ONLY AUTHORS SHOULD BE AUTHORITARIANS

 

DICTATORS OF THEIR OWN WORLDS

 

There is a lot of talk, buzz, worry, concern, hand-wringing, and general if, for the moment, gentle panic about the ugly heads of authoritarians rearing up everywhere. 

Gentle panic? 

I just wrote it, and I’m not sure I know what it means. Maybe it’s the kind of panic where you are not yet screaming and running out the door, but you are holding your breath and hoping to hell you will be able to breathe easy sometime sooner than not. 

This is a worldwide condition. Or at least in those countries governed by some form of democracy. But even in democracies, some would seem to prefer a strong, unbound hand at the tiller of state. As I said in my Old Curmudgeon’s Book of Questions video on YouTube fourteen years ago, 

“If we all agree that democracy is the best form of government then why is it people are so quick to support a dictator—if they agree with him?”

 

In thinking about this recently, I realized that my concerns about authoritarian dictators running things (usually into the ground) have found their way into many of my novels. That’s certainly true of my latest release from Magpie Press, IMP: A Political Fantasia. 

"Steven Paul Leiva is a very bad man. His version of U.S. politics Trumps anything the real world has to offer. Hell, you thought the orange one was the only homunculus America had to worry about? You thought wrong. There's always the nuclear option." — Steven Savile, New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author. 

It’s the story of an accidental president of the United States who suffers from wanting everyone to toe the restricted line of his personal view of what constitutes true virtue and proper morals. My model for this short novel was Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, wherein a stubborn miser is shown the error of his ways via visitations from some fantastic entities. Several ghosts, in Dickens’ case. 

In my case, one annoying little imp who often dresses just like the president. 

The imp crawls out of the president’s ear and begins to wax, if not elegantly, then quite surreally. Both stories are infused with the comfort of hope for redemption, as unlikely as that may be in reality. But then, this is why both books are fantasies. 

 

Two of my early novels, The Fixxer Adventures, Blood is Pretty, and Hollywood is an All-Volunteer Army, are ostensibly thrillers and satires of Hollywood, where I spent an inordinate amount of time in my innocent youth. But their antagonists are men and women who wish to have power over people, possibly for profit, possibly for ego, or possibly just for the thrill. 

"Steven Leiva not only promises but delivers.

Beautifully written. Bravo!" — Ray Bradbury.

In Blood Is Pretty, the bad guy that my hero, The Fixxer, must thwart is a film executive, Andy Rand, who chases after a virtual reality program more powerful and effective than the ones we have today. Veritas is its name, and it can quite literally control minds and give them whatever “truth” the controller wishes to give them.  That film executives enjoy having power over people’s lives in Hollywood is not, I think, a surprising idea. So why wouldn’t they want power over people outside of Hollywood if they could grab it? Is it a personality type? Or a drug hard to kick—until they are kicked out. 

"Leiva's immense gifts for mystery and suspense
are matched only by his wry, biting wit in skewering
the Hollywood he clearly knows so well."
— Paul Provenza, author of ¡Satiristas!, director of The Aristocrats,

 

In Hollywood is an All-Volunteer Army, The Fixxer must deal with a cabal of up-and-coming Hollywood executives under the sway of the mysterious ex-gunrunner Maxwellton James and prominent film executive Sara Hutton, the child of a famous clown. Max and Sara are plotting to develop an “army” of film executives. They will be groomed to launch through the media that they will eventually control a propaganda campaign to beat back the coming wave of Have-Nots from the Southern Hemisphere, who are coming up to pollute the Northern Hemisphere, the natural abode of the Haves. They must be stopped! Sound familiar? I wrote Hollywood is an All-Volunteer Army in the late 1990s, but it was obvious to me that some people worldwide would love to “build a wall” at their southern borders to keep themselves “pure.” It is, of course, an unrealistic task. But that doesn’t stop them from trying or giving power over to the worst people who promise to fulfill their dreams.

 

My science fiction satire Traveling in Space is a first-contact novel written from the aliens' point of view. 

