The Brave and the Bold

by Hans G. Schantz

  Pete’s adventure with the safety suggestions and the fire hoses? That comes straight from my own summer intern experience as a nineteen year old. Disappointed by the lack of real challenges, I memorized the Corporate Safety Manual and snagged a handful of $50 safety suggestion awards. A month before I had to go back to school, I hit the motherlode with the discovery that every firehose in every modular building was in violation of the guidelines, nearly thirty in all. I was looking forward to clearing enough money to actually buy a computer to use when I returned to school. Alas, although my manager was very supportive, the facilities manager stone-walled my request. He delayed acting until I was back to school and unable to effectively appeal. I would have to wait another couple of years to afford my first computer.

  My former employer cheated a poor college student out of over a thousand dollars. I certainly wouldn’t want to embarrass this company by disclosing their name in public, but their initials are “IBM.”

  Quotes attributed to Ted Turner, David Rockefeller, and Steve Jobs are verbatim or very close to it from real world sources. In particular, some of the remarks attributed to David Rockefeller are reported to have been presented at a Bilderberg Group Meeting in June 1991 and were quoted in Programming, Pitfalls and Puppy-Dog Tales (1993) by Gyeorgos C. Hatonn, p. 65. The individual revealing what were supposed to have been confidential remarks has never been identified, and the validity of the remarks has been disputed. Other remarks are taken from Rockefeller’s 2003 Memoirs, and a 2007 interview with Benjamin Fulford.

  The Report from Iron Mountain appeared in the late sixties. Ostensibly the findings of a secret government panel, the report concluded that a perpetual state of war was essential for governments to maintain their power. Officially the whole thing was a satire. That’s what they tell us, anyway.

  The weird opening ceremony for the Civic Circle’s Social Justice Leadership Forum? Check out the Gotthard Tunnel opening ceremony where orange-jumpsuit-clad performers ended up stripping to white underwear as they cavorted about in a neo-Babelian ritualistic ceremony for European heads of state and other dignitaries.

  An intern with iRobot allegedly stole the company’s intellectual property, colluding with a large defense contractor in an attempt to land a larger Army robot. Private investigators caught the principals throwing away iRobot proprietary materials in a random dumpster. Look up the fascinating story of Robotics FX versus iRobot.

  In January 2018, a 71-year-old man, Alan J. Abrahamson, appeared to have been murdered in Palm Beach Garden, FL. A police investigation subsequently demonstrated that he faked his own murder using a weather balloon to carry off the murder weapon.

  The 30th G-8 Summit really was held in Sea Island, Georgia, United States, on June 8–10, 2004. The hydrogen bomb lost off Tybee Island remains safely lost – so far as we know.

  The many anecdotes and stories of elite corruption are adapted largely from the Crazy Days and Nights blog. Additional sources of inspiration came out of the interpretations of “Q drops” by such online luminaries and Anonymous Conservative and Neon Revolt.

  The electromagnetic physics originally discovered by Heaviside and suppressed by the Civic Circle? Those are my own discoveries, and a significant part of my motivation in writing these stories was to make my scientific ideas available to a wider audience. My next project will be a non-fiction exploration of physics, tentatively titled Fields: The Once and Future Theory of Everything.

  The Crypt of Civilization remains sealed in the basement of Phoebe Hearst Hall on the campus of Ogelthorpe University. Please see that it remains so. If you are reading this, I can assure you that on your timeline, Pete, Amit, and Rob have already removed the scrolls and the Nexus Detector. They are far too dangerous to be left unattended on any timeline.

  Acknowledgements

  Paul Blair pointed out the remarkable synergy between my story and the career and writings of the pioneering author of speculative fiction, Jorge Luis Borges. Borges’ tales of Scotch Presbyterians bearing magical books (The Book of Sand), and his prescient description of the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics (The Garden of Forking Paths) almost make me believe he really did socialize with Angus MacGuffin and Ettore Majorana in Buenos Aires.

  Campus Reform (campusreform.org) does a brilliant job documenting the irrationalities of the contemporary college scene. I relied on the excellent reporting of Toni Airaksinen for many of the ideas and ideologies ascribed to Cindy Ames.

