The Rocheport Saga

Pipe Smoking in Fiction

While pipe smoking is not what it used to be, as is smoking tobacco in general, fictional pipe smokers (and their creators) abound.

There’s something about a pipe that conveys an image cigarettes, cigars, and not smoking simply doesn’t.

The Pipe Smoker

The pipe smoker is seen as a thinking man. A man of intelligence (Einstein was a pipe smoker). The pipe smoking man is not a rush about. His approach to problem solving is more measured and thought out.

Compared to the cigar and cigarette smoker, and also the non-smoker, the pipe smoker exudes the best qualities of a man.

The greatest generation were in large part pipe smokers. Back when I was a kid, there were an estimated 30 million pipe smokers. Today that number has dwindled to 3 million. And men are in a crisis, being assaulted left and right by extreme feminism. Maybe men should man up and go back to pipe smoking. It is a thought.

Fictional Pipe Smokers

But on to fictional pipe smokers and their creators, which is the subject of today’s post.

Sherlock Holmes

Probably the most iconic of fictional pipe smokers is Sherlock Holmes. He was an inveterate pipe smoker. The Persian slipper filled with his shag cut tobacco. The dottle he collected to be smoked first thing in the morning (I have to say here, yuck!). And of course, the famous three–pipe problem (nicotine stimulates thinking).

Philip Marlowe

Philip Marlowe smoked a pipe, as did his creator Raymond Chandler. And Marlowe is one of the most iconic of hardboiled detectives. He was also a rather introspective man. Something that is part and parcel of being a pipe smoker.

Hobbits

Hobbits are known for their love of pipeweed, as well as their creator J.R.R. Tolkien. And did you ever notice that Tolkien’s world is largely a man’s world? Pipe smoking and the war against evil. Must be a man thing.

Huck Finn

Mark Twain loved smoking. For him, the pipe and the cigar were symbols of rebellion against the constraints of an oppressive and unfair society. Huck Finn is an iconoclast; and through him, Twain attacks the social conventions and repression of his day. And Huck Finn smoked a pipe.

My Fictional Pipe Smokers

In my own writing, most of my main characters smoke a pipe. Why? Because a man who smokes a pipe is a thinking man. A man who approaches life calmly and rationally.

A pipe smoker is a meditative man. A man who contemplates and ponders the deep things of life.

Bill Arthur

Bill Arthur is such a man. He is the main character in my post-apocalyptic series The Rocheport Saga.

Bill’s main goal is to use the knowledge we already have to prevent humanity from slipping back into the dark ages. He is an armchair philosopher, who reluctantly becomes a leader.

Early on, Bill smokes Briggs Pipe Mixture: “When a feller needs a friend.” Because being the leader is often a lonely job. A pipe can however bring solace to a troubled soul. A pipe is sometimes a man’s best friend.

Harry Wright

Justinia Wright may smoke cigars at a rate to rival Sir Winston Churchill’s daily consumption, but her brother Harry is an occasional pipe smoker. He may not be the brains behind the detective agency, but he is the one who keeps it running.

Harry Thurgood

Harry Thurgood, the coffee shop owner in Magnolia Bluff, Texas, smokes a pipe. And I believe he’s the only smoker amongst the main characters in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series.

He is a man with a secret life that he wants to keep a secret. But he’s also a man who enjoys the finer things in life. And the pipe can make a man look very distinguished.

Dr. Rafe Bardon

Pierce Mostyn doesn’t smoke. But his boss, Dr. Rafe Bardon is a pipe smoker. Bardon is the general behind the lines directing the troops who will save the world from Cthulhu and his ilk.

For Myself

For myself, the creator of fictional heroes and heroines, I enjoy my pipe. Sitting out in the garage, with a mug of tea and my pipe, I contemplate life and spin yarns in my head. Sometimes, though, I just do nothing. After all, when one has the two best leaves on the planet, tea and tobacco, what more does one want? That is pure contentment.

The Brotherhood of the Pipe

The Brotherhood of the Pipe, both in fiction and the real world, is still alive and well.

In my writing, as in Twain’s, pipe smoking is part of my rebellion against those elements of our government and our society that would squash our liberty because they think they know what’s best for us.

Huck Finn thumbed his nose at all the do-gooders who would cheat us and take away our freedom.

Huck smoked corn cob pipe. And I do, too.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes

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Horses After The Apocalypse

Given the fact that horses are no longer a part of daily American life — and haven’t been for some 90 years — I’m always amazed at the common use of horses in many post-apocalyptic books, movies, and TV shows.

In actuality, most of us have little to no knowledge of horses. We are as familiar with horses as we are with the cows that give us milk and cheese. And cows are a lot more important to us than horses.

