Life’s not fair. It’s our job to make it that way.
In an eerily familiar near-future, America has fallen to fascism. Citizenship is attainable only through military service or immense wealth. The Resistance is broke and broken. Amid this dystopian landscape, New Atlanta has become a fortress reserved for the billionaire elite.
Hopes to save the nation have faded but Kismet Beatriz remains defiant. The intrepid young survivor embarks on a desperate mission to storm the castle of the Select Few. To win, she must face the future without flinching.
Don’t hope. Do.
CITIZEN SECOND CLASS WILL SOON BE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER.
I’m working feverishly on my new novel, Citizen Second Class.
We workshopped the title a bit within our Facebook group, Fans of Robert Chazz Chute. Originally, I thought about calling it Citizen: Second-Class. However, search engines can be hampered by punctuation. After consulting the group, I was assured going without was fine, hence the pared-down title.
A good title is important and many variables go into those decisions. I thought about calling Amid Mortal Words something else. The Murder Words or The Murdering Words was catchy. However, it was less on point for the novel’s genre. Amid Mortal Words is apocalyptic sci-fi, not a murder mystery.
Citizen Second Class is about a young woman trying to survive in a dystopian society where the American empire has fallen. Corporations have taken over from politicians. Militia groups have been absorbed into the military. The rich hide in oases and bunkers behind high walls and the rest of us are living a Third World subsistence.
I know that “Third World” is dated. The preferred term now is “developing world.” However, the problem is regression, not progression. The gears that make the republic work are broken and Kismet Beatriz, our young heroine, is trying to find a way to a better life. She may seem meek and unsure at first but underneath? Oh, yeah, you bet she’s badass.
The villains are cool, too. My policy is that no villain thinks they’re really bad. They all think their awful deeds are necessary. Their rationalizations run deep. That’s what makes villains so interesting.
For instance, in This Plague of Days, Season One, the Lady in Red seems a bit over the top, maybe even cartoonish, at first. Many readers were shocked to discover the reasoning and power behind Shiva’s evil plans when they got to Season Three.No apologies. The payoffs were worth the wait.
Exploration ofmotivations and longer arcs make for deeper character development, too. In the Dimension War Series, Tamara Smythe goes from country girl to city girl to demon/alien slayer. Some readers thought she was too naive and too concerned with her dead boyfriend in the first book. They wanted her to be a fully developed adult from page one. You know what? No.
I love how Tam changes into a warrior who finds her way. I write novels, not quick summaries catering to your private and peculiar proclivities, Carl from the Midwest! That’s right, I’m talking to you, Carl, you dick!
Heh.
Great Expectations
This week I sent out a newsletter seeking advance reviewers for Citizen Second Class. For any novel to succeed in today’s marketplace, it really needs a lot of reviews at launch. If the story behind Citizen Second Class intrigues you and you want to find out what happens to America and the world before anyone else, thank you and welcome to the Advance Review Copy Team
Join the ARC group, please email me at expartepress@gmail.com with the subject line: CSC Review Team.
ARC readers will have two to three weeks prior to publication before it’s up on Amazon.If all goes according to plan, the manuscript should be ready sometime in the third week of November, if not before.
And now, back to the blanket fort where I stir the word cauldron and do keyboard alchemy.
I’m thinking about the upcoming Joker movie. Frankly, after Heath Ledger’s performance as Joker, I thought nothing else could compare. However, here comes Joaquin Phoenix and the early Oscar buzz. As a former comics collector, I know the variations of Joker’s origin story. This time the treatment is deadly serious, maybe even ponderous and disturbing. This is not Cesar Romero’s campy Joker. You can’t see Phoenix’s portrayal in theatres yet but there’s already plenty said about it already. (This Huffington Post article, for instance.)
Where do violent incels come from?
