Hashtag Chaos

Posted on by Claremary P. Sweeney
Books!

As I was telling a fellow blogger yesterday, my books are taking over my life. Last Train to Kingston   is keeping me busy with marketing, signings, talks, and emails from people wanting to ask a question or discuss the book. The second mystery in the series, Last Rose on the Vine, is almost completed and I’ve been working with two great beta readers, Joyce and Tracy,  to make sure errors are caught quickly and don’t make it into the first printing. (Who says you can’t learn from your mistakes?)

Yellow door – ice cream inside!
Activities for all ages including 68 year-old husbands
Shaker architecture at its best
Entrance to Hancock Shaker Village

This weekend, Charley and I took time off from the mystery series and travelled to The Hancock Shaker Village, the November setting for the stories in  A Berkshire Tale.. I was asked to sign copies of my books and to read from The Pacas Are Coming! ZuZu and the Crias. I spoke with lots of grandparents wanting to bring home a copy for their grandchildren. Eventually, I intend to add two more ZuZu stories I’ve written and turn the first edition into a hardcover book illustrated by an artist.

But that plan will need to wait until Carnivore Conundrum is launched in December. Carnivore is what I’ve been working on with Zack Perry, a young artist from the University of Rhode Island. It’s a verse poem about a baby pitcher plant named Adonis. He awakens one morning inside the Roger Williams Botanical Garden and finds a fly in his digestive juices. The fly pleads, “Oh, please spare my life! I’m needed at home by my larvae and wife.” Adonis spits out the insect and decides he is going to be a vegetarian, causing his mother and her friends much angst. It’s presently in the hands of a formatter and we are hoping it will be ready in time for Christmas. I’ll be including a compact disc I made of the verses using different voices for the plants and animals trying to save this precocious baby from starvation.

I have another great idea I would love to develop when I can find the time. It’s a crime thriller set in Washington, DC.

Back Story:

An evil, powerful Russian leader seeks to take over the world. He, and the oligarchs he’s chosen to be his closest aides, need only to take over the United States to make this a reality. They launch a search for the most narcissistic, immoral, unethical, corrupt person in the US and when they find him, they make him their puppet. They lend him money and videotape  him in compromising situations. They parlay  money to buy seats for politicians who will  support their puppet. They target the most ignorant, angry, and needy of the population and use social media platforms to brainwash them. They enlist the aid of greedy, old, white men who want to protect the billions of dollars they’ve accumulated and convince them to invest their money to secure the entitlements they feel were meant for them by backing the worst candidates possible for public office.

Exposition:

When all is in place, the oligarchs hire hackers to sabotage the US voting system, ensuring their candidate will be elected. Social media allow ads and posts from these hackers to prey on the racism, misogyny, fears and hatred imbedded in the system since the country’s patriarchal government was formed.

Rising Action:

Their marionette is elected and given only one task – to abuse his power to bring about as much chaos as he possibly can.  He is paid substantial funds by his handlers to bring darkness to the Capitol and chaos ensues. The moron surrounds himself with the worst advisers and toadies to aid, abet and sit silent when necessary. Bribes and the fear of being publicly humiliated are effectively used to control these politicians who help the moron puppet to whittle away at The Constitution. Together, they work diligently at destroying the Declaration of Independence written to protect citizens; granting them the rights of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Climax:

Blacks are castigated for peacefully kneeling to protest the bitter truth that some human beings are dispensable; that precious lives are being callously destroyed. Hispanics are told they are not worthy of the same rights the white citizens of the country are given. The weak, the old, the infirmed are doomed to illness and death. Responsibility for the care of our most vulnerable is discarded like so much wet tissue paper. Women, speaking out in defence of their rights, are deemed “nasty” and the victimization they always have been subjected to is normalized even more by the behavior of the deranged animal puppet now in power.

And the world looks on in horror.

History has truly become a forgotten thing of the past. America is now recreating its own version of Nazi Germany. The angry, young white terrorists are taking to the streets, empowered by the deplorable words and actions of their own home-grown Führer.

And the decent, law-abiding citizens of this once great country look on in horror.

