Podcast: Em's America: The Obliged Interview

EM: We are chatting today with Nathan O’Discin, creator of America: The Obliged which has, for better or for worse, been delayed. But it’s coming out within a matter of days, at long last. Nathan, what on earth happened?

 

Nathan: Em, first, thanks for having me. Yeah. So, it’s kind of crazy what happened, honestly. We were barreling for an October release and then things kind of broke down between myself, my agency, and the various players on the publisher’s side. Everyting was kind of centered around some documentation missing over the creative use of Nathan O’Discin.

 

EM: Your Pen Name?

 

Nathan: Yes! So, the publisher was aware that Nathan O’Discin was a publisher author from my endeavors at Balboa Press with Beneath the Whispering Pines. So when it came to America: The Obliged being published in a different publishing house, I was unaware that there was a process to transfer my name for use with another company.

 

EM: …interesting.

 

Nathan: Yeah, it was this whole ordeal and then there were some delay with gathering all the copyrights for the fonts and imagery used on the cover. While I designed the cover, the elements used had to be properly copyrighted and those creators given their due.

 

EM: So. All that is cleared up, and everything is a go?

 

Nathan: Finally! Yes, we are printing the first editions now.

 

EM: Are you nervous? Like, what goes through an authors mind at this point?

Nathan: Well, I haven’t really had much time to think about it, honestly. The holidays have been taxing, and then of course, I have been working on the sequel to America: The Obliged, and finishing that manuscript up and polishing things.

 

EM: On to the next already?

 

Nathan: Absolutely. In the world we live in now, it’s imperative that I continue writing the rest of the Hexology. There’s so much to tell and to say, and explain and explore that I don’t really want to idle on the series any longer than I already have.

 

EM: So six books are planned?

 

Nathan: Yeah, maybe five. I know all about four of the novels, the other two are abstract proposals that still need a lot of work, and depending on the day I go between going more scifi or more political, or staying the course with the theme of a mix. It just depends. They are future works that won’t come out nearly as fast or on the same schedule as the first four installments.

 

EM: Once a reader consumes all that is ATO, where do you hope they are in reflection at the end?

 

Nathan: Well, I hope they understand how an election today has far-reaching consequences tomorrow. I want the reader to understand the burden we all carry in doing what’s best for our nation and society.

 

EM: Some have said that you personally voted for Harris in November, but that a Trump presidency would benefit ATO moreso. Explain?

 

Nathan: Well, I did for Harris, yes. From the rumor mill on Trump, the books are based on a timeline that starts in 2017 with the only variable being that MAGA is successful. That is, they implement their program exactly as they wants, Project 2025, the whole gambit, and we revisit America in that timeline in 2044, where the Republicans have held the white house since 2024, a 20-year domination of the political landscape.

Tags: America: The Obliged  , dystopia , ATO , Obliged , American , Derrick Reddon , Reddon Brothers , Dmitry Averyanov , models , civil war , trump , Election 2024 , oligarchy 

America: The Obliged Prologue

 

American Atrophy

 

Prologue

Drab overcast wrapped the sky in a gluttonous daub of clouds.  Pellets of sleet mixed into rain, gathering in near-freezing puddles on the rotten and uneven pavement of the sidewalk outside the old Statesboro Hospital. A lazy crowd had grown curious by the unusual presence of militiamen standing arm in arm outside the old facility. The crowd gaveled at the fierceness of the men, their faces shrouded to their eyes by white neck gaiters, their tired and warworn eyes peered out, unbothered by the crowd’s curiosity. The men were each marred by years of combat and sacrifice, all in the name of United States President Aiden Connor; offering an obvious clue to who may be inside the dilapidated hospital facility.

Under the decaying plinth of the old sanitarium, President Connor and a cluster of oligarchs glamoured over their new state-of-the-art laboratory, their money well spent. The sheen of the stainless-steel floor of the facility reflected back what their eyes glamoured over above.

“Programmed with Artificial Long Logarithmic Order, or ALLO, these armament droids have the best processor cores known to man. They offer the latest in warfare,” a lab scientist weaseled through his nostrils as he explained the nature of the machina to the group of esteemed men gathered before him. “Mister President, you won’t need your militias much longer.”

