PARENTAL WARNING FOR PEOPLE LOOKING TO BUY MY BOOKS FOR KIDS!

Perhaps, you are wondering if this book or my others are for your child. I don’t know. My books aren’t porn (though Dead Mouths does reference sexual situations), they don’t promote drug use (though they feature drug use as a bad thing, which happens prominently throughout), they are violent (though not gory – much just happens and isn’t described in detail), they do include profanity (only Dead Mouths uses the F bomb; otherwise, I seek to avoid the big bad ones), they feature characters from all backgrounds (good, bad, indifferent, helpful, hurtful, ethical, and hateful), they are concerned with eradicating evil (Satanic demons and the like) while using Special Forces, paranormal, and supernatural means, there are references to societal taboos through historical and anthropological accounts (cannibalism, though it was something that happened – not something described - and it is based artistically on actual scientific accounts) and these books reference cryptids, ghosts, aliens, and demons like they’re dogs, squirrels, cardinals, and flies.

For those people reading this, note that I don’t like the gore porn (the really extreme bloody stuff that all but encourages people to root for the evil knife-wielding killer). Nevertheless, as with Dead Mouths, there is one very vicious murder in The Rules of the Game. It’s not how it’s described, since it’s more about the fact that it happens than describing intricate details of what happens (I don't do that). I won’t spoil the suspense for those people who aren't put off, but this kind of thing takes place in real life, too, though it doesn’t make the news very much. The link to a Reuters article that mentions a UN Committee on the Rights of the Child report is at the end.

Also, in my works, I create fictional conspiracies alongside real events (i.e. Fallujah 2004 and Benghazi), which some might take offense to. I do these not to traffic in conspiracy (many conspiracies traffic in extreme paranoia and hate, which really bothers me), but to give a historical place for FICTIONAL events to transpire (much as I do with the already existing conspiracy of things like Truman, Eisenhower, and Majestic 12. 

I do this solely as fiction and artistic expression. 

If truth be told, I do like the alien theories as science fiction, but I would really like it more if they direct people to the real events to create unbiased historical accounts.

However, I would say the biggest issue for a younger child (under 14) is the reading commitment. My books are thick and feature tons of characters. If your kid watches Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead or reads a book like It (or most any King horror), there’s no issue here with me going further to harm their sensibilities. For all of the paranormal worlds, I wouldn’t describe this as science fiction or horror. For many young guys, there is plenty of action, which would entice many teens to read this, but there are also lengthy backstories that require commitment. 

Additionally, there are also many links to historical realities in my books. I see that as a good thing, but I do see the sheer weight of the series as something for a serious reader who can comprehend connections that don’t always come back until many chapters later (King does that, too, in his best work The Stand, by the way). Having never read Harry Potter, I can't say what J.K. does or doesn't do, but I would like to hope that people of all ages would be enticed to read through it excitedly. That said, isn't that every author's dream?

So is this book for your kid? Read the sample chapters at this site and see. I’d rather you take in the real before feeling I just made a quick $1-2 on you after you bought and got stuck with something that isn't you or them (by the way, that’s what I’m making per book with the lower prices I choose to charge).

Thanks all the same for considering this purchase!

Intro to The Rules of the Game

INTRODUCTION

This book has been in the works for about a year and a half.

Originally, I saw it being 300 pages. It’s twice that now. Congratulations, you got so much more than I ever expected (for roughly the same price – though print costs more due to paper). What’s more, you received a much better story (my best?). Not to break my arm when I try to pat myself on the back, but I do feel more in the flow with this than my other works, and yes, I do love them, too. This means something for me, and I hope it does for you.

Thank you for buying this!

For many reasons, this book feels more special for the flow and the growth of characters that I am exhibiting. This is a mix of experiencing positive psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and having read Luigi Pirandello’s play Six Characters in Search of an Author. This is not to forget my love of the first season of the TV show Heroes, The Walking Dead, pretty much everything on Destination America, Ancient Aliens, the first Die Hard, many of M. Night Shyamalan’s films, Joseph Campbell’s Hero with 1,000 Faces, Marvel origin films, and even some This is Us mixed with James Wan’s Insidious, Annabelle, and Conjuring side – not Saw.

