Apocalyptic Epics and Killer Crime Thrillers by Robert Chazz Chute
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.
As I researched This Plague of Days, I immersed myself in prepper culture. I read a lot about what to do when shit hits the fan. Immunologists warned us we were long overdue for a major pandemic. Many ignored those warnings because it was cheaper and convenient to roll the dice on our safety. Too many times, we have lived as if there are no consequences, as if “it hasn’t happened yet,” meant “it won’t ever happen.” Too much short-term thinking, too little clarity.
We’ve had many warnings and instructions on how to prepare, but I don’t think anyone is ready for the consequences we face. We remain unprepared for the next steps, after this crisis has finally passed. It feels like we’ve been asleep, doesn’t it? We’ve taken so much for granted, confident that things will go on as they have.
Several times I’ve heard people say, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Unless you’re a nigh-immortal who witnessed the devastation of the Spanish Flu, this is all new territory.
There are new twists. Listening to podcasts from New York, the sound of wailing sirens in the background is a haunting reminder of horrors many are now experiencing. Connected through social media, we can bear witness to those horrors even as we wait behind our walls.
I suspect that if I survive, I’ll spend less, save more, and make more conscious choices. I hope we all refuse to settle for less. We might be more willing to weed out that which does not serve us. We’ll think more about where food comes from, for instance. We should better understand the connections and services that make a civilization run.
This experience will forever change most of us. However, I’m not an optimist. I suspect many people will be so relieved that the pandemic is over that we will rush back to sleep. People in power, eager for our praise and gratitude, will be eager to forget their failures to lead and protect us. We will not prosecute greed and profiteering as we should. Leaders who failed us will attempt to secure their positions, no matter how little they deserve their wealth and power. Short-term thinking will prevail because they’ll tell us we can’t afford long-term solutions.
I hope when we emerge from this crisis, we won’t settle for mundane normality. There is often a great gap between who we think we should be and who we are. Reaching for something better could make for a wonderful tomorrow that would honor today’s sacrifices.
Stay as safe as you can. We are all in this together. Don’t forget that once you feel safe again.
~ Robert Chazz Chute writes apocalyptic epics and killer crime thrillers from his basement bunker.
Aside from planning a vegetable garden to supplement my supply of M&Ms…
I don’t anticipate leaving my blanket fort (where I write and work on audiobooks) until about two weeks post-Vaccination Day. So looking forward to Vaccination Day!
Wee Beasties will kill me if they catch me outside so here’s how I’m spending my days in isolation:
I’m making a concerted effort to drink more water and work out daily. When in need of comfort, I make a mean focaccia. Not too much or too often with the bread. If I do that, why bother with exercise? There’s plenty of ways to get a heavy sweat on without venturing out into the Badlands. These walls are my world.
I figure a lot of dudes go to prison and come out buff. That’s my plan.
How are you spending your time in isolation?
P.S. If you’re looking for something fun to read, AFTER Life: Inferno, the first book in that zombie apocalypse trilogy is free today (April 3, 2020).
I just left the following message with a friend. Then I thought I should share it here, as well.
Good evening. This is your mental health and morale officer checking in. This is to remind you that your limit on the number of times you can scream at someone today is five. As the situation evolves, that number may be reevaluated and adjusted upward. For today, your number is five.*
Cry all you want as necessary so the steam pressure doesn’t blow a gasket.
The coffee shop (AKA the coffice) is no longer an option, of course. Freedom awaits, but relief shall not come until at least two full weeks after that longed-for goal: Vaccination Day!
I’m writing fiction and working on audiobooks in the blanket bunker. If you can manage it, I highly recommend a similar retreat. Failing that, pull blankets over your head and breathe through a hose. Crawl under the bed to cry. Hide under a friendly dog and whisper your deepest sins into his big floppy ears.
Then? Wait.
Then wait some more.
Patience.
Don’t binge on bad news all the time. Stay sane. Perform a kindness. Poke your head out a window and curse the distant, uncaring stars. Have a cookie. Have another cookie. Exercise by pounding a pillow and cursing. Works for me.
Today’s message is:
You will feel fear. You will feel grief. As the pandemic rages on, anger may grip you. I hope we live to feel gratitude for being spared.
She Who Must Be Obeyed (AKA my wife) mentioned that the new move in appropriate terminology is to encourage physical distancing, not social distancing.
