--The American people are good-natured and compliant, until they’re not. One of my favorite stories was about a skate park being shut down when a city dumped tons of sand into the pits. It wanted kids to stay away from the park. But it didn’t stop them. The clever kids cleared a portion of it by hand and used the rest of it as a BMX bike park instead. That’s the American attitude. Peaceful protests at state capitals. Workers starting up their businesses to support their families, risking jail time or fines. Citizens breaking records for the number of firearms purchased. A healthy mistrust of the press and our political class. A respect for expert advice, but not a blind acceptance of their unproven results. People creating endless online memes about how government tyranny is against our DNA. That can-do spirit is one of the main reasons I wrote my Minus America series. Never, EVER, count us out of the game.
--Americans are kind, generous, and thoughtful. Discounting the nutjobs who go around licking ice cream lids at the store, or who wipe their nose on employees who ask them to wear a mask, most local stories are heartwarming and uplifting. Birthday parties are now done via car caravans of honking and cheering riders. I’ve noticed more people wave at me from their yards as I ride my bike around the neighborhood. We’re cheering for people who actually matter: truck drivers, nurses, doctors, food store workers, and those in the trenches with them.
I don’t know if much of this will translate into future books. Maybe the shortage of toilet paper will show up at some point. It’s the least controversial aspect of the last few months of 2020. Other parts of the Wuhan virus have the potential to be divisive. This is why you’ll never see me explicitly name political parties, blame real-life people, or make statements hurtful to those I disagree with. It’s not that I don’t have my opinions, but I write books to bring people together.
If there’s one sad truth I’ve realized from watching and reading the news over the past few months, it’s that this nation no longer truly unites in a time of crisis. That, more than any disaster, alien invasion, or plague, is what could finally end the great American experiment. I will not be part of that unfolding.
You might be wondering about the name Two Wolves and a Sheep. It’s a callback to a quote often misattributed to Ben Franklin. The saying goes that democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what’s for dinner. Liberty is an armed sheep contesting the vote. In this book, the heroes are rising up against the tyrannical invaders, ready to contest the takeover. The phrase also fits perfectly with our current reality and everything I’ve observed above. “Contesting the vote” remains at the heart of the American people. As long as we don’t lose that spirit, we’ll get through COVID-19 just fine.
I’ll get started on the next book, Hostile Shores, as soon as this goes off to the printers. With a little luck and American can-do attitude, the nation will be back to its old self by the time you read it at the end of the summer. In the meantime, I’d be honored if you signed up for the pre-order so you don’t miss it when it comes out.
As always, thank you for being a reader.
EE
E.E. Isherwood’s other books
Minus America, Empty Cities, Rebel Cause, Two Wolves and a Sheep, and Hostile Shores.
Impact– (co-written with Mike Kraus) – A post-apocalyptic thriller about an asteroid slamming across the heartland of America. Six books.
End Days (co-written with Craig Martelle) – A post-apocalyptic adventure about a father and son on opposite ends of a continent ravaged by a failed science experiment. Four books.
Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse – A teen boy must keep his great-grandma alive to find the cure to the zombie plague, but what if the only people immune are those over 100? Seven books.
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