Most Americans would agree that they don’t agree on a lot of issues. The Blue vs. Red factions have become entrenched in American politics. Further, the nation feels torn apart on the topic of race and racism. Could these tribunal debates lead to a civil war?
One young novelist, the son of a career military mom, thinks so. He explores an America in the chaotic, post-war period in a new book, Ignition 2084.
“The civil war depicted in my book grew out of recent events and today’s mindset,” says author Jordan Hampton, who is a high school English teacher and a certified preacher. “Racial differences, blind political allegiances, and a failure of our education system conspire and contribute to the world that unfolds in my novel.”
His book, which Book Viral Reviews called: “A bold, brutal escapist thrill-seeking read,” features the collapse of civilization and shows how warring factions are left to battle for the fate of a people. This new world order takes place, some 60 years into the future – far enough to seem like a dream (or a nightmare), but close enough to recognize a connect-the-dots scenario to how things are unfolding in our country now.
Author Jordan Hampton, whom I am working with, was interviewed by BookMarketingBuzzBlog:
1. Jordan, what is your recently published book, Ignition 2084, about? Ignition 2084 is a dystopian war epic that follows John Hamlin and his son Darius as they try to navigate Prevalence, a war-devastated future version of the United States, in their fight for freedom against the tyrannical autocratic regime of the Scarlet Kingdom. Where the former finds his bearings as a leader, the latter discovers what it means to stand in the face of adversity on all sides. The battles they face, the losses they take, and the betrayals that upset the very fabric of their rebellious society highlight the longstanding impact of race, gender and war on the minds of the individuals involved, the families connected to them, and the communities that surround them.
2. What inspired you to write it? 2020 was a rough year. We had a health crisis that shut down the world in the outbreak of COVID-19, a number of instances of police brutality or brutality in general against people of color, from Ahmaud Arbery and Vanessa Guillen to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, near-global outcry for the United States to treat all of its citizens equally in the form of Black Lives Matter protests, and a governmental setup that largely ignored, downplayed, or diverted attention from important conversations of simple human decency because of a lack of comfort or direction in formulating tangible solutions. I was annoyed at the lack of educated discourse, and I wanted to express that frustration more than anything.
3. It is set in the somewhat near future. Do you fear that America could be heading towards another civil war? Why? I think that as long as people can have conflict, they’ll find a reason to engage. The current political climate is volatile to say the least, and while there aren’t any geographical influences or slave labor to inspire a civil war as in the 1800s, there has been an increase in violence inspired by ideological differences like the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s family, the January 6th insurrection, and the attacks on Asian people across the country after the COVID-19 pandemic. There are a lot of potential catalysts for a civil war, and certainly there are some who feel that America is only a stone’s throw away, but it’s hard to say if anything like that would happen with any kind of certainty.
4. Your book seems to be based on a character that resembles former President Donald Trump. Is he really the kind of person who would try to use the military and police to force his authority upon the American people? There are some who think that, but the reason I chose to make such a vile character based on him was that it was easy. Any time people will blindly trust a political leader, disregard their faults and refuse to hold them accountable in any realistic way, it has the potential to create bigger problems that threaten the freedoms that the American people have fought hard to obtain and preserve. Former President Trump was the person in charge when I started the book and, admittedly lived up to the part, but I don’t think it would look any different with anyone else at the country’s helm if given the same level of frankly undeserved trust.
5. You say that your novel should be seen as a means to jumpstart a healthy national discussion on racism and other issues that divide us. Why do so many discussions turn into shouting matches where nothing gets resolved? Part of it is due to the fact that a lot of the people who have these conversations don’t want to resolve the conflict. Race relations, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, while all important discussions, have been overly politicized to the degree that the mention of potential solutions is like signaling to one side or another that they’re among the enemy. The ideas of mutual benefit and compromise are lost, and instead of attacking issues, a lot of the people in question would much rather attack each other. There’s a misconception that these issues can be condensed to something purely black and white and that there is a definitive right or wrong answer, but these things are multifaceted dilemmas with more gray area in reality.
6. Were you surprised that Kirkus Reviews called your book a “dystopian thriller” that “packs a mean, unforgettable punch”? Surprised might be a bit of an understatement. I was confident that the book was going to make an impression, absolutely. When I wrote Ignition 2084, I wanted to lay the groundwork for a healthy and realistic discourse on complicated issues, but I knew that this wasn’t the type of book to please everyone that read it. Accepting that someone somewhere is going to dislike my work is one of the things that, especially as a new author with different ideas, I had to come to grips with early on. So, when Kirkus spoke so positively of it, I realized that the story that Ignition 2084 tells could be an important one that deserves a moment in the spotlight.
7. In your opinion, is America a better place for Black people today than it was 50 years ago? In some ways it is, but in others it isn’t. I think about my father’s experiences growing up in the 60s, witnessing heavy-handed racism because he was a light-skinned black man with hazel eyes and loose curls in his hair, how he was attacked both verbally and physically just for existing, how he was undermined and forgotten about in school, and I think about how much of that I didn’t have to live through. Then I think about ongoing police brutality, the recent attempts at voter suppression that mostly affected minority communities, and the fact that education statistics are overwhelmingly opposed to the successes of people of color and I realize that there’s much more work to still be done.
8. What could be done to help society make changes in how minorities are viewed and treated? The first thing that comes to mind is that society needs to be honest about the history of the US as we know it. Entire institutions were built on practices of racism and sexism and still have yet to be addressed. After that, there needs to be a deep conversation about how those institutions can be reorganized to be more inclusive, with full respect given to the concerns of the minorities affected. Too often the concept of learning other cultures or entertaining the conversation of implicit bias in society is drowned in the fear of an alternative perspective. People are convinced that if they can’t see the negatives of their society, then those negatives must not exist.
For more information, check out:www.authorjordanhampton.com.
Brian Feinblum,
the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors promote their story,
sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in
successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your
advocate, teacher, and motivator!
Read
This!
47 Ways Authors Can Promote Books
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/01/47-ways-authors-can-promote-books.html
Do You Need To Pay
$500/Hour To Learn Phone Etiquette?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/01/do-you-need-to-pay-500hour-to-learn.html
Authors, Pursue Your Dream Until Death
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/01/authors-pursue-your-dreams-until-death.html
19
Resolutions For Authors & Book Lovers In 2023
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/12/19-resolutions-for-authors-book-lovers.html
21 Book Marketing Tips For
2023
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/12/21-book-marketing-tips.html
How
Books Get People’s Attention
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/12/how-books-get-peoples-attention.html
What Will You Do This Second?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/12/what-will-you-do-this-second.html
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/12/12-tactics-to-better-writing.html
Authors
Want It Cheap, Easy, Fast. Possible?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/12/authors-want-it-cheap-easy-fast.html
Brian
Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in
Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue
dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and
IBPA’s The Independent. This award-winning blog has generated
over 3.2 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past decade, it was
named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in
2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by
WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades,
including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book
publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with
many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with
best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor
Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken
Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Susan RoAne, Jeff Foxworthy,
Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book
publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, IBPA, Sarah Lawrence
College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association,
Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, and Connecticut Authors and
Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The
Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The
Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He
has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami
Herald. For more information, please consult: linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.