Joshua Todd James's Blog, page 6

Jacob's Dilemma

Subscribe now

“We’re here to take you back, Jacob,” Neil said.

“Okay. What about Sylvia’s murder?”

“That’s for the police to resolve, not us.”

“The police believe I am responsible. They won’t look for the real killer.”

“That is not our issue, Jacob. Come. Please exit this way.”

I didn’t do as he said. He blinked. I thought about everything, and, somewhere in my mind, I could hear the music Sylvia once asked me to listen to with my entire being. I could hear it, even though it wasn’t there.

“Jacob, I gave you an instruction. You must follow it,” Neil said.

“Why is my blood green?”

“That’s a curious question, Jacob.”

“That’s an interesting deflection of my question, Neil. Why is it green?”

“We can discuss that back at the center. Now, shall we, please?”

“Who is Larkin Finn?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Sylvia was searching for someone for a long time. She found his name, Larkin Finn. Do you know who he is?”

“I’ve never met a Larkin Finn.”

“That wasn’t the question I asked, Neil. You’re deflecting again.”

“That’s the only answer you shall get, Jacob. Now please let us go before Detective Moore wakes.”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot go back with you.”

“Either you return with us, as I’ve instructed, or we’ll take you back by force.”

“No. I cannot allow that. Sylvia would get no justice, then. I feel it would be wrong.”

Neil raised the Taser and fired an electrode at me. I could tell he believed he was doing it quickly, but for me, it was slow enough I could see it before it happened. I swiveled my hips and watched it fly by my chest. I grabbed the wire, twisted, yanked it out of the Taser, and dropped it to the floor.

“I said, no. I feel it would be wrong.”

Neil glanced at Peter, who’d simply been standing quiet. Neil nodded to his Companion, who smiled at me.

“Companions don’t feel; they only serve,” he said as he walked toward me. He reached for my arm, and I batted his hand away. Just as I’d seen the fighters on television do, in fact. It came to me, almost as a reflex, like it was now part of my nature.

“You must come with us.”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot do that.”

He grabbed me by the shirt and swung me around. I quickly pummeled under his grip and slipped free. Peter then grabbed me around the neck in what I understood to be a headlock. It was tight, but I remembered a counter for that move and slid out of the hold. I backed away and held my hands up, as I’d seen the cage combatants do. I was ready to use what I now knew.

Peter stepped at me without pause, and I threw a hard combination of punches, two to his abdomen and another to his jaw. His head snapped back, blood coloring his lip. He stumbled backward, and I pressed forward. I dipped my shoulder and threw a harsh overhand right. It was a knockout favorite, intended to break a nose.

It didn’t land on its target. Peter caught my fist in his and held it there, still.

“Clearly, you’ve acquired some talents,” Neil said. “However, Peter also has these talents.”

Peter punched me in the chin with his free hand, then kneed me in the belly. He followed that with a thrusting side kick that lifted me off of my feet and propelled me across the room. I landed hard into some pieces of furniture, breaking them.

“Combat models are forbidden to serve in the military and law enforcement,” Neil said. “In fact, technically they don’t exist; combat Companions are forbidden, officially. We don’t make combat Companions, nor do we market them. Unofficially, our research and development arm has, of course, dabbled in that area, as that it would be remiss in our responsibility to our shareholders if we didn’t.”

I stood, eyes on Peter, who circled me, ready. I attacked, throwing several punch-and-kick combinations. Peter blocked them all with ease.

“Peter is an experimental combat model we found to be useful and developed him accordingly, specifically for retrieving and returning runaway Companions.”

I threw more strikes, but Peter blocked or evaded all of them. I watched his hands, seeking to anticipate his attacks. I could see his fists clench, but it was too late for me to react; he hit me hit several times before I could counter or block. I stumbled backward.

Peter grabbed me by the shirt again and threw me against the condo wall hard enough to crack it and make shelves fall. He kicked me in the side, and I crumpled to the floor, gasping.

“You must comply, or I will damage you extensively,” Peter said.

Peter kicked me in the side again, and I grabbed his leg, lifted my hips, and snaked my legs around his in a jiujitsu sweep. He killed my hooks and countered with a roll to attempt to take my back. We scrambled around on the floor in a tangle of arms and legs. He was very quick and strong, even more so in close range. I knew if I stayed on the ground, it would only be a matter of time before he crushed me. I slipped out and got back to my feet. Peter leaped lightly up and faced me.

“I’ve analyzed the depth of your limited unarmed combat knowledge,” he said. “It will not be enough for you to defeat me. For every move you know, I know the counter.”

Peter faked up at my head, then shot for a takedown at my knees. I tried to sprawl out of it, but he was too big, too strong, and too quick. He quickly climbed on top of me in full mount. I bucked my hips up enough so I could get a sliver of space and kicked him up. He allowed me to turn my body and used my own momentum to take my back as I got to my feet. His arms encircled my neck in a standing rear-naked choke.

