Author of adventure/thriller and horror fiction

HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE (2022)

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I recently watched HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE (2022) on Google Play and was impressed at the incredible balancing act displayed in this portrayal of a group of Americans who decide violence is justified as self defense against energy corporations during the climate crisis.

The movie rolls out as a kind of 70s or 80s thriller movie, though the protagonists aren’t protecting the free world from terrorists. They are the terrorists. From various walks of life, these people have all been deeply impacted in some way by the climate crisis, and they’ve decided peaceful protest isn’t accomplishing anything. There’s a woman poisoned by chemicals emitted by a nearby refinery, a red-blooded Texan family man enraged the government seized his land to run a pipeline through it, a pair of punks who want to break the system, and others. Together, they decide to build bombs and blow up an oil pipeline. The entire movie is them carrying out their plan.

The movie is based on a book by Andreas Malm, a manifesto that declares that as peaceful protest cannot curb carbon emissions, all people have a moral obligation to take other measures, even violent measures, to protect the environment they rely on to survive. This idea is put to the test as they question themselves and how others might see their action, and we’re given backstories so we understand what exactly brought them to this. The result for many viewers I think will be, “I can see why they’re doing it, but there has to be a better way. Is there?” The filmmakers leave it up to the viewer to decide the morality, which I appreciated, though they also don’t shy away from implied endorsement. Honestly, I was amazed this movie got made at all.

In the end, I loved this one–boldly original, immensely provocative, straightforward and never preachy or show-offy, and thrilling and troubling in equal measure. While watching it, my partner and I paused it several times for long discussions about the ethical and moral issues involved. One thing I concluded is that right now capitalism and governments have a chance to solve the climate crisis. If it doesn’t, a growing number of people may take matters into their own hands, and this kind of thing may stop being fiction.

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (2021)

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In JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (20210), we are taken inside the Black Panther Party during its struggle with Chicago police and Hoover’s FBI, focusing on the betrayal of Illinois chapter leader Fred Hampton by FBI informant William O’Neal. The film offers solid drama and a powerful political history that remains relevant today. It’s awesome.

It’s 1968, and FBI director Herbert Hoover has essentially declared war on the Black Panther Party, fearing the rise of a “Black messiah” who could unite the communist, New Left, and antiwar movements. One man he specifically fears: Fred Hampton, the charismatic chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers. Hoover’s answer: his counterintelligence program, or COINTELPRO, which for years actively targeted various political groups with informants, provocateurs, trumped-up jail time, and possibly even targeted assassinations.

Enter William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), a car thief given a choice of jail or informing by Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons). O’Neil joins the local Black Panther Party and rises to become one of Hampton’s (Daniel Kaluuya) closest associates. Through his eyes, we see Hampton’s personal life, politics, and more. As the police apparatus shifts from surveillance to actively breaking the law and framing Black Panther leaders, O’Neal becomes increasingly torn and fearful about exactly what he’s doing and what it’s costing him.

The Black Panther Party formed in California in response to de facto segregation and police brutality. Citing open carry laws, they began arming themselves and shadowing police officers and otherwise patrolling neighborhoods. In response, the State of California and then Governor Ronald Reagan passed legislation to make open carry illegal, with support of the NRA. When Black Panthers showed up in Sacramento during debate on the bill with weapons to make a point, many people were amazed at their audacity, and a national then international movement was born. From the beginning, the Black Panthers held to a 10-point manifesto. They wanted economic opportunity, decent housing, education, jobs, freedom, a jury by their peers, the release of prisoners, exemption from the draft, and justice. They started child nutrition and other welfare programs in their communities. Their look–black leather jackets, sunglasses, berets, and a gun–influenced fashion, became a Black Power symbol, and helped drive the “Black is beautiful” movement. Despite the male urban guerilla image, the majority of members were women.

Fueled by terrific acting, direction, and incendiary history and politics, JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH is a powerful film. Overall, the story it tells feels hopeful. Hopeful in the energy and devotion Hampton gives to his ideals and what those ideals ultimately stand for, which are arguably things any American would support, though one may argue about methods and whether “revolution” as he saw it or gradual reform was the way to get it done. Overall, the story also feels very dark, as we see Roy Mitchell, who seems like a standup FBI agent, increasingly go along with the FBI’s police state methods to keep the Black race in its place. And we see O’Neal, who believes Hampton is a good man and starts to believe in the cause, always chooses himself over a higher ideal. In the end, the Black Panthers lose, and the ideals they fight for seem very far out of reach.

I loved JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH. It portrays the Black Panthers not as they are typically shown–as loud, radical, and over the top extremists–but as a real people with a cause that is entirely sympathetic, and ideals that remain absolutely relevant today.

