Hey readers,

Apologies for the lack of updates. Whenever things are quiet around here, know that it means I’m doing one of two things: A.) Writing, working on new content. B.) Crying and spitting at the screen wishing I had never chosen to write professionally.

For the most part, it’s been A. (Thank God.)

All right, I can’t believe I have to say this. There is a small disclaimer I need to share before I get into today’s blog. It’s a doozy.

The intent of this blog is to share my writing journey, book release updates, behind the scenes, goals, review a movie or two, and when I have time, review books. This blog is not for discussing politics or the current political landscape. I have political views and it is my preference to keep them away from you. You don’t come to this blog for my views on politics. Today, I have to make an exception.

Due to the content in my 2022 book, Narco Hotel. I feel obligated to discuss the current political landscape and how that affects me and my books. I would feel like a hypocrite if I didn’t speak up. If you don’t want to read this inflammatory political post, I don’t blame you. The next blog will return to our regularly scheduled program.

Before we get into the blog, book news:

The new version of Narco Hotel is available on Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and almost all major retailers. The new version contains a revised ending which includes Cindy’s father. I also did some minor copy edits and updates. There was not a significant content update like there was in A Bitter Winter, so, you can consider this version of Narco Hotel as a small patch update. From 1.0 to 1.3.

Narco Hotel is the last book I will be writing with my current “camera describes the action” style. All future books will include more interiority. The subjective inner character rather than the objective camera lens. With the old style, you only watch Cindy as she powers up and fights. With the new style, readers will experience what it’s like when Cindy powers up.

Example of objective, camera lens: “The suit enveloped Cindy’s skin and hardened into metal, augmenting her strength.”

New interiority style: “Just yesterday she could barely stand on her own two feet without crutches. Now she felt like she could throw a full-sized man through a wall and not break a sweat. Nothing hurt. It was as the suit nestled her in a cut out of foam cushioning.”

Rough draft but you get the idea.

I debated updating Narco Hotel to the new style but after a reread, it didn’t seem necessary.

Narco Hotel just needed a slightly different ending and some minor touch ups. I’m proud of what I accomplished with Narco and only wish more readers had read it.

You can get your updated version of Narco Hotel here: click me (print is coming in April assuming there’s no complications with print quality.)

If you already own the e-book, I am pretty sure you don’t need to re-buy it. If you do not see the new version on your Kindle, shoot me an email and I’ll send you the new copy. If you own the print book, sorry, I did make some minor updates to the cover. I mainly added The Silver Pencil Books updated logo, updated Silver Ninja font, and a new back blurb. Other than that, you’re not missing much so don’t worry.

On March 1st – 7th 2026 it will be free on Smashwords and B&N, so you can download it then.

Okay, enough stalling. Onto the blog.

It should not surprise readers of The Silver Ninja that Cindy would be furious by what ICE has done.

When I wrote Narco Hotel in 2022, the pivotal moment in American history was the arrest and murder of George Floyd. I wrote Narco Hotel from the perspective of a white protagonist caught between siding with the “law” or helping the “”immigrants.”

Ultimately, Cindy (even though she was a former cop), chose not to associate the Silver Ninja with the police. In the same way that Captain America is a symbol of patriotism, leadership, freedom. Cindy chose not to associate the Silver Ninja with the police.

Imagine my fucking surprise when 2026 rolled up and presented us with news stories of ICE murdering a nurse from Veterans Affairs, Alex Pretti, and Rene Good, a writer and a mother. They did not deserve to be executed. They did not have associations with terrorists or criminals and the media lied about who they were.

No one is arguing against the deportation of violent criminals, drug dealers, murders, and sex offenders. Everyone agrees they all need to go.

The argument is with ICE abusing their power to fill quotas and pick up anyone they want without due process and killing citizens. That’s bullshit. The greatest and most sickening irony is that some of these ICE agents are Latino themselves!

Apparently, I got it wrong in Narco Hotel. It wasn’t the NYPD rounding up the Latino community. It was ICE. An agency run by flagrant racists and an incompetent head of the Department of Homeland security.

It took all my willpower not to write a story about Cindy confronting ICE agents. As a son of immigrants, what’s happening now in the first quarter of 2026 boils my blood.

If you’re one of those people saying “Let ICE do their jobs” you can GTFO.

Social Media and Facebook are complicit in stoking the flames of unrest and doing nothing to protect (us)ers from foreign bots.

Social media is 100% contributing to the brain rot of society and it’s all thanks to Mark Z. and Elon M. who have done nothing to moderate content from AI bots intending to provoke civil infighting on their platforms. Whenever a political leader, like a governor or senator create a facebook post, their comment section fills with foreign agents intentionally trying to enrage people. Click on the profile of someone that says, “Let ICE do their job!” And you’ll find a stolen Facebook profile of someone who probably isn’t even on the platform anymore. There will barely be any pictures, the account will be new, and it doesn’t have any post history except for a few random photos.

Then, we, as the unsuspecting victims comment on these profiles and get into pointless arguments with bots that don’t even respond. Sure, there’s people out there drunk on the MAGA juice and believe this administration could do no wrong. But I believe the tides are turning and MAGA folks are realizing they’ve been lied to.

I fully blame Mark and Elon for lack of content moderation.

Even when I go to “report profiles” Facebook’s automated response will say, “We did not find this profile in violation of our TOS.” I even reported profiles that were clearly involved in scams and phishing attacks, but FB refused to ban the accounts from the platform. Twitter (now X) pays verified users if their posts go viral and get engagement from other premium users. So, now you have bots and profiles intentionally posting inciting and racist content to create fake engagement in order to receive a check from daddy Elon.

Let’s not forget that Elon and the orange in chief appeared in the Epstein files which the Department of Justice has failed to cover up. A DOJ more concerned with the DOW than victims of sexual abuse from people in power. A DOJ whose Director of the FBI uses a tax payer funded private jet so he could party with hockey teams and visit his girlfriend. I don’t think the MAGA folks voted for this administration.

Kamala was a weak candidate, and I never would have put her against the current president. Why anyone thought she was qualified when she had to abandon her own presidential race is mind boggling to me. There were much stronger candidates out there, but the Democratic National Commitee is willfully incompetent and chose the wrong people to lead this country.

Everything this administration has done goes completely against what The Silver Ninja and I stand for.

I thought George Floyd would be the end of it. I had no idea things would get worse. Narco Hotel should have been a touchpoint in history. I wrote these stories hoping these events would be a thing of the past and not a still trending news topic four years later.

I don’t care if you’re Republican or a Democrat. If you are a part of the dwindling population of people who still believes in the lies this cult continues to preach, wake the fuck up. Question what they’re doing, question your government, question everything. If you’re Latino and you think these people won’t turn you into ICE just because you share the same beliefs, you’re wrong. They are lying to you and you are the one who will be hurt by these lies. These cultists are not your friends.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” -Theodore Parker and Martin Luther King Jr.