Though the director insists the story is not political, some critics worry that Joker’s origin story will inspire incels to violence. With mass shootings in the news, I would argue that naming active shooters and giving them the fame they crave does more to inspire others to pick up a gun. A host of societal ills contributes to the violence that plagues us. These are trying times and it’s tempting to look for an easy scapegoat. Art ain’t it.
Eliminate income inequality, enact and enforce gun laws that make sense, reduce poverty and homelessness, act more instead of reacting, power up mental health initiatives, investigate groups that foster hate. That might help. I could go on and on about the roots of violence. Fiction is not on that list. Fiction is not the problem. Reality is. It’s so easy to point at a work of art and say, “Don’t do that. It could hurt people.” It might. It might also provide an escapist fantasy that does no harm. It might even stir some questions and thought that could be helpful.
Did Goodfellas get more people to join the mob? If somebody joined the mafia because of that movie, should no one watch Goodfellas ever again? If this were the 1960s, would the same people concern trolling Joker be condemning comic books? That was a thing. People were very sure comics were a threat to civil society. In reality, they inspired many non-readers to read (which has been shown to increase empathy, by the way). I don’t believe fiction is the problem. Systemic failure on many levels is the problem.
This is not to say that movies and books don’t have effects. Fight Club inspired real fight clubs. Top Gun was a Navy recruitment tool. The question is, do we Nerf the world on the chance that some rando will act on his impulses and kill innocents? What’s the cost-benefit analysis there and where should the chill of self-censorship stop?
The journey of the anti-hero is actually much more interesting to me than that of heroes. I often write about bad versus evil because good versus evil often posits a binary world with fewer shades of grey. I’d rather watch Breaking Bad, Dexter (the early seasons) or Better Call Saul than another police procedural. When those procedurals succeed, it’s often because the heroes embrace the darkness. House was a procedural of sorts and his misanthropy was much more interesting than the solutions he arrived at in the last ten minutes of the show.
I’m not glossing over anything. School shootings are a horror. The latest PSA put out by Sandy Hook Promise made me cry. If you haven’t seen it, prepare yourself.
It’s easy to point to the mass shooter in Colorado who dyed his hair like the Joker and say that the movie is where the danger lies. I don’t think so. I think it’s easy to focus an easy target than explore more complex solutions.
A long time ago I worked on a committee that was supposed to promote freedom of expression. Results, from my point of view, were mixed. There were publishers on the committee who were totally against censorship, or thought they were until the subject matter made them uncomfortable. That’s not how anti-censorship works.
What’s to be done?
The truth is, I’m not exactly sure I understand what critics want. Do they desire a ban on Joker movies or movies like it? There may be some who do. Mainly the commentary seems to take a less extreme tack. I suspect they’re being vague because they don’t want to be seen defending censorship. Instead, they’re indicting art. Are filmmakers supposed to be more careful to…what? I don’t know what they want. They won’t admit to whatever their goal is. To make filmmakers more thoughtful? Of anti-heroes?
The implication seems to be that if a mass shooter blames the movie, the movie will be to blame. That stance infantilizes us all and the net effect, if it worked, would be to make fiction less interesting. I don’t think it would improve our lives. Metalheads may retreat into death metal but that doesn’t make them violent. The Lord of the Rings is epic fantasy that has enthralled many. Has it inspired anyone to pick up a sword? If we could make that connection, what would they have us do? And where does it stop? Banning Eminem lyrics? Banning video of Elvis’s magical dancing hips?
My suggestions
Don’t like it? Don’t watch it. Don’t read it. Don’t listen to it. Don’t let your kids watch, read or listen, either.
Don’t like that other people are making art that makes you uncomfortable? It’s never been easier to become a filmmaker, an author or an artist. Make your stuff. Counter the wave and cancel it out with a wave of your own.
Will someone watch Joker and be inspired to inflict violence on others? If they have the weapons, possibly. I’d focus on denying those people the means to act on their sickness first. Failing that, I guess the question is, is art worth the risk? Worry about who is answering that question for you. You might not have much entertainment to enjoy if some outliers were to have their way.