THE NEXT CIVIL WAR by Stephen Marche

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In THE NEXT CIVIL WAR: DISPATCHES FROM THE AMERICAN FUTURE, Canadian novelist and essayist Stephen Marche examines America’s crumbling political foundations and imagines a series of scenarios that could spark a civil war. As with DON’T LOOK UP, many reviewers tut-tutted about its tone and nitpicked its plausibility. Personally, I thought it was frank, honest, and accurate in its analysis of why America appears caught in a fantasy and unable to solve its problems. It did miss one important element, however, in my view, which I’ll explain in a bit.

First, let me describe the book. Marche evaluates several fictional near-future scenarios that could start a civil war. He regards a civil war as likely occurring everywhere, a war largely fought between rural and urban, which I totally agree with and used in my novel OUR WAR. In THE NEXT CIVIL WAR, we have a standoff between the Army and a coalition of hard-right militias at a bridge, the assassination of an unpopular president, climate change producing mass migrations from coastal regions, a dirty bomb blowing up in Washington, DC, and outright secession and breakup of the union. Each scenario is loaded with background information for context.

This background info is the real education in the book, information I’d consider essential reading for Americans wondering why the country seemed stuck in a hostile malaise even before the pandemic made everything ten times worse. How elimination of earmarks (pork spending) eliminated the only basis of compromise in the two-party system, resulting in hyper partisanship. How the electoral college, the Senate, and gerrymandering warps democracy such that it can scarcely be called democracy (62% of senators represent 1/4 of the population, while 6 senators represent another 1/4, Democratic presidential candidates regularly win the popular vote but lose elections, etc.). How gridlock means America is becoming incapable of enacting major policies and confronting the greatest threats to its existence, which are income inequality and climate change, and how this fuels the rise of the imperial presidency, as the executive branch claims more and more powers simply to get something done. How Congress can’t even properly investigate an assault on itself by violent protesters seeking to overturn a democratic election result, with one of its major parties (the GOP, obviously) essentially having a political and a militant wing that are starting to work together. How social media manufactures and refines rage, helping to fuel a right wing terrorist movement. How hyper partisanship means everything becomes politicized along tribal lines, from Trump’s big lie about the election being stolen to whether people should take the basic self-preservation steps of wearing masks and getting vaccinated during a pandemic. The story of the woman literally drowning in her own COVID snot and fighting nurses trying to intubate her in the belief COVID is a government hoax, based on “doing her own research” on YouTube, is pretty much a defining image of these strange times we live in.

As for the scenarios that Marche presents as trigger points, they seem fair enough as major stresses on the system. What I think the book is missing is a major Constitutional issue that literally breaks the country. Marche logically concludes a match and kindling are what makes fire, but bringing the US to a literal state of civil war would require a healthy dose of gasoline, to extend the metaphor. Secession would do it, or an attempted or successful hard coup. In my novel OUR WAR, the civil war starts almost by accident, as far-right groups take over government buildings across the country as an armed protest over an impeached president that snowballs into something much bigger. Far more likely as a result of the depicted scenarios in Marche’s book would be civil strife, terrorism, government impotence and de-legitimization, and continuing decline. Civil war is very unlikely when it’s so much easier to simply take over the government through elections and rewriting election laws, and then stack the courts with friendly partisan hacks as we’re seeing with today’s Supreme Court.

In its conclusion, Marche nails the idea that America is itself an idea, a dream that creates a nation from what is really just another of history’s multi-ethnic empires. Political tribalism has destroyed this idea, or rather created parallel ideas, parallel Americas with different interpretations of government, history, and even basic reality. He wonders if the only solution is a divorce, where different regions of the country can be freed of each other to pursue their own dreams.

Overall, THE NEXT CIVIL WAR is a powerful if unhappy read. Even if you don’t agree the country is headed to civil war, the way Marche depicts the fault lines in American stability is compelling, provocative, and eye-opening.

PERIL by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa

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On January 6, Americans were mortified to see Trump loyalists overrun the police guarding Congress while it certified Biden’s electoral victory over President Trump. Driven by ridiculous conspiracy theories resulting in more than 60 failed court challenges and Trump himself, the rioters poured into the Congressional chambers, murdering a police officer and wounding others, threatening the safety of Congress, and seeking to overturn the people’s democratic decision to elect Biden as president. It was nothing short of an insurrection, though thankfully an inept one. Nonetheless, the transition between Biden and Trump was one of the most dangerous periods in American history, more dangerous than most people know.