"Traveling in Space's humor and refreshing
perspective is thoroughly enjoyable"
— Diane Ackerman, New York Times bestselling author of
 The Zookeeper's Wife and A Natural History of the Senses.

One day, these alien explorers and scientists stumble across the earth. As they had always believed that they were the only life in the universe, they are understandably surprised. And some of them are not a little annoyed. Some vote to move on and try to forget this mote of dust, crawling with primitive creatures. They neither want the Earth’s water nor its women nor do they want to uplift the denizens of Earth to some angel-like state of wonderfulness. Let them do that on their own if they can. But being explorers and scientists, most of the aliens feel compelled to look closely at our planet and us, the odd characters that populate it. Authoritarianism becomes an issue when the aliens' leader—known quite logically as “Our Leader”— colludes with the President of the United States in a truly awful endeavor, but one that they believe will turn Earth into a true paradise and a lovely planet to have authority over. Do they succeed? You will find out when you get to the end of the novel. 
 
My recent novel, The Definition of Luck or The Post-Modern Prometheus, is a contrarian science fiction novel that takes a skeptical look at the potential of mind or consciousness uploading to a non-biological platform. 

"I thoroughly enjoyed The Definition of Luck."
— Stephen Webb, Physicist, Author of
New Light Through Old Windows: Exploring Contemporary Science
Through 12 Classic Science Fiction Tales.

Whereas much of science fiction takes a non-skeptical, even giddy, assumption that it’s just around the corner. A true shuffling off our mortal coils, releasing our newly immortal minds to dance among the digital ONES and ZEROS. Which, of course, has nothing to do with authoritarianism. However, an issue in the novel revolves around the political situation in Kenya of the near future, which has had a problematic relationship with democracy. But the father of one of my protagonists is a staunch democrat and fights for democracy, even while realizing that it is not always a perfect system. He tells his son, “The greatest asset of democracy is the demos. But then, the greatest liability of democracy is the demos. That son, is the paradox of democracy.”

 

In Journey to Where, which I call a Contemporary Scientific Romance, having been inspired by the novels by H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, authoritarianism is plainly in view. 

"A deftly crafted, inherently interesting, and thoroughly

entertaining read from cover to cover…

unreservedly recommended,”

— Midwest Book Review

Due to a sabotaged experiment into a sought-after element of time, a group of scientists finds themselves on an Earth where sixty-six million years ago, a meteor did not strike the planet, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs and the rise of mammals. So, two dinosaur species evolved after millions of years into bipedal, intelligent creatures rather than mammals doing so. Our scientists find themselves in a world that was once far advanced from our own—these dinos had a hell of a head start. But now that world has fallen into a dark age ruled by a big fist, which hoards not only the land’s riches, controlling a class system of Haves and Have-Nots, but any knowledge his struggling scholars manage to discover. Including these strange scaleless and downy-less creatures that have wandered into the land of Anaraquan. Which translates as Where the Great Quan Rules. The scientists' dilemma is whether to, as they say, go along to get along or fight against the Quan, who rules them all.

 

Creature Feature: A Horrid Comedy was built on the question, where do the creatures of horror books and films come from? 

"CREATURE FEATURE is a weird, funny, twisty romp through
the creepier parts of the American landscape.
Highly entertaining and highly recommended."
— Jonathan Maberry, NY Times Bestselling
Author of ROT & RUIN and V-WARS

Why do ordinary and sensible people create such characters as cobbled-together monsters, wolfmen, vampires, giant gorillas, giant two-legged lizards, gelatinous blobs, and zombies who most definitely do not exist in the real world and, unlike creatures of ancient mythologies, are not trying to explain natural phenomena?  I figured I could get some humor from that, and many readers have told me I succeeded. But, of course, I couldn’t leave well enough alone and had to make the novel a political satire as well. For the creatures that feature in my book, led by a demon of a decidedly authoritarian bent, decide not to stomp and tramp and tear down and fire-breath our world—but to form a political party!

