When I started writing my Josef and Blair Series, it was 1992, I did not begin publishing until 1994. I was projecting what I hoped the world would be like, in an America where race was nullified, from an unlikely source. Having grown up overseas, only to be forced to spend my adult life in America where race mattered, made me want to flip the script in a major way. I liked writing improbable love stories already, and this led to me wondering what it would be like if someone who had been let down by those closest to her, finally met someone she didn't have to pretend with, only for it to blow up in her face in an epic way?
That is how Blair, my main character in the Josef and Blair Series, was born. Blair was an orphan, given away twice by her surviving parent, into an American Foster Care system broken beyond compare. And like many African American's, the Military became a way out of a life full of contradictions and struggles, a place where equality was forced and instituted systemwide, as much as possible.
I knew that Blair would have to be both hard as nails as a Shadow Team Member, yet blindingly human, when it came to real love. Not puppy love, but that 'I'll cut a bitch over you!' kind of love. I wanted her to let her guard down personally, completely, for the first time in her life with Josef. Knowing how to handle life in the Military with codes, directives and regulations is one thing. But life itself does not play by military rules. It's full of duplicity, moral judgments, bad decisions, extreme highs and extreme lows. Blair fell victim to the same thing we all have, no matter what our age, falling in love, justifying shortcomings in our intended, then reeling from the aftermath of those bad decisions.
I had one review in which the person who read the book "Bliss" stated:
"I thought this would have been more interesting than it was, it was disappointing in it's reduction of Blair as a "top agent" to basically a woman who was allowing her man to pretty much take control of her life, it didn't give credence to her character as a strong, smart independent woman..."
And I realized, I had hit the mark with who I wanted to show Blair as. I just don't care how together you are, women and men both do REALLY stupid things when they REALLY fall in love hard! If you look around you, no one is immune. We see the stories in papers, magazines, on television, on Social Media and on reality TV all day long, people making REALLY bad, 'I'm going to ride cross country, not taking bathroom breaks, wearing Depends to get you back' decisions. That is what I wanted Blair to be portrayed as, human, and a woman making bad decisions. I also wanted Josef's power plays to render him stupid and repentant, not willing to sacrifice his woman and children behind a rhetoric that left him cold and alone at night. I wanted characters who were all running from God, their lives and their futures to some degree, something we all are guilty of at one time or another.
I structured Josef around what I thought at the time was an ideal Neo Nazi man, with layer upon layer of lies and hate resting on a shaky foundation that just needed the right kick at the correct juncture to bring all of his layers down around him. Isolation, power and fear created the environment that he grew up and lived in. He, and his brothers in arms learned early in life from Josef's father that you either used that power, or you suffered.
Frankly, it's hard to remain separated by hate today. We interact with too many people who are different from us, which is why even though it may appear that hate is growing, it really isn't. Its the same small microcosm of people who generationally have let hate rule their lives. It's not the isolation that causes the hate, because the Amish are isolated in America, and even when they integrate into society, they still treat everyone they encounter with respect.
Its a lack of moral conscience, a refusal to admit that your failures are of your own doing and spiritual blindness in the worst way that causes this hate to thrive. But it only takes one person to come along and shine that light on a cockroach, rather than squash them, that can bring about change.
This election cycle has brought out the worst in people that hate others, based on their race, religion, skin color, immigration status, etc. The real culprit is that they hate who they are and their place in life which is mostly of their own bad decision making, generationally and today. It makes zero sense that in this day and age they refuse to stop supporting a plan that doesn't see them as part of it, admit they have backed the wrong horse for generations and seek God to truly change their heart on a fundamental level.
That is what I had to do as a writer over time, not just with Josef, but with the huge extended family network that he was part of. I used the underpinning of Jesus Christ to bring about that change. It was hard for some readers to stomach, but I believe that was largely due to their own hangups about Jesus Christ and Christianity. Some have been hurt personally by Evangelicals who follow a religion of prosperity and exclusion. That is not the Christianity that I follow, nor that I write of with my characters. But I truly believed, if I could bring these people around with love and logic (both of my main characters, in spite of what their past had made of their lives) I could bring any of my characters of note around in the same way. Truly loving and caring for others, in spite of their past, how they behave and what they believe, will win the day.
You cannot legislate morality. True morality begins in the heart of man. I did not know back in 1994 that we would face an election cycle where our enemies helped one party to come to power, and the seedy underbelly of what was given to win at all costs is just starting to come out. I did foresee that no matter what was found out, that we would still have an element that refused to accept they had been tricked and hoodwinked. Because when someone else is pulling and guiding the reins of our government, it eventually will come to light. I knew it was possible, I just did not think I would see it so glaringly brought into the spotlight in my lifetime.
So, if you are writing with future changes in history in mind, don't play it safe. This book series may have begun with my writing about Neo Nazi's in 1992, but to have a reader post the following review in 2017, makes me glad that I projected further with my 'What if?' scenario.
Susan Parker an Amazon Reviewer for Book 9, "Reaping the Whirlwind" in the Josef and Blair Series wrote:
"...this novel does address real-world issues. As I was reading it, White Nationalists were marching in Charlottesville, Virginia, to protest the removal of the statute of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. It turned violent, resulting in three fatalities and numerous injuries."
The question is, do we hate these manifestations of ignorance back, continue to pray for them or do we drag them into 2018 with a vengeance? I believe we have to let them paint themselves into a corner that only God can get them out of, just like Josef. I had many former friends that didn't wear a hood openly, but their hearts were either shrouded in them inwardly, or they were using them as bandana's, scarves, capes or hankies. I still haven't decided what to do with them, so I hold them at arm's length, sadly. I am not perfect, either. When the rubber met the road, I backed off. I hope I can reach a place in my heart that I can interact with them one day again, and build a new bridge of friendship based on them facing the truth of who they are, why they are that way, and how we can move forward in a better way with one another. Nothing is impossible with God, and I believe some day, maybe not down here with them, but certainly on a heavenly plane, things will change. Be encouraged!