PERIL by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa takes you behind the scenes of the failed January 6 putsch. Based on interviews of more than 200 people at the center of the insanity and a vast trove of documents, the book describes how simultaneously resilient and fragile our republic is. You’ll learn how Trump was a polarizing figure even inside his own party and administration with a portrait of a psychopath with narcissistic personality disorder–and that’s just how the Republicans in the book describe him. How he simply refused to accept Biden won, making him prone to an unhinged Rudy Guliani and a crowd of conspiracy theorists and grifters selling a story about the election being stolen. How fascists in the administration wanted Trump to declare martial law. How Trump viciously turned on Mike Pence, his most loyal supporter, when Pence would not go along with an insane Constitutional theory the vice president can simply nullify election results the way he sees fit.

You’ll also see how disgusted, horrified, and panicked White House and Congressional insiders in both parties were after the failed insurrection, how military leaders came together to cage Trump so he wouldn’t start a war or use military force against American citizens, how time and time again Trump was his own worst enemy, and how sometimes the only thing holding him back from doing even more damage was a number of stalwarts in the White House who loved the law and Constitution more than they loved their boss.

PERIL is a fascinating read, recommended for people who love our Constitution and republic and have the stomach to revisit January 6.

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

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Aaron Sorkin’s latest film, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 (Netflix) takes on one of the most notorious trials in history. It is roughly based on actual events, inviting exploration of the actual history of what was arguably a political trial, and focuses on telling a story that is in many ways a reflection of our own turbulent times. It’s smart, it’s provocative, and it should make you angry.

In history, the Chicago Seven were seven leaders of various antiwar groups who called on them to come to Chicago during the Democratic Convention in 1968 to protest and demand an end to the war in Vietnam. (Bobby Seale, cofounder of the Black Panther Party, was the eighth, though he was eventually removed from the trial.) What followed in Chicago was brutal suppression of the protestors and violent retaliation in what ended up being called a “police riot,” in which hundreds of protestors and officers were injured.

The outgoing Johnson Administration decided the riots in Chicago were largely the result of mishandling by police. The incoming Nixon Administration, however, decided to make an example of and attack the antiwar movement, citing a new law against crossing state lines to incite violence. The protest leaders were arrested and charged.

What followed was not so much a courtroom drama as a circus, as the defendants, which included the likes of Abbie Hoffman (perfectly played in the film by Sascha Cohen) and Jerry Rubin, treated it as a joke, while the judge, Julius Hoffman (perfectly played by the great Frank Langella) was openly hostile to the defense, making the whole thing feel rigged. The defendants were convicted and sentenced both for inciting riots and numerous counts of contempt, all of which was overturned by the appeals court.

Much of what made it into the film is fictional, though providing a poignant reflection of our times, similar to the way Netflix’s WACO wasn’t accurate but still packed a hell of a punch as a story. The film focuses on issues of racism, social injustice, police overreach and brutality, and political suppression, declaring the trial a political trial in which the defendants were facing jail time for having “wrong” ideas. Among the defendants, we hear plenty of debate about respectability politics, what kinds of political protest and action work and what doesn’t, and whether mass movements are effective if they don’t work within the system–none of it surprising from the guy who wrote THE WEST WING and disparaged the Occupy Wall Street movement, though his script is surprisingly kind to Hoffman, who was far more wacky and offensive in the real courtroom than in the fictional one.

Overall, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 is great–smart, provocative, powerful, and easy to relate to.

OUR WAR Out in Paperback!

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OUR WAR, my dystopian novel about a second American civil war, is now out in paperback! Get it at your local bookstore or library.

“This gritty, horrifying tale of hate … sprinkled with moments of love, will leave readers with haunting memories.” – Publisher’s Weekly

“Presenting a dark alternate reality that touches the seams of current events and a possible future, DiLouie offers an uncompromising view of … patriotism in conflict.” – Library Journal

“DiLouie brings depth to his dark vision of America.” – Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog, listing Our War as one of the best releases of August 2019

“Harrowing dystopia.” – Kirkus Reviews, listing Our War as one of the best speculative fiction reads of August 2019

“Craig DiLouie’s prose is eloquent, deeply compelling, and poses a possibility that alerts us to protect our world against such possibilities as depicted in this imaginative story. It touches many chords of recognition, and that is yet another trait of a brilliant writer. Highly recommended.” – San Francisco Review of Books

“This may be one of the most important books you’ll read this year. I say that without an ounce of hyperbole… A heart-breaking, terrifying novel which—I desperately hope—will only be a warning, and not someday viewed as prophetic… Highly recommended.” – Cemetery Dance

