A revealing author’s note from Beyond the Lost Horizon
This author’s note is present following Beyond the Lost Horizon. It depicts a complete rundown of TC Marti’s inspiration for the book.
Shortly after writing this book and conducting its first rough edit, I came across the article From Milk Runs to MAD to Madness by George Ford Smith of the Mises Institute and author of Flight of the Barbarous Relic—a book that should be given fairer rating thanks to the 11 five-star reviews and single one-star rating. That ace plummeted it to a 58-42 percent five-star-to-one-star ratio in the store.
Since it never got that fair rating, I decided to purchase, read, and review the work myself. As a strong advocate for sound money, I knew it’d be a winner with me, and it didn’t disappoint. The value of sound over fiat money was one of many issues I had to learn after I was forced against my will to spend 14 years inside the confines of government schools.
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The excruciating pain of unlearning
Anyway, one of my favorite topics that I had to unlearn from history class taught in government schools was the infamous bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. And for the longest time, I thought I’d have to tear the internet apart to find the sources I once read back in the 2010s that changed my mind on the subject.
Just to be frank, I’ve unlearned much of what I was taught in government schools to date, and I’m using this Author’s Note to share the sources I’ve used in each of my protagonist’s, Quinn Cozens’, claims.
The last thing I wanted to do was to leave my readers hanging about how many of Quinn’s beliefs and views contradict what they may have been told to believe in those schools, so leaving a paper trail of sources is necessary. That’s the case with all of my Author’s Notes, be it in my niche fiction, post-apocalyptic/dystopian thrillers, or commercial fantasy fiction, all with a libertarian tilt. I’m merely sharing and not forcing my views (which also happen to be Quinn’s) onto others.
Feel free to disagree with everything I’ve written here. And don’t change your views overnight just because I may be sharing content that will contradict what you may’ve believed for decades. Thorough research is needed. So if you type the content I share into a search engine or AI prompt, use it as a starting point only—even if the latter loves the Establishment.
Okay for me, but not for thee…
I’ve always found it ironic that the one country in the world that believes it must intervene internationally because of the presence of nuclear threats, or perhaps to “save the world” from nuclear threats—Russia, North Korea, China, Iran, Iraq from back in the day, and others—is the only nation in human history to use an all-out nuclear weapon on another.
So, whenever you hear U.S. officials lecture other countries on “responsible” nuclear policy, remember: only one government has ever pushed the red button as of July 2026—and it would be best to refrain from doing so again in case there’s anyone—or a small group of people—strongly considering it.
Anyone who’s met me either personally or virtually know that I’ve never been a fan of US foreign policy for ages—as I’m unapologetic about at The Rogue Scribe. Whether it was during my formative days as a socialist—and I mean a socialist if I’ve ever seen one who’d make AOC look like Mises—or the pro-libertarian/anarcho capitalist that I’ve since evolved into and continue to gravitate toward.
That said, it’s been the one common denominator. But back to the discussion at hand here. Ford makes several interesting points in From Milk Runs to MAD to Madness, but one quote stands out to me more than any other, mainly because I use similar ones when I describe the current state of US foreign policy itself. As Ford states:
“As the first to inaugurate nuclear war, the Enola Gay crew had done their job—as ordered. Most of them agreed they were saving lives, but incinerating a city full of people as a life-saving exercise desperately needed context. Galactic visitors would be confused, but here on Earth it was ‘plainly necessary’ to put a quick end to a bloody engagement humans call war.”
Saving lives and humanitarianism are the two justifications from many who support the current state of US foreign intervention. But there are plenty of examples to disprove this point, mainly the war crimes that the US committed in the 21st century alone, something you can dig into deeper by checking out Scott Horton’s book Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism.
In Argentine president Javier Milei’s Economic Insights from Javier Milei’s 2021 Presentation for FEE, Milei, quoting Frederic Bastiat, stated, “‘Where goods do not cross borders, armies will.’ In other words, societies that engage in trade tend to have more peace.” Although Milei is an ardent supporter of US foreign intervention, or at least that’s the case upon the publication of this book, he, and by extension Bastiat, couldn’t have spoken truer words.
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Quinn Cozens’ inspiration
So anyway, let’s talk about Quinn, and where he got the idea that Japan was on the verge of surrender. Those actually came from the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower (you may’ve heard of him), who, being quoted in both Ford’s article and the book The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb by Gar Alperovitz, stated, “Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary. . . . Japan was, at that very moment [prior to Hiroshima], seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of ‘face.’”
