finish the book. I hope you’ll find that in all my novels and short stories. The ending probably won’t be expected, but you will think, BOOM! Oh, yeah!

I’m very proud of Citizen Second Class and Amid Mortal Words. The reviews are few, but the readers who find these novels enjoy them.

In Citizen Second Class, a young woman finds herself in the middle of a rebellion against the last of the ruling class, holed up in a fortress of the Select Few in New Atlanta.

In Amid Mortal Words, an Air Force officer meets a stranger on a train who leaves him with a book that could end the world or save it. All he has to do is read passages from the book and bad people die. But that’s not all the book can do.

To help browsers become readers, in the last couple of days I changed the covers hoping to better meet reader expectations (translation: seduce you and make you tremble in shivering anticipation as you hit the buy button.)

If you haven’t read these books yet, I’d start with Citizen Second Class. It’s a novel that is ripe for this moment in American history. As the new cover quote suggests:

“An all-too plausible vision of a near-future nightmare.” ~ Philip Harris, author of The Leah King Trilogy.

Or heck, buy ’em both. Buy ’em all. There you go.

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Podcast Signal Boosts

Worst Year Ever Podcast

I’m not selling a lot of books right now. People are otherwise engaged, whether they are marching in the streets or glued to their screens. I understand completely. Rather than flog my books about fictional apocalypses, it feels incumbent upon me to acknowledge the reality of the chaos. Like many others, I predicted this unrest. That gives me no solace. I worry for my American friends and readers. The images of violence against peaceful protesters leave me with nothing but hot outrage.

Mr. George Floyd was murdered. The officers who aided and abetted the policeman who knelt on his neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds are still free. We saw it. No excuses. Police departments need reform. They need to know they’ll be held accountable for their actions. If you don’t believe that, please don’t read my books. You wouldn’t like them, anyway.

If you are politically minded (and perhaps especially if you are not) I recommend two podcasts to add to your listening queue: Worst Year Ever (above) and The Professional Left.

Too much? Need some stress relief?


Professional Left hosts Driftglass and Blue Gal are also huge fans of science fiction and have kindly mentioned my books on their show. If you’re a scifi fan who needs a break and a happy distraction, I also recommend their other very thoughtful and fun podcast, Science Fiction University. They discuss old-school science fiction. It’s a clever deep dive and a delight. Nerd out with Driftglass and Blue Gal over SF fiction and movies.

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All I’ve got for you

I have witnessed police act like thugs and bullies to the citizens they were sworn to protect. Last night, two NYPD police SUVs rammed into a crowd of peaceful protesters behind a barrier. Ordinary citizens are having to step up to protect their neighborhoods. To be perfectly honest, I don’t have a lot of hope at the moment.

The murder of George Floyd was a horrific act, but of course it is not isolated. Sandra Bland, Amaud Arbery, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, and Eric Garner come to mind first, but that’s just off the top of my head. (Here’s more if you need reminding.)

Over and over, through the night and across the country, we saw more video of the kind of actions that are being protested. Although Seattle police were ordered to turn off their body cams, there is ample evidence that many bad actors have no fear of being filmed while they commit criminal acts. They aren’t helping their cause. They’re often making things worse. They’ve discarded their oaths. They are neither serving nor protecting. Remember when we used to call them peace officers? Instead, they’re often militarized and failing to deescalate.

Don’t tell me policing is a hard job. Surely they knew that when they signed up. You know what’s hard? Being an unarmed black man, woman, or child trying to live and get by without harassment, fear and subjugation.

There have been a few bright spots. One senior police official told those under his command that if they’re okay with the mistreatment and murder of George Floyd, they must turn in their badges immediately. The police chief in Louisville marched with the protesters. That’s a good way to go, but there’s a lot of distance between what ought to be and what is.

It’s frustrating to watch America dissemble and disassemble, but this was all too predictable. Rebellion comes from a perfect storm of several variables and systemic racism is only one component. Health care failures, failure of leadership, the coronavirus, the rent crisis, tossing Americans $1200 that was supposed to somehow last ten weeks. Many Americans didn’t even get that $1200 and no more relief is in sight. There are more Americans unemployed than there are Canadians on Earth. You can’t demand the oppressed to be patient forever without offering some hope of real change.

For your consideration:

Mike Schmidt’s latest podcast episode is called I’m in the Club. It’s about what’s happening to his country right now. Mike’s great at articulating frustration. I recommend it. It’s NSFW, but neither is America.

A while back, I recommended the podcast called It Could Happen Here, a thoughtful take on the potential for America falling into rebellion and ruin. Here’s the link:

And here’s the link to my most recent recording, “The Face of Victory.”

Taken from one of my anthologies, All Empires Fall, this audio short story was meant to be near-future science fiction about a peaceful protest that goes very wrong. Today it feels all too prescient.

For a longer read and a deeper dive:

For a novel about the gap between rich and poor and what it means for the soul of America, check out Citizen Second Class. It’s about what happens when the rich press the poor down for so long and so hard that, in desperation, they are forced to rise up.

I take no pleasure in watching what is happening in the United States. I have so many friends and readers who live there and I am worried for them. Future historians will spend their entire careers and write many books about the Trump era generally and 2020 in particular.

Frustrated and helpless, I can offer my best wishes for their safety, but what is that worth, really? It’s a civil war and a horror. It’s a rebellion. Thoughts and prayers are insufficient. Only change will do, but I see no path forward at the moment.

I can offer podcasts to articulate the crisis. I can offer fiction to provide distraction and stress relief. I’m so sorry that’s all I’ve got.

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The Face of Victory



mybook.to/AllEmpiresFall


mybook.to/AllEmpiresFall

People are starving for food and equality across the United States. Jennifer Charles worked in a food bank and puts up posters to call people to demonstrate against her government’s ineptitude and callousness. Her defiance makes her a target.

Listen to this story now, read by the author.

The Face of Victory is a story about how revolutions begin. You’ll find it in my collection, All Empires Fall, Signals from the Apocalypse.

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A reading of The Fortune Teller

Enjoy a reading from Murders Among Dead Trees

The Fortune Teller from Murders Among Dead Trees, read by the author

Take a little break from your day (8 mins, 36 seconds) with a reading of a suspenseful short story by Robert Chazz Chute.

First dates are hard. Sarah is about to discover her mistake when she steps into a carnival tent in the Twilight Zone. This is the realm of the fortune teller.