Not that it fazes me.
The books I most enjoy reading have been undertaken for reasons as far from commerce as it is possible to get. With Cowachunga, for better or worse, I am hewing even closer to what the characters demand than with Arisugawa Park. Often, what Kyle & Dylan say or think makes me uncomfortable––yet is in line with what I believe they actually would say or think, as imperfect 21st century humans.
On one level, the Cowachunga plot is based on external drivers & incidents that travelers have gifted me. If the setting and macro-level incidents are largely accidental, the way it is filled in is not. Hard tilling in virgin soil is the only way to get at an original plot.
Stubborn adherence to what I consider to be true in an era of doxxing, memes, flame wars, and assorted PC encroachments. If the individual imagination is subsumed, the masses have won. Letting the Internet do the heavy lifting. George Orwell eat your heart out.
Damon Shulenberger
#endurancewriter