Hello everyone! Today's post is all about my book, World War III: Human or Foe. I'm going to share a summary, characters, my inspiration for this, and the writing process. This book has gone through storyline transformations and three title changes to go with each one. It's a science fiction novel with a possible completed word count of 80,000 words. 

      Summary: Two CIA agents, a former Canadian Securities Director, Three tech experts, a historian, a management consultant, and the President's daughter. In the year 2110, what do they all have in common? This group of unlikely individuals is in a mission to save Exceptionals, humans with special abilities being hunted by people in their respective countries who either want to weaponize or destroy them. It has caused an uproar in almost every country, something close to a civil war inwardly, and a world war III as countries come against each other. The venture does not come without its challenges as each person must face a different kind of danger then they were expecting to face. Despite the turmoil, they find family amongst strangers.

    There are two options for the book cover. Feel free to comment which one is your favorite!

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Here are my characters in the order they appear in the book:

Dominic Atwater is 25 years old. Dominic is a pretty quiet and usually tries to stay neutral on hot topics. He's a historian that knows Latin and studies other cultures in his spare time. His role in this group is to be the translator and to be as invisible as possible. He has a hard time making friends due to his long isolation which built up his social anxiety.

Sienna Michaels is 26 years old. Sienna is a leader. She is proactive, intelligent, and adores her family. In her spare time she enjoys exercising, especially running. Her parents and brother are all fighting overseas and every since college she has been protesting on behalf of the exceptionals. She has a big heart for those disadvantaged and overlooked in society. 

Shannon "Shane" Ingram is 20 years old. Her mother died from a disease when she was four and her father is a Colonel in the U.S. Army. She loves running and has been to several survival camps. Shane never went to regular school, but instead a military boarding school her dad taught in sometimes. Shane acts as a scout for her father when searching for exceptionals in the U.S.

Bethany Francine Blair is 17 years old. She is an only child of the President and First Lady.  Bethany loves shopping, movies, and ice cream. Since she was little, she wanted to become a nurse or veterinarian.  People see her as an airhead (which she kind of is) but sometimes she exaggerates it. She can't expose her parents' secret. 

Julia Styles is 37 years old. Julia is an artist. She loves to sketch just about anything. She went to an art school in Paris, France at age 16. She received a scholarship to attend the conservatory which was great since her parents were not rich. She has two younger brothers, Charles, and Louis. Yes, they are twins named after kings. Julia does not mind that her name is not royal. She hates monarchs. Julia loved art, but she also loved kickboxing and staying up to date with politics. She dreamed of growing up to be a kickboxing, art enthusiast, political official. She was fierce and went against anyone head all. Julia joined the CIA to make a difference and  protect her fellow citizens. Julia knows it's a privilege to help policymakers make decisions on the US national security.  

Donovan Miles is 39 years old. Donovan worked with Julia at the CIA. He's a mystery. Grew up with his grandparents that didn't care much about him, enlisted in the military to have a sense of purpose in his life, then ended up with the CIA. Now he's helping Julia look for Andrei. Donovan is an arrogant, ill-tempered man with little compassion for others.

Maya and Simeon: These twin siblings are 22 years old. They work for Donovan and Julia. They are great with technology and always up to date. Their parents are inventors and learned all of technological advancements from them. Maya is the more outspoken one while Simeon is reserved. Maya always has a smile on her face. She is optimistic, quick on her feet, and intuitive. Simeon is a thinker, more pessimistic, but always ready for a challenge.

Shawn Taylor is 45 years old. He is the former Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He met Andrei during his employment. Shawn has no family and created security in his work. He built up a name and a reputation for himself. He is compassionate with a kind smile.

Alec Rios is 20 years old. He is an excellent hacker employed by Andrei to do some work for him. Alec is very much removed from society and into the computer world, specifically the dark web. Though, much of his work is for positive use. He loves to eat, spend time with his family, and watch movies.

President Jeffrey Blair is in his second term has President of the United States. He has found himself part of Andrei's team while injured. He feels personally responsible for the trauma that come upon the world. Him and his wife sought out a scientist to produce a child, Bethany. President Blair loves Bethany and would give his life for her.

Doctor Anahi Mendez works at a local clinic in Montero, Bolivia. She is the ex-wife of Andrei. Dr. Mendez is courageous and passionate about her work in medicine. It takes up most of her time and she has no gripe about that. Dr. Mendez has been pulled into the team almost unwillingly, but soon agrees to help fight for the exceptionals.

Andrei Nicolae Cretu is 36 years old. His birthday is July 6th  2074. He was born and raised in Romania as an only child and came to the U.S. at age 18. He has a bachelor’s in International relations and a minor in economics. He became interested in journalism after interning at a newspaper place his aunt worked at. He loved the idea of traveling and writing stories about different countries. His parents were both teachers of history and economy. They instilled him the love of politics. He became a travel writer, focusing more on government and economy. He also used photography to help to create scenes during civil wars, poverty, or protests. He started in the U.S., then branched to various places. He was a U.S. diplomat for Romanian for a while. When WW3 began, he covered it in his journalism work. It wasn’t too bad at first. As it heated up he decided to work for the CIA. That is when he met Julia. At first, he had the notion that the US was harboring a dangerous secret and was the enemy, so he began spying on them. Then he started working with the Romanian government. Then he started to piece things together.

Zola Nkweli is the leader of the South African sector for the organization saving exceptionals on behalf of the Safeguard. She is a woman well grounded in culture, headstrong, and lives up to her name which means "Be calm". Zola has a caring and fierce nature about her. She can lead an entire army of soldiers if she so pleased.

*​Photo by Chandler Cruttenden on Unsplash

Happy Saturday! Ever wonder how or why countries split sides when it comes to war? Neither have I until now. In my book, Her War, there are countries bombing and fighting with each other. People aren’t sure what everyone is fighting about though. On the outside, it seems like haphazard crossfire with no purpose or direction, but that’s not true. On the inside, there is direction. A clear distinction between one side and the other, because there is something the others have that the other side wants. So, what makes a country an ally to another country? Do they sign an agreement paper stating that they have each other’s back?

There are several reasons why a country might ally with one country and not another. It could be because of their cultures or geography. Most of time countries that stick together have common interests and morals. Something that binds them to each other and the goals they have. For example, in World War one, the Axis alliance- or Central Powers- aligned with each other because in their respective areas, they had a chance to be the “superpower”. “The Axis partners had two common interests: 1) territorial expansion and foundation of empires based on military conquest and the overthrow of the post-World War I international order; and 2) the destruction or neutralization of Soviet Communism”. Holocaust Encyclopedia. It’s not about friendships or who likes who, but how can this country help me achieve what I want. Also, sometimes countries ally together because they might need them in the future! If a country helps another one with a war, in the future, that country will return the favor.

In my story, it’s not about politics, territory, or philosophy. It’s all about what one side has that the other wants. These countries are banding together, not because they like each other, but to safeguard something from the other side. I haven’t given them names yet. The countries I chose to be on the “good side” are all technologically advanced, and sort of spread out in the world. There’s a group in every continent, but that means their enemies also border them. That is the real challenge. How will they move their secret without the opposing side knowing and where do they hide it?

Next Wednesday the topic is about the culture in Madagascar. ​