 

I have always felt that if there were justice in the world, the only true authoritarians that should exist are me and my kind—authors. We create worlds and characters and can do with them as we wish. It’s quite god-like and usually hurts no one, nor prevent other people from being happy. Unless they don’t like your work, but that’s hardly life-threatening. But such god-like powers in the hands of one or a few flesh-and-blood humans over a mass of other flesh-and-blood humans have rarely led to good times for all. Even if you think you agree with a dictator, there is always the chance that he or she won’t agree with you. Then—watch out!

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You can check out all of my books on the MY BOOKS page on this blog. Or you can go directly to my Author's Page on Amazon.

Cheers, Everyone!

The Grand and Exalted Leiva.
 Dictator Over His Imaginary Worlds.

 

 

 

 

 

CRYING AND CRYING OUT

 
There is a reason why I call this blog The Emotional Rationalist. Ever since my twenties, when I was reading the books and writings of such popular scientists and thinkers like Bertrand Russell, Jacob Bronowski, Carl Sagan, Francis Crick, and Richard Dawkins, I have always tried to be rational in approaching the world that surrounds us. I have tried to find the facts and face them. I have strived to think critically. I have always wanted, to be mundanely metaphorical, to follow my head and not my heart. Or, more specifically, give considered thought to questions, challenges, and novel approaches to life that have presented themselves. And not give in to knee-jerk, first impression, purely emotional responses.

But the metaphorical heart will have its way. Emotions and feelings are there in each of us and must be acknowledged, even if we choose to deny them. Love is universally considered a good emotion. And yet, it can lead us astray. Hate is widely deemed a bad emotion. And yet, who can deny that it provides a certain satisfaction? I suppose then it would always be best to give each feeling a good think before acting on it. This, at least, is how I have tried to live my life.

Still, I can become a blubbering mass of emotions, usually during filmed fiction, especially those which skillfully manipulate the tears out of you. And I do mean blubbering, as my wife and daughter will attest. They are always ready to shoot me some tissues. But then, I’ve always said, “I cry at movies, so I don’t have to cry at life.”

There has been a lot to cry at in life lately. Trump. The pandemic. The death and devastation now and to come by the Climate Crises. Trump’s insurrection. The war in Ukraine. The potential that our species will expire by its own hands. Emotional tourism can take your mind off these home truths for only so long.

In all these troubles, polarization is disturbingly present. Right versus left. Haves versus the Have-nots. Authoritarianism versus Democracy. Facts versus Myths. And underlining all of these is the main polarization: Knowledge versus Ignorance.

The old saying, “What you don’t know won’t kill you,” is as wrong as can be. But then, as I think it’s also been said, “What you don’t know, you often don’t know that you don’t know.” And that is the worst ignorance of all, except for this: knowing and then ignoring. That is not just ignorance, but arrogant ignorance, ignorance worn as a badge of honor. That is giving in to how you want to feel about something, rather than accepting the facts of that something, no matter how it makes you feel. And it is an all too often proclivity of humans that can be successfully exploited and manipulated, especially by those who would love (an emotion) to have unquestioned authority over you. A functional democracy needs knowledgeable or, at least, informed and rational demos. Tyranny needs only an ignorant, ill-informed, emotional mass.

I have given this thought and concern for years now. As others have as well, I’m sure. And I have found that these concerns have made themselves present in many of my novels. Even when my stories were, ostensibly, focused on other things or written with different purposes in mind. But once these concerns did make themselves present as I composed each novel, they became, in my mind, the actual rationale for the work itself. Which may be a bit of arrogance on my part. But arrogance is an emotion. I could try to deny it, but it does have some nice residual satisfactions. 