I’m a big fan of character growth. Static characters mean nothing. I’m also a big fan of the “beautifully imperfect” nature of all people (we’re still lovable and human despite our failures). People can only find pure good and evil in the godly and the demonic. Humans are problematic at many points in time. They have back-stories. They make decisions for a reason, and we need to know it, even if the reason doesn’t come up right away. I like this characterization and connection. I would say this is why I’m moving from this book to Intersections (the next mega collection of Blackrock, which will outsize this one and the last one).

Perhaps another reason I really like this book is that it started out as a tribute to my sister’s son CJ, who is the inspiration for Colin Jameson. From the first idea of what I originally called “The Wendigo Story (what is now chapter 1)” to an image of a Punisher type character, who was locked and loaded with bullets melted down from the Nails of Christ, CJ figured prominently in the book as someone who I wanted to give the opportunity to destroy evil.

As time went on, I added other personas to the book because I wanted to pay tribute to other young people that needed to be heroes. These include my friends Will and Heidi’s sons (Liam and Zac) and a teenager I tutor (Tyler). Additionally, I included my dad’s cousin Bart (he was a rancher in real life (RIP) – who is mixed with the look of my one school’s president Dr. Griscom), my niece Amanda, my nephew Quinton, remembrances of several former friends who were lost to different directions and bad decisions along the way, my mother’s maiden name (Gittleman), my brother in law (Bruce), my English teacher (Borkert), my neurologist (Vargas), a former student (Nguyen) and my Air Force training instructors in the military (Honig and Rouse – they seem like the right people for the job of training). Once again, these were all people who needed to be heroes. I like how they worked out here.

In creating personas, I believe that everyone deserves a chance to be a hero. Many of these younger people are not only good people, but they are great young people who were never received a spotlight to stand out, so I figured, “Why not make them a sort of superhero who could stand out?” Thus, they all appear positively to make them members of S1, the world’s foremost paranormal organization dedicated to fighting paranormal, supernatural, and evil beings in a Navy SEALs meet the X-Files way.

And yes, there is a persona of me in Dead Mouths. Many people saw how that character resembles me (as Charlotte was originally modeled after my wife Heather), and yes, it’s true, I started out writing fiction this way. It happens. While I’m stuck with that in some ways, I’ve deviated from that connection significantly, and I will continue to do so in Intersections, as I’ve moved beyond that to the cosmic world that creates characters for me.

In the original version of the story (outline only), long since annihilated well before book 1’s release, Dave was the main character. However, in this book you are about to read, it’s clear that the main good characters are Tony Lucas (the id), Suzie Heilman (the ego), Ouray (the superego), Bart Doherty (the leader lost down the rabbit hole), Marcus Powell (the leader on the side of the rational), Colin Jameson (the knight in training), Ivan Parker (the strength of experience), Charles “Chuck” Jones (the warrior lost down the rabbit hole), Sean “Big Dig” Carruthers (the mysterious adventurer), Abraham Owens + Vincent Littleman (the heroes from another world coming to save the day), and Benson Villaneuva (clairvoyance).

In a future book, I will be able to express the evil more clearly, though it’s obvious that Eli Jordan + his father, Abdul Halim, Paolo Crespo, Theodore Swanson, the Fressineaus, Parvez Kharimi, Jason Harper, and Pyotor Osokin will fall majorly into this with all of the demons who are coming to congregate at Blackrock.

That said, it’s best not to get too far ahead in these things.

As for the mad props… 

First and foremost is the love and support of family and friends. Whether they be the family I’ve found along the way (my wonderful wife, Heather) or my parents + sister and the rest of my extended family (especially my Gram, who let me build forts in her apartment as well as to play with my Star Wars figures at her place every weekend of my youth – rest in peace), I’ve always been able to be lost in other worlds of daydreams and fantasy.

