Paul Flinders

A friend of mine just introduced me to an extremely talented artist, Paul Flinders. Selfishly, my first thought was: God, if ever there was someone I’d beg to design a book cover, he’d be the one. Mysterious, provoking prints–there are so many incredible works that I really couldn’t choose one to post. So, go check out his site and see for yourself, and please support if you can.

The Iraq War and The Queen of Hearts.

Today is the five year anniversary of the Iraq War, which is completely insane and troubling. There are ample new sources with the vital statistics, the casualty count, the monetary cost of the war, how it will effect the U.S., the Middle East, the world. I thought that today I would write about why I wrote The Queen of Hearts, my first novel, which comes out in two months. Yes, The Queen of Hearts is a “fantasy” novel, technically, and though many are want to dismiss such books, the impetus behind this book has always been the war, one of the defining moments of my generation. The other two defining moments, I would argue, would be the 2000 election (more specifically the disastrous Florida recount) and 9/11, and of course all three events are related.

I was in Cape Town, South Africa in the months leading up to the war, studying music at the University of Cape Town and volunteer teaching in Langa Township. Then, I got my news from CNN and The New York Times, as well as from the Cape Town Argus–which would post headlines on telephone poles such as “Baghdad Fallen” and “World Protests War.” During the time, I really didn’t believe that Bush’s threats of war would ever amount to anything, even though a friend of mine kept writing me about how strong the fear politics was and how she was convinced people were changing. I participated in an enormous protest, ending at the U.S. embassy. That is another story, part of a novel called Cape Town Dreams which I’m currently revising.

On May 18th, 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq, I was in a constant state of disbelief. That surprise–like the Florida recount, like 9/11, eventually became the seed of The Queen of Hearts, which is about the fall of the dictator Mesmer. The novel open: “But one question remains; did it begin or end in theft?” The question that plagued me then, in 2003, and continues to plague me as the insurgency, the civil war rages, was both complex and simple: would Iraq be better off with Saddam Hussein in power?

The other day, I read this article. There is also an interesting book, The J Curve, by Ian Bremmer, about the difficultly of of an authoritarian state transitioning to a democracy. In The Queen of Hearts, the Mesmer Regime crumbles and a comparable insurgency/civil war erupts. The novel came to be because of my curiosity on the subject, the brutality and ordered torture by a dictator on one hand, violence, chaos, and war on the other. To complicate matters, there is a 9/11 type event that further spreads fear throughout the citizens of Ashkareve, the city in which the novel takes place, as well as comparable uses of fear politics (based on research on both the Bush Administration and Hussein Regime). In the end, The Queen of Hearts become more than a book about war, but it started very much that way.

Five years, and the war is not over. The Iraqis continue to suffer as a result of the arrogance and irresponsibility of the the Bush Administration. American casualties have topped four thousand. But more than anything, what terrifies me is that there is no clear end in sight. My hope is that next year, with a new president, there will be.

Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke died yesterday. Many knew him from 2001 A Space Odyssey. Childhood’s End remains one of my favorite science-fiction books. So, go read it.