  I am grateful to Keith Weiner of Monetary Metals for permission to use and adapt his special report on bank manipulation and ascribe it to Brother Francis and the London Office of the Holy See Bank Corporation. No relation to the real HSBC Bank is implied or intended. Keith is pioneering a revolutionary scheme to allow gold investors to earn interest in gold, on gold. Check out the details at monetary-metals.com. And keep in mind the April 1 publication date of Keith’s special report on bank manipulation for a hint to his actual views on the subject of market manipulation!

  Commenter “Delta” on the RooshV Forum contributed the interesting connection between monogamy and the Prisoners’ Dilemma. I adapted his analysis for the Albertians to explain to Pete the game theory of promiscuity.

  I am indebted to John C. Wright for his sharing the “point-deer-say-horse” story and its relevance to progressive politics.

  The insightful Vox Day shared the interesting story of the Chinese village and their efforts to save the river dolphins, the baiji.

  I borrowed some epic lines from “Horatius at the Bridge” by Lord Macaulay. Read, or better yet, listen to a reading of this heroic poem in its entirety.

  I’m grateful to the blurb gurus at the Conservative Libertarian Fiction Alliance who helped me update and fine tune my previous and current book blurbs. These include Adam Weissman, Dave Leigh, Scott Hoffman, and particularly Paul Allen Piatt.

  I adapted the hilarious “Social justice tongue fu” from the Amazing World of Gumball for some of Johnny Rice’s dialog. Check out the original – it’s great.

  My Alpha Readers gave generously of their time to review my early drafts and provide their suggestions and corrections. Alpha Readers included Brandy Harvey, Jack Gardner, Declan Finn, Francis Porretto, Jeff Koistra, June Coker McNew, Daniel Humphreys, Edward McLeod Jones, and Robert Tracy. Foremost among my Alpha Readers is the amazing Barbara McNew Schantz, whose talents, not only in managing our busy household, but also in editing and proofing my novels are much appreciated by her husband.

  In conclusion, I am deeply grateful to all the readers of The Hidden Truth who took a chance on an unknown author. You joined Peter Burdell and Amit Patel on their fictional journey to discover the hidden truth and unmask the Civic Circle, followed their first steps to outwit and defeat their formidable enemies, and now you have joined my heroes in their first major victory over th sinister forces threatening to destroy Western civilization.

  Your support through your reviews and word-of-mouth have been critical to the success of the Hidden Truth series. You are wonderfully engaged, and a remarkably high fraction of you volunteered your time to review my work and help bring it to the attention of more readers. If you enjoy my latest story, if you think it deserves a wider audience, I hope you’ll let your friends know, and post reviews on Amazon and elsewhere to help spread the word.

  Thank you.

  About the Author

  I’m a radio frequency (RF) scientist with a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. My research aims at understanding how bound or reactive electromagnetic energy decouples from a source or an antenna and radiates away. This theory has been helpful in understanding and designing not only antennas, but also near-field wireless systems. I “wrote the book” on The Art and Science of Ultra-wideband Antennas. In addition, I’m an inventor with about forty patents to my credit, mostly antennas or wireless systems, but I was also a co-inventor (with my wife, Barbara) on a remarkably effective baby bowl. Barbara’s Baby Dipper® bowl and feeding set (see http://babydippe
r.com) helps parents feed infants and helps toddlers learn to feed themselves through a clever, ergonomic design. With Bob DePierre, I co-invented Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging. I conceived the idea and Bob reduced it to practice and made it work.

  I’m an entrepreneur, as well. I co-founded The Q-Track Corporation. Our company is the pioneer in Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER®) Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS). Q-Track released the first NFER® RTLS a few years ago. Q-Track products provide precise (40cm rms accurate) location awareness that enhances the safety of nuclear workers. In other installations, Q-Track products let robotic overhead cranes know the location of workers to avoid collisions. Q-Track’s new SafeSpot™ systems help keep people safe from collisions with forklifts. NFER® RTLS provides “indoor GPS” by providing location awareness to the most difficult industrial settings. See https://q-track.com.

  Furthermore, I’m an amateur radio operator (KC5VLD), and a Cubmaster in Huntsville, Alabama, where I live with my wife, Barbara, and our four children: twin boys, and twin girls.