Quite simply, from an early age, I was encouraged and allowed to be imaginative. This led me to Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, V, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Independence Day, Altered States, Contact, The Mummy (the Brendan Fraser one), The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Creature Double Feature, Ancient Aliens, The Conjuring, A Haunting, Signs, Monsters and Mysteries in America, Jaws, and a lot of other science fiction / aliens / ghost stuff  (Frank Edwards’ Stranger than Science and the Warrens’ experience) as well as great action movies like Die Hard and the Asian cinema of John Woo and Chow Yun Fat. This is not to forget the myriad of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Norris action movies in my formative years (not to mention one too many viewings of the original Red Dawn).

In addition, music is a big part of who I am as a writer and person. From my earliest days with Billy Joel to Iron Maiden to Neutral Milk Hotel to the Polyphonic Spree to the Misfits to Phish to Jack Johnson to Okkervil River to Jay Z to the Hold Steady to the National to Slayer, songs have always inspired me to sing along and to move on through. My mp3 player ranges from cheesy pop songs by Echosmith to eerie metal music by King Diamond to experimental stuff by Sonic Youth. There’s a time and place for everything, and frankly, I wouldn’t want to live in a world without music of every genre. Simply stated, I could have never written this book with bad music or silence. For this, I do name check songs, bands, and literary things to get other people interested in them as well. Support your favorite artists as I support mine.

First and foremost is the love and support of family and friends. Whether they be the family I’ve found along the way (my wonderful wife, Heather) or my parents + sister and the rest of my extended family (especially my Gram, who let me build forts in her apartment as well as to play with my Star Wars figures at her place every weekend of my youth – rest in peace), I’ve always been able to be lost in other worlds of daydreams and fantasy.

Quite simply, from an early age, I was encouraged and allowed to be imaginative. This led me to Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, V, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Independence Day, Altered States, Contact, The Mummy (the Brendan Fraser one), The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Creature Double Feature, Ancient Aliens, The Conjuring, A Haunting, Signs, Monsters and Mysteries in America, Jaws, and a lot of other science fiction / aliens / ghost stuff  (Frank Edwards’ Stranger than Science and the Warrens’ experience) as well as great action movies like Die Hard and the Asian cinema of John Woo and Chow Yun Fat. This is not to forget the myriad of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Norris action movies in my formative years (not to mention one too many viewings of the original Red Dawn).

In addition, music is a big part of who I am as a writer and person. From my earliest days with Billy Joel to Iron Maiden to Neutral Milk Hotel to the Polyphonic Spree to the Misfits to Phish to Cat Stevens to Jason Isbell to Modern Baseball to Allo Darlin’ to the Front Bottoms to Okkervil River to Jay Z to the Hold Steady to the National to Slayer, songs have always inspired me to sing along and to move on through. My mp3 player ranges from pop songs by Echosmith to spacey stuff by the Orb to eerie metal music by King Diamond to happy stuff by Bob Marley to experimental stuff by Sonic Youth. There’s a time and place for everything, and frankly, I wouldn’t want to live in a world without music of every genre. Simply stated, I could have never written this book with bad music or silence. For this, I do name check songs, bands, and literary things to get other people interested in them as well. Support your favorite artists as I support mine.

Along the way, I have also had many great teachers who allowed me to grow as a writer, teacher, and person with their style and willingness to take on my honors contracts and engage in personal discussions (Ron Borkert, Bill Harst, Dave Leight, Susan Hartman, and Eric Wolf come to mind). With them, I was able to do many great projects and learn so much more than I would have if I didn’t participate in class actively. Because of them and my parents, I learned the value of education. While I didn’t always understand or appreciate education or the “do this / do that” approach to things, I eventually did embrace it, and I was able to teach myself by learning to observe what others did and by absorbing information and educational experience because of it. In addition, many colleagues and peers in the educational world supported my dream, which was to educate other people about the value of writing (of these Karen, Joann, and Helen stand out). I can’t begin to state what that means to me. Teaching and learning are great things. Embrace knowledge in all that you do.

In an ideal world, I would list many names, and they would be definitive with regard to who has helped me along the way. However, I know that I’ll forget people, so rather than try to be all-inclusive here, I’ll thank all of my friends from those who were there with me during the awkward and lonely high school years. In addition, there were the friends during the wild ride of the Loft days, my time in the Air Force, the England experience, the post-England college time,  and the last seventeen years of my life. All of these people have been involved in me being an educator, and my experiences hiking, traveling, and living life while listening to great music, experiencing movies, reading books, and embracing an America that I almost left, while spending time with the people who matter.