                President Connor looked at the beast-like droids hoisted overhead, still lifeless, their pedestrian manufacturing had left them looking like a skeleton of a giant dog the size of a large sport utility vehicle. The paws of the droids had razor-like claws of a felid, designed to scale concrete buildings and slice through foes with abandon. “Why doesn’t it look more…human?” The president was perplexed by the final design of the droids.

                “A humanoid droid is still a few years off, Mr. President. The mammaloid design allows for wall scaling, and travel speeds of up to 250 kilometers an hour, their claws are sharp enough to penetrate sheets of steel over two inches thick. Their entire body is made of atomic carbon lattices, making them the strongest manmade armament in history. I assure you; these droids will be ready for deployment in Russo-Syria… or any other campaigns you may have planned,” the scientist looked at the droids along with the president and oligarchs. A god-complex overspread them, if truly capable of what the man claimed, they had in fact leveled up the nature of warfare.

                President Connor smiled at the mere concept; his own contempt for the creatures stirred a wry of satisfaction. Why, this must have been how Robert Oppenheimer had felt when the atom bomb had its first successful detonation, he thought. The Russo-Soviets had been ruthless in transforming the makeup of many European and Asian nations over the last twenty years, while the United States merely idled by, languishing in her self-inflicted economic and sociopolitical turmoil in what political historians had dubbed the Age of Disinformation.

The era had begun in 2010 with the Tea Party Movement and now culminated into the fourth constitutional crisis following the 2044 Presidential Election. President Connor himself had won the popular vote, but had lost the Electoral College, least until he wrested the financial fealty of three of the electors to vote faithlessly for his second term.

The political unrest from his re-election machinations aside, the droids would remind the world that America still demanded an audience from the nations back east.

 “How many of these… things… do we have ready?” The president finally broke from his admiration of the engineering feat.

                “Well. They are called the Standard Logarithmic Atomic Carbon Robot, or SLACR, sir. We have over 200 that have passed the rigors of our testing of the ALLO cores. They are ready for your command, Mr. President,” the scientist beamed a smile at the president, long a fan of the aspiring authoritarian leader. “I hope you find that they exceed your wildest expectations.”

                Oligarch Wesley Oliver, owner and founder of Fairchild Ballistix, one of the key companies behind the funding of the top-secret SLACR program, walked with the president as they made for the surface and back into the rotten remains of Statesboro Hospital. “Do you think these droids will be able to displace your militias when the time comes?” The oligarch flicked his tawny eyes at the president.

                “If they can slice through the Russians in their own puppet state in Syria, a rowdy bunch of rednecks will be easy to displace. I still have the loyalty of the Iron Fist and Blood Prince, they will have utility for us ahead until the time comes,” the president answered the man, referencing two of the four Reddon Brothers clan by their old secret service nicknames. The two commanded the strongest militia in the nation, the Bue Mountain Boys; the militant group that now stood guard outside the facility.

                “And what about The Valhalla?” Wesley spoke of another of the Reddon clan.

                “Plant a bullet in his insufferable skull and we move on,” the president wiped his hand across his manicured black beard that yielded to gray at the margins of his lips dripping to either side of his chin. He was too young to feel old, he was only 46, the youngest president since John Kennedy.

His ambitions for the second act of his career far exceeded all that he had accomplished in his first term as president and the eight years he served as vice president before that. As vice president, he had acted as puppeteer to his venerable predecessor, President Jordan Hanover, in a chaotic and tumultuous presidency that had grown from the chaos seeded by the Tea Party movement in the 2010s.

The two presidents had legalized much of their authoritarian agenda through the United States Supreme Court. For President Connor, he legalized militias by stacking the Supreme Court with justices that were amenable to his agenda in his first year in office, then pushed through the Retirees Reformation Act of 2042 that decimated social and welfare programs. His greatest feat, however, was abolishing the Pentagon and replacing the United States military with the United States Armed Forces. The US Armed Forces was a consolidated conglomerate of military power prime for the deployment of the SLACR droid. The droids would replace men in tanks and aircrafts a mere century since such armaments led to the curtain call on the Second Great War.

                “Once this election is contested by Congress and we win, we need to refocus our efforts on consolidating your power if we are to carry out this so-called purge. We will need sound plans for eradicating the Reddon boys before then,” Wesley Oliver looked at the president sternly. Surely, the president wasn’t intending on carrying them along for the entire ride, least he hoped.

