Can a novel predict our nightmare?

10 years ago, my crime thriller The Other Oregon portrayed a rural community duped by a manipulative con man preaching right-wing extremism.

This was supposed to be a different kind of post, but here we are. We are currently enduring a soft coup perpetrated by an oligarchical, Christian-nationalist kleptocracy that betrays the ideals this country was built on and that our people have fought so hard and died for.

Ten years ago this spring, my novel The Other Oregon: A Thriller was first published.

In The Other Oregon, a Portland activist ventures into a rural part of my state to face a threat from his past. The story follows Greg Simmons, an advocate for the Cascadia movement, who becomes an unlikely informant for the FBI. Tasked with investigating a dangerous militia group in and around the town of fictional Pineburg, Greg must confront his estranged friend, Donny Wilkie, and the dark secret they share.

The only problem is, Donny’s a charismatic but narcissistic swindler obsessed with power and with getting back at a world that rarely gave him love or a chance. He’s a dangerous mix of charm and menace and has many in town believing that he’s their potential savior.

As published in 2015 (left) and in 2023 (right)

Donny’s rise to power in remote Pineburg is built on exploiting the fears and frustrations of people who feel abandoned by the government. Through fiery speeches about secession, anti-government conspiracies, and a return to a simpler America, Donny weaponizes nostalgia and resentment to rally his followers—despite not truly believing in his own rhetoric.

Looking back now, I can see how this mirrors today’s right-wing leaders and influencers harnessing social media and populist messaging to amplify distrust in institutions, promising to “take back” America while serving their own agendas. Just as Donny’s followers are seduced by promises of restoring lost freedoms, modern extremist groups have tapped into economic anxiety and cultural fear to legitimize their cause.

This all said, I was really just writing a crime thriller that used all of the above as setting. For those seeking the whole truth, talented, hard-working journalists such as Leah Sottile, insightful historians of the Oregon and US right like Seth Cotlar, and gritty procedural dramatizations such as the recent movie The Order lay bare the longstanding right-wing threat.

It pains me to say it

Before the election, I’d planned to write this post simply about storytelling and story mechanics, and about how readers either loved or hated the novel. I’ll be brutally honest: More readers disliked it compared to my other books.

In other words, I was going to leave the politics out of it. But as I look back, I see that some of the reasons some readers hated it might well have to do with what the book was predicting.

Some readers have solid reasons for disliking the story. I’ll admit I tried out some things that don’t work for everyone. I’d first adapted the story from a screenplay I wrote that did well in awards contests and was later optioned, so I kept the sparse style in the spirit of noir crime fiction.

When The Other Oregon was first published, it didn’t find much of an audience (partially for reasons I’ll explore another time). But some readers who found it loved it. One review called it “a fast-paced historical thriller that will linger in the mind and memory long after the novel is finished and set back upon the shelf.”

So far, so good. But then came other reviews.

Some focused their takes on the storytelling—they simply didn’t like the main character, for example, or the way I told the story. Fair enough. But others did not like that I called out a political divide. Some thought I was taking cheap shots at the red parts of my state.

I wasn’t trying to be political. I was telling it like I saw it while exploring conflicting mindsets in the service of crime fiction.

Then again, I also believe that old adage: “If you’re trying to please everyone, you’re doing something wrong.”

On the road researching The Other Oregon

It can and is happening here

Looking back, I remember thinking I was describing angry mindsets that, while existing in the Pacific Northwest for a long time, were likely dying out and soon. And in my story (spoiler alert), my Donny doesn’t get away with it.

It all seems so quaint if not naive now.

Less than a year later, as I wrote in an early 2016 post, Ammon Bundy and his criminal right-wing militants occupied Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, not to mention historically Paiute Tribe land.

And we know who first got elected later that same year.

By 2020, we had violent protests against lifesaving COVID-19 restrictions, and an armed plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer orchestrated by members of the Wolverine Watchmen militia.

And, of course, we have the infamous events of January 6, 2021, when right-wing groups, including militias like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, violently stormed and raided the US Capitol itself. They attacked the cops they profess to back so much. They killed a Capitol Police officer and injured many more, and would do it all over again. And on and on.

Jump to early 2025, and these antidemocratic forces who claim to be patriotic and put “America First” think they are winning. They were pardoned by their Dear Leader, after all. But they are also getting fooled and exploited by the extreme oligarchs, heartless conmen, grievance mongers, and conniving lackeys who want to squeeze all the profit, power, and blood out of America that they can inhale—before leaving us to rebuild it all.

We were never reaching the end of a divide. It seems we are just getting started. So to those who thought I was taking cheap shots:

Wake the hell up, people.

We welcome you to join the fight once you realize that you too are getting conned.

This book could use some love

In 2023, my current publisher quietly rereleased The Other Oregon with a great new cover. Maybe it’s improved with age? Maybe not. But I invite you to see for yourself.

If you like it, please give it a review or rating at your favorite online book retailer such as Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, or other review-based sites.

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I hope you’re doing well. Hang in there. Let’s close things out with a little tune that’s truer than ever from a guy who really did predict the future:

Steve