Demon for President!

Today, November 5, 2024, is a very special and strange day, at least in the United States, where I live. The current election and division between the Republicans and Democrats really inspired me to pay attention during the first republican debate, last year.

I've never voted, since politics has always literally given me a splitting headache, because there's too many lies to really uncover the truth. Cynically, I sometimes wonder if there's any truth to be found, at all.

Still, I wasn't paying attention to the politics, but rather to the behavior of political candidates, because I'd had a bizarre, fun and timely idea for a novel: what would happen if a demon ran for President of the United States?

So, I watched and continually found material that could be twisted into political satire, all the while unsure if I had the skill to make the novel work. I got it published in June, just in time for the current election to really heat up.

With voting happening today, I've been thinking about that novel, which is titled Demon for President!

I ran the election and potential twists through my head many times during the writing process, but never did I expect so many parallels between fiction and the real world.

In my novel, the demonic villain, Otto Vogerath, was shot at by a sniper while cutting the ribbon for a store. On July 13, Former President Trump became the target of a sniper, an event that chilled me to the bone, because reality became eerily like something I'd written.

For another example, I wrote about the President bowing out of the election to make way for another candidate, so it really caught my attention when that happened!

There are other parallels, but none so shocking as those two, or which I would care to discuss, because I'm not here to draw connections between real people and fictional characters that really aren't connected.

I wrote the novel early this year and published it in June, before these events took place, but all I can think is this: art imitates life and life imitates art. There is truth to that old adage, after all.

I found the experience of writing political satire to be fun, educational and even intellectually stimulating, but at the same time, it made me nervous to see my fiction come true in such unsettling ways. I can't say I found that part of the experience enjoyable, which may be why I haven't discussed this novel as much as others.

I meant it all in fun, as a way to point out how silly and funny politicians can be, but I think I cut this piece too close to reality. It surprises me, the things I see without comprehending, which can so easily become a part of my work.

So much of my writing process is a subconscious black box, which I don't even pretend to understand, a gift that must be fed for me to retain it, but which sometimes produces things that leave me speechless for the most unusual reasons.

I'm not sure I can take any more parallels with my novel, but hopefully, our next president won't open a portal to Hell, so endless legions of demons can march forth to conquer the Earth. That would be one bit of straw too many for this particular camel.

Still, once the dust of this election clears, why not read about what could have been, if we'd gotten a Demon for President?

Tags: ashen-blades, writing