  No author can possibly write as fast as his readers can read. Fortunately, there is an amazing abundance of great fiction emerging every week – I can hardly keep up with it. Here are a few suggestions I personally recommend to my readers to tide them over until the release of A Hell of an Engineer, Book 4 of The Hidden Truth.

  In A Rambling Wreck, I noted Russell Newquist was an emerging talent to watch based on his fast-paced, clever, horror short, Who’s Afraid of the Dark? Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden collides with Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International in Russell’s War Demons, a supernatural thriller that goes straight to Hell. A soldier must face and overcome both figurative and literal demons that followed him home from his service in Afghanistan. Allying himself with elite special forces, a Holy Knight, and determined friends, Newquist's hero tackles demons, monsters, warlocks, even a dragon. Hardcore Georgia Tech fans will appreciate Newquist’s shockingly true-to-life depictions of hordes of barely sentient shambling zombies, stalking the University of Georgia campus. The tenacious courage of my hero, Bulldog, was inspired, in part, by the example of Russell Newquist bravely marketing a book with no pages to color to UGA fans.

  I’m actually not a big fan of zombie stories, but Daniel Humphreys is such an excellent writer, I make an exception. His Z-Day series, A Place Outside the Wild, A Place Called Hope, and A Place for War examine what happens after the zombie outbreak, when the greatest enemy the survivors face is themselves as they must band together to tackle a new emerging threat and rebuild civilization.

  As if that’s not enough, Humphreys also has an amazing urban fantasy series. The Paxton Locke series is a bit like Harry Dresden on a road trip, except real tech gurus named Hans don’t “giggle like a schoolgirl” at their handiwork. Well, not usually.

  Any resemblance between this distinguished author and Peter’s fictional boss, Mr. Daniel Humphreys, is entirely coincidental. Readers in any way troubled with my fictional character’s behavior may console themselves with the thought that it was better than the fate that befalls arch-villian and nano-technology guru, Dr. Schantz at the end of Humphrey’s A Place for War.

  Jon Del Arroz followed up his young adult steampunk adventure, For Steam and Country, with two more entries in his adventures of Baron Von Monocle series, The Blood of Giants, and The Fight for Rislandia. His fun pulp adventures are worth checking out, and his new Flying Sparks comic series is simply amazing.

  One of my favorite Heinlein stories, Gulf, featured a secret society of superachievers who banded together to save humanity from itself. Heinlein’s story didn’t quite live up to the promise of its premise, but Neovictorian’s Sanity, does. Recruited since high school by a similar secret society, Cal Adler has to figure out their motives and decide whether to enlist their aid to avenge his friend's death. Written in an interesting non-linear style, Sanity is part mystery, part thriller, and part anti-modernist critique. Neovictorian constructs a well-grounded and plausible secret history of the Cold War and the behind-the-scenes struggle to control the destiny of our society. I find it a bit reminiscent of my own work.

  Fenton Wood’s Pirates of the Electromagnetic Waves is an amazing young adult techno-adventure reminiscent of Bertrand R. Brinley’s classic Mad Scientists Club. Set in an alternate universe nostalgically reminiscent of mid-century America, Wood tells the story of a boy and his young friends as they struggle to build and operate a radio station. I highly recommend this book, and I look forward to more Yankee Republic tales.

  Loretta Malakie’s Love in the Age of Dispossession is a quirky and nostalgic tragicomedy about an upstate 1990s New York girl who loses herself in the big city but finds redemption in returning home. I hope there will be a sequel so we can find out what happens to the heroine. Worth checking out.

  Want some good old-fashioned rip-roaring pulp fiction? John Taloni offers a nostalgic homage to the vintage science fiction of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burroughs in his The Complete Martian Invasion: Earth’s Defense Awakens. C.A. Powell’s The Last Days of Thunder Child revisits H.G. Wells War of the Worlds from the perspective of the brave crew of the titular ironclad that bravely defends Victorian England from the alien invaders.

  Want to read an epic tale complete with rocket ships that – in the words of the legendary Arlan Andrews – take off and land as God and Robert Heinlein intended? Check out Karl K. Gallagher’s Torchship trilogy, finalist for the 2018 Prometheus Award for best libertarian SF novel.

