SEDITION is based on The Cato Street Conspiracy.It is a modern retelling of an 1820 British plot to overthrow the government.Shortly after the death of King George III, a group of disaffected patriots attempted to murder the Prime Minister and his cabinet. Their goal was to stage a coup and set up their own revolutionary regime. They called themselves the Spencean Philanthropists, after radical leader Thomas Spence who'd died six years earlier.The men devised their scheme during meetings at a small, rented building on Cato Street in London (the building is pictured above with its distinctive red door). In SEDITION, the Cato Street Pub's exterior is meant to pay homage to the original meeting place.
Click on the links below to read more about the conspiracy. You'll note many of the characters in SEDITION are named for the participants in the real 19th century plot.
Sedition:
A Political Thriller
By Tom Abrahams
About the Author Tom is a Texas television reporter and anchor who has spent 20 years covering local, national, and international news. He's interviewed Presidents, cabinet members, and leaders in congress. He's reported live from the White House, Capitol Hill, and the United Nations. Tom's covered five national political conventions. He has flown with presidential candidates, gone backstage at their rallies, and broken stories about them on television and online. He was at the Pentagon while smoke still rose in the hours after 9/11 and was in the room when Secretary Colin Powell made his case to the U.N. Security Council for war against Iraq. Tom lives in the Houston suburbs with his wife, Courtney, and their two children. SEDITION is his first novel. |
"Matti Harrold sat across from her supervisor’s desk, stunned as much by what he was asking of her as she was by the President’s sudden death. “Do you understand what your assignment is?” He asked without a hint of expression.
“Yes sir,” she replied, refocusing. “Though, I am somewhat confused.” “By what?” He was looking down at his desk, tapping on a closed 8 ½ by 11 folder. It was stamped “Secret” at the top left. “Well, sir,” she continued. “We don’t deal in Human Intelligence. We protect American systems and information. We collect adversarial Signal Intelligence only. Executive Order 12333 prohibits gathering or sharing information about U.S. citizens. Isn’t this out of the realm of what we do?” She’d often impressed teachers and superiors with her ability to rattle off long streams of text or complicated sets of numbers. Technically, she was an Eidetiker, the name given to the estimated one in a thousand adults with eidetic memory. It was a gift that had faded slightly with age as it did with most eidetic children. But she still possessed a significant ability to mentally retain detailed images for long periods of time. Her memory was not truly photographic. But she could filter out the clutter and focus on particular images and structures. Hers was a rare ability that rivaled even some of the more well-known Eidetikers such as Kim Peek, the autistic upon whom the movie Rain Man was based. Doctors estimated that he could remember 98 percent of everything he read and had thousands of volumes of text available for instant recall. Matti knew there were always skeptics who thought photographic or eidetic memory was a farce. The legendary artificial intelligence expert, Dr. Marvin Minsky, wrote in his book Society of the Mind that eidetic memory was a myth. Others in the field thought it was little more than a mnemonic trick in which Eidetikers could associate images with words to enhance their recall. Even her own therapist, who’d helped her through the darkest days of her adolescence, doubted Matti’s ability until she’d recalled to him the verbatim details of police reports and eyewitness accounts from the night her mother died. They were pieces to a code she’d never been able to crack. But her memory wouldn’t let her let go of it. It was a gift and a curse.
"And at the moment, she knew her boss was cursing it. “No Harrold,” her supervisor lifted his gaze to her without lifting his head.
“There are,” he corrected. “Many things we do here at NSA which are outside the realm of ‘what we do’. And if you recall, Harrold, that same order 12333 directs all departments and agencies to share the responsibility of gathering intelligence.” “SIGINT,” he offered without averting his glare, “is what the Congress asks publicly of us. But there are cases in which it is better that we ask forgiveness than permission. This, Harrold, is one of those cases. Are you up to this? ”
~~~
More than likely unless you are a history buff, you will have never heard of The Cato Street Conspiracy. I decided to include it to illustrate part of what I think the author is saying in this novel--We are not angels, no...
but I like to think that there are many who still believe...hope...
Even if we don't trust...
First, I want to thank the author for the two main character females. I believe the hug between the two women and where it was placed in the book, tells much about your beliefs...I found also that much of your comments about what decisions are made in America and how they are viewed illustrates that you still...hope...and wrote this novel so that we all might make more conscientious and rational decisions regarding being a patriot... Well done!
Frankly, I was amazed at the manipulation used within the government office of the NSA. "Need to Know" is and always will be, probably, a phrase that most of us have mixed feelings about... But if you are an employee in that type of organization and have been chosen to do a job, but not brought into what might be called a project team environment, due to the "need to know..." well, personally, I know it can be a very dangerous and potential position where that individual is caught between the "rock and the hard place..." Abrahams does an excellent portrayal of such a person and I watched her carefully right from the beginning...
Her name is Matilda Harrold... She works for the National Security Agency...
 |
The “People’s Business” had been good to
Speaker Jackson. A school teacher, school
board member, and county commissioner
turned Member of Congress; she’d been
on the fast track. She was witty and
politically savvy. She had a handsome
face and physique. Felicia Jackson was,
as some cable pundit once put it,
Mensa’s answer to Sarah Palin. She didn’t
boast the folksy charm of the former
Alaska Governor. But she did have the wink,
the smile, and the concealed handgun permit.