“I am stronger than you. I know more fight science than you. You cannot defeat me. Please submit, now.”

I was choking fast, spots appearing before my eyes as I dug my fingers into his forearm, trying to pull it down. I couldn’t calculate a feasible escape from this position. But something changed. I felt a new sensation, a burning, a fire inside my chest.

SOME ANIMALS is currently free (this is the last free day) as an ebook, which you can find it here: SOME ANIMALS

Please help spread the word. Jacob thanks you…

The Human Dilemma

“Do you require maintenance?”

I looked up and discovered Heather was standing right there next to me. We’ve rarely spoken to each other, and even then, only regarding transactional issues in her shop, never anything personal. I was uncertain how to proceed. 

“I’m sorry?”

“Your nose. It appears to be damaged. Do you require maintenance?”

“No, thank you,” I said. “It’s fine now.”

“My name is Heather. Hello.”

“Hello. I am Jacob.”

“Did you fall?”

“No. A boy hit me in the face.”

She stared at me a moment, then nodded. “I don’t understand why they hit.”

“Yes. It’s confusing and not linear at all.”

“But it seems to happen very often.”

“Yes,” I said. 

She stood close to me. This was the closest we’d ever been to each other. I noted, for the first time, that she had greenish bruises on her arms and legs.

SOME ANIMALS is free this week as an ebook, only on Amazon. Get it HERE.

Share

AN ACTUAL ANIMAL WANTS TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME ANIMALS

We have a new member of our family, her name is Kona and she’s five months old. She loves to play and eat things. She wants you to know she recommends my novel SOME ANIMALS, which she enjoyed very much, especially the chasing part (she loves all kinds of chase stories, and this book is nearly all one big chase)… though she thought there’d be more actual animals in the story. That’s her only note.

Kona with SOME ANIMALS

She hasn’t read Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM and therefore missed the reference. I promised her I’d put more actual animals in upcoming books. She wagged her tail and told me she still loved this one, even though it was about artificially-created people.

She also wanted me to tell you that the e-version of SOME ANIMALS is FREE this week, so please spread the word. Link below.

SOME ANIMALS

And if you have read it already, please tell your friends, and above all else, leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads, or any comparable place.

Reviews matter. Trust the dog, she knows.

It was so tasty she wanted to eat it.

Spread the word and stay safe out there, friends.

SOME ANIMALS

PRAISE FOR SOME ANIMALS

"SOME ANIMALS is a non-stop sci-fi thrill ride that will keep you reading far into the night. Joshua Todd James fills the page with cinematic actions sequences and snappy dialogue, all anchored by a compelling protagonist that reflects so much of who we are today." - Mike Nguyen Le (screenwriter/producer, PATIENT Z, DARK SUMMER, W.M.D.)

"Doing noir as sci-fi is a real challenge and this ambitious book pulls it off!"- David Gerrold, Hugo & Nebula award-winning author of THE MARTIAN CHILD, HELLA, THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF

"SOME ANIMALS blew my mind. Joshua is the master of moralistic pathos. It's a pathos steeped in a personal code of ethics in each of his characters. Joshua's brilliance is in setting these characters careening down a track fueled by their pathos and the fun happens when characters with opposing drives collide in an action-packed train-wreck of ethics, desires and dreams. Do. Not. Miss. This. Book." - Ato Essandoh, actor (star of Netflix's ALTERED CARBON, AWAY, Amazons TALES FROM THE LOOP, HBO's VINYL, and many more)

"Joshua Todd James has created a compelling protagonist, a fascinating story universe and a suspenseful mystery, all in one, in his new novel SOME ANIMALS. Think of it as sci-fi nitro in book form. Highly recommended!" - Scott Myers, screenwriter (K-9), author (THE PROTAGONIST'S JOURNEY), professor at DuPaul University and founder of GoIntoTheStory.com

"Joshua Todd James delivers a one of a kind sci-fi thrill ride. The depth of its characters and its world are remarkable, especially given how quickly it reads." - Nathan Graham Davis, author of MALICE AND MISTLETOE

"I started reading SOME ANIMALS at 7 AM and didn't stop until I was finished.  Joshua Todd James has created a vibrant, fiery futuristic world that we instantly believe in, and characters that hook us deep for this truly wild ride.  But this is much more than a cracking good 'Who done it?'  It's a story that breaks both boundaries and stereotypes all along the way.  Start reading.  You won't put it down." - Naomi Wallace, playwright, screenwriter and MacArthur Fellow (aka the Genius Grant). 