With COVID-19 rampaging across Earth, isolating is necessary. However, you need not feel alone. All in this together even if we’re apart, right? Some experts suggest reaching out to three people a day (electronically). Give a call to someone you haven’t spoken to in a while. Check in, especially with the elderly, vulnerable neighbors or family members who are stuck, alone or at risk. Alone doesn’t have to be lonely. Making and maintaining social connections has even been shown to be good for our health. Stress and strife is something we need to tamp down as much as we can.
Don’t know what to say to people going through hard times? Often, all you need do is listen so they feel heard and seen. Other times, you may be able to help people at risk connect to services that can assist them.
Speaking of Reaching Out
Did you know that avid readers of my work have a private Facebook group where I hold forth on the doings of the day? It’s often jokes and occasionally it’s serious. I add excerpts from my work in progress, too.
Example? Here’s a snippet from the This Plague of Days prequel I’m working on now:Â
Armed only with the cane, Moira rushed toward the screams. She was still weak, but now that she’d survived the Sutr flu, she was determined to fight whatever came next. She did not spare a moment to tell Kevin Laughlin that she would return to his side. The dying have no time for lies.
For another taste from the group, here’s today’s post (a review of sorts):Â
Hey, Monday, you great looming beast full of threats, coffin nails, and bat wings. And hello, friends.
When we ran out of our addictive Tiger King supply, we watched Wild Wild Country on Netflix. Again, I am amazed at the sheer amount of footage narcissists require. If you know someone who records everything, there’s a good chance they killed somebody or they’re about to do something super shady that should land them in a prison cell.
Wild Wild Country has been out for a while. I’d given it a miss, but it is so watchable after you slog through the first episode. It’s about a cult that started out with high hopes. Then god complexes, bigotry, and government corruption get in the way. A utopian vision in rural Oregon slides from peace and love to AK-47s. It’s disappointing and teaches us a lesson we should have learned a long time ago: Don’t trust the feds.
There is so much fascinating nuance in these tales of downward spirals. I don’t watch a lot of true crime. I imagine that if you binge too much of it, it’s difficult to see the good in humanity. I know I often sound like a cynic, but they say every cynic is a disappointed idealist.
If you dig what I do, this is your invitation to join our happy little group of readers.
Last night I dreamt that I met an old enemy at a restaurant. He was with his family. I sat beside them but he refused to acknowledge me. I took him aside and said, “I forgive you.”
Wow, that sure pissed him off. “What? What did you say to me?”
I replied, “Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?”
His rage was very satisfying.
I woke up thinking about forgiveness.
Have I ever forgotten a single offense? No. That’s the burden of possessing an eidetic memory for every negative event. I don’t know how to rewire my brain to make my opponents feel more comfortable. I don’t want to forget so I guess forgiveness is out, too. I let myself off the hook of that common social obligation. (I call it learning.)
We often call for victims to forgive their enemies. Says so in the Bible, too. However, that frequently serves the oppressor more than the oppressed. Offenders try to take a shortcut to salvation. Offering neither apologies nor recompense, they expect absolution. They place the burden of “moving on” where it does not belong. A consequence-free existence increases the chances they will offend again.
I will never demand that anyone forgive transgressions in the name of becoming more healthy. That’s up to each individual to decide for themselves.
My daughter works in a bank and deals mostly with an older population. Many express annoyance at her bank’s new safety precautions and even tell her the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax! Still! It got me thinking about what is and what’s to come. I hope these bold predictions are wrong, but here are my thoughts.
Warning: No guarantees on any predictions, no refunds for butthurt.
The ConflictÂ
Hope: Everything works out better than epidemiologists expect and we’ll recover quickly. Prediction #1: Before this is over, everyone will know someone who perished because of COVID-19. Prediction #2: When the pandemic recedes, God will get the glory, not the scientists who come up with the vaccine. Though a few outliers will still roll the dice on herd immunity, most anti-vaxxers will go curiously silent for a while as they line up for the shot.
Corruption
Observation: People with a lot of money, power, and influence got a heads-up about how bad this would be and dumped their stocks for profit while they told us everything was peachy. Prediction#1: They will never be punished. Prediction #2: Those in power will tell us to forget it and stop living in the past. Many people with no power will shrug it off and let it go because (a) they’re worshipful of successful sociopaths, (b) hope to become successful sociopaths, or (c) are too busy trying to put food on the table to concern themselves with what feels too far beyond their control.