“Our War is a book that I just can’t recommend enough. It’s about love & hate & hope & despair. It’s like some fucked-up funhouse mirror version of America…but a version that is entirely too plausible at this point. This book is gorgeous, haunting, and it feels like an absolutely vital work of fiction right now.” – GrimDark Dad

“Never has a dystopian future been so well written and delivered such a powerful social commentary on our modern society, no matter what end of the political spectrum you find yourself falling on. A fascinating and almost painful read that I highly recommend.” – ScienceFiction.com

“Part epic war story, part cautionary tale, Our War is brutal, unflinching, and mesmerizing. DiLouie once again delivers an emotional body-slam of a book, one that’ll leave you shaken to your core.” — Peter Clines, author of Dead Moon

“Our War went well beyond anything I might have foreseen, hitting me with unexpected strength: there is such a heart-wrenching quality to the story being told here, that I too often felt breathless with the chilling impact of it all.” – Space & Sorcery

“Once again, DiLouie has managed to distill one of humanity’s greatest conflicts into a masterpiece of literature.” – The Fantasy Inn

“An instant classic that will join the ranks of dystopian futures that at times feel all too real.” – New York Times Bestselling Author Nicholas Sansbury Smith

“Where to even start describing this powerful and upsetting book? It feels all too real, as an increasingly factionalized and radicalized America is plunged into a brutal civil war… It’s scarily easy to imagine these events evolving from where we stand today… The writing here is raw and shocking and immediate, and makes for a completely gripping read.” – Bookshelf Fantasies

“A terrifyingly believable tale that recreates the landscape of a war-torn Somalia in the city streets of America. DiLouie captures the individual tragedy of people fighting a war that destroys the very things they are trying to save.” — David Walton, author of Three Laws Lethal

“This book forces you to dive into the uncomfortability of what was, what is, and what may be. It makes you confront these problems head on by throwing you into a cautionary tale that feels all too real… It’s about survival in the face of tragedy; it’s about hope when it feels like there is no hope left… This story is brutally intense, thought-provoking, deeply profound, and incredibly important.” – Grimdragon

“An unflinching look at what happens when politics fail and war truly comes home, powered by the narrative shock of truth-telling.” – Christopher Brown, Campbell and World Fantasy Award-nominated author of Tropic of Kansas

“Our War is a deeply moving merger of dystopian and war fiction, compelling in its realistic depiction of urban warfare.” – Inspired Chaos

“One of the most emotionally charged books I’ve read… The tale could be our future in the United States.” – The Reading Desk

“Intense, thought-provoking, and a compelling read.” – Forever Lost in Literature

“Our War further solidifies that Craig DiLouie is not only one of the best fantasists working today, he’s one of the best writers out there, period. This novel is harrowing and heartfelt, upsetting and, most of all, utterly compelling … far and away my favorite novel of 2019.” – Bracken MacLeod, Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of Stranded

“DiLouie does a fantastic job of immediately grabbing the reader’s attention and holding it throughout, tearing at heartstrings and digging into the nitty-gritty of emotional connection with his characters and the messed up world they find themselves in.” – Fan Fi Addict: A Bookish Blog

“The best thing about Our War is that it explores how much of our posturing and auto-mythology of toughness can result in nothing more than the pain and suffering of the people we love the most.” – Swamp

“Five stars… A provocative thriller which hits very close to home.” – Top Shelf Reviews

“The story was just so interesting, so real to what could so easily happen. It kept you hooked from the very beginning.” – LFBooks Blog

“A gut-clenching tale of brutality, loyalties, and the destruction of the values they are fighting to save… Mr. DiLouie has created an eye-opening tale with some wicked sharp edges.” – Tome Tender

“I fully enjoyed this look into the possibility of another American Civil War.” – Paul’s Picks

“…one of my favorite songs, John McCutcheon’s exceptionally moving ‘Christmas in the Trenches.’ Its last line is, ‘on each end of the rifle, we’re the same.’ That truth is also the truth of Our War.” – Learning Strategies

“This novel was phenomenal… The character building and world building were amazing… a great read! I would definitely recommend it!” – The Book Dragon

“A roller coaster ride of emotions … Our War reminds readers what we as human beings take for granted every day and that we need to appreciate everything we have because, within a moment, it can all be taken away.” – Rollout Reviews

“Our War is one of the best books I’ve read in years! It’s dark, realistic, and very intense.” – The Raven Podcast

“DiLouie’s pacing is perfect, and it was very hard to put this book aside when I was forced to. The tension is palpable, the characters leap off the page, and I was terrified for each and every one of them… Readers who are looking for an emotional and complex story need look no further. This dystopia hits close to home.” – Books, Bones & Buffy