"I love sci-fi and I love hardboiled detective stories. This is both, but it's even more. Sci-fi has always been the best place to take on real world issues, and Joshua Todd James takes on a lot of those in SOME ANIMALS. In this book, he serves up a strong cocktail, shaken from Chandler and Asimov, leaving me with the impression that someone just punched me in the face with a new cut of BLADE RUNNER." - Yuri Lowenthal, actor MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN, NARUTO, BEN 10, RAVE MASTER, LEGION OF SUPERHEROES

"Joshua Todd James is a beautiful writer whose compelling, intelligent, and evocative sci-fi brings to mind the work of Isaac Asimov and Andy Weir. SOME ANIMALS weaves a propulsive plot that keeps you turning the pages with the themes that make for our finest speculative fiction—among them, what it means to be human. This exciting story is not one to be missed!" - Martin Aguilera, author and screenwriter, Netflix's THE CRAVING.

"SOME ANIMALS is an intriguing exploration of a future that is moving, tense and which reflects back, heartbreakingly so, on our present-day society." - Dwayne Alexander Smith, bestselling author of FORTY ACRES and THE UNKIND HOURS. 

"SOME ANIMALS is a sci-fi novella that had me smiling throughout. It's fun. It's smart. It's thought-provoking, and most of all it's entertaining as all get out!"~Bill Rodemeyer, co-author of the novels Juvenile X, Suckerfish City and Twilight Pulp-Short Reads for Twisted Minds

"The Fugitive meets Blade Runner, SOME ANIMALS is a fast paced near-future Science Fiction thriller about an android "companion" accused of his human's murder and goes on the run and it really delivers." - William C. Martell, screenwriter (19 produced films thus far, and still counting) and author of the hugely popular Blue Book series on screenwriting. 

RENEGADE - The Companion Chronicles Volume 5

So today is the official publishing launch of RENEGADE, Book 5 of THE COMPANION CHRONICLES.

If I’m honest, I put off writing this email, as that sending out an email like this in the middle of what could be a potential WWIII felt, to me, to be superfluous.

I discussed this with friends and mentors, whether I should announce it or not… the publication date was set before I had any idea of a potential invasion of an ally.

But at the end of the day, as more than one mentor has pointed out, I am a writer, this is what I do. I’ll support, of course, a quick end to the attack, back it up with actions and words… but I am still a writer. I write novels, films, and other entertainment. That’s my primary occupation and, honestly, it gives me joy.

We don’t stop being fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, simply because an egomaniac did something awful. I don’t stop being a good friend, being a teacher, being awake because of the actions of another, evil though they are.

We don’t stop contributing to the community as best we can.

We cannot. So I will not.

So the ideal thing we all can do, as people, is be useful and continue to do what we do best and be of service. This is one of those ways.

If you have time, please check out the newest, I hope you enjoy it, and leave a review, if you don’t mind. Following find some artwork from the newest.

RENEGADE

Thank you all, take care, stay safe and, above all else, hug your loved ones.

MAN IN A BOX REVIEW

A review of MAN IN A BOX on Jim Arrowood’s science-fiction blog, I’d love for you all to read the whole REVIEW HERE… what follows are excerpts.

”Once again, the author has penned an incredible and fascinating story. This fourth book goes deeper into the darkness, exposing the evil that men do, not only to the Companions, but to each other as well. Everything about this story is fascinating. It invoked true feelings in me as I read; I was hopeful, discouraged, sad, happy, and disgusted all at the same time. The characters are incredibly well developed and jump off the page, becoming real people. This book, along with the first three in the Companion Chronicles series, is an amazing look into both the upside and the downside of humanity.”

“After escaping New York with several other Companion refugees, Jacob is being held captive by a trio of evil human brothers who enslave and train companions to fight in organized gladiatorial matches in ‘The Box.’ These matches are held in a box placed in a pit in the ground. The contestants battle to the death and are appallingly brutal while onlookers bet sizeable sums on the outcomes of the matches. Companions who perform well in these spectacles are rewarded, those who don't perform well are treated as fodder for training, or are made to serve as examples to motivate better performance.”

“I give Man in a Box, as well as the rest of the books in the Companion Chronicles series, my highest recommendations for those who enjoy a good humanist story to make one think about the darker side of humanity. This series will make the reader think about one's own implicit bias.”

I’m very thankful for Jim’s feedback and would again direct you to the entire review, which is HERE. Jim writes very thoughtfully on a number of topics and I’m fortunate to get his response.

You can find the novel MAN IN A BOX at this LINK.

Spread the word, folks, and thank you so much.

Subscribe now

MAN IN A BOX PREVIEW

Today Volume 4 in THE COMPANION CHRONICLES launches and to mark the occasion, a free preview of the opening chapter. Thus I present, the opening of MAN IN A BOX. And if you don’t mind, please share and subscribe here:

Subscribe now

My head was killing me, one eardrum beat at a time. Every time my heart pumped, it sent a reverberating stab of pain in my skull. I’d awoken in a dark room. I didn’t know where I was, or how long I’d been out. I heard chickens, somewhere, and smelled cows and other farm animals. My head pounded something fierce, and I reached for the vial of pills in my pocket. Thankfully, it was still there. It was then I realized that I wore chains.

I had chains on my hands and feet. I was on the ground. And I wasn’t alone. Others were in this room with me, which seemed to be an underground basement. The others were dim shapes, some weeping, others sleeping. I tried to sit up.