                “Of course,” President Connor assured him. He walked off the rustic elevator and toward the vile façade of the hospital. “One more thing, Mr. Oliver, see to it that Zurich is out in front of this bombardment in Syria, please? I have the West Virginia electors on the hook to vote for me, and once that riles up the Democrats in Washington, I will need a prolific victory in Syria as a good distraction to pull the plug.”

                Wesley smiled at the man. “Of course, Mister President.”

                “I plan on declaring victory in the electoral college when I go to Charleston; the Trump Memorial Garden will be overflowing with protestors,” the man chuckled at his own motive. “Once they are taken care of, we march on Washington. I have some fermium bombs ready, should we need them. I would like some of these, uh… droid things, ready for use in Charleston, if needed. The execution of our purge has to be flawless, as you know.”

                The oligarch nodded at the president. He wasn’t sure of the exact plan the president had in mind; it was almost as if the president himself wasn’t certain how he planned to assure that his buying of West Virginia’s three electors would be received in a positive light. Never mind his ambitions still had a nagging thorn in his side by way of Congress, now under control of Democrats for the first time in almost twenty years. Thorns like these were no stranger to the president, he had spent his entire life in the brambles, becoming a masterful hare in evading the thickets whenever they twisted against his desired destination.

This post is a part of the Chapter Synopsis at the ATO Community Forums.

America the Obliged: Trilogy Announced.

Civil War follows up where America: The Obliged left off, sans a year in time and space where the situation within the besieged United States has gone from ill to deathly as states opt for a future within the Federated States of America, New Confederacy, Christian Caliphate of Exodus, or the Republic of California and its exclaves. 

Derrick Reddon is tasked with reigning in his brother Adam Reddon in his wildly successful rise of the deep south into a second confederacy that outpaces the Federation's ability to manufacture armaments. A desperate affront drives into Arkansas to distract Adam's forces from further invasion of the borderlands of the Federation but at significant financial and psychological costs to the fledgling nation, as Alyssa, Chase, and the entirety of the nation depend on the militant-turned-American hero to save them, and just maybe, the nation too.

Follow the latest news and developments in the America: The Obliged series at O'Discin Books or the American the Obliged Community. 

Preorder: America The Obliged

 Preorders for America the Obliged are now available over at the O'Discin Book Store. 

This is a heavily discounted price, so snatch them while I have stock. 

Pre-Order America: The Obliged

America: The Obliged Preview

 A special preview is coming for those who want a slice of the ATO action: 

America: The Obliged at O'Discin Books

Hop over to the O'Discin Books page and take a gander. I try not to give away much of the book in the spiel. But ya know, some things have to be laid out from Chapter 1. 

Official Cover of America: The Obliged

The Morning After: Predictions of 2025 and Beyond

The Age of Trump is now an Era. 

What to do next?

Well, for starters, if you are a voter of Trump, or a contrarian that didn't vote, you should probably reach out to your liberal and minority friends who are scared, and assure them that they will be okay, that you will stand behind your decision steadfast and hold the man you have elected accountable, that in the face of tyranny you will fight for their unalienable rights. Don't belittle them. Don't make fun of them. Don't chastise. Be a decent human being, elections aren't football games; these events have real-world implications for people's lives, hopes, and dreams. Be kind. Be humble. 

Of course, I have written 317,000 words (and counting) about this exact event taking place. I loathe when I am right, more so because I was a pessimist and wanted to be wrong when making the ATO series. 

Oh well.

So, now what? Well, we wait and see. But my gut tells me that "unprecedented mandate" means President Trump is going to do exactly what I wrote about in America: The Obliged. 

We can begin with the biggie, Russia. For those that don't know or are unfamiliar with my books, there's somewhat of an antagonist across the Pacific called Russo-Soviet (nee, Russia). This is a manifestation of pacifism that takes place in the Age of Disinformation (nee, Trump), that has allowed Russia to rebuild the old Soviet bloc and beyond. 

International Affairs

First Prediction: Ukraine falls, followed by the US withdrawing from NATO, the NATO bloc falls. 

This was all written in the first book's manuscript in 2017, based on the Crimea annexation. Expect it to be full-fledged reality by 2027. That was quick.