We’ve been gaslit.
Hope: This crisis will challenge us to reform our healthcare systems so universal healthcare is accepted everywhere. We’ve been fighting the wrong wars. Illnesses of all kinds are definitely coming for you. Terrorists? Far less so. Prediction: Since some countries with universal healthcare suffered badly during the pandemic for reasons unrelated to offering universal healthcare, the United States will continue without Medicare for all. Parallel: “We can’t have evil socialism because of Venezuela.” It would make more sense to say, “We can expand our mixed economy to include altruistic socialist values because no one loses their home to medical debt in all other First World nations. We don’t have pure capitalism but even if we did, that model alone doesn’t succeed at everything it’s supposed to do.”
Where the Money Goes
Hope: Cruise ships are recognized for the Petri dishes they are and would-be passengers will fear they’ll be trapped on them. These gigantic ships will become symbols of a bygone era, like airships. Prediction #1: Attempts will be made to save the cruise ship industry and millions of dollars that could have been funneled to better causes will go to companies that don’t even pay taxes in the U.S. Prediction #2: Sure, they’re fun, but the cruise ship industry will still fail because so few people will be able to afford that fun vacation during the Depression.
The Economy
Prediction 1: Oh, did I not mention a Depression? The very rich will stay rich and get richer by buying up depleted assets at a low price. The middle class will shrink even further. Prediction #2: If Trump loses, it will take a generation to go back to systemic norms. Prediction #3: If Trump wins, it will take two generations for the United States to recover, if they do. Prediction #4: As the pendulum swings back and the revolution comes, Bernie will be long gone. AOC will lead the new charge. Half of America will still push back, at least until they receive universal health care. Eventually, privately and among close friends, even those opposed will admit universal care costs less, has better outcomes for more people and no one need suffer medical bankruptcy. They’ll be glad they don’t have to fight with an insurance company and pay exorbitant premiums and copays to receive the care they need. (No worries, though. They can still hate the people who fought for them for other reasons.)
The 2020 Election
Curse: Donald Trump will take reelection (not win reelection) through a combination of gerrymandering, Russian assistance, voter suppression, suppression of voter turnout via fear of the pandemic, COVID-19 suppression of the Democratic Party’s campaign, media failures and Joe Biden’s inability to reach and win over voters from the Trump cult. Prediction: Everyone but those responsible will be blamed and shamed. We’ll be saying, “If we had all just had mail-in ballots and if we had used them…”
Our Screens
Prediction #1: Vido game industry? Wheeeeeeeee! Prediction #2: Hollywood? Shit.
Learned Helplessness
Prediction #1: Too many will break isolation too soon. Instead of shutting everything down for a whole year plus, there will be rolling lockdowns. Prediction #2: Despair goes up. Suicides go up. No one without power ever trusts the system again. Prediction #3: After 2016, many people were inspired to become politically active. With the next election failure, that hope for change will be squashed. Many will give up and retreat from that battlefield to focus on family, community, and distractions. The motto of learned helplessness is “They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do.”
The Business Spiral
Prediction #1: Though many will be sacrificed in the name of bringing back the economy, the stock market will not bounce back because the economy is still working on the same premise. The stock market is largely irrelevant to most working people. People may go back to work but they’ll spend less, travel less, go out less. We will withdraw monetarily and socially. Prediction #2: Many movie theaters, comedy clubs, and arenas will not survive 2020. Enough people will stay away for fear of contagion that business models that rely on public gatherings will fail. Streaming services will survive but will produce less content. We’ll continue to see the world through the lens of our phones: disappointment, anger, and sadness. Trust on the macro and micro scale will plummet as many follow the leader on the swing toward an “every person for themselves” mentality.
The Cull and the Exodus
Prediction #1: Far more people will die because of COVID-19 than might have, had the world been better prepared. Prioritizing military and geopolitical objectives over science, we’ve been fighting the wrong war. Prediction #2: Many people will die because they will avoid hospitals and doctors’ offices for the next year or more. Prediction #3: Feeling abandoned, suffering PTSD, and angry, some doctors and nurses will leave the profession. Prediction #4: Fewer people will opt to enter the health profession. We will all suffer for it.