Four final thoughts
Support and enjoy art you love. Ignore the rest so you don’t give it oxygen. (When I saw the first Joker trailer, I was not enthused. Those think pieces on Joker make me want to see it more, not less.)
Don’t infantilize us all in the hopes of avoiding unlikely violence.
Focus on solving risk factors that are far more likely to lead to carnage.
If you want to have a discussion about making more movies that aren’t sequels to pre-existing franchises, I’m all for that discussion. There are many intellectual properties out there that are fresh and shiny which get pushed aside. Original stories that are less homogenous are more of a financial risk. If you want more interesting and original cinema, patronize more independent films and art cinemas. Voting with your dollar gets the message to the people who give new film ventures a chance.
For just 24 more hours you can pick up three killer crime thrillers for only 99 cents (plus get a sneak peek of Resurrection, A Hit Man Novel). The train is leaving the station. Jump on and hold on tight!
That bit was about the deal was to benefit me, of course. Read below for something to benefit you in life (besides the three books packed with entertainment, I mean.)
After I read Blake Crouch’s Run, I decided I wanted to emulate that same fast pace. That inspiration led to Bigger Than Jesus, starring Jesus Diaz. Some writers outline and others discover the story as it goes along. With Bigger Than Jesus, I would paint my funny little Cuban hit man into a corner. I would head off to bed each night wondering how he would talk or fight his way out of trouble. That’s how I learned to trust the power of the hypnagogic state.
What’s the hypnagogic state?
Each night, my last thought before I went to sleep was a question: What will Jesus do next? In the morning, the answer always came to me. (The benzene ring was discovered the same way.)
As I described in detail in Do the Thing, I find that in that short period between sleep and full wakefulness, I hit peak creativity. That’s when the answers to plot problems (and other issues) arrive.
I’ve learned a lot from my writing life. One of those lessons was to trust the process more. I’m more relaxed in the face of chaos, more confident it will all work out right as long as we keep working at solving problems.
What’s the Hit Man Series about?
As a child, Jesus Diaz fled Cuba with his family. They didn’t make it out of the water. As soon as he got to Florida, he was kidnapped and held for years by monstrous people. First Jesus escaped to the streets, then into the military. Upon his return, he got mixed up with the Machine, New York’s Spanish mob. The story is told in an unusual way from an unusual POV but the attitude, jokes, and action remind me of old noir movies packed with witty dialogue.
In Bigger Than Jesus, his only goal is to get out of New York and the mob with his girlfriend, Lily Vasquez. (That and take some stolen money to finance his stab at a new life.) Vigilante author Claude Bouchard describes it as “Wickedly real and violently funny.”
In Higher Than Jesus, we find out about Diaz’s struggles with addiction as he does his best to save a woman from her demons and a very bad arms dealer. A lot of things explode in Chicago.
Jesus tries to go legit and work for a security firm specializing in protecting celebrities. Going legit doesn’t last long when he encounters a sex trafficking ring and has to confront pursuers both from the FBI and the Machine. Hollywood Jesus is full of twists as Jesus goes up against a bad guy who is even more deadly at the hit man game.
Resurrection can be read as a standalone
After a hiatus from this series, it was time to get Jesus back in the action. However, in Resurrection, A Hit Man Thriller, the story is told from the point of view of Lily Vasquez. The storytelling has the same quirky sense of humor of a Coen’s brothers’ movie (complete with plenty of movie references!).
After Lily escaped from New York’s Machine, she thought she was free to live how she wanted. In Resurrection, Big Denny De Molina has a long memory and he wants the money she stole. She’ll do anything to stay alive and Jesus Diaz will do anything to protect her. The action bounces from Europe to Miami and back to New York as the loop from Bigger Than Jesus is closed.
This is so strong because, of course, it pops. It’s also in keeping with the feel of the other covers in the series (only more so)!Resurrection, A Hit Man Thriller is the fourth novel in the series but can be read as a standalone.