Second Prediction: In the same vein of pacifism abroad, Gaza falls to Israel and Taiwan falls to China. These are less clear on when or how, but I expect it to happen prior to the end of the first four years. 

Legislative Matters

Third Prediction: The Senate will absolutely kill the filibuster. At best-odds the Republicans will have 56 senate seats, so they will kill the filibuster in name of the "unprecedented mandate". 

Fourth Prediction: Once that is out of the way, it's open season. There will be significant tax cuts in order, almost exclusively benefitting the wealthy, because the Oligarchy is very real and very flourishing. Money is power. 

Fifth Prediction: Without a doubt expect a national abortion ban. Without a doubt, expect gay marriage codification to be rescinded, and states to reinstate their gay marriage bans, nullifying marriages across the red states. The Christians demand these actions, after all, they prayed for God to deliver Trump unto them, and God complied (funny how the Lord works for fundamentalist Christians, changing his mind like an undecisive human, but I digress). 

Sixth Prediction: Border Wall. That one is easy. More complicated is how illegal immigration roundups go. Will it be stop and frisk of anyone who looks brown? Will it be only when they break a law? How will this go is anyone's guess.

Seventh Prediction: Something-something-something about transexual genital mutation. Don't worry, they will save mutilating the male penis at birth via circumcision. We need that. 

The Economy

This is really why you voted for him, right? Well, here's to hoping I am wrong finally, because: 

Eighth Prediction: Inflation continues to stagnate household incomes, leading to the long-overdue, long-vaulted recession. Expect it to get ghastly. They will blame Biden.

Ninth Prediction: Your gas won't be a $1.50 a gallon, nor will your eggs be $0.99 a dozen. Nor will rent and housing prices go down, the biggest burden of all. (The latter will drop with the recession, however, wiping out billions in equity and straddling millions who bought homes in the first Trump admin and Biden admin with billions in negative equity). His most ardent supporters will sheen this over, and swear things are better (but they and we both know, they aren't). 

Executive Power

Tenth Prediction: Authoritarian usurping will become the norm. Consolidation of power was really what the first term was all about, in which he abdicated the Judiciary to a mere puppet-branch of the executive. This prediction is a wild card, as anything can happen under the premise of chaos theory. Indeed, I used this to great effect for the entire precipice of the fall of the United States in America: The Obliged. 

America: The Obliged and Election 2024

 

The Latest Interview. 

Ruqi: Hello, Nathan! Welcome to the ATO Forums webcast. 

Nathan: Hello, Rookie. Nice to chat with you. 

Ruqi: Yes. So, it is Election Eve in the US...

Nathan: [laughs] It is, it is. Crazy election year, may I add. 

Ruqi: How are you feeling, overall? 

Nathan: Nauseated. Nervous. Anxious. You know, universally Americans are all feeling this negative energy; it's how you process the negative energy as it manifests itself. I think a lot of liberals and moderates are nervous, a lot of far-right folks are feeling a little aggressive. 

Ruqi: Aggressive? 

Nathan: Absolutely. I put up a TikTok, a very mild and respective one, may I add, and the responses were very vitriolic from Trump voters.  It doesn't bode well if things turn out not in their favor. 

Ruqi: I guess that brings us to our first question... America: The Obliged. It's due out at the end of this month, and obviously being a near-future dystopic, how does things tomorrow play into what happens in the book?

Nathan: Well, as many of you know, I wrote the manuscript in 2017, inspired by the Charlottesville protest and how President Trump responded to that event. So in that moment I was under the impression that things had turned dire in our society and really I wanted to play out a scenario where Democrats were just locked out of power for decades; like trying to envision the world where MAGA Republicans got everything they ever wanted, complete and unmitigated implementation of their platform as it existed in 2017. So, obviously, I didn't foresee President Biden, but with the luxury of sitting on the manuscript I was able to alter the infliction point to 2024. 

Ruqi: So in the book Trump wins?

Nathan: Well... I don't reference the Trump years much, he is a catalyst for much worse leaders in our country from the MAGA movement. Trump kind of gets the ball rolling, normalizing violence, normalizing the vitriol, normalizing the concept that compromise and democracy are weak. Things build from there, leading to the elections of President Hanover and President Connor. Anyway, I won't be Kamala and give you an answer non-answer [laughs] Trump wins, yes. The concept is based on twenty years of MAGA rule.