Jackson was a Stanford graduate with a
Masters Degree in Education from the
University of North Carolina. Her husband
was a well known neurosurgeon, who’d given
up active practice to support his wife’s
rocketing political career. She won the seat
in South Carolina’s first congressional
district by a staggering 14 points over a six
term incumbent. Leaders from both parties
started courting the strong-willed moderate
the moment her brown leather Cole Haan’s
hit the baggage claim at Reagan National.
Over the course of four terms, the black-
haired, blue-eyed shark had amassed a casino
-full of favors. When her party narrowly won
the house in a mid-term coup, she’d cashed
in her chips for a leadership position. She
was named Majority Whip. And then
Speaker. She wasn’t the first woman to slam
the gavel, but she whacked it the loudest.
Every favor she’d amassed, every handshake
and smile from across the aisle she’d
garnered, disintegrated with the squeeze
of her iron fist. If Jackson were a man,
she’d have been considered shrewd and
opportunistic. As a woman, though…
She became the personification of a
variety of misogynistic terms used to
diminish the perceived power of head
strong women.
~~~
Another member was a former Attorney
General. There was also one other member
but nobody knew about him except Sir
Spencer...
This small group was planning to take advan-
tage of a very unusual situation in Washing
-ton. The President had just dropped dead.
After a long illness and recent death, there
also was no Vice President. A replacement
had been named but not sworn in.
You guessed it! Chaos and competition as the
announced Vice-President filed a law suit
while the Speaker of the House was
the chosen successor according to law...
Sir Thomas knew this was the perfect
time! And he had stored up sufficient
Semtex to make it happen!
An exhibit for George Edwardss latest
sculptures had already been scheduled so the group had agreed it
should continue... Matti met them all!
I think Abrahams has created an excellent
Story that is well worth your time, especially if you consider yourself a patriot...are you? Highly recommended... GABixlerReviews |
She was told exactly what to do in her special assignment, given files on men who had been identified as possibly working toward an act of treason...
Then she was to wait until "an asset" contacted her who had contact within the group and had agreed to provide specific information when possible.
The first thing she learned when the first call came in was that her boss had lied to her... The individual was surprised that a woman answered the phone, yet her boss has said that the asset had asked to work with a woman...
(The beginning of distrust is often the beginning of watching your own back...quote me on that...LOL)
Still, Matti began to learn new information and with the data already stored in the files, she was able to present useful reports almost immediately...
As Matti works, readers are meeting the conspirators led by Sir Spencer Thomas. No, he was not a citizen; he claimed it was because he wanted to keep his status as a knight...
In fact, the group was rather strange. A bar owner who was used to shady dealings, a university professor, a digital sculptor. On his computer, he enhanced/altered designs of iconic portraits or designs.
Then she was to wait until "an asset" contacted her who had contact within the group and had agreed to provide specific information when possible.
The first thing she learned when the first call came in was that her boss had lied to her... The individual was surprised that a woman answered the phone, yet her boss has said that the asset had asked to work with a woman...
(The beginning of distrust is often the beginning of watching your own back...quote me on that...LOL)
Still, Matti began to learn new information and with the data already stored in the files, she was able to present useful reports almost immediately...
As Matti works, readers are meeting the conspirators led by Sir Spencer Thomas. No, he was not a citizen; he claimed it was because he wanted to keep his status as a knight...
In fact, the group was rather strange. A bar owner who was used to shady dealings, a university professor, a digital sculptor. On his computer, he enhanced/altered designs of iconic portraits or designs.
 |
"Edwards was a digital sculptor. On his
computer, he enhanced/altered designs
of iconic portraits or designs. They were
in high demand. His manipulated
“sculpture” of the painting
Declaration of Independence by John
Trumbull sold for $105,000.
Edwards called his version of the painting
What Really Happened.
"He played off of the fact that the scene
depicted in the iconic representation of
a nation’s birth never actually happened
the way Trumbull painted it. Instead of
Charles Thomson standing directly across
from Thomas Jefferson on the right side
of the canvas, Edwards inserted a free-
floating dartboard with the face of King
George III. On the left side of the piece,
Edwards altered a standing, cross-armed
William Paca, putting a dart in the right
hand of the Maryland lawyer. Thomas
Jefferson held a pint of ale instead of a
page of the declaration. The entire
painting was colorized with shades that
slightly differed from Trumbull’s
original, making the work appear almost
lifelike.
"They were sophomoric enough changes
that most would dismiss the work as a joke.
But it was that which wasn‘t so obvious to
the casual viewer that made Edward‘s
offerings so prized. Much as caricaturist
Al Hirshfeld was recognized for hiding his
daughter Nina’s names in his drawings,
Edwards was revered for his ability to hide
messages in some of his digitally
re-mastered works.
"Hidden amongst the signers of the
Declaration in Edwards’ parody was the
phrase, “The modern bourgeois society
that has sprouted from the ruins of
feudal society has not done away with
class antagonisms.” The words were a
direct translation from Karl Marx’s
Communist Manifesto.
~~~
Plans for the President's death activities were
discussed and finalized. His wife, interestingl,
had decided to not have the body in state in the
White House, so everything would be held in
Capitol with burial at Arlington...
Would Sedition Succeed? I think, for myself, that
what happened is a major flaw in America. Somehow
there has to be a balance between "need to know" and
keeping people informed. I don't profess to know how
that can be achieved. The method used by the author
in this novel was a satisfactory compromise for a novel
but would it have achieved the same results in reality?
|
