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Copyright 2023 James LaFond
A Crackpot Book
Publisher Lynn Lockhart
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Dust Cover
Jamie LaFranc, a Baltimore City grocery clerk is stocking shelves one day at the Fort Avenue Shoppers supermarket in 1998, when a man in a gray suit and silver sunglasses approaches him with an unforgetable proposition, a proposition, he, coward that he is, does not take.
In 2023, Jamie LaFranc, nearing the end of an attenuated existence as a hobo journalist, limps from a stand of trees where he has been learning the logging trade at the lame age of 59.9 years and comes face to face with the version of him who could have been, the version of him who had accepted that proposal way back when, emerged from Fate’s wicked forge to scourge history’s own attenuated garbage bin. What could this old Dreamer possibly do for the young Doer that he might have been?
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For Michael Corman and Robert E. Howard, who inspired this work, and for George who inhabits it.
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“If I could have fought, if I had struck just enough fear to get some respect, perhaps my life would have been different, my wife maybe would not have left, I might have had more of my son than the baby picture that those robbers took from me.”
-George, 1998, some five years before putting a shot gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger, to whom this book is eternally dedicated.
Some of George’s life experiences appear in The Logic of Steel ‘We Take It All’ and When You’re Food, in a story about him being bound and stoned in East Baltimore.
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Premise
If the author’s darkest predictions of the future came true, and a better version of himself came back in time from that Dark Future to enlist the armchair theorist as an actual advisor on an expedition beyond the edge of Time, how would a science-fiction novelist advise actual protagonists caught in the loom of a dismal Fate?
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The Yarn
Part One: Book Times, America
-1. Stockboy, Baltimore, City, December, 1993
-2. 3 parts: Hobo, Major Wingspan & The Rain Check, Selek & Enumclaw, Washington, January, 2023
-3. 2 Parts: Whiteman & Man in the Mirror, California Zephyr, August, 2022
-3Z. Prescript: Sped Zeppelin, Event Horizon, 2022
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Part Two: Took Times
-4. 2 Parts: Scotsman & Irishman, Braddock’s Defeat, July 9, 1755
-5. Indian, Battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813
-6. Texan, The Alamo, March 6, 1836
-7. Cavalryman, Battle of the Little Bighorn, June 25 – 26, 1876
-8. Gunman, Northfield, Minnesota, September 7, 1876
-8Z. Precept: The Crew, Event Horizon, 1936
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Part Three: Dark Times: America, 2615
-9. Bastion: 2 Parts: TimeshipZ & Chicago Skoal
-10. Baptism: 2 Parts: Saint Louis Kraal, and Fallen Timber
Timejacker #10-B Interlude
-11. Pharaoh: Denversity, Newfrika
-12. Broasis: Salt Lake Citay, Yotaw
-13. Tower & Torch: New American Kongo, Calfornica
-13Z. Postscript: The Slew, Advent Horizon, 2615
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Research Notes Requested of the Editor
Braddock’s defeat
Date: July 9, 1755
Halkett’s 44th and Dunbar’s 48th foot regiments included Scottish transports/ indentures
The battle began around 11am when Braddock’s main force began to cross the river.
Battle of Thames
Date: Oct 5, 1813
Death of Tecumseh. Could not find details on time of battle or death of Tecumseh.
Alamo
Date: March 6, 1836
Time: Early morning
James Bowie was born c. 1796 so he was about 40 at the time of death.
Battle of Little Bighorn
Date: June 25 – 26, 1876
Sergeant Myles Keogh:
When the sun-blackened and dismembered dead were buried three days later, Keogh's body was found at the center of a group of troopers that included his two sergeants, company trumpeter and guidon bearer. Keogh's left knee had been shattered by a bullet that corresponded to a wound through the chest and flank of his horse, indicating that horse and rider may have fallen together prior to the last rally.
James Younger raid on Northfield Minnesota
Date: September 7, 1876
Time: about 2pm
Names of gang members present:
Bob Younger
Frank James
Charlie Pitts
Jesse James
Cole Younger
Jim Younger
Bill Stiles
Clell Miller
Robert E. Howard suicide
Date: June 11, 1936, shot himself in the morning, lingered through the day.
Location: Cross Plains, Texas