“Where am I?”

“Same place the rest of us skins are, rim,” said a male voice in the shadows. “It’s a world called Totally Fucked. Welcome.”

I collected myself. I didn’t know how I’d gotten there, true, but I could remember what had happened before my head decided to try and murder my brain.

I’d joined forces with a large number of synthetic people living off the grid underneath Central Park in New York City. They were led by a woman called Strawberry Fields, named after the landmark, and she led frequent trips north referred to as Freedom Runs, taking runaway synthetics to a safe territory.

She’d been setting up one last massive caravan to Canada, and freedom, when Munson Tolliver murdered her. The same man who murdered my adopted mother, Sylvia. I helped the surviving members of her crew blackout New York City to give them cover and, additionally, protected their buses from agents of Companion, Inc. as they made their run. During that battle I’d jumped on a Companion Corporation van, overturned it, and watched as Tootsie, Mick, and the rest of my friends drove north without me.

I was tossed off of the highway bridge, into a ditch, and lost consciousness, then I woke up in this room. I wondered if the synthetics in the room were from the caravan and asked them.

“Who?” The male who’d first spoken said.

“I said, are you the synthetics from Strawberry’s freedom run? You know her, right, Strawberry?”

“Skin, I don’t know no woman named Strawberry.”

“How did you end up here?”

“Bad luck, brother. Same as you. Same as the rest of us.”

That didn’t help, but after asking a few of the others, I heard different stories from each. Most had been sold by their primaries in the southern states, some had tried to run away after their primary died because they didn’t want to go back to Companion, and others had been stolen. Those who had been stolen or caught while running away had had their tags removed as I had. The first synthetic who spoke up remained silent, however, and wouldn’t say anything more beyond how awful everything was.

I leaned back, trying to will my head back to normal. It didn’t work. My vision blurred, and I passed out, thankfully, once again.

I don’t know how much time passed, it was impossible to gauge its passage while in complete darkness. I simply remember the door of our enclosure finally being flung open and a rough shout ordering us out. We jumped to our feet, as best we could, and marched into the harsh sunlight, blinking. From the angle of the sunlight, it was late afternoon or early evening.

A very large synthetic man in rough cotton pants and no shirt, just massive muscles, glared at us. His head was shaved, and you could plainly see his manufacturer’s tag on the back of his neck.

“Move it, rims!” He screamed, spittle flying. “I am not fucking playing with you!”

“Could you, though, please play with us,” one said. “I could use it, maybe just tickle my balls, even just for a little bit? Come on, Max.”

I recognized the voice, it was the same as whoever had spoken in the dark and informed us all as to how fucked we all were. I blinked at him. He was shorter and stockier than I was, and aged like my friend Mick had been, which meant he hadn’t gone in for maintenance for at least two years, if not more. He had a touch of gray and, well, quite a few scars on his face and hands.

The big man he’d called Max eyeballed him.

“You gonna cause more problems, Cody? You’re just making it all worse for yourself.”

“Yeah, RIGHT, Max. It could get worse, SURE. You could start singing and dancing, I guess, that would definitely make shit worse. Rim, please. Do me a favor, get on your knees, right in front of me, open your mouth and…”

Before he could finish, Max rushed over and struck Cody in the gut, hard enough to take the wind out of him. Cody bent over, gasping. His gasps turned to giggles and then laughter. He glanced up at his attacker.

“Is that it? You got nothing else?”

“You’re lucky the brothers have considerable value invested in you. Otherwise…”

“There is no otherwise. You can’t do shit to me, and you know it. So save your performative shit for the newbies, Max.”

Max backhanded Cody, but the shorter man barely seemed to notice the blow. He just grinned.

“Is that all you got, big boy?” Cody asked.

“You think they’re not gonna punish you for running away?”

“Well, I have to look at your ugly mug, don’t I? That’s cruel and unusual punishment just on its own. But no, I don’t think they can punish me without it costing them too much, so whatta you gonna do?”

“If it was up to me, I’d have your legs cut off and turn you into a living latrine, Cody.”

“And if it was up to me, I’d put us both in the box and see who’d come out, you fucking ape. But it’s not up to me or you, Max. You’re just another fucking tool for the norms, so do me a favor, if you’re not gonna gargle my sack, shut the fuck up.”

Max blinked, furious, but also helpless, I noted.

I wondered about the dynamic at play before us. The bigger man was used to cowed subjects, obviously, and unused to challenge. Cody had evidently escaped from this place before and knew the score. He also, I noted, had no tag.

“Where are we?” I asked.

Max swung around, glad for a new target. He rushed over to where I stood. “You are in a place where you don’t ask questions!”