In the first three books of the Hit Man Series, the suspense unfolds and the action speeds along from an unusual POV: second-person, present tense. There was a good reason for that. Jesus Diaz, my funny Cuban hit man, copes with his struggles by imagining he’s in a movie. Given his unusual and torturous childhood, it’s expected he’s a little wacky. In Resurrection, the story is told from Lily Vasquez’s point of view. She was Jesus’ girlfriend in Bigger Than Jesus. Hunted by the mob, she’s just as deadly as her ex and will do anything to stay alive and free.
The storytelling in Resurrection is perhaps more in line with what readers of the genre expect. However, it’s still packed with jokes, sexiness and clever action sequences. You’re going to love the movie in your head.
Special thanks go to Kit Foster of Literartydesign.com who came through with this surprise killer cover.It’s a great match for this killer crime thriller.
I’ve been working for a long time to build up to this moment. I love getting new books out into the world. It was a ton of hard work but I just hit publish on a short story collection, a box set, and a new thriller! Then, this morning, the car had to go to the shop, the drugstore informed me that something our insurance had covered no longer did and bam! There’s that nasty eye infection. HA! Crazy ups and downs, right? Ow, my eye hurts.
Still, it’s a good day. I’m at the coffee office waiting to hear from the garage, working away fairly happily and waiting for my doctor’s appointment this afternoon. I can complain, but not too much.
The new books, Rob. Tell us about the books!
Available now on Amazon in ebook and paperback.
My funny deadly hit man, Jesus Diaz, is back in Resurrection, A HIt Man Thriller!
In Bigger Than Jesus, his goal was to escape New York’s Spanish mob. His ex got out of the gangster life with two bags of stolen mob money. Now the Machine is after her. Hunted and cornered, the little Cuban hit man and the lovely Lily Vasquez will have to team up to survive. Lily is deadly, too. When trouble comes knocking, she asks herself, what would Jesus do?
Sometime Soon, Somewhere Close is available on Amazon in ebook and paperback. The ebook is only 99 cents!
Seven crimes, seven stories. This anthology (only 99 cents!) will keep you turning pages through the night. Each short story is set in a different place but each one hits hard, sometime soon, somewhere close. Discover the gripping story behind the missing fisherman in Nova Scotia. In Detroit, witness the aborted birth of a monster. In Ames, you’ll find a bullied boy’s inelegant solution to stop his pain. I love these shorts. Bonus, the anthology is not that short. There’s plenty of meat in this collection of new fiction to keep you reading through the night. Enjoy!
The fun of this series comes from the witty dialogue, hardboiled action and a whole heapin’ helpin’ of “How the heck is he going to get out of this one?” The storytelling is unusual and the plots are unpredictable.
For a limited time, the first three books in the Hit Man Series, are available in this e-box set for just 99 cents! I know many of my readers discovered my fiction because of my most popular series, This Plague of Days. I appreciate it, but I hope some zombie/vampire/human conflict fans will give my noir crime stories a chance, too. (You get all the action and all the fun of three suspenseful thrillers for less than a buck. In print, it would be over 700 pages!) So, if you don’t know Jesus, get Bigger Than Jesus, Higher Than Jesus and Hollywood Jesus all in one fun package.
BONUS: Not sure about taking on the roaring rapids in Resurrection? You’ll get a sneak peek at Resurrection, A Hit Man Thriller at the end of the box set.
I’m off to yet another doctor’s appointment now, but despite life’s speed bumps, I’m feeling great about these new books. You’re going to have a lot of fun with them. I had a great time writing them, especially the Nova Scotian dialogue in Sometime Soon, Somewhere Close. Some of us talk a little funny so…well, you’ll find out.
Happy reading!
~ I write suspenseful books in several genres. Just when you’re sure you know what’s about to happen, something else surprising will happen. I’m always on the hunt for super readers. Please sign up for updates here and if you dig my sling, please spread the happy word by reviewing the books on Amazon. Thanks!
