Carl and his sister getting back together again seemed to be an important point for a lot of readers, and it was going to happen at some point. However, for those readers who want them to be a lovey-dovey family again, that may not be realistic. Suzie has a new life halfway across the country, and the intervening years have taken a toll on them. Some things get damaged when this happens.
Sorry that Chapter 99 seemed short. Suzie has been a popular character in the story, and lots of people wanted her to be brought back more fully. I could have written a lot more about how the four adults spent days talking about things. Somehow that just didn’t seem right to me. Suzie is back in Carl’s life, but will she ever be a major part again? We’ll see her some more in the future, but a quick chapter was about all I could come up with.
In Chapter 100 the campaign starts getting underway. I repeat my thank-you’s to my various editors, who gave me a lot of pointers on running for office. No way in the world would I ever want to do this! Just a note on some useful source material. Hardball by Chris Matthews focuses on the Machiavellian methods used to make it into office and then stay there. It reads like a primer on getting things done in Washington, a touch boring at times, but very useful. Another interesting read is The Party Is Over by Mike Lofgren, on the effect money and campaign contributions have had on Congress. Lofgren is more than a little preachy on the Republicans and the Tea Party but doesn’t have much use for the Democrats either.
I had an interesting email which basically asked, “How can you write about people and use their names without being sued by them?” For example, I am discussing in a fictional setting meetings with prominent public figures such as Clinton, Bush, and Gingrich. For those who don’t already know the answer, in 1988 the Supreme Court ruled in Hustler Magazine v. Falwell that public figures can’t sue for defamation unless there is ‘actual malice.’ (This is a gross simplification, of course.) The key phrase here is ‘public figure’. Generally this is taken to mean just about any politician, performer, or other well-known person. In Carl’s case, as a simple businessman, no matter how wealthy, he would probably not be considered a public figure, but once he began writing his books and appearing on television and giving speeches, he would be certainly considered a public figure. For the sake of our story, this is how I can write fiction about various famous people but could get in serious trouble writing about my personal accountant, who sure ain’t a public figure!