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NEW NOVEL EXPOSES ECO-FANATICS, NEO-PAGANS, AND ECO-TERRORISTS!

by Hank Willow, staff reporter [June, 27, 2002]

[HollywoodInvestigator.com] The governor of California has fallen under the influence of neo-pagans and eco-terrorists -- and he's a Republican! That's the shocking premise of Jack R. Stevens's new novel, Spark's Tract, a satire of environmental extremism -- which Stevens terms "deep ecology."

In an exclusive Hollywood Investigator interview, Stevens explained the genesis of his novel: "Like they say, all fiction is biography, and all biography is fiction. My novel is based on my experiences as legal counsel for oil and gas developers in the Sacramento River Delta area, and for landowners, throughout California during the early 1990s."

As in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, the hero of Spark's Tract is a businessman. A gas and oil man seeking to develop hydrocarbon reserves beneath the Sacramento River Delta. His allies include cattlemen, landowners, and a "maverick reporter."

Opposing them are politicians, "deep ecologists," Gaia worshipers, and eco-terrorists, who, says Stevens, "want to limit growth, stop use of fossil fuel, and return the landscape to that which existed before the 'European Invasion.' "

Stevens wrote his novel to fill a void. "Environmental extremists dominate the popular culture. I could not find a single work of fiction concerning environmental issues that took the side of man, enterprise, progress, and Western thought. So I set out writing Spark's Tract in 1994." The novel was finally published last year.

An experienced writer, Stevens edited California Viewpoint during the 1980s ("a political newsletter with several thousand subscribers"), and has had editorials and columns published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, and Sacramento Union -- yet he had difficulty placing Spark's Tract, his first novel.

"The going is rough for a first-time author. I tried a couple of Christian-oriented publishers, but God is not the novel's central theme and I got a couple of nice rejection letters. Since I am a professional and a family man, I had little time to market the novel, or send out hundreds of letters to agents and publishing houses. So I decided to stop wasting time and get the book out there myself."

Although Stevens self-published his novel, reviews have been positive. Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily says: "This is the novel a lot of us have awaited. Finally, someone has taken on the environmental extremists who would dictate (if we let them) what we think, how we live, what we can own, where we work, what we eat, what we wear, what we drive. Thought-provoking and hilarious."

And C.M. Starr, a director for the California Wildlife Federation, said: "Stevens has given us a riotously funny, yet sobering, glimpse of a future that, if we are not careful, could soon be ours. Anyone who loves the earth but wants to live on it, too, must read Spark’s Tract."

Stevens adds: "The reviews in National Review and California Political Review were both very positive. But I am waiting for someone in the publishing industry to come along, read it, and offer to re-publish and promote it."

As a self-published conservative, Stevens joins a growing rank of conservative and libertarians artists who are independently publishing and producing in a diversity media and genres: theater, film, literary satire, horror, science fiction, and heavy metal.

Stevens adds that he only opposes "deep ecology," not sane ecology. "Most Americans care about clean air and water. They like trees and animals. I count myself among them. But there is a dark underside to the environmental movement that despises the works of man and values him to a lesser extent than it does plants and lower life forms.

"Ordinary men and women struggling to make a living and raise families are the chief casualties of environmental extremists who the media have installed as a kind of new elite. Before it is too late, people have to recognize that 'deep ecology' and its adherents reject Western thought, capitalism, Judeo-Christianity, and progress. Our standard of living and values are at risk."

Stevens has plans for future novels. "I disciplined myself to turn out a few pages every night after work for several years, constantly revising and editing. I've felt a little out of sync since I finished the novel, and probably need to start working on another."

Stevens served for six years as Assistant Attorney General for the State of California during the Reagan administration. While practicing in California, he defended landowners and gas and oil exploration firms from environmentalists and bureaucrats. Now based in Washington D.C., he represents clients before Congress and federal regulatory agencies.

Jack R. Stevens can be contacted via email.

Hank Willow is a Los Angeles based tabloid reporter who investigates Hollywood scams and Tinseltown's occult underbelly. Read about his adventures in tabloid journalism in Hollywood Witches.

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