Falling Action:

Now, this is where the story takes a bit of a turn – an ironic plot twist. Some of the characters in the book are not having any of this. Nasty women gather together to march. They find there is incredible strength in unity. Blacks begin to fight back, demanding the inequalities so inherent in our everyday life be seen for what they are and changed. Statues revering traitors start to fall. Athletes use their First Amendment Rights to publicly kneel in protest to remind us of what our flag really stands for. Hispanics rise up and declare they are  a valuable part of the fabric of our society and will not allow that to be torn asunder. Dedicated journalists begin to understand how important their words are in keeping facts out in the open – in calling fake news, fake news; in relentlessly exposing a lie to be a lie, no matter how many untruths must be tirelessly unveiled each and every day. Lawyers and judges, democrats, independents, progressives and even a handful of republicans with courage and moral conviction take up the torch. And so, the denouement may be a very different ending than the Russian leader anticipated. He misjudged the resilience of people who understand and value their rights. He underestimated the women who decided they would take matters into their own hands and lead themselves when the void needed to be filled.

Digression:

After the initial shock and feeling of hopelessness I wrote a post, contending that this era in our history was something too long in coming. We were once thought to be a great nation. The Great Nation. We really weren’t. But we realize we can be and we’re finally doing something to rectify all of the things inherently wrong in the way we’ve conducted our business here in the US  forever.

This is our own Enlightenment, precipitated by the actions of an immoral, deranged animal – a deplorable, abusive, narcissistic sociopath. We recognize we’ve been complacent and slow to comprehend, but making mistakes and correcting them is sometimes the best way to learn a hard lesson.

Denouement/Conclusion:

The Russian leader is dethroned  by the angry masses because their economy has ultimately failed due to sanctions placed on the country by a wiser US Congress. The chaos the puppet moron created only serves to bring out the best in a country severely needing to deal with its underlying faults and frailties. The deranged, moronic animal, his greedy family and his cowardly cronies are brought to trial. They’re found guilty of colluding, aiding and abetting a foreign country in plans to overthrow their government. The treason is unmasked. The horror finally subsides. The better angels have come forward and we are a better place for having gone through the storm.

Now, I just have to find a good title and some time to get this written before somebody else steals my ideas. Perhaps I’ll call it The Art and the Failure of the Russian Deal?

Have a peaceful week.

 

 

 

54 thoughts on “Hashtag Chaos”

  8. Yours is an excellent elegy… of course – it would be nothing less. And the twist is on the horizon. The night is always darkest before the storm. Nature has been reminding us where the real power lies on this planet and I do believe the winds are blowing the changes out of the darkness. Dark it is. Light follows. We just need the right single voice to bring all the anger into a controlled, coherent and unassailable force. Now where IS Michelle Obama? PS: I play ‘We Shall Overcome’ pretty much every day now…. the warm embers in my heart and belly burn strong

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  9. Disclaimer … apologies if this comes through twice but I typed it first on my phone and notice it doesn’t seem to be appearing on my iPad so here goes because I am determined you should know that you have the ear and the heart of your little French friend (actually pretty much the whole of France would not be an exaggeration) …. In gist, I said that your elegy is brilliant – of course it is, you wrote it. The ending I believe will happen. The hour is always darkest before the dawn and it is easy to lose sight of the fact that there will be light again. Nature has been reminding us where the real power lies on this planet and her winds are blowing strong. What is needed is a single compelling voice to bring cohesion to all the cries in the darkness and lead the charge. Where IS Michelle Obama? Seriously … though I am sure you can think of many others but she is such a charismatic and enormously intelligent woman. And a woman of colour. This darkness will lift and a real new dawn will prevail but it requires unity, real unity and it requires understanding of the opposing point of view. Not agreement, just acknowledgement. In many ways that is how France managed to avoid electing a Nazi in May. And there is pain, and there is hooting and hollering but M. Macaroon (stet because I just love to call him Mr Macaroon) is proving himself well in these early months. The United States is huge and it inevitably contains many different views, opinions, beliefs BUT what binds it is the refusal to be anything but the land of the free. The right voice will open up the truth and make it unavoidable. The right voice will gather the masses to be an unassailable force. Stay strong sisters, I play ‘We shall overcome’ most days now ….

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  10. Good to see you and your witty words back again. But I have to say your idea for a crime thriller seems much too far fetched. As if that could ever happen in real life! There is also a potential doomsday ending for it but I prefer your denouement!

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    1. Clive, The way things are going against the buffoon lately, I think everyone (except the other village idiots) has begun to question his ability to have any responsibility, let alone He is going down big time! Mark my words. (And I’m never wrong. Just ask Charley.) Your American buddy, Clare

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      1. Every day seems to bring a new abomination. From outside the US it’s astounding how stupid and/or cowardly some over there appear to be in enabling him to carry on. Surely he can’t continue to lie and cheat his way through for much longer? And I never doubted your ability to be right 😉

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      2. Clive, Unfortunately, we are finding severe problems with our Constitution. Because we were set up to be a democracy and it was assumed the men elected to lead that democracy would be honorable, we are not legally prepared for what is happening. In a country which has been ruled by an autocrat or dictator, for example, there are things put in place to deal with the circumstances the US is now facing. We are not only trying to rid ourselves of this moron but are trying to find ways so this will not happen again. It makes me wish I had gone into politics instead of teaching. It is frustrating to watch our current politicians lumbering along, seemingly impotent in the face of such grave dangers facing us. My contention is that we will become stronger once we have learned our hard lesson and have put in leadership we can once again respect and trust. If you get a chance, look up Obama’s speech yesterday in Virginia. It gives one hope!

