Lane von Herzen: The Shining Sea

My Third Novel's Conclusion, My Heartbreak

My heart begins to break when I think about completing this particular book -- because this narrative has sustained me like no other story I've known. It's both more personal and more universal than my other works. But beyond memory and archetype, it's a cri-de-coeur about needing to become the person one is destined to be. And in the writing, I have met my own life's work, my own fated journey -- having the sense all the while that the pages are suffused with a resonance, an energy, an electrified field that defies explanation. Writers hope and pray to be overtaken by a work in this way -- to be conscripted into passionate service of a profound story. To experience it even once in a lifetime seems a great privilege. I still have several months before this novel is complete, and this constitutes my reprieve. Because I'm not ready for the beauty to end.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

The Shining Sea

1. It is reported that an AI-generated audiotape of your voice uttering antipathy for our nation is being disseminated by the FBI. Do you love the United States of America?

Answer: I wouldn't be here if I didn't.

2. What do you mean by that?

Answer: It's not possible to survive the FBI's onslaught of assaults, attacks, defamation, theft, torture and other harms if you don't believe in a cause larger than yourself.

3. Why not?

Answer: As human beings, we're astonishingly frail and easily hurt. We depend on one another to reaffirm our benevolence and goodwill, our comprehension of human dignity and deep faith -- and when these affirmations disappear, we experience a profound challenge to our fortitude and mettle.

It's only in standing up for the freedoms of Americans, and, indeed, the freedom of mankind in general, that I have been able to maintain hope of contributing to the most worthy aims over the long term.

There comes a point at which you become stronger than ordinary human beings when you're keeping your sights set on the noblest aims.

That's not to say that I cannot be grievously harmed during the most mundane of errands, because I have been.

But it is to say that in some way, those setbacks may serve to illuminate the wrongdoing of the FBI in a way that will lead to genuine progress, outreach from an attorney, and the potential to contribute meaningfully to the long term sovereignty of all Americans and all mankind beyond our borders.

4. What are your feelings toward the nation?

Answer: They're very deep and personal. I grew up riding my bike on the "Shining Sea Bikeway" that runs the four miles between Woods Hole and Falmouth, Massachusetts, because Katherine Lee Bates was a native daughter of Falmouth. So, her words were part of the beauty of my childhood. And I can't tell you the number of times I thought of them when I was riding past the sea, with the Cape light over the waves, folding and unfolding. This was the shining sea. And the heroes Katherine Lee Bates writes about. within "America the Beautiful" were none other than my cherished friends and my beloved family and my young self -- learning about courage and integrity and truth and honor -- and all that they meant to a meaningful community and a worthy life.

So my feelings about the nation are synonymous with my feelings about what it means to be a person of honor and high character.

If this is a love of country, which it is -- then it is also a love of the country's people, its nature, its beauty, its freedoms, its sovereignty, and its future.

5. Do you feel the truth is that it is the FBI which has lost its fealty to the nation?

Answer: I do, yes. And I would like to say more about that, but this is not to proper forum.

6. Why not?

Answer: There are judicial matters under review with regard to FBI conduct, as well as investigative initiatives. So a degree of restraint is appropriate in deference to those lawful processes.

7. Thank you for clarifying your commitment to the United States as a loyal, honorable, and compassionate American.

Answer: You are quite welcome.