Urban People

We are an urban people. Heck, most of us don’t even know how our cars work, never mind our computers and smart phones. And those things we use every day.

We are technology users, but most of us know little about how that technology works. What makes any writer think we would be able to learn en masse about horses and horse culture overnight? It’s totally unrealistic.

Without a doubt, the writer of such post-apocalyptic scenarios has probably never had anything to do with horses. And not understanding how cars work, resorts to an even more unlikely scenario: people using horses as they used to use cars.

This is on my mind because I started reading a post-apocalyptic novel where horses, as usual, feature prominently. Everyone knows how to ride them, without ever having ridden one prior to the apocalypse. That was an immediate put off, and I quit reading the book.

The vast majority of us know nothing of horses, other than what we see on TV or read about in books. And oftentimes, the picture presented isn’t anywhere near accurate. Horses running at full gallop for long periods of time, for example. Impossible.

Horses

The US horse population reached its high of 20 million in 1915. Today, the number is much less. And their use very much restricted. Mostly, they are pets for the rich. Think about it, when was the last time you rode to work in a horse-drawn carriage? When was the last time you even touched a horse?

Today, the US horse population numbers somewhere between 1.9 million and 9 million animals, all depending on how you count them. Perhaps the most accurate number is 7.24 million as of 2016, which is some six years ago. And that number was down from 9.22 million in 2003. The number of animals may even be less than that today, in 2022.

Regardless of the number of animals, how many of us actually know anything about how to use and care for a horse? I’d wager darn few. Probably not a single person in any average neighborhood.

The last time I was on a horse was 64 years ago when I was in kindergarten. And I only sat on the horse I didn’t really ride it. Somebody walked the horse around a small enclosed circular track.

The last time I saw a horse up close in real life was perhaps 6 to 8 years ago when 2 mounted Minneapolis police officers rode past me on Nicollet Mall.

I know more about goldfish and cats than I do about horses. In fact, I know more about the theory of how rockets work than I know about the practical care needed for a horse.

What we’ll actually use

Which is why Bill Arthur, the hero of my Rocheport Saga, said horses weren’t the answer. We know about cars and trucks. They are the answer.

In any post-apocalyptic world, transportation will be achieved by cars and trucks — not horses.

But in such a post-apocalyptic world, where there is no gasoline or diesel fuel, and no re-charging stations, what will power our cars?

The answer is actually simple: steam and wood gas.

It is fairly easy to convert a diesel engine to run on steam. After conversion, all you need to add is a firebox or burner and the boiler. The great advantage of a steam engine is that it can use just about anything for fuel.

A wood gasifier is fairly easy to construct. It converts wood to burnable gas that can be used in a gasoline engine. Wood gasifiers were in fact used during the Second World War on the domestic front to provide fuel for tractors, cars, and buses.

We know how to drive cars. We don’t know how to ride horses. After the apocalypse, I’m betting we’ll be driving cars — not riding horses.

Another advantage of cars, either steam-powered or wood-gas powered, is that you don’t have to clean up any road apples.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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Beyond the Sea

This past Friday was the official launch of Beyond the Sea: Stories from the Underground.

The concept was simple: a picture of a boat beached on a spit of sand jutting out into a lake, or a bay, or maybe the sea. Then add the imaginations of a dozen authors. And what do you get? A superbly satisfying collection of short stories.

I’m proud to be one of the 12 Underground Authors contributing to this incredible collection of tales. My story “The Boat”, is my first return trip to the post-apocalyptic world of The Rocheport Saga in 4 years. I took the opportunity to coax out of Bill Arthur a story that took place before The Morning Star, which is Book 1 of the series.

Amazon reviewer J.S. wrote of “The Boat”:

C.W. Hawes wrote a compelling short story that I didn’t want to come to an end. His words came alive and I joined in with the characters in a hair-raising survival journey in a post-apocalyptic world. Great world-building and great writing!

I’m pleased and humbled by that comment. And very glad I wasn’t a drag on the group effort! 🙂

As a reader, I was impressed with the overall quality of the stories. As can’t be helped, some were more appealing to me than others. That’s just how it is in an anthology. Not everything will please everybody. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.

Nevertheless, the overall quality is high, and that should please any reader. I’m confident everyone will find a story they’ll fall in love with.

My personal favorites, the ones that especially caught my eye, were “Hemingway’s Boat” by Caleb Pirtle III, “The Encounter” by Ronald E Yates, and “Roses for Grant” by Richard Schwindt.

Pirtle’s story is a superb example of his ability to capture a time and place, people it with true to life characters, throw in a bit of mystery and romance, and come up with a story that grabs you and doesn’t let go. In the short time that I’ve known him, he’s become one of my favorite authors.