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      3. “He is the biggest liar of all the American presidents. . . the worst terrorist in the history of mankind . . . a madman, an imbecile and a bum. . . His ideas are from the era of Buffalo Bill, not the nuclear age.” That was actually Castro speaking about Reagan, but it’s probably a good assessment about what Numpty has in mind with MAGA. Then there’s the famous H L Mencken quote, which now looks like a prophecy: “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” The Constitution is well over 200 years old, and is long overdue an update. Times have changed a lot since then, and in some respects it hasn’t kept up. The intrinsic values that the nation saw as being core in the 18th century have been eroded by social change. Looking at them, they need restating and re-evaluating. The problem is that any such change would be overseen by politicians who, as a group, are the least qualified people to do the job. I just hope that the moron factor can be overcome so that, if by some miracle he serves a full term, he doesn’t get re-elected. I’m hoping that Russia, voter suppression (e.g. Wisconsin) and all the other crimes he and his entourage committed to get him elected and keep him in the job will come crashing down around him, but sadly I don’t see the Democrats as currently being in a position to take that on. It’s going to need a new form of popular opposition, on a far wider scale than has already been seen, to avoid the sideshows he creates to deflect attention and make a concerted effort. It’s a huge (or should that be yuuuge) task. It needs a leader, maybe both Obama’s can become the focal point for it. I’d love to see Michelle as a candidate in 2020. We can but hope!

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      4. The real presidents have begin to come forward. All 5 of them were together today to help raise funds for Puerto Rico, (Essentially saying “Take that, you moron!”) The way the republican village idiots are going after each other, the swamp just might get cleaned out in the next election.

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      7. If only that could happen. The problem is that with his complete lack of ability to understand his own actions he probably wouldn’t learn anything about himself.

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      9. Maybe the Koreans are laying landmines as we speak? Not that I advocate murder, of course, but no doubt many of his supporters are familiar with the phrase ‘the final solution.’

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      11. It would be the best jail, with the yuuugest cells, and the jailers and prisoners would all give him lots of standing ovations when he went to the exercise yard. A fitting end 😊

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  13. Hello Clare! My goodness you are a machine – so busy! I am tantalised by your idea for a new book. Mmmm, I seem to have heard it somewhere before? Purveyors of so-called ‘fake news’, perhaps? I can think of one who might say as much. Anyway, I have to say I just love the ending. Sometimes things must be cracked to let the light in.

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    1. Robyn, You know you are my most valued critic. Today we finally finished Carnivore Conundrum and sent it on to the publisher to format and prepare for print. We didn’t make our deadline, so it will probably not be ready for the holidays. But it is done and I can concentrate on finishing Last Rose on the Vine. I’m curious about your books and if you have continued to work on them? I’ll email tonight. 🌹 Clare

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  17. Hello Busy person
    been catching up on your writings and musings…. I repeat, again, I don’t know how you do it. Its a rather lovely life though isn’t it? Busy and fun packed. It comes through in your writing. I think the story lines are super and look forward to seeing the hard copies on the shelves, soon! I do think you are the American version of Enid Blyton. Are your books on Amazon???? ( Hope you are well, even if life is hectic for you x)

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    1. Hi, Jackie! I just wrote you an email. No, this comment did not disappear, thankfully.
      I’m up early to write another chapter for the new mystery. I just have a few more to go. This chapter is very sad, as one of the characters, who is a lovely person, is murdered. I’ve been avoiding writing it, but it must be done, so today’s the day. And then I can get on to the last few chapters and the killer will be caught!
      On a cheerier note, my latest children’s book (not part of the ZuZu series) is out this week. Carnivore Conundrum. I wrote it for a little boy who asked me to create a book about bugs and plants that eat bugs. And yes, I’m on Amazon. But I have an audio of me reading the book, which, unfortunately, is not offered with the Amazon soft cover. So, I will send you the cd by mail, if you’d like.
      I’m off to your blog now to catch up with your adventures.( hope you are writing posts.)
      Thank you for the lovely comment about Enid Blyton. If only I could live up to her standards!
      Love, Clare

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