Obviously, there are two (sometimes more) sides to every story and in history. So again, I’m not seeking to change anyone’s views here. But instead sharing to introduce an alternative to what many of us had been told in government institutions that exist via coercion, funded in part by the same umbrella entity that decided to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Not to mention that they claim you have a ‘right’ to learn this, might I add. In libertarian context, they’re basically saying you have a ‘right’ to someone else’s labor. A glorified form of slavery, if you ask me and thinkers like Ron Paul.
Let’s move on to the work of Tsuyoshi Hasegawa. In his work Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan, Hasegawa provides further evidence, specifically showing us that it was the Soviet entry into the war on August 9th, 1945, “had a much greater impact on Japan’s decision to surrender than did the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
Disagree all you want
Now, I know I’ll always have the occasional reader contact me and say something like, “Sorry, TC, but you’re wrong on all accounts,” without conducting a shred of research in the content I’ve shared above. Or if they did, they would have it preset in their mind to dispute it and sought an AI tool for validation—note that AI tools are nearly always trained on mainstream institutional research.
That’s okay, but it also goes to show that a contingent of the population will, instead of looking at issues from multiple points of view, even those they disagree with, will do all they can to cling to and defend their views of what I call American Mythology. And in a form of confirmation bias, they’ll only locate and read sources that back their claims.
Not necessarily because they believe they’re correct in those views. But because they don’t want to challenge themselves with what they’ve been led to believe, year after year, from age five to eighteen, if not to age twenty-two or older.
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Subjective “facts” government schools “taught” me
So I understand it, because the willingness to cling to a worldview or a narrative is natural. For years, I vehemently wanted to defend socialism, going as far as to scoff at anyone who tried to tell me otherwise. Of course, this was before I discovered the likes of Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and others. When I did, the first thought that came to my head was, “Why did I never learn about these guys in school?”
It didn’t mean I had to agree with what they were saying, but it was the first time I questioned what I was told in classrooms at government schools. Regarding the existence of the State, at least. And you can extend that to include many mainstream private schools, colleges, and universities. At the end of the day, it was more of an accepted narrative rather than an absolute, objective fact.
Dr. Wanjiru Njoya, whose content I read at least twice a week if not more, has also been instrumental in my viewpoints that separate subjective “truths” from objectivity.
The latter is something I’m ever in hot pursuit of. With that being said, all the content that you see in this Author’s Note reflecting what are my current views upon the publication of this book, is always, and forever will be, subject to change. As opposed to digging my heels into the trenches and doing all I can to hang onto current worldviews and narratives, I instead evolve as I uncover more.
That said, if you joined my mailing list, I like to call Restoring the Republic or the Spartans Codex, which is specifically geared toward readers of post-apocalyptic dystopian thrillers, you’ll uncover more of my pursuit to find that objective truth. In fact, you may even find constant ‘updates’ of this Author’s Note—something that will change as time progresses. And it’s something I’ll share with my subs whenever a change occurs, no matter how small.
Digging into Beyond the Lost Horizon
Anyway, enough history or politics, however you want to sum it up. I’m sure you’d like to read about other inspirations behind this book.
Let’s start with the homes, since I based the first one Quinn and Yui stopped in exactly on that of my grandparents’. As I wrote this Author’s Note, my grandmother was in hospice, and my grandfather was starting to go downhill mentally, unable or unwilling to grasp the reality of the situation at hand regarding my grandmother. I don’t think I’d have fared much better, to tell you the truth.
In my first two drafts of this book, I didn’t dive too deeply into the house’s description, both in what it looked like in the present day and when I was growing up. But when something life-changing occurs—you can fill in the blanks as to what that was—that’s when the mind decides to act like a supercomputer, and vivid memories of what really was my home away from home creep to the forefront.
Given the situation that my family was in at the time, with a dying grandmother and a grandfather who, in a best-case scenario, would fare at least somewhat well, writing these scenes, especially the numerous flashbacks Quinn had when something triggered them, was, by far, the toughest content I’ve ever written.
That previous sentence doesn’t do it much justice, as words can’t describe just how many times I had to take a break to gain control of my emotions when writing what I hoped were powerful, relatable scenes. But I also knew that, given the flood of memories that came with that home, what you read was exactly what I would’ve felt and experienced had I entered the place since they moved my grandmother to hospice.
There was no way I was going back into that house. It wasn’t happening, and to be honest, you couldn’t have offered me a single dollar amount, no matter how lucrative. Going in there and knowing it would never be what it had been for the first thirty-three-and-a-half years of my life, and that the normalcy of having them both there, I would’ve died of a broken heart, and this book never would’ve seen the light of day.
Side Note: I did end up going back there nearly seven months later, but only because my grandfather, still living at the time of this publication, wanted everyone over when we planned his 87th birthday. The same occurred for his 88th birthday.
