Military fantasy author Myke Cole hosted a Reddit “Ask You Anything” to promote the new entry in his Shadow Ops series, which pits special tactical units against magical threats. (The first novel, Shadow Ops: Control Point has the awesome tagline “Army Officer. Fugitive. Sorcerer.”) Other fantasy authors, including Peter V. Brett , Joe Abercrombie and Tom Doyle joined the conversation, which turned around typical AMA rules and posed questions to Redditors. While questions like “ Star Wars or Star Trek ” brought out the standard rhetorical weaponry, one question about the 2016 presidential election conjured up an answer worthy of utopian daydreaming.
“Which SF/Fantasy character would you most like to see win the 2016 presidential race?” Cole asked. At first answers were obscure, like Tehol and Bugg of fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen, or dusty nerd jokes like “Cthulhu for President : Why Choose the Lesser Evil?”
Then Brett, author of The Warded Man, jumped in with Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the starship Enterprise.
The appeal is obvious: Picard is more ethical, judicious, levelheaded and battle tested than every one of our real-world political candidates. He’s proven himself a worthy ambassador for the entire human race and governs the population of a small town with a spirit of equanimity and order. He is steadfast, but never lets bureaucracy overwhelm his ethical humanism.
In 2016 make it so, Picard for president! #makeitso2016 #makeitsomerica #vets4picard #usaf4picard pic.twitter.com/JFoddqRzab
— Elliot Kempaggio (@EKempaggio) March 16, 2016
It’s no wonder this became the clear thread favorite, with Joe Abercrombie commenting “Oh, shit, yes. Engage.”
If you’re tired of the nightmarish sensory assault of the 2016 presidential primaries, then you may be part of Team #MakeItSo2016.