I enjoy a good science fiction yarn, and Ron Yates has uncorked a real goodie in “The Encounter”. And when it’s coupled with a touch of slowburn terror, it’s a keeper. His knowledge of Southeast Asia and history adds a strong sense of place and color to the tale.

Richard Schwindt, as readers of this blog know, is one of my favorite contemporary writers. I think I’d buy his grocery lists. His story, “Roses for Grant”, is a beautiful slice-of-life tale about an older middle-aged couple. Their memories and the mission they are on. In some ways, it reminded me of Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” in that the dialogue essentially carries the story. No narrator gets in the way of the couple on whom we are listening in.

Having written the above, I want to emphasize that there is something for everyone in Beyond the Sea — and what are my favorites may not be yours. Pick up a copy and see for yourself.

We the authors are donating the proceeds to Team Rubicon. A worthy organization. Check them out on their website.

You can pick up a copy of Beyond the Sea at Amazon. And when you do, you benefit yourself and the disaster relief efforts of Team Rubicon.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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Rational Anarchism

Lately I’ve been reading post-apocalyptic literature (among other things). Reading how other writers envision the future when humanity has a chance to start over is always interesting, for it reveals how these writers see themselves and their fellows.

One of my first published books was The Morning Star, the first book in The Rocheport Saga. The Saga is the autobiography, as it were, of Bill Arthur, who is a survivor of an unknown plague that wiped out most of earth’s human population. He begins to gather together other survivors in an attempt to reboot civilization. But not the old one that died, a new one that is better.

Much of Bill’s political philosophy is drawn from libertarian writings. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress being one. So I thought I’d re-post one of my writings from the very early days of this blog. Let’s look once again at Rational Anarchism. Enjoy!

Nearly fifty years ago, a writer by the name of Robert A Heinlein wrote and got published a book entitled, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. One of the principal characters in the novel is Professor Bernardo de la Paz, who describes himself as a “Rational Anarchist”.

What is a Rational Anarchist? Let’s take a look, because the words rational and anarchy seem to be contradictory. A Rational Anarchist:

- Believes the state, society, and government are concepts which do not exist apart from the physical acts of self-answerable individuals.
- Believes blame, guilt, responsibility, and answerability makes it impossible for a person to shift, share, or distribute blame.
- Being rational, the rational anarchist understands not everyone shares his or her views; yet, he or she strives to live perfectly in an imperfect world; completely aware he or she is not capable of achieving perfection.
- Accepts all rules society deems necessary to secure its freedom and liberty.
- Is free no matter what the rules are in his or her society. If the rules are tolerable, he or she will tolerate them. If not, the rational anarchist will break them.
- Is free because the rational anarchist knows only he or she is morally responsible for everything he or she does.

Why do I bring this up? Because Bill Arthur in The Rocheport Saga tries to create a new world along similar lines. He begins as an anarchistic libertarian, seeking on a societal level to create the ultimate environment for freedom. Eventually he realizes people are people. Even after a calamity which wipes out 98 out of every 100 people, those who survive haven’t essentially changed. The survivors are no different than they were before they were survivors. People want freedom, but actually crave security and will sacrifice freedom for security every time they feel insecure.

In the end, Bill Arthur becomes a Rational Anarchist. He concludes the Stoics were right over 2,000 years ago: all we can ultimately do is control ourselves.

Tell me what you think about freedom and security. Is Bill Arthur right?

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Independence

Tomorrow, we in the US, celebrate our independence from Britain. The casting aside of our colonial status to take the first steps as a union of 13 sovereign states.

Almost no one thinks of the 50 states today as sovereign, nor do we think of the US as a union of sovereign states. That is, though, in theory, what the United States of America really is.

President Lincoln and the War Between the States went a long way towards setting us on the road to nationalism, where we now think of ourselves as Americans, and not Virginians, Ohioans, or Minnesotans.

In effect, the states have been reduced to quasi-province status. One of the reasons, for example, why many people want to do away with the Electoral College. These people do not see us as a union of states, merely one country.

Ironically, Canada is far more a “federal” union than is the US. Although even there the drive towards a strong central government is alive and well.

I stumbled on to writing post-apocalyptic fiction by accident. An intriguing first line (“Today I killed a man and a woman.”) popped into my head one day and 2000+ pages later I had a “novel”.

The Rocheport Saga, currently at seven volumes, is basically one long novel I’ve broken up into convenient reads.

With the seventh book, Take to the Sky, the series is at a convenient pause point and on hiatus while I work on other things. Oh, to have a novel factory like Alexandre Dumas!