For all of the mistakes I’ve made, the dumb things I’ve done, and the bad choices I’ve made along the way, my family and friends have stuck with me to get to this place as a writer / teacher / person. I appreciate that. I must also say that I still can’t believe that I have a wife who would embrace my eccentricity and rough around the edges nature to still be here for me, nearly nine years after our first memorable date. Like Lou Gehrig, I’m the luckiest man on the face of the earth to have someone who’ll let a major time, effort, and cost undertaking like this book series happen.

As for me, in many ways, like Eddie Vedder said when he refused to be people’s messiah after Kurt Cobain’s death or when King Ezekiel on The Walking Dead negated himself to the role of just being “some guy” after causing his group’s problems, that’s who I am, too. However, I have a gift (writing) and experience (good and bad) to share. For this, I hope I inspire you with my life and dreams.

In this, it’s important to note that my whole family and all of my friends support me through my Parkinson’s diagnosis (September 27, 2016). I may have PD, but PD doesn’t have me. I will write through the tremors I am currently experiencing and whatever symptoms occur to me in the future. Simply put, my role in this situation is to educate and advocate (not whine about what I can’t do). I do that by choosing to live life and be happy. If my role in life is to share my knowledge of the world and entertain people while answering their questions about my condition, so be it. People mean well. If they’re asking, it’s not to troll; it’s to learn. Really. Disability is only an inability if we let it own us. We can avoid this by living, living vicariously, and supporting the causes of finding a cure and treating people. Boo yeah!

Also, in whatever came my way, I always found great people to influence and inspire me. One of those people was MaryAnn Schaefer, who edited this book and provided tons of writing advice to me. I am very very grateful to her for that (she changes my Barks to Barts when my mind is getting bumpy on the I’ve been writing too long / lack of connectivity on the PD dirt roads, too). I’m also very thankful that she allowed me to have a couple of Air Force / England Thanksgivings with her, her husband Bill, and her daughters Sky and Nicki all those years ago. I can’t begin to explain what they meant to a young guy 3,000 miles from home on the holidays.

I am also mega-grateful to Ken Guard for his NRA-fueled action writing advice, which made many things with the attack on The Whale possible. He’s been my friend longer than many of my readers have been alive. That’s a good thing. The same is true with my friend, Pete Apostolakos, who has made various input suggestions throughout. Muchos gracias!

I am thankful to Thaddeus Stevens Library for hosting Halloween readings two years in a row. It’s so cool to be able to do things like this with and for students.

I am super thankful to Brad Adams, Tyler Richard, and Caleb Haddon for all of the graphic arts work they did for me to include complete design and creation of this cover. When in doubt, hire a student intern that comes recommended by his / her teacher. You’re giving them experience to be even greater (these guys rock). Also, support the industrial arts. I may be a college writing teacher, but higher education isn’t all college. We need great tradespeople, too.

In this writing endeavor, many of you will choose to help me by either advertising or buying this book. You will read my works and provide constructive criticism. You’ll tell your friends about my books. You will inspire me while I keep working on the Blackrock Canyon series, which is between 1,500 and 2,000 pages at this point in four different books. I think it has (at least) a couple thousand to go, but that’s just me. THANK YOU for what you will do and what you have done!!!!

In the meantime, I look forward to entertaining you along the course of my writer’s journey. Hopefully, I’ll even inspire some of you to embrace your own creativity, which would be awesome to see all of the young people, the Dylans and Lydias of the world (as well as Little Zen Monkeys), move to take to a keyboard to bang out their stories and / or just keep living their life in greatness. The world is your oyster. Do what you have to do. It’s go time. Where would we be without writing or the oral tradition or petroglyphs or other great art to inspire us to communicate what we see and do to the world?

Thanks for reading and supporting my art.

You guys and gals are awesome. Really.

Enjoy my book. I know I enjoyed writing it.

Dan

November 20, 2017