Looking for Pre-Street Judge Info...

[K2]

Oh, P.S.: Be aware that the warning and cautions at the head of the story are accurate and not simply casually added.  Determine your exposure to the content before hand.

K2

[K2]

The response to Lest ye be Judged ~ Reaping the Harvest ~ 2029 has been satisfying enough already (no witch hunting now, none of you fellas), and inspired some new ideas that I think I'm going to take this story a little further with a couple of others.

Lest ye be Judged ~ The Dance of Lambs ~ 2030
Dealing with the problems that would arise due to ditching the Agricultural System (ex.: the integration of the Pastoral and Fertile zones, trading off some types of crime for others), political preparation for the shift to Street Judges in Washington, etc..  I might even toss in a bit of seeding the SJ system other places (along with the repatriation of abandoned areas of the nation), perhaps even a bit of an Ephram aspect.

and...

Lest ye be Judged ~ The Measure ye Mete ~ 2031 (pre-SJ rollout)
Wherein final preparation for the Street Judge system is made, eradication of the 'Restored Constitution,' turning on the corrupt Homestead class (wealthy/super-corp/politicians) and finally having a solid reason why there would be 'gangs' all over now (where there was previously none).  Perhaps best of all, it then sets up reason to eradicate/bury/rewrite the history of the Agricultural System, RCFG and Mad Clown form 2017-2031...

...Bringing it all back to the starting point of the series; now with solid reasons as to how/why things/people are as presented.  The best part being, with all of the groundwork (why the world is as it is) already laid out in Reaping the Harvest, I can just focus on the story.

Hehe, this is exactly how my last novel went from 20k words to 211k+.  Guess I never learn 

K2

[K2]

Good news fellas (regarding fan's of Fargo/Dredd);

Though I made the whole thing work (the flaws in the story-line; the all too easy acceptance of ditching civil rights, bypassing other steps in the legal system, the unfounded evolution/shift of Fargo), justifying and giving reason to where the Street Judge system takes off, and why Fargo became who he did... There has been a significant enough pushback to not have it be applied to the Dredd history that I'm going to change some things.

Not from Dredd fans mind you, yet from others who felt the story stood on its own well enough that it shouldn't be used toward its intended end.

During the final re-read/write to have it read smoothly, I'll be changing out a few minor aspects (names, and a couple minor events) to eliminate anything Fargo, Street Judge, etc..  Though where it ends up establishes the Fargo/U.S. situation perfectly, now I'll simply apply it to a different, more Americanized evolution of justice.

So fear not!  The heretical blasphemy of writing something relating to Street-Judges/Fargo/Dredd will be cleansed.

For those who might have been poking around the story, it will remain as is until all of my final changes have been made to not disrupt anyone's reading.

In any case, thanks again fellas, your help as noted here and in the preface was truly appreciated.  That never discussed plot and reasons in the Fargo saga a great one.  Past that I'll not disrupt your forum further.  Thanks again, and I wish you all the best!

Great forum!  And as always, due to the quality of the people upon it.

K2

[Bolt-01]

... so this is like fifty shades of Dredd?

(Fifty shades of grey starting out (allegedly) as Twilight fanfiction before becoming something independent...)

I've not read the work, but good luck with removing enough plot/character elements so as to avoid a Rigellian Hotshot.

[sheridan]

... so this is like fifty shades of Dredd?

(Fifty shades of grey starting out (allegedly) as Twilight fanfiction before becoming something independent...)

I've not read the work, but good luck with removing enough plot/character elements so as to avoid a Rigellian Hotshot.

Worked for John Grant...

[K2]

I've not read the work, but good luck with removing enough plot/character elements so as to avoid a Rigellian Hotshot.

That's the easy part.  Beyond using the names Eustace Fargo, President Gurney (once), only in the final chapter and epilogue, noting 2000AD and Rebellion's graciousness in the credits of the preface, and very-brief mention of the attack on the capital and subsequent trials (which I already changed the goal and underlying reasons of), finally mentioning Fargo's speeches to congress, there is nothing else.

Fargo is called "Cub" throughout.  'Street Judge' is only mentioned as a final line in the last chapter being:

"And so, with a bright flash and a single sharp report… the era of the Street Judge had begun."

My story was NOT about Fargo or the Street Judge system.  It was about correcting the flaws in the existing story line, without changing them or anything in the series, making it so it was plausible for that system change to occur.  More so, adding some life experience that will make it possible for 'Cub' to evolve into the man Fargo came to be.

The potential underlying plot in the 2000AD Fargo saga, was a great one IMO, yet never touched upon.  "What would make the U.S. population be willing to give up their civil rights (realistically), and what would cause a pampered Harvard law graduate, attorney and politician to be able to evolve into a 'field duty' law enforcement officer who could if need be take a life."

Those are massive leaps.

So the story was not about anything street judge or Fargo... yet about destroying a government and system of civil liberties and the forming of a man.  The names are inconsequential.

Also... It gave me a great opportunity to bash the hell out of Trump, over and over.  That was the most fun 

K2

[Richard]

Congratulations K2, I'm glad this worked out for you.

[JayzusB.Christ]

... so this is like fifty shades of Dredd?

(Fifty shades of grey starting out (allegedly) as Twilight fanfiction before becoming something independent...)

I've not read the work, but good luck with removing enough plot/character elements so as to avoid a Rigellian Hotshot.

Worked for John Grant...

Now there's a blast from the past. I remember reading the free chapter printed in the Megazine, and thinking it was dreadful.

Anyway, K2, fair play to you, glad it's all worked out well.

[K2]

Well thanks fellas!;

As said, though it will be easy to change having been very careful to not alter or utilize any existing 2000AD material (just briefly referencing the most minor aspects, catch-words mostly), considering the amount of work, most of the feedback contained a common theme, "wasted."
(Though again, granted, all of the feedback came from those Dredd-ignorant).

Sure, it gives logical reason in correcting/answering those vast leaps, then again, perhaps no one wants them changed or cares, or to have that bit of the story told (at least by me).

I developed so much history that is set up to revise itself; the 'Mad Clown' causing the environment to be destroyed, yet now it's coming back, the 'new' government, a system of law enforcement that is worse than any other option, etc., that ultimately over the three novels it whittles down to 'being intentionally removed from history.'   Add to that the extensive appendices (equipment, gov.-terms, mapping, over-100 pidgin words, translations, etc.), and numerous chapters that not only outline events leading up to 2020, yet also psychological manipulation and so on.

So that leaves me with having to grind that down to a state of 2031 ignorance of it all (easy to do), and bring back the environment (easy), yet most of all simply fine tune Fargo of which there is little-nothing left to do... Or... I can use it to truly expand the initial work, not having it all end in 2031 to not infringe upon the 2000AD work.

In the end and perhaps most importantly, my impression is the die-hard Dredd fans don't want it messed with, fine with how it sits.  There is little interest in inspiring new Dredd fans who want to discover where it all goes.  And finally those who are not Dredd fans are more than happy to get into a new story, instead of being led to an existing one.

So it goes... *shrug*  Give the people what they want.

K2