The narrator of The Rocheport Saga, Bill Arthur, is an intellectual prepper, an armchair philosopher, and a reluctant leader. As one reviewer put it (whose review Amazon has taken down for some reason — boy, oh boy, Amazon is not in my good books): Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

In the story, America (and the world) is a lawless ruin in the wake of the apocalyptic event. Bill’s dream is to build a new America — preserving the best of the old, and getting rid of the worst.

So what does that mean? For Bill, who is politically a libertarian, that means the promotion of the values that made America a great country: love of freedom, respect for the individual, determined self-reliance, and pride in being frugal.

What Bill Arthur sees as the great cancer that was rotting out the old America is: a sense of entitlement, the desire for security over freedom, lack of respect for the individual, the quest for money and a lavish and extravagant lifestyle, and a complete disregard for the Golden Rule.

The wonderful thing about fiction is that the author constructs his own world, and then invites the reader to share that world with him.

The world of The Rocheport Saga is a hard world, a difficult world. It is also a world of hope. Hope in those positive values that made the United States a great country. Values that have nothing to do with big government and the growing nanny state, which eviscerates freedom, self-reliance, respect for self and others, and gives in return a stultifying uniformity, constant surveillance for our “protection”, and a sense of hopelessness.

George Orwell in 1984 captured the horror that is all-powerful government. We must remember the Soviet Union regularly conducted elections in their sham democracy. And the 1936 constitution provided equal rights to all regardless of sex, race, or ethnicity. Too bad the interpretation and practice of said rights was lacking. Stalin killed far more citizens of the USSR, than Hitler killed of all countries in his concentration camps.

Big government is no guarantor of rights. Big government is only concerned about the submission of the people to the will of the state, irrespective of any promised rights.

That is what the Patriots were fighting against. The King’s trampling of the people’s rights in favor of submission to the will of the state.

All of my books, to one degree or another, promote love of freedom, respect for the individual, a determined self-reliance, and a pride in not being wasteful.

I don’t sell many books, readership is tiny (to the extent I can determine that), I don’t get many reviews, and virtually no one writes to me who has read my books.

For many writers that would be discouraging, and an indication that perhaps they should quit, and sometimes I feel that way myself. When I do, I remind myself that today I have the freedom to self-publish my work and not be thought a loser for doing so. That wasn’t the case in the publishing world for most of my life. Today I can live my dream, and no editor can say otherwise.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to make my living writing fiction. I’m not there. Yet. And I might never get there. But I do have the freedom to give it a shot. And as long as I am breathing I will.

Grandma Moses achieved fame in her twilight years for her art. Helen Hooven Santmyer was 88 when “…And Ladies of the Club” hit it big.

I don’t want to wait that long, but, as the saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait”.

The United States of America is a fabulous land. Fifty fabulous lands in actuality. I’m glad I live here and I’m glad I’m able to self-publish my books and set off on the quest to find my readers. They may not be legion, but I know they’re out there.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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The Rocheport Saga

The Rocheport Saga is part philosophy, part family saga, part satire, part libertarian thought, part action/adventure novel, and all post-apocalyptic speculation. It is my contribution to the cozy catastrophe sub-genre of post-apocalyptic fiction.

The story structure is that of one of my favorite forms: the epistolary novel. The story is told by means of diary entries from a man named Bill Arthur, with occasional diary entries from other characters.

Bill’s diary begins eight months after the cataclysm that kills off most of humanity, the event he simply calls “That Day”. The first sentence he writes is “Today I killed a man and a woman.” He follows that sentence with a brief explanation of what life is like in the new world where everyone is faced with a daily struggle to survive and where some do not make it.

Today I killed a man and a woman. I didn’t want to, but I had no choice. It was me or them. This is how it is now. How it has been for not quite eight months. Everyone on his or her own. The quick or the dead. It wasn’t how it used to be, though. We complained about the old days. Now anyone who remains would do anything to return to even the worst of the old days. But they are gone and will not return for a very long time. Maybe never.

The focus in the cozy catastrophe is on building a better world out of the ashes of the old one. And The Rocheport Saga is no different.

There is no focus on and very little discussion of the disaster. It happened. It was horrible. And now we must move on. The milk is spilt. No sense crying over it.

And Bill Arthur doesn’t. His quest is to preserve as much knowledge as possible and bring the Twenty-first Century back on line as soon as possible.

Of course no story, even one that is essentially “plotless”, can survive without conflict, and Bill has plenty of conflict in Rocheport. All the way from the silly and inane to the deadly serious and life threatening.

Next week we’ll take a look at the books published thus far in the series and provide a synopsis of each.

Until then, happy reading!

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