Author’s Proof

…

Copyright 2024 James LaFond

A Crackpot Book

Lynn Lockhart Publisher

Jethro Randolph Editor/Publisher

…

Dust Cover

Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Banjo, as a youth survived an abduction attempt by military contractors herding teenage males into a van. At a later date, he found that he had evaded, through his native instincts, a vile pedofate. As his friends and associates disappeared, were jailed or submitted to their fears, Banjo took up his blue grass harp and went on the road. Touring between Portland and LA, and Phoenix to Denver, life was not “good.” But he had avoided the emasculating fate that Uncle Ted’s self-aware Leviathan pushed on every man—to make him less than a man, in a world redesigned for universal submission.

Extended Dust Cover

In 2020, gigs dried up with Covid. Gigless and therefore homeless, Banjo, drinking coffee at the Good Will Center in Grand Junction, Colorado, was given a train ticket to Baltimore, Maryland, from the palsied hand of a white-bearded drunk. Baltimore? of all unhallowed places! The die had been cast.

Banjo: Timejack is the true story of one man’s resistance against the system’s thirst for soul domination and an unlikely chance at titanic liberation.

…

Apology

Banjo is a real man who I have trained with and talked with in three provinces of USG. Despite being much younger than I, he has been my counselor. He always made certain not to harm me in sparring. Rather then sketch his appearance, here, I will wait for characters in the second half of the novel to accomplish that task from a lived perspective. Suffice it to say, that numerous acquaintances have described Banjo as the perfect man to play Quai Chang Cane, the renegade Shaolin monk in the 1970s TV series Kung Fu.

I have not asked Banjo’s permission to use him as a patterned character. For that I apologize and promise not to have his unwilling avatar defamed or killed! Banjo, you are too compelling a character to pass up. I promise to die twice in this novel.

-James, safely in East Baltimore, while Banjo has adventures, September 16, 2024

Inspirational Quote

“Thief, coward! You come back and I’ll hunt you across this Kali Yuga world!”

-Banjo, my ancient spirited friend

…

Dedication

For Chris, who brought a bible and a bottle of Irish whiskey to his fellow marooned Gael one Covidian morning.

…

Premise

This science-fiction novel is one of a trilogy: including Timejacker and Nat Star—Timejacker! The concept concerns time travel, treated more rationally than the grandfather paradox normally employed in such speculative tales. Exposition of the science is oblique, as I am not a member of that cult and will not suppose to speak to the nuances of their various faiths and heresies.

Contents

Part One:

Across This Kali Yuga World!

Actual Biographical Events in the Under Life of Banjo [1]

-1. Cigs: 2020 Grand Junction Colorado

-2. Gigs: 2021 East Baltimore

-3. Twigs: 2022 North East Baltimore

-4. Bigs: 2023 Southwest Baltimore

-5. Pigs: 2024 South Baltimore

-6. Tweakers: 2024 Phoenix

Part Two:

A Harp Or An Ax?

Mythic Chronological Events in the Over Life of Banjo

-7. Picker That You Are

-8. Ben Taro’s Glen

-9. Emmy Taro’s Loom

-10. Kyler Barrow’s Tomb

-11. On the Road to Effigy

…

Notes

-1. Two events in Banjo’s life have been redacted for his privacy and two events from the author’s life over the same time period, have been included as replacement events pointing towards the same path.