  
The impetus to write my novel Journey to Where was to fashion a contemporary scientific romance. That is, a story somewhat akin to the works of H.G Wells and Jules Verne. Novels of fantastic forays into unknown and strange worlds, whether traveling there through time, via a submarine, a sphere covered with anti-gravity paint, or a rocketship. I chose an accidental trip through time. Or Did I? Maybe my protagonists—a group of scientists—end up in a parallel universe. Or perhaps it’s a brand new universe fashioned out of the remnants of their own universe. In any case, they find themselves in a world where dinosaurs never became extinct and are now the dominant two-legged, intelligent (to various degrees) species. Or, actually, two species. The novel offers, I hope, a wide vista, adventure, danger, some humor, and things to contemplate. But it also has a portrait of total authority over the lives of the sentient thinking beings that inhabit the country of Anaraquan. Which translates as Where the Great Quan Rules. It is an authority that hordes knowledge only for its own benefit. An authority that arbitrarily sends people into slavery. An authority dictating who prospers and who doesn’t, who lives and who dies. The novel also proposes the need to defy such authority while acknowledging the damn difficulty in doing so.

Traveling in Space was also written as a variation on a science fiction sub-genre—the First Contact Novel.

I thought it would be amusing to write one from the point of view of the space aliens. Amusing because it would allow me to do a Dean Swift and have a whole shipload of Gullivers to comment on the strange doings of these strange humans. So there is humor as politics, religion, love, and sex is considered. But also horror as genocide is revealed. As hate runs rampant. And the focus is not just on the humans, but the foibles of the aliens are shown as well. And the twain does meet. This has a detrimental effect on the aliens when their leader takes his authority much too seriously.

Creature Feature: A Horrid Comedy began with a simple question.

Where do the ideas for fictional creatures and monsters of horror come from? Vampires sucking blood, werewolves rending flesh, manufactured monsters running amok, giant gorillas and reptiles stomping over the land, etc. The original authors coming up with these ideas were surely not “writing what they knew.” And then another question occurred to me, Why do these creatures and monsters always just wreak havoc, destroying any prospect of having a decent home in a nice neighborhood? Don’t they believe in, if I may put it this way, creature comforts? And so what began as a spoof of old monster movies and the local TV ghouls who screen them became a mash-up of that with political satire. Why? Because I find it much more logical for monsters to gain political power and authority, take over the world, and have lovely places to live. Horrifying, but logical.

Imp: A Political Fantasia is my most upfront political satire. Albeit with, as the title suggests, a fantastic element to it. I have referred to it as “West Wing as done as a Twilight Zone episode.” But it’s also a portrait, maybe only a quick sketch, of the type of personality that becomes authoritarian. A kind, quite frankly, that disturbs and disgusts me. Especially the fact that they are often so successful. Despite this, I was overcome with hope and wrote a Fourth of July Carol. What precisely that means, you’ll have to read the novel to find out.

 

My two Fixxer Adventure novels, Blood is Pretty 

and Hollywood is an All-volunteer Army, were inspired by fiction and life. The fiction was that in words and images portraying such popular and thrilling characters as James Bond, Travis McGee, The Saint, Bulldog Drummond that I had and have a fondness for. The life was mine during two sometimes surreal decades working in Hollywood as a writer and producer. They are two satiric Hollywood thrillers if you can imagine such a thing. Although you don’t have to, as I already did. And you are more than welcome to purchase them on Amazon and give them a read. But in each book, there is a third element making a point. In Blood is Pretty, it is the allure of power and total authority, even when the one seduced isn’t quite sure what to do with it. But, in having it, something will undoubtedly be done. And that something will not bode well. In Hollywood is an All-volunteer Army, I question the power of popular media, especially if it can be manipulated to protect the Haves from the Have-nots.

 
I know, I couldn’t leave well-enough alone. You would think satirizing Hollywood and providing a thrilling adventure would be enough. But I have always found that the precariousness of freedom, especially freedom of thought, has knocked loudly on my consciousness and, frankly, worries me. I could cry every day over the situation. Maybe it is not just movies I cry at so as not to cry at life. Perhaps it is crying out, even softly, in my novels that allow me some solace. 

It’s not quite the same as manning the battlements in defense of freedom and democracy. But it’s what I do. So it’s what I have done. 

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You can check out my books on my Amazon Author's page or the MY BOOKS page of this blog.