This post attempts to answer the most common questions and answers about The Kidd Incident and the Modern Warfare Series.
Q: What is The Kidd Incident?
A: The Kidd Incident (https://thekiddincident.com) is a speculative fiction work. It was originally developed as a weekly serial. The Kidd Incident is now complete and is Book 1 of the larger Modern Warfare series.
Q: Is The Kidd Incident available in book format?
A: Yes, The Kidd Incident is now available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/2ztATVq
Q: If The Kidd Incident is Book 1, is there a Book 2 or 3?
A: Yes. Book 2: The Sonoran Incursion is currently being published on https://thekiddincident.com as a weekly serial just like the original The Kidd Incident.
Q: Why isn’t Book 1 available for free any longer?
A: Because Book 1 is now available as a full length novel, we have taken the web version down. The version on Amazon has been edited by a professional editor and contains all the fixes and updates suggested by the community. We are using the revenue from book sales to fund this web site and this allows us to run the web site ad free.
Q: What inspired you to write The Kidd Incident?
A: I have been a very active member of Quora over the last couple of years. As part of that, I have been reading and writing answers about a possible military conflict in the Pacific between the USA and China. I felt that most of the answers on Quora were wrong and based on false assumptions. I attempted to do some of my own research and started writing my own answers. I received enough positive responses to those answers that it inspired me to write a fictional story revolving around this scenario.
Q: This feels like a Clancy novel, is that intentional?
A: Yes, in some ways that’s true. Specifically, I have always loved Red Storm Rising and this book is an homage to Clancy and Red Storm Rising. That book was inspired by war gaming in a similar manner to the way this work was inspired by Quora debates.
Q: Do you have any actual military experience?
A: No. My Grandfather was in the Navy and served in the Pacific in the ’40s and ’50s. My mother grew up on Guam and the Philippines, living on Navy bases. My cousin was an elevator operator on the Enterprise and my uncle was a Tech Sargent in the USAF. I grew up with stories of these places in those times but I have never served in the military. I have attempted to portray the characters and settings accurately but I am sure that there are many mistakes in the work.
Q: I am a veteran and I see some factual errors in the work. Are you interested in my feedback?
A: Hell yes!! I have gotten tons of feedback from veterans already who have set me straight on several parts of the book. Everything that is correct about the book is from them. Everything that is wrong is from me. Please don’t hesitate to give feedback!! I try to answer every piece of feedback and I often edit chapters based on feedback from vets.
Q: Where is the rest?
A: Working on it! I am intentionally publishing this work as it is written. Getting feedback on the work inspires me to write more. Before writing The Kidd Incident, I started and abandoned four different novels. It is the support of the community for The Kidd Incident that gives me motivation to continue.
Q: Is this work factually correct?
A: No, probably not. I have based the work on information from public sources. These sources are probably wrong in many places. Also, I don’t know anything about classified systems and I don’t want to know. This is a work of speculative fiction so the goal is to be “plausible” but not “documentary quality accurate.” There are several classified systems in the work that are completely made up.
Q: Is this based on actual events or people?
A: No, the work is entirely fictional but it is set in a real setting with a realistic set of strategies, tactics and weapons. Several of the events in the work are based on actual events. For example, I was actually arrested on time at Beale Air Force Base when I was a contractor to the USAF. There are several other events inspired by stories told to me by friends and relatives.
Q: How come my comments don’t show up on your web site?
A: I have the site set to moderate all posts. Since I have a full time job, it can take me a couple of days to update the moderated comments. Feel free to give me pointers in the comments section. If you ask me not to post the comment, I won’t. I sometimes edit the comments for brevity or clarity, but all the comments shown on the site are real comments from readers.
Q: Hey, you didn’t make the change I suggested! Why not?
A: Sometimes, the story is being told in a certain way for a reason. Sometimes I get a detail wrong on purpose or I just like the “wrong” way better than the “right” way. Since this is fiction and I’m telling a story the most important thing to me is that the story is enjoyable. There will most likely be a little bending of the truth here and there, just like any good story. 90% of the time I just accept factual corrections and make the change verbatim. However, a few times I have allowed things to remain. Another reason is that I have often gotten contradictory advice from serving members of the armed forces. So, if there are two people who seem authoritative I will usually pick the version that works best for the story.
Q: How long will it take you to respond to a comment on the site?
A: That depends on what else I’m doing. Please keep those comments coming, I will do my best to keep up with them all.
Q: What’s with all the swearing?
A: I’ve spent a huge amount of time around the military. Both talking to my relatives and as a contractor working on military bases. That’s how they talk. Each branch of the service is different, but sailors and marines for example really do swear all the time. There are a couple of characters who are intentionally larger than life, but that is to make the story work. Most of the characters in the series are based on people I’ve actually met and talked to. To be honest, there are things that my uncle the sergeant used to say that I’ve just left out on purpose because people would be offended.
Q: Why are there so many characters? It’s hard to keep track of them all.
A: Actually, the book is very condensed when it comes to character count. If the book was super accurate there would be hundreds of people involved in the events depicted. I’ve combined tons of roles and different specialties to reduce the number of characters in order to make it easier to read.
Q: What’s the deal with “The Admiral”? Does he have a name?
A: Originally, there were multiple flag level officers involved in the Pacific campaign. However, it got really difficult to keep track of them and they were rolled up into a single character called “The Admiral.” I appointed him “Supreme Allied Commander, Pacific” or SACPAC and now he represents all the senior leadership in Pacific Command.