The Unending March: A Soul’s Reckoning

Excited to announce that “The Unending March: A Soul’s Reckoning” is finally complete! This epic historical fantasy follows Harlan Voss’s reincarnated journey through America’s bloodiest wars—from Jamestown to a speculative 2030 cyber apocalypse. Rooted in real events, it’s a tale of guilt, redemption, and the futility of violence.

Author’s Note

This historical fantasy traces Harlan Voss’s reincarnated journey through pivotal American wars from 1607 to a speculative 2030, rooted in historical events but woven with fictional characters and arcs. Updated as of October 01, 2025, to reflect real-world developments, including the 2024 U.S. presidential election results (Trump’s 312 electoral votes over Harris’s 226, amid assassination attempts and controversies) and ongoing U.S.-China cyber tensions (e.g., indictments of Chinese hackers, infrastructure attacks, the ‘Salt Typhoon’ cyber operation in September 2025 targeting U.S. telecommunications and infrastructure, and the DHS 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment highlighting evolving threats from foreign actors like China in cyberspace). There is no afterlife—only rebirth fueled by guilt, with memories triggered in adolescence by a star-shaped pendant, its carved oak form a radiant symbol of hope and a heavy chain of guilt. Recurring souls—Elara (love), Rourke (rival), Silas (guide)—shape Harlan’s quest for redemption amid trauma and violence’s futility, with the pendant’s star anchoring their encounters. Dedicated to those scarred by war, this final edition (~600-700 pages) restores omitted conflicts, deepens character subplots with vivid backstories, includes untitled reflective pauses after each part to explore Harlan’s psychological turmoil and growing understanding of his life’s purpose—to witness and atone for the cycle of violence—alongside thematic reflections for broader perspectives. As Harlan’s wisdom accumulates, U.S. presidents seek him out for enlightenment on war’s costs and peace’s path, drawn by his eternal gaze and the pendant’s mystique. In the end, Harlan recognizes the futility of his births, deaths, and rebirths, and the star pendant speaks, revealing a grim future where humanity faces self-destruction, cementing his resolve to break the cycle. The speculative future is grounded in current events, with seamless death-rebirth transitions where Harlan’s insights culminate in ultimate redemption.

Table of Contents

Author’s Note

Part I: Colonial Bloodshed

Prologue: The First Wound (1607–1610)

Part II: Revolution and Seas

Chapter 1: Wilderness of Wrath (1622–1755)

Chapter 2: Rebellion’s Cost (1775–1815)

Chapter 3: Seas of Strife (1798–1805)

Part III: A Fractured Nation

Chapter 4: Flames of Vengeance (1812–1815)

Chapter 5: Stolen Horizons (1835–1848)

Part IV: Civil War and Frontier

Chapter 6: A Fractured Union (1861–1865)

Chapter 7: Frontier’s Last Stand (1876–1890)

Part V: Imperial Ambitions

Chapter 8: Empire’s Dawn (1898–1918)

Part VI: Global Wars

Chapter 9: World Ablaze (1944–1945)

Part VII: Cold War and Beyond

Chapter 10: Fractured Proxies (1950–1991)

Chapter 11: Age of Terror (2001–2025)

Epilogue: The Silent Star

Appendix: Source Index

Part I: Colonial Bloodshed

Prologue: The First Wound (1607–1610)

The Susan Constant creaked into Jamestown’s sluggish James River on May 13, 1607, its hull groaning under the weight of ambition and the salty spray of the Atlantic that still clung to its weathered timbers. Harlan Voss, a wiry Londoner of twenty-four years, stood at the splintered rail, his calloused hands gripping the wood so tightly that splinters embedded themselves in his palms like tiny accusations. He had fled the debtor’s prison in the shadowed alleys of London, where the air reeked of sewage and despair, trading one form of chains for the promise of gold in this new world. His heart pounded with a mix of exhilaration and terror, the humid Virginia air filling his lungs like a thick, unwelcome fog. The swampy peninsula before him seemed alive, its brackish mud swallowing the boots of the first men ashore, mosquitoes swarming in relentless clouds, their bites burning like embers on exposed skin. The air was thick with the sour reek of decay from rotting vegetation and the acrid haze of woodsmoke from the initial fires kindled by the settlers. Harlan’s mind raced with dreams of riches, but a nagging doubt whispered of the unknown perils ahead, a foreshadowing of the bloodshed that would mark his eternal path, a path he could not yet see but felt in the pendant’s subtle weight against his chest.