Where did I get the idea for Lion’s Head Deception? I’m not sure where the ideas for my first three novels came from, but in a recent interview when I was asked about the inspiration for my novel Lion’s Head Deception I was able to answer. The idea came to me watching images of rioting on the television 
news and reading about it in the newspapers.
Let me ask you to use your imagination. Visualize if you will, establishing an emergency police force of over 10,000 additional uniformed officers drawn from surrounding police services. Add 1,000 security officers from other agencies and several military units. Think about it happening all in preparation for a conference of global leaders in your city. Imagine the government drawing lines on a map to outline an area with checkpoints to monitor who enters and leaves.
Picture a scenario where people would be issued identity cards to determine who belonged and would be allowed to pass the checkpoints.
What if you learned that before it was over more than a billion dollars would be spent to head off rioting and trouble makers, and in spite of those preparations, destructive rioting took place when troublemakers infiltrated crowds of peaceful protesters? What if the police finally waded into the mobs they were wearing black tape over their shields to prevent identification.
That couldn’t happen, you say?
The story above described actual events that occurred in a major North American city? The G-20 Economic Conference took place in a Canadian city in 2010 but might it happen in any city?
The seed for Lion’s Head Deception was planted as I read about the planning, the riots, and the follow-up of that event.
My novel isn’t about what happened at that G-20 conference. The events during that event only stimulated my thinking. From that came a story where I could examine the motives of a group of men who took it upon themselves to create a matrix, a way of determining those who somehow didn’t fit in. Wouldn’t the city be a better place if the undesirable people were made to ‘disappear?’
It’s a story as old as social engineering, even before we knew to call it that.
In my story the conspirators planned to organize another conference, similar to the real one described above, and use the occasion to infiltrate the city with a small army of thugs, causing panic and destruction, and lead to a point where people would do anything to feel safe again.
I thought about evil hiding behind a scrim of normalcy. I thought about ordinary people, not superheroes because Lion’s Head Deception is about average people who have to make a choice. When they absorb the true nature of the evil they face, will they be able to act?
I was told by a reader the story had him on the edge, saying it was like something he might read in the news. I hope you will experience the same feeling when you meet investigative blogger Matt Tremain and let him tell you the story.
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Chuck Waldron’s latest novel, Lion’s Head Deception, is a dystopian story about an investigative blogger who uncovers more than he ever imagines…and has no idea what to do with his discovery.
An investigative blogger uncovers a sinister conspiracy, a billionaire’s plan backed by select government officials, designed to exterminate citizens who do not live up to a predetermined screening matrix; under the guise of rioting and a destabilized city, the plan is implemented and the blogger fights not only to discover and reveal the truth, but to survive.
“I grew up,” Chuck said, “listening to my grandfather, an Ozark Mountain story teller, spinning tales of the caves on his farm, describing them as hiding places once used by the Jesse & Frank James’ gang. It didn’t matter if the stories were true or not. Those legends set fire to my imagination, creating images that emerged slowly over the years, finally igniting as my short stories and novels.”
Now, thirty-plus short stories and three novels later, ideas keep coming, with more novels under development. Do they share anything in common? Each has its own unique voice and tale to tell, yet, at their heart, his stories tell about the human condition – the good, the bad and the ugly.
As Chuck tells it, “stored images that echo in my writing include train whistles in the night, Norman Rockwell childhood scenes, U.S. Army memories, blue collar jobs, university, a professional career, and finally retirement. Many of my images are drawn from this pool of memories: places visited, sights seen, and people met. The rest I fill in with my imagination: dreams of places yet to be visited, sights yet to be seen, and people yet to meet.”
His literary roots were planted in the American Midwest and thrived when transplanted to the rich, cultural soil of Ontario. He and his wife, Suzanne, are now warmed by the sun on Florida’s Treasure Coast.
His latest book is Lion’s Head Deception.
Visit his website at www.WriteByMeBooks.com.
The Story Behind the Book 