(PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS VIA [email protected])
These are questions I am asked at book fairs and by readers and friends:
Q. Do you think we really will have a civil war in the US again?
A. I hope not. I have written these books to warn of the consequences of not politically and peacefully defending our country’s values and institutions in the voting booth and the halls of government. If we allow ourselves to drift, and allow those who hate America and despise the Constitution to continue imposing their programs without any serious opposition, we may find ourselves in a situation where only force will recover our country. I’m encouraged by how patriotic Americans are beginning to organize to protect their children from indoctrination in schools, to protest obvious sins such as child genital mutilation, and to assert their First and Second Amendment rights. When you realize you’re not alone, it gives you confidence to stand together. That’s how we can prevent a civil war.
Q. Malia and David aren’t always the nicest people. Malia definitely has a selfish streak, like when she doesn’t want to risk her new relationship with David by asking him to do favors for Fern’s aunt. And David doesn’t seem to spend much time regretting the people he’s killed, even though he’s very chivalrous. Why aren’t your main protagonists more likeable?
A. That’s how they turned out. But when I asked myself the question, I began to realize how their childhoods in the Diversity Justice Republic, or early childhood in the war, might have damaged them. Malia grew up in an orphanage. She hid in the False Knowledge Depository. David grew up in a warm Plore household, but fatherless. He was taken by the Antifans when he was barely a teenager and learned their values in order to get ahead. And I’m not sure how a Social Crediteer would be an admirable character when forced to survive immersed in DJR value systems and marijuana.
Q. How come places like Florida and South Carolina end up in the DJR and not in the red, pro-MAGA United States?
A. The civil war takes place in 2050. In the 25 years between now and then, plenty of liberal people move to states they haven’t yet ruined. So by the time the war occurs, populations are more mixed in the Southeast than they might be now. It might also account for growing political conflict in states that were previously assumed to be right wing. The large liberal populations are also enough to allow the Antifans to grow a foothold and defend, even if they can’t seize territory much farther to the west.