I Don’t Wanna (For The Moment)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

All the big, strategic moves I’ve done over the years with my efforts to develop, write and finish a novel have happened very suddenly abruptly without much thought. I decided to split one novel into two just because Trump lost the election in 2020.

That makes me feel sad because it reminds me of how long I’ve been struggling to write any sort of novel that’s good enough to query.

Anyway, I keep being in the doldrums with this scifi dramedy novel I’m working on because…it’s just kind of dark. The premise is solid, but I’m afraid no one is going to want to read it because of how dark the premise is — and the fact that it deals with an ostensibly very transactional romantic relationship.

And, yet, I’m just not prepared to scrap it. I keep thinking about other less weighty novel ideas…and I just can’t bring myself to piviot to them. The key issue is, lulz, I just don’t have time anymore to do such a thing.

This is the novel I’m stuck with, so I have to just do it.

I hope to get out of this neutral state pretty soon so I can enter the “bad guys closing in” part of the novel. This is probably going to be something of a slog because it’s not as written out as the rest of the novel.

A Greater Than Zero Chance Of A Civil War / Revolution In The USA By The End Of 2026…Exists…Maybe

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We seem to be careening towards a dark and unknown shore. Trump grows more and more bonkers, seemingly by the moment. And, so, it definitely seems at least possible that — probably because of the 2026 elections — the USA has some sort of severe political disruption up to and including civil war / revolution.

Now, I have been talking such “hysterical doom shit” for years and years now and nothing has happened — in large part because Republicans have gotten what they wanted and so they have had no need to rebel (for the most part)

So, as such, if there is any sort of civil war / revolution, it will be because Blues have had enough and there’s a major uprising. I still have my doubts that such a thing will happen, but…I have to admit that I’m growing a little uneasy.

Trump keeps poking the bear, as it were, and there may come a point when Blues have had enough and they finally fight back. How exactly that “fighting back” might show itself is any’s one’s guess.

It will be interesting to see how things progress, going forward.

Not Even Lincoln During The American Civil War Canceled Elections

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There is a lot of talk on the Left on Twitter about Trump potentially “cancelling” the 2026 midterms. I just don’t see that happening. I could totally see him fucking with the elections so they’re not free and fair — but canceling? Nah.

But I do believe that if Trump fucked with the elections in some big way that that, in itself, would cause a revolution / civil war. I think it’s possible that Trump might declare martial law in some Blue states and — gulp — even maybe start arresting political leaders in those states as well.

And THAT would DEFINITELY start a civil war / revolution.

And remember, it will be the Blues who start any civil war / revolution. Reds have no need to because they’re politically ascendent and all they have to do is be patient and let fascism fully take hold.

Well, That Went Over People’s Heads

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I wrote on Facebook’s social media service Threads:

“I swear to God I’m going to film ICE if they come into my neighborhood.”

Now, I thought this was not only rather benign, but I also thought it was obvious what the point of the statement was — just doing that obviously entails some risk.

But, not, this being a social media platform in 2026, I had the extremes of both sides essentially telling me to drop dead. This reminds me of the old Usenet quip about “Go ye not to Usenet for advice, because you will only get, yes, not and try another newsgroup.”

Anyway, I guess I learned my lesson, huh. It definitely seemed like my dumb comment was about to go viral until I deleted it. (Which, of course, is why I deleted it.)

But the point remains — I really will put myself in harms way if ICE comes into my neighborhood. They keep getting closer and closer to my little hamlet and I could just see them start to knock on doors under the right conditions.

Ugh.

‘Salt on the Road’ — Lyrics To An Anti-ICE Protest Song Written By ChatGPT

Salt on the Road

Verse 1
Red dawn patrols on Portland Ave, stones on the pavement crack
Steel boots, badges blinkin’ lies, the narrative they pack
They said she weaponized her ride — but the tape don’t show
Three shots ring through the windshield — in the cold Minnesota snow
Salt on the road, blood on the asphalt, truth gets runnin’ thin
The chorus in the gutter cries like the mothers that she left within

Pre-Chorus
Say her name in the streets, carved on picket signs
Every step shakes the silence, every voice undermines

Chorus
Salt on the road! Hear the wheels turn over bones!
Salt on the road! We won’t let their lies condone!
Salt on the road! Every heartbeat’s in protest code!
Salt on the road — for Renee, for justice owed!

Verse 2
Federal surge in the cities, armored fear in every lane
They call it defense, but the echoes scream her name
A mother, partner, citizen — gone before the sun
And the men in charge rewrite the fight before it’s even begun
Salt on the road where the crowd chants out the truth
Minnesota rise, resistance won’t be subdued

Pre-Chorus
Hands in the air, and the whole square roars
We won’t forget the woman that they shot on Main Street floors

Chorus
Salt on the road! Hear the wheels turn over bones!
Salt on the road! We won’t let their lies condone!
Salt on the road! Every heartbeat’s in protest code!
Salt on the road — for Renee, for justice owed!