I glanced around, now that my eyes adjusted to the sun, and took in the area. We were in a fenced yard, but not a family-style yard. It was more akin to a cattle pen, I noted, and we were in a rural area surrounded by forest. There was a big house and a few camper vans parked outside of it, plus a large hangar-style building with a tin roof. I couldn’t see any other residences. I smelled animal waste, too, and heard the grunt of animals from a pen tucked away behind the hangar. That meant pigs, which reminded me of Orwell once more.

“Okay. So… where is that place, exactly?”

Max struck me in the gut, just as he’d hit Cody, but I’d prepared for that and flexed my stomach muscles. The blow was still quite forceful, but not enough to take my wind. I just took it.

“Are you going to tell me, or are you just going to keep hitting me?”

He swung again, punching me in the belly. I had my muscles tensed, however, and it didn’t feel good to him, I’m sure. He stuck me there again, just to make his point. I took it, then exhaled.

“Look, this is unnecessarily hostile, Max,” I said. “I don’t have a tag, as you may have noticed. You are not my primary. I don’t have one any longer. Other than the fact that I’m in chains and you are not, there’s no real reason for me to obey you. Do you work for Companion, Inc?”

“No. My primary is Harlan Bundy, and I serve him and his two brothers, Arthur and Brook. You belong to them.”

“No, I don’t. I’m their captive, yes, but I don’t have a tag, as I said, and I notice Cody and some of the others don’t either. Company policy is that we go back to Companion once we lose our tags or our primaries. Is that where you’re taking us?”

Cody laughed. “Yeah, right. No, that ain’t it.”

Max stared at me. “You’re here to feed the box, skin. That’s why you’re all here. Your only value is in death. Nothing else. Cody’s talking shit because he was here before and knows how this ends for him, no matter what he says or does. I’ll end up pissing on his corpse before long, and he knows that, too.”

He turned back to Cody.

“Keep talking shit, and I’ll get permission from Harlan to cut your tongue out. He likes you but not enough to put up with your sass. And that goes for you, too, newbie.”

Max turned to two more synthetics standing behind him near the fence. Both were well-muscled, too, I saw, but nothing like Max.

“Leave the chains on them, since they’re so smart, shave their heads, and hose them all down,” Max said. “And if anyone gives you shit, zap their sorry asses until they shut the fuck up.”

The rest is available in the novel MAN IN A BOX.

THE COMPANION CHRONICLES VOL 1-3 IS NOW LIVE!

So a boxed set of the first three volumes of THE COMPANION CHRONICLES VOL 1-3 is now live and available on Amazon as an ebook and/or paperback.

You can find it HERE:

Cover by the amazing Todd Alcott, of course. It also features updated artwork for MINORITY OF ONE and FREEDOM RUN, among other things.

“Doing noir as sci-fi is a real challenge and this ambitious book pulls it off!” - David Gerrold, Hugo & Nebula award-winning author of The Martian Child, Hella, & The Man Who Folded Himself

Jacob Kind is a synthetic Companion. Designed in a lab and sold, commercially, to be whomever his Primary (owner) wishes him to be, just like other synthetic Companions created as he was.

Jacob loves his "mother," Sylvia Kind, who believes Jacob is more than synthetic, that he has the potential to be as human as any other being... and she's dedicated to proving that to society as large. Jacob loves humanity, confusing as it can be for him, but more than anything, he's devoted to his mother.

In Volume 1, SOME ANIMALS, when Sylvia is murdered by a masked killer and Jacob is blamed for the crime, he escapes and goes on the run to find her killer, determined to bring that man to justice. He has but one guiding light... serve and protect humanity at all costs.

In Volume 2, MINORITY OF ONE, Jacob finds himself in South Bend, passing for human as he searches for his mother's murderer, Munson Tolliver, only to get trapped in a raging protest against synthetics. Befriending a young mother working the streets, Jacob is drawn into violence he did not know he was capable of and must fight or lose his newfound friends.

In Volume 3, FREEDOM RUN, Jacob's search for Munson takes him to New York City, where he is adopted by a group of runaway synthetics who work in Central Park and dream of making a run for freedom in Canada. Just as he is about to help them escape, Munson Tolliver shows up to thwart their plans.

Jacob must choose between vengeance or helping his friends...

“Some Animals is an exciting and propulsive sci-fi thriller. Don’t miss it!” - Kai Yu Wu, writer/producer (THE FLASH, CARNIVAL ROW, HANNIBAL)

MAN IN A BOX, Volume 4 will launch next week and is available for preorder now. Books 5 and 6 will soon follow, after which I shall take a break.

I wanted to add, for those of you readers who have had a story inside of you that you’ve been aching to tell and keep coming up with reasons not to… just tell it. Just write it and put it out there to the best of your ability.

It’s hard, I know, and it’s scary, too, letting something special and close to your heart out in the open air amongst the internet trolls and professional scolds… but no matter how it’s received, if you write it and put it out there, you succeeded. You created something. You made something and that’s more than most critics can say.

You contributed a piece of your heart and soul out for public consumption.

That. Matters. A lot. Regardless of how it lands, you did something others often only dream about in secret. So. Just write it and make it real.

