Story Status: eBook and Paperback Completed.

The story of an American patriot facing the changing world around him. A former and sometime Navy SEAL, Acorn Riddle’s way of life is threatened from all corners. And he must decide whether to fight for the life he loves, or to accept the changes falling upon him and American society at large.

From the official description:

Acorn Riddle, a former and sometime Navy Seal, wishes he could live in a simpler time, back when handshakes weren’t too dangerous. Back when they meant something.

But that’s not America anymore.

Set in the near-future, The Last American explores the intersections of AI and social engineering and paints a picture of the challenges we will likely face. The technologies and capabilities are ripped from the headlines and presented in a plausible way from the perspective of a romantic trapped in the present, and dreaming of the past.

This is not your grandfather’s America, but it’s not so far from where you live now.

Background

I started writing this at the beginning of the Pandemic, as we were all trying to figure out what it was. I didn’t know, at the time, how the COVID/SARS virus and subsequent variants would impact the world. But that’s part of what I imagined.

Most of what I wrote in this story is plausible, though maybe not in the timeframe I laid out. But then again, maybe so. It is set between 2028 and 2029, which seems to be about the outer limit for the kind of nostalgic longing the protagonist experiences. Depending on what happens next.