Bridge
They try to bury truth with propaganda streams
But every open wound ignites a million screams
From Minneapolis squares to every state line bend
Salt on the road — our fury won’t relent!

Final Chorus
Salt on the road! Hear the wheels turn over bones!
Salt on the road! We reclaim what they stole!
Salt on the road! We ignite with every shout!
Salt on the road — till justice shakes the ground!

Martial Law In The USA Because Of The 2026 Midterms Seems Like A Real Possiblity

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The only reason why I bring up the possibility of martial law because of the 2026 midterms is Trump keeps pushing the Overton Window farther and father down the road — moving the goal posts.

So, now, he’s talking about using the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, but by the time the 2026 midterms roll around, it could be he will want to invoke martial law so he can “cancel” the elections or something just as devious.

If he does that, then, of course, all bets are off.

We could have a massive popular uprising in the USA not seen since the American Civil War. Or something. Something really bad WILL happen if Trump fucks with the 2026 midterms.

All the conditions for Trump to do something untoward around the 2026 midterms are there. Trump doesn’t want to get impeached again and if it looked like there might be a “Blue Wave” that could take even the Senate to the point that Trump might be convicted if impeached, then, yeah, I could see Trump “canceling” elections.

Is Foundation’s ‘The Mule’ A Metaphor For Trump? (2026)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I revisit this idea every once in awhile just for fun. But as of right now, there are strong arguments for and against Trump being The Foundation’s fictional Mule.

For
The case could be made that the Constitution is The Plan of the Foundation universe and Trump, as The Mule, is outside the confines of that Plan and, as such, is The Mule in real life. Trump and The Mule seemingly have the ability to get people do shit for them for no apparent reason.

Against
The case could also be made that Trump IS NOT The Mule because on a macro level it would be easy to predict that someone like Trump was inevitable as the USA contracted and declined.

So, I dunno. Take your pick, I guess.

This Current Draft Of The Scifi Dramedy Novel I’m Working On Is A Real Mish-Mash Of Versions

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While at the moment I’m kind of zooming through the “fun and games” part of the novel I’m working on, it’s probably going to take me a month or two to “color correct” things once I’m done with this draft.

That’s why I’m still thinking Sept 1st will be a more likely moment for me to start seriously querying this thing. That would make a lot of sense — that would be the 20th anniversary of things really getting going with ROKon Magazine in Seoul.

Ugh. So long ago.

Anyway, I’m so fucking moody when it comes to writing that I sometimes just do nothing on the novel for days and then sprint out of the blood for no apparent reason.

I still hope to wrap this novel up ASAP. Then start post-production stuff and probably start developing and writing a new novel to work on while I query. I’m still pretty uneasy about what is going to happen when the woke liberal white women who I imagine make up most of my prospective literary agents do due diligence on me and find this blog.

They probably will recoil and what a kooky crank I am.

But, anyway, it’s better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.

Sick, Sad World: We Can’t Even Agree On Facts Anymore

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Our political system has gotten so tightly wound that we can’t even agree on basic facts. Now, obviously, this is not new — we all saw what happened on January 6th, 2021 and yet, well, you know.

The latest incident is, of course, the cold blooded murder of Renee Good in Minnesota by a thug ICE agent. We all saw the same thing, and, yet, the MAGA interpretation of what happend — because of fucking Trump — is totally deranged relative to what I saw.

This is yet another example of something that if you told me we were going to have a civil war and or revolution soon in the USA, then, yeah, I would say that it was obvious it was going to happen in hindsight.

You just can’t have a functioning polity if the two sides are so divided that they can’t agree on what the fuck reality is. I still think that if there’s a civil war or revolution, it will be not from the Right, but from the Left. The Left will finally, finally get radicalized enough to the point that it finally does something about all the bullshit that the MAGA Right has been up to.

But the center-Left is such a bunch of wussies and there is so much slack in the system — at least in center-Left echo chamber — that….I think ultimately we become a fascist state and that it is that.

Vague Imagining of WW3 (And Second American Civil War or Revolution)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The skies are overcast where I live and that has gotten me thinking about WW3. Now, let me be clear that I’m not talking about a full exchange between the US and Russia, but rather a limited exchange between, say, India and Pakistan.

Now, even more context.

The only way I could see WW3 happening is if the US collapses into civil war and or revolution. I really don’t know if the US is going to have a civil war or revolution, it at the moment there’s a greater than zero chance that it happening.

In my imagination, what I think might happen is the US collapses into chaos, bombs itself into oblivion and then we come out the other side expecting the world to be the same.

That, of course, will not have happened.

But, of course, there is another way that WW3 could happen — it’s possible that the DPRK might grow unstable to the point that they start lobbing H-bombs at the USA. Now THAT would be dark. People don’t appreciate that the DPRK has the means, motive and opportunity to make life hell in the USA if something goes wrong there.

If the DPRK did blow up a major American city with a H-bomb, that would definitely set off WW3 one way or another because China would probably get involved.

Anyway, all of this is very vague, but the issue is I’m definitely thinking about WW3 at the moment.