  John C. Wright blurs the border between science fiction and fantasy in his amazing Superluminary series, and his charming young adult fantasy Moth and Cobweb series is worth checking out as well.

  Declan Finn actually does appear to write faster than his readers can keep up with him. Not only are there now five books in his Pius Thriller Trilogy, he’s now completed his Dragon-Nominated Live and Let Bite series.

  Peter Grant continues to entertain with his latest military science fiction trilogy, Cochrane’s Company. Grant spins a remarkably interesting tale of a mercenary who must assemble and finance his forces with an equal mix of tactical cunning and fiscal legerdemain. Grant also demonstrates he’s a cross-genre threat with King’s Champion, an epic tale of an aging warrior whose honor and courage remain undaunted. James Alderdice’s, Brutal, is a similarly grim but deeply rewarding sword and sorcery adventure.

  Adam Smith’s, Making Peace, is a magnificent debut novel. Hired by an enigmatic patron, a romance novelist must unravel a mystery, and survive a bloody civil war on a brutal planet where conventional technology is forbidden and swords and sorcery reign. Starting from an ingenious premise, this first person narrative cleverly ties together science fiction, fantasy, and mystery in a novel and engaging fashion. The story is dark at times, and may be too violent for some readers' tastes, but the end result is an inspiring tale of hope, loss, redemption, and perseverance. Don't forget to read the amazing afterward, and here's to long shelves well-stocked with incredible books like this one.

  Here’s a forgotten gem I only recently discovered (at Daniel Humphrey’s suggestion). Joseph Garber’s Vertical Run vividly demonstrates that it’s not paranoia if everyone truly is out to kill you. Designated a threat to be shot on sight, a business executive must elude a team of assassins and figure out why they're targeting him. This non-stop action thriller combines, murder, mystery, and conspiracy in a thoroughly satisfying package.

  Mikhail Voloshin’s Dopamine is the best cyber-crime thriller I read all year. His company taken away by unscrupulous investors, an entrepreneur must thwart a high-tech criminal conspiracy to prevent a novel genetic engineering technology wreaking havoc. This is an amazingly well-grounded portrayal of the sometimes cut-throat world of venture-backed entrepreneurship and includes the best and most realistic portrayal of hacking I've read. Amit and Pete could get some good lessons from this book!

  In Robert Bidinotto’s long awaited Winner Takes All, a vigilante journalist and his CIA agent fi
ance must defeat powerful and unscrupulous enemies in a no-holds-barred battle for the ultimate stakes: the presidency. The Vigilante Author does it again! In this third Dylan Hunter book, Bidinotto builds on the foundation from the previous two installments to deliver a masterfully crafted tale of a crusading hero's quest for justice. His characters' choices all have well-thought-out consequences, for better or worse. The multiple plot strands come together beautifully at the end, leaving the reader guessing until the very last moment. Bidinotto tied up all the loose plot strands that have been hanging around since his debut novel, Hunter, to create a very well-unified trilogy. I look forward to his next narrative of vigilante justice versus unscrupulous lusters after power.

  E.C. Williams Westerly Gales Saga is a fantastic nautical adventure set in a post-apocalyptic future where the tenacious remnants of human civilization have made a home on Kerguellen Island in the south Indian Ocean. His heroes venture forth in search of trade and other survivors, and do battle with pirates.

  A variety of great non-fiction works informed my writing as well. Vox Day’s SJWs Always Lie and SJWs Always Double Down are modern political classics and must reading for anyone who wishes to understand SJWs and how to defeat them. Anonymous Conservative’s The Evolutionary Psychology Behind Politics and his r/K theory present a fascinating correlation between personal psychology and political outlook. Kurt Schlichter’s caustic, no-holds-barred Militant Normals explains the conflict between what he terms “normals” and the self-styled “elite.” For a less polemical and more historical look at conspiracy theories, check out Jesse Walker’s United States of Paranoia. Akron Daraul’s Secret Societies A History, was my prime source for information on Tong lore. I reviewed Dave Grossman’s classic On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society for insights to the psychological impact on Pete for killing Wilson.