Skinner's War

About the Book

   Neal Davidson is a man in his late thirties who was forced out of the motorcycle business by federal regulations. Forced to work in a government meat processing plant skinning beef carcasses, he takes the nickname Skinner.

The year is 2010. The federal government has taken over most private enterprise, power companies, and all medical care. When the influx of paperwork from socialized medicine becomes over- whelming, all citizens are required to have a scanable microchip implanted in their arms to simplify the system.

The government has distribution centers where food, clothing, and other necessities are collected, processed, stored, and rationed out to the public.

America's decline started after an upset victory by an obscure third party in the elections of 2004. The office he never expected to win overwhelmed Raphael Major, a well-meaning but naive president. He became unstable, fearing the American people, the military, and the stress of running the most powerful nation on earth.

Through deceit and collaboration, he turns America into a fascist dictatorship, amassing and holding an increasing amount of power over the lives of the citizens. His advisors are radical zealots who each have their own agenda, and who fight constantly among themselves, driving Major to the point of distraction.

Early in his administration, President Major finds that neither civilian law enforcement agencies, nor the military, will kill American citizens to confiscate their firearms as per his orders, so he forms the National Police Force.

Run by a sadistic and murderous cocaine addict named Captain Bill Schlocker, the N.P.F. is the American equivalent of the Nazi SS. They rape, torture, and kill with impunity, while exercising total control over the people with an iron hand.

Their murderous and perverted activities are obvious to everyone but President Major and his gullible advisors.

Travel has been curtailed by strict fuel rationing, and travel papers are required to leave your home area.

All tobacco products have been outlawed because of health risks, and motorcycles because of their inherent danger.

To protect the wilderness, entry into most federal land and national parks is prohibited, with prison terms for unauthorized entry. Hunting and fishing are also illegal.

When unjust laws and restrictions make his life unbearable, Skinner spends a year collecting the necessities to live in the now forbidden wilderness. After faking his own death, he escapes to the Sierra Nevada Mountains.                        

Living in an abandoned tungsten mine above the Wishon Reservoir power station, Skinner spends four years in isolation. Living off the land, he is content with his freedom, until the N.P.F. soldiers guarding the power station capture Donna Brown, a beautiful saboteur.

After Skinner rescues her, she introduces him to the "underground" where he soon becomes a leader, along with Black Eagle, a Native American chief.

Persecuted by the N.P.F. in Nazi fashion, the Indians have returned to "the old ways," and are in the midst of a guerrilla war. They are forced to seek refuge in the mountains after a decisive battle, and resettle in a secluded alpine meadow.

Riding two of the only operable Harley Davidsons left in America, Skinner and Donna lead the Black Rock Militia in daring raids against the N.P.F.

With the covert aid of General Bryce McBride, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Skinner, Donna, and militia forces across the nation wage an all-out guerrilla war to rid America of the hated N.P.F., and restore the Constitution, and America's freedom.

SKINNER'S WAR is about freedom. How easy it is to usurp a little at a time, and how difficult it is to regain.

It champions love, courage, devotion, and patriotism, as the characters test their physical and emotional limits in a desperate struggle for justice and freedom.

About the Author

C.L. “Buckshot” Cake was born in 1949, and lives in Fresno, Ca. Married for thirty years to his high school sweetheart, Kathy, he has two sons, and four grandchildren. A heavy equipment mechanic by trade, he builds custom Harley Davidson motorcycles as a hobby when he isn’t hunting or fishing in the nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains. Buckshot began writing short stories about motorcycles and the biker lifestyle about ten years ago, and has had a large number of them published in Thunder Press, and other publications. Skinner’s War is his first novel, and he is now nearing completion of his fourth.