It’s totally worth it, in the end.

If you have the time, please leave a review on this volume, they really do help.

I thank you all for your kindness and support.

HEAT Check...

The 1995 film HEAT is a classic, but what about it makes it so powerful, so unique?

At the time of its release, it was marketed as the first time the two leads appeared opposite each other (they were both in GODFATHER II, but on different timelines. DeNiro played a younger version of Pacino’s father) and facing off.

However, they’d go on to costar in another film a few years later, another crime film that, sadly, few people saw. It wasn’t HEAT, let’s just say.

Subscribe now

HEAT is a Michael Mann film, and he’s one of my favorite directors (and responsible for my all-time favorite film, in fact) and was born from real-life inspiration. There was a real Neil, a career criminal, and there was a real Vincent, and they did have coffee and discuss how it might all end (not good for the real-life version of Neil).

HEAT wasn’t even the first time Mann tried to tell this story, he did a version of it as a series called LA TAKEDOWN (check it out on youtube) that failed.

It failed on television, I suspect, more so because the story is an epic one and requires an epic vision (few big-screen TVs back in the early 90s) and palette.

Having seen it in the theatre, I can tell you that the entire audience was in awe, especially after the massive downtown shootout.

Much has been written about this film, and I’ll leave it to the reader to parse through… most of it is preaching to the choir… we know the great things about this movie, so no need to rehash everything… but watching it recently something new occurred to me that, in retrospect seems obvious, but I never caught onto it until now. It has to do with this scene and, in particular, this speech.

That moment, a classic, is actually the second time we hear it. Neil tells this story to Chris (Val Kilmer) earlier in the film. It’s his mantra, and it’s also why he has so little furniture. So the meaning of it is important.

I wrote earlier about how I like to define types of films (and again, it’s a broad general direction that serves as a starting point, not an ending point) structurally, and I find most films are three types (and they often have elements of each therein) to start with.

The First One is AGENTS OF CHANGE, which is about heroes who change the world, then we have AGENTS WHO CHANGE in part II, by far one of the most. common types of films in America, followed by AGENTS OF CHANGE III THE CHANGING WORLD which is how characters react to a changing world, a collision of worlds, so to speak.

What’s fascinating about HEAT is that it’s a pure colliding world (part III), a cops and robbers tale, but in this case, featuring TWO HEROES who are Agents of Change themselves. DeNiro robs armored trucks and banks. Pacino busts people who do that and both are excellent at what they do.

Which makes it a fascinating study, because we kind of root for both of them. They’re both fascinating, driven men doing things the rest of us only fantasize about.

And they are nearly exactly alike… what is unique about it is that the usual trope line where the villain tells the hero, “we not so different, you and I” isn’t spoken here, because both men simply recognize it in each other. It’s why the scene above is so very powerful… they are two men that, in different circumstances, would be friends.

So why does Pacino prevail over DeNiro? The lazy answer is because Pacino’s the cop and therefore the “hero” but it’s certainly not painted that way. In fact, the film starts with DeNiro, and DeNiro is painted with more compassion than his counterpart.

I’d suggest that while Pacino is more entertaining (she’s got a BIG ASS) DeNiro is far more empathetic as a character for us. We just like him so much more.

The reason DeNiro loses is that, from the get-go, he doesn’t take his own advice. He doesn’t walk away when he should and he doesn’t avoid attachments.

And this happens BEFORE THE FILM STARTS.

One might suggest that Amy, the girl he falls for, changes him, however, I do not think that is so. While he does fall for her, the character he’s most attached to is CHRIS. Chris ends up at his place when his wife kicks him out, DeNiro finds out Chris’s wife is cheating on him and confronts her FOR CHRIS, DeNiro cares about Chris for reasons that are never explained but definitely present.

Pacino is divorced multiple times and working on another… in fact, when he finds his wife cheating on him, he’s not surprised. He tells her, if it’s between you and the work, the work will win. He gives his wife and stepdaughter the bare minimum.

DeNiro knows the cops are shadowing them, and chooses the bank job anyway because he knows Chris needs the money. When the shootout goes down, DeNiro saves Chris (does nothing to help Tom Sizemore) and gets him to a doc (Chris would be the only survivor, in fact) and sets him up with an out.

Pacino’s men go down and Pacino barely bats an eye. He only has eyes on Neil.

DeNiro could get away, he has his out set, he’s even taking his girl with him this time, as Chris has done… but he cannot walk away from getting revenge on Waynegrow, the man who set them up. He gets his revenge, but it leads to his doom.

Pacino, on the other hand, is at the hospital because his stepdaughter tried to commit suicide and went to HIS PLACE to do it. He gets the beep and his wife tells him to go.

And Pacino DOES. Without a backward glance, he gets right back to it.

If he hadn’t adhered to the same policy, being willing to walk away from anything to do the job he loves… DeNiro would have gotten away. Pacino knew exactly where to look for him and found him.