The Cultural Shift
Prediction #1: In the United States, the economy will be prioritized over lives in the name of long-term thinking and pragmatism. It’s actually cruel short-term thinking. All those dead grandparents still won’t save the economy. Prediction #2: I hope you like your house and where you live because you won’t be able to sell it for a very long time. I sincerely hope you don’t lose it. Homeownership will slide further out of reach of younger generations. We will become nations of renters to fewer and fewer landlords. Prediction #3: A new era of urban hippie will be born where people plant gardens to ensure they’ll have food when they need it. This movement will not convey the excitement of the doomer and prepper fringe because, having survived the pandemic, everyone will appreciate how grim the apocalypse is. This new group will focus on pragmatism and food security rather than more guns and escapist glee. Prediction #4: A smaller group will embrace back-to-the-land isolation where they leave the cities and attempt to form communes. Most of the communes will fail as they’ve failed before. Some individuals who would otherwise become urban accountants will end up in remote locations in cedar A-frames chopping their own wood. Prediction #5: Continuing to “shelter at home” will have an impact on jobs and daily routines. With trust in the healthcare falling and comorbidities adding to the death tally from COVID-19, expect a renewed focus on clean eating and fitness. It won’t be for vanity but for longevity and the ability to carry heavy things. We’ll be too afraid to return to the gym at first. Then we won’t be able to afford a gym. We’ll work out more where we live, clean more and strive to be less susceptible to disease. We will own fewer things and have less to dust, take up less square footage and drive less. Prediction #6: Handshakes are dead. Physical distancing will continue as social ties get closer through electronic media. When kids are asked what they want to be when they grow up, part of their calculation will be the goal of working safely from home instead of working with the public.
Moods by Generation
Prediction #1: Got young kids? If you can buy stock in hand sanitizer, that’s a good bet for now and for the rest of our lives. We’re growing a generation of germaphobes. Prediction #2: Older people aren’t the only ones who will die or suffer lasting effects of this pandemic. The elderly will be more financially insecure, food insecure and lonely.
The Next Pandemic Emergency
Prediction #1: Everyone will say that COVID-19 will change everything, but historically our collective memory is short. By the end of 2021, once all the COVID memorials are done, we’ll be told this pandemic was a blip. We will forget these harsh lessons about our fragile supply chains. Prediction #2: Eagerness will trump caution. The desire to rush everything back to normal too quickly will prolong the crisis. Despite terrible outcomes, we will not be prepared for the next pandemic. Prediction #3: “Back to normal” will continue to keep more of us in the category of what sociologists call “at risk.”
The Legacy of DJT
Prediction #1: Donald J. Trump has ruined the use of the word trump. It brings up the image of the noun, not the verb. Prediction #2: Donald J. Trump has devalued the esteem for the office of POTUS. That’s not all bad. The office of President has received too much reverence, anyway. In Canada, we say, “the prime minister.” In America, many citizens say, “my president.” See how that subtly shifts the tone? Canadians are generally less attached to the goobers in office, possibly because our election cycles are done in a month instead of dragging on for years, grinding into our collective psyche.
Your Reaction
Prediction #1: Somebody will hate me for indulging in the “Orange Man bad” narrative. If that’s you, I won’t hate you back, but I will ask you to check back in four years and tell me how you feel then, assuming either of us survive, of course. Prediction #2: Optimists will also be annoyed with this post. Maybe that will make cynics feel good. I take no joy in any of this. I want the economy to bounce back and for everybody to be well and happy. Observation: Things won’t improve for average working people until we all prioritize making things better for them. Although anyone reading this post is closer to becoming homeless than they are to becoming wealthy, many lack the political will to face these challenges head-on.
Suggestions and Solutions?
Hey, man. I see what I see but to change it? I don’t know. Can empathy be taught? I just write science fiction. How much do I know for sure? Not much. I’m an educated fool with few practical skills. All I can say is:
1. Elections have consequences. Choose carefully. Overcome my dire predictions to remain engaged.
2. Believe science. Encourage improved education and steer more young people toward the sciences, logic, and healthy skepticism.
3. Cynicism only sounds smart. Misanthropy is often funny. However, these are not effective survival strategies. Humans are social animals and we need each other (socially, economically, every damn way.) We wouldn’t have climbed down from the trees and evolved without collective action for the common good. The winner-takes-all attitude creates to many losers and is unsustainable. Try kindness.
4. Many have forgotten our lessons from kindergarten. We are here to help each other, to learn, to have fun, to live.
