JTF Alpha is chapter 11 of the serialized sci-fi novel I’m working on — the Masters. Here, we get to see the hand-selected men of John Spillers as they prepare to do a combat jump into the Grass Cutting Area compound inside Ramey Air base on the western tip of Puerto Rico.
The Parable of the 2x4s
Steve was a super likable guy who recently got out of the Navy, so naturally, had a ton of excellent drinking stories involving far-off ports of call and exotic locales in the south Pacific. While he wasn’t super skilled when it came to the trades, Steve could handle a saw and a t-square, so he worked as a kind of floater—going back and forth from area to area where there was need for roughing in.
The Masters Part 4: The Calabozos of La Princesa
Chicago & the Sandwich Deliveryman Hypothesis
I lived in Chicago for 14 years, and during that time, before going into tech, worked as a grocery bagger, a cashier, a caddy, a lifeguard, an elevator operator, a landscaper, a knife salesman, an adult literacy advocate, a portrait framer, a shirt steamer, a forklift driver, and an usher at Soldier Field. Eleven of those years were spent working in the restaurant business—as a line cook, dishwasher, busboy, waiter, barback, bartender, and shithouse sommelier. I learned how to size people up based on their accents, cuff links, shoes, conversation topics, and the kind and quality of bullshit coming out of their mouths. The time I spent in Chicago, working these weird jobs makes me (I think) a crackerjack spotter of a whole range of put-ons, bullshit, ass-puffery, and weasel wording.
20,000 Words Into “The Masters” + a Video
A sample of the first chapter of “The Masters”—a story I’m writing, and now roughly 20,000 words into. For the whole ball of wax, check out: https://roughmasters.substack.com.