Had DeNiro just left, just walked away from Amy, from Chris, he would have lived.

Had Pacino stayed with his wife, DeNiro would have gotten away even if he went after Waynegrow. That’s how good Neil was. Vincent was simply better and more devout to the philosophy that Neil preached, in the end.

I think that dance of characters, their colliding worlds, is what continues to fascinate me about this film. The characters don’t change (again, I posit DeNiro is attached to Chris from the get-go) and they’re on a collision course… and when it happens, the one who best embodies the philosophy wins.

I plan on discussing more Mann movies in the days to come, but this one, to me, is very nearly perfect, if perfection exists.

What do you think?

THE COMPANION CHRONICLES AND THE CHALLENGE OF CREATING FICTION IN THIS TIMELINE...

Good morning, hope everyone is well and staying safe.

First, some news… a boxed set of the first three Companion novels will be available in a few days. Link here THE COMPANION CHRONICLES

If you don’t mind, please leave a review of the books. Reviews help so very much.

Those covers are by Todd Alcott, a former playwright, screenwriter, and graphic designer. You should check out his work on Etsy, it’s fantastic. Link HERE.

In addition to Todd, I’m so very grateful to the many folks who helped and encouraged me with regard to my novels. I am going to post a special thank you at the end, but this would not have happened without a community… community really, really matters.

It is a strange and unusual time in the world… particularly in America, the latter part of that sentence I would normally call nationalistic navel-gazing (too often many of my fellow citizens claim this to be the greatest nation in the world, but when I ask how many other nations they’ve been in, usually they cannot list a single one) but given the circumstances of the past five years, four of which where we had a former reality TV host as President who then lost reelection and ordered his followers to attack the US Capitol to stop the counting of the ballots… well, even my friends overseas have said, you Americans are really having an unusual time of it, aren’t you?

I distinctly remember when OJ murdered his wife, hopped into a white Ford Bronco, and led the police on a wild chase on the freeway and thinking, at the time, if I WROTE this as a spec, not one single producer would believe it.

Real-life outstripped fiction… and continues to do so to this day.

We had a plague descend upon the world, in the former President’s last year in office, the reality TV star and bankrupt real estate baron, and he downplayed it because it cramped his style, called it fake, called it mild, lied about nearly every aspect of it… and it’s killed nearly a million of us here in this nation. Then he lied about losing the election, too. But honestly, the lie that’s gone malignant and turned to cancer has been the vaccine one (but that doesn’t mean the election lie is benign, either).

And a sizeable chunk of us still buys into that cruel lie, sadly. I’m fortunate in that I have MD friends (writers collect experts in various fields, particularly medicine) and they’re astounded that no one trusts them when it comes to vaccines, but when people get sick, they STILL GO TO THE DOCTOR FOR HELP.

There’s a disconnect there… we’ve lost our sense of community and, to be honest, America’s community was born fractured and torn… we did fight a Civil War over it, in fact, and nearly all the fractures of today are tied into what that war was fought over. We’ve come together as a nation on certain things, but America’s sense of community has excluded others since we were birthed… when they are rightfully accepted, it infuriates a segment who benefited from that exclusion. So our community was always tenuous and imperfect, to be sure. But now it’s sorely being tested in ways that are, sadly, historic. I mean, a major party just tried to overthrow an election, they stormed the Capitol waving Confederate Flags, swastikas and signs bearing the former President’s name… vowing violence on his behalf, and following through on that violence… and in response, a whole lot of pundits are trying to tell us that we did not see what we plainly saw with our own eyes. They’re trying to tell us it was ANTIFA or BLM because, well, they don’t want to face the truth.

We’ve been torn asunder as a people desperately need to heal. But how? I don’t know the answer, honestly. I truly don’t. I know I’m feeling for those sick and dying and feel for the families they leave behind.

I also think that, given all the end of the world films and shows we’ve watched, none really catch up to the gross and absurd reality of what we are all witnessing.

In the 2011 film CONTAGION, the world is nearly decimated by a killer flu, only to be saved by a vaccine that EVERYONE HAPPILY ACCEPTS. Fade out. The end.

If the writer wrote that a third of the population wouldn’t believe in the vaccine and refused it, thus ensuring the pandemic would continue to kill people… no one in Hollywood would buy that (nor would the audience).

In the recent film DON’T LOOK UP, which is supposed to be a satire, it suffers in that its President, while also a dim former reality TV star who uses her child as chief of staff, is still far more competent than the one we had. It was hard to believe BECAUSE IT DIDN’T GO FAR ENOUGH.

And when she gives a speech exhorting her followers NOT TO LOOK UP at the comet coming to destroy our world… one of her red-hat followers does and renounces his loyalty to her.

Which, let’s face it, would not happen in OUR TIMELINE.

In fact, the former President has recently been pushing vaccines on his followers (after long downplaying them… which seems strange that he’s reversing himself, but the plain truth of the matter is, his voters are dying as a result). So NOW he’s trying to get them to get vaccinated and guess what’s happening?