So this, in a manner of speaking, was nearly my final foray into the house my mother and her siblings grew up in, and where over a half-century of memories reside within the walls, from 1970 until 2024 in real life. It was almost my final foray into, and I know I said this before, what was my second home. One in which I was always excited to visit and if I was lucky, stay the night and wake up to the heartiest breakfasts.
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The lake house that I hated as a kid
As for the other house in this book, or to be more accurate, a cottage, there were far fewer fond memories. Heck, I could probably count on one hand how often I looked forward to visiting it. Ironically, when I first outlined this work, Quinn and Yui were going straight from West Virginia to the cottage, where they’d slowly develop their relationship from something that was resentful into a brewing romantic one.
But during those initial outlines, I just couldn’t come up with enough material for a full-length novel. And as you could probably tell, I still had a rough time even getting this thing to approach forty thousand words, something many consider the minimum length for a novel. Or, too short for a novel, but a little long for a novella.
Anyway, the cottage, affectionately known as ‘the cabin,’ had been in my dad’s lineage since at least 1950, if not before that. It belonged to my paternal great-grandfather, who was a founding member of the Mingo Sportsman’s Club located just outside tiny Bloomingdale, Ohio.
Once my great-grandfather passed in 1985—six years before I was born—the cottage went to my grandfather until he passed in March 2026. Bylaws state the oldest son inherits any property bought from the club. If there is no oldest son, then it goes to the son-in-law of the oldest son.
Currently, it’s with my uncle, the oldest son in the family, who looks after it to this day.
At first, my grandfather wasn’t supposed to inherit the place. But his older brother never wanted it, nor was he a member of the club. So, it went to the second-oldest son, and so on.
Oh, she’s grown on me…
Even if I don’t particularly care for the place, I’ll admit that I’d rather have it in my possession just so it stays in the same lineage. Heck, I should challenge those bylaws if I get a chance and make my case. For the record, I’m the oldest male in the next generation who has the family name attached. I’ve also since gained a more tender-hearted view of the place and the surrounding club grounds since March 2026.
Either way, just as I gave an authentic description of my maternal grandparents’ place, the same holds true for this cottage. It’s not much bigger than those tiny houses, complete with two bedrooms—donning the most uncomfortable beds you’ll ever sit on.
The place sits empty for most of the year unless there’s a hunting trip going on. And that was often the only time I visited the place. However, thankfully, might I add, I never spent the night there. Though there were more than a few times in which, back when I went with my dad and uncles on their hunting trips into the nearby woods—forest, really—we’d get there about an hour before the sun even came up.
But I never found hunting rewarding. Instead, I was bored out of my mind so much, I gave it up after a couple of seasons. Ironic, because I like the outdoors. But waiting for a buck to cross paths with me while simultaneously sitting at a log in freezing or near-freezing temperatures when I can get venison at the local farmer’s market complete with a wild flavor while potentially exchanging Goldbacks? I’m taking the latter and freeing up my time for more writing.
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Quinn Cozens and Yui Kikuchi
Anyway, onto Quinn and Yui. Let’s start with Quinn, who is a shameless impression of myself in so many ways. The only difference is that Quinn hates K-pop and I happen to love it, or else Yui wouldn’t have been a K-pop slash metal idol. So, everything that defines Quinn also defines me: Rothbardian libertarian, Arizona Cardinals fan, lover of revisionist history that the State hates, and a workout warrior.
As for Yui, she’s an amalgam of my favorite female K, C, and J-pop idols and singers, including but not limited to Lisa (Blackpink), Moametal (Babymetal), Gyubin, Yuqi (I-dle), Yena, Mina (Twice), and Jeon Somi. Yeah, that’s quite a list and a good deal of countries—Thailand, Japan, and China, besides South Korea.
I also named her after Yuimetal, who was one of the original members of Babymetal. As for the band T-Ice, it was a hybrid between Babymetal and Dreamcatcher, with a touch of Le Sserafim. Dreamcatcher remains one of my favorite bands because of their overall uniqueness. And of the three, I’ve pictured T-Ice mainly with their style, except they had just four girls in the group.
Anyway, I think that’s just about it. If you read my genre-fusion novels, you’re probably used to these Author’s Notes. But as you figured out from this one, I went the distance with so much to cover.
>>> Catch more insights at the Beyond the Lost Hub
Other References:
Atomic Salvation: Did the Atom Bombs Save 500,000 to 32 Million Lives? by Joshua Mawhorter, Mises Institute (Lots of good sources within this article)
The New Dealers’ War: F.D.R. and the War Within World War II by Thomas Fleming
Surviving Hiroshima by Anthony Drago