Ruqi: You are registered Republican? And have voted Republican?

Nathan: Well, I won't get into my personal politics much, but I have voted Republican for President in the past, correct. 

Ruqi: So in that regard you are a Derrick? 

Nathan: Well, remember; Alyssa, Chase, and Derrick are all three based on my own personality tropes. Alyssa is an idealist who envisions a liberal America that's equitable and free. Chase is calculated and nervous. Derrick is a protector. Those are all qualities that I have in myself, for better or for worse. 

Ruqi: So, a Derrick today... A Chase tomorrow? 

Nathan: Well I would say I am much more Chase today, dreaming of a peaceful and tranquil society like Alyssa but prepared to become a Derrick if needed; to protect my family and friends. 

Ruqi: Do you anticipate violence? 

Nathan: Well, if we go back to 2021, you know, January 6th, I was on a personal journey in my life and living part-time in DC when that calamity went down and really got to see the violence and chaos that ensued firsthand and that obviously gave me insights into the lifestyles and way of life in DC which sets the first chapter of the book. I also saw how fast things went from a peaceful protest on the national mall to protesters occupying the Capitol. It was literally within minutes. There were some protesters saying the next time they will come back with the guns. They were angry, they had bought into the Big Lie and really seethed contempt for the democratic principles that have grown and endowed our republic for so long. So, unfortunately, I do anticipate some fallout this election. As I say in the book, each election gets more violent than the one that came before it. 

Ruqi: So 2028 will be worse?

Nathan: In the book, yes. Remember, this is fiction, not necessarily a forecast or prophecy, just a foreboding tale of what can happen if we get complacent. 

Ruqi: Did you early vote? 

Nathan: I did. 

Ruqi: What was that like?

Nathan: It was calm. The lines were much longer than I recall them ever being, but this was my first time voting in my new precinct, so I don't have a proxy to judge it by. A lot of women were there, easily a 3:1 ratio. I can tell you that in front of me was a guy who owned a car detailing shop and two elderly women behind me and we all got off to talking about the vitriol of the election and the consensus was that we are just plum tired of the name-calling, the viciousness, the child-like behavior from our elected and the candidates especially. Now, my own biases say that all three were Republicans, and when I got to the ballot, as I was coloring in the box, I really wondered how they voted, because I know, as does anyone else, there's one candidate in particular who loves to pander names and invests in child-like behavior. 

Ruqi: Trump. So, Who did you vote for?

Nathan: Harris

Ruqi: Is that an endorsement? 

Nathan: If you want it to be [laughs]. Listen, ATO [America: The Obliged] is foreboding things based on real-world observation. I don't want our country to fail. I don't want us to need a Derrick Reddon or a Chase Lewis or an Alyssa Cambridge to save us from ourselves. I want compromise back. I want decency back. You know, a lot of folks say the two-party system is broken but look at all that America accomplished in the 225 years that we have had a two party system. We overcame a civil war once before. The industrial revolution. The World Wars. The Great Society. Equal Rights. These things weren't easy, but we respected one another. We respected opinions contrary to our own. That's what I want to get back to. I want a world where a liberal lawyer from Chicago named Chase can fall in love with a conservative hick from a no-name town in Kentucky named Derrick and the world not wince at the odds of that. I want a world where I can voice my support for a candidate on social media and not be deranged by insults on my manhood, masculinity, and get death threats. 

Ruqi: You got death threats? On your TikTok?

Nathan: Absolutely I did. And it has got to stop. Like, I posted all the comments, even the ones placed behind TikTok's pedestrian anti-bullying filter; because I wanted discourse. I wanted both sides to see how ridiculous they are being; obviously one side is much worse than the other, but to see it unfiltered and unmitigated; it was truly disappointing. We have fallen, and we have fallen hard.

Ruqi: So we should hope that there's a little boy named Derrick in Kentucky right now?

Nathan: [laughs] Oh, I don't question that The Obliged actually exist. I draw parallels of them to real world leaders and heroes our nation has already been blessed with. John Lewis. Susan Anthony. Franklin Roosevelt. Abraham Lincoln. Just to name a few. The dream shall never die, someone, somewhere, will save us when we need saved. They will inspire the best of us and we will correct ourselves. I do believe that.