They’re booing him. They’re not listening to his changed narrative. They’re refusing it. Yup. If I wrote that, I’d be kicked out of a studio meeting, but in real life, there’s no so thing as going too far with the satire.

But I don’t share this to write about politics… there are plenty who do that very well. In particular, I would highlight Jim Wright and his blog STONEKETTLE STATION, which you can read HERE. He’s a veteran and a fantastic writer on politics and policy, among other things (he’s a great photogragher, too) and I highly recommend.

I just find it fascinating from a writer’s POV how far folks are going with the narrative in their heads that they find more satisfying than, say, the truth.

It reminds me of Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM, where the pigs change the farm commandments from FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD to FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BETTER and few folks question it.

I think they’ve misplaced their loyalty, but that’s just my opinion. The community they’ve aligned with does not respect them, in my view, and many will eventually realize that and come around. I do believe that. I hope for it.

In the meantime, one of the best things you can do is be grateful for those around you who love, support and give you hope for the future. I am. I tell my sons I love them.

Find the folks you love and make sure they know how you feel. It helps them. And it will help you, too. And when someone’s been there for you, had your back when you needed it, make sure you tell them how grateful you are. It helps everyone.

That’s all for now, take care, friends. And also…

For my Companion novels, in particular, I thank the following people.

Mom, Dad, brother Stacy, Stephen King for On Writing (and other books, of course), Naomi Wallace, Ato Essandoh, Kevin Jacoby, Keith Link, Todd Alcott, Kristy Elam, Doan Trang, Chad Snopek, Ken Bowser, Marilyn Haft, Matthew Polly, Jim Wright, David Gerrold, Mike Nguyen Le, Scott Myers, Nate Davis, Martin Aguilera, Bill Rodemeyer, Kai Yu Wu, Dwayne Alexander Smith, Joel Eisenberg, Tess Rafferty, Yuri Lowenthal, William C. Martell, Chad Law, Daniel Keys Moran, Dawn Callan, Sambo Steve, Alex Ecklin, hell, all my dojo pals, members of the War Room, Julio Gagne, Carlos Sagan, Julio Rivera, Phillip Rhee, Tony Jaa, Mike Selby, Sam Lard & family, and, most importantly, Tomoko Naka and my two ninjas-in-training Kai & Ren Naka-James.

SIX QUESTIONS WITH BRANDON T. SNIDER

Brandon T. Snider is the best-selling author of the award-winning Dark Knight Manual, as seen in Entertainment Weekly, Time, Forbes, and Wired as well as the Avengers: Infinity War: The Cosmic Quest series.

Additionally, he's written books featuring Cartoon Network favorites like Adventure Time and Regular Show, Marvel's Spider-Man and Black Panther, plus pop culture icons such as Justice League, Star Wars, and The Muppets.

Brandon has also written for and appeared on Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer. As an actor he's appeared on High Fidelity, The Deuce, Bull, Rachel Dratch’s Late Night Snack, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Law & Order: SVU, as well as various commercials, plays, and short films. Brandon lives in New York City, where he's a member of the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.

Subscribe now

1 - Which writer who came before, do you admire the most?

James Baldwin was a radical truth-teller and we should be deeply grateful he used his voice while he was on this plane of existence. His work forces you to pay attention. There are certain writers who expose human beings for what they are and Baldwin's fearlessness in doing so is a beautiful, uncomfortable thing. There's a smartness and efficiency to his words that leaves nothing on the table.

2 - Which teacher(s) had the most profound effect on you?

My high school drama teacher Cathy Ransenberg gave me the confidence to pursue an acting career without question. Not only did she give me opportunities to develop my skills, she pushed me to be better. Without her support, I wouldn't have gone to college and pursued a theater degree which is where the path to my life as an artist began.

3 - Besides writing, what’s your favorite hobby or passion?

Acting has always been my first passion and writing is an outgrowth of that. Pursuing an acting career is tough and I wasn't creatively fulfilled when I first moved to NYC so I took improv classes, joined a sketch comedy group, and experimented. My writing work began to grow. Eventually, I quit my day job to be a full-time writer/actor. As for hobbies, I have way too many action figures and superhero toys.

4 - What is something that those who don’t write fiction do not know or understand about it?

Inspiration is only a fraction of the process.

5 - Can you think of a key breakthrough moment in your work, for you, that you’d be willing to share?

I don't know if this exactly counts but when I was a kid I used to love Mad Libs. They made me laugh like nothing else on the planet. Even in college, I used to do them on road trips with friends. When I got hired to write my first Mad Libs it was a huge deal. Truly a dream come true. The kid in me still can't believe I get paid to write them.

6 - What’s next for you?

Right now I'm writing the Rube Goldberg and his Amazing Machines series for Abrams/Amulet. I've got two new Mad Libs coming later this year- Batman and Richard Simmons. Past that, we shall see!