Some thoughts on the process by a HUMAN.

    The AI keeps changing the chapter outlines.  It takes out what I like, does this and that.  I saved them all, much to anyone's consternation I suppose.  I now have to look through all this, sit back and by hand outline the book as a human, with this as notes.

The AI would not add a drug related subplot I need, and it makes a hero out of a guy who is not.  I have to make that clearer.  The AI keeps wanting a superhero but I have been bloodied and it does not make you a fucking hero, it makes you, in my case, a victim of evil fucking people. 

I want a book about a guy desperate to avoid violence, because war is playing in his head and he is trying to forget it.  Like myself.  The trauma I understand, that does not mean his is mine.  His is what works for the story, a person who is not me, a character, who does things I would never do.  He becomes a drunk in prison, known for selling hooch.  Etc.

I had not considered writing a book again.  I used to write with pleasure and when that died...  I let social media have too much of me, but there is a reason for that.  I have a mission that involves feeding unknowing fools information to make them dance like puppets, out into the light, where crowds will surround them, the people who appear where you think no one is there.  

Well, since giving my name, which I may take down...  I was censored on Bluesky.  The Bio of me is...  silly.   This is my first attempt at this, so understand that I will get better.  But it is an experiment.  I will be using this blog more to express myself since it is the only one active.

My Bio... minus anything classified.

 This leaves out I am a total idiot.  I put this on Bluesky and they deleted it.  Then put up a warning.  I leave out the intelligence side of my life.  Thank you for reading this.   I also ran readings, had a hit podcaste Peace and Pipedreams, and the names of my books, all that.  Some of my writing under my real name is effected by my intelligence work, thus I write under John Burden.  But this is my life.... kind of.  I guess.

Again, thank you.

WHO THE FUCK AM I?

 Here’s the revised full bio with Ruby and Red and the Rogers Park beach woven in—keeping it professional but letting that part of your life breathe a little.

Full professional biography of John Scott Ridgway / John Burden / Johnny Pain

John Scott Ridgway is a Chicago‑based novelist, blogger, performer, and fine artist whose work spans dystopian fiction, political satire, spiritual inquiry, and darkly comic social commentary. Over four decades and across three creative identities — John Scott Ridgway, John Burden, and Johnny Pain — he has built a multidisciplinary body of work marked by moral complexity, surreal humor, and a deep commitment to portraying ordinary people with dignity and emotional clarity.

Ridgway studied literature, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and history for nearly fourteen years at the University of Toledo, Columbia College Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University, and DePaul University. His worldview was shaped not only by academia but also by his small‑town childhood and a decade spent driving a Chicago taxi, where he was robbed more times than he can remember and met people from every corner of the world. Those years — dangerous, intimate, and endlessly human — became a living classroom in empathy, character, and the unpredictable rhythms of real life.

He is the author of The Collected Writing of John Scott Ridgway, One War, Waking Up Jesus, and The Religious Psycho Killer’s Shit List, along with numerous short stories published in the small press. Under the name John Burden, he continues to write online, most recently creating a series of AI‑assistant‑driven experimental books on his long‑running blog Shattered Present on Blogger — an ongoing project in which he contrasts AI‑generated prose and outlining with the perspective, craft, and instincts of a traditionally educated, published writer. Ridgway currently lives in Chicago’s Chinatown, where he writes, draws, and shares his home with two cats.

As a fine artist, Ridgway has sold paintings and drawings throughout the Midwest, with permanent installations at Cook County Hospital and St. Anthony’s Hospital. His visual work, like his writing, is known for its emotional immediacy and its focus on the human condition.

Ridgway’s performance career began with the long‑running radio show Peace and Pipedreams, where he played more than fifteen recurring characters in improvised skits. The show became known for Ridgway’s early, outspoken advocacy for the legalization of marijuana — long before it was culturally or politically popular — and it drew an eclectic audience that included Cheech & Chong, Robin Williams, and even a pre‑presidential Barack Obama. Between sketches, the show spotlighted emerging musicians and new artists, creating a hybrid space for comedy, commentary, and cultural discovery.

One of Ridgway’s most enduring creations, Johnny Pain, first emerged as a breakout character during readings at The Elves Attic, the long‑running series he founded at It’s A Secret in Roscoe Village and later moved to The Big Star Café in Rogers Park. Pain’s anarchic humor, raw honesty, and emotional vulnerability made him a crowd favorite and a central figure in Ridgway’s short‑story collection The Religious Psycho Killer’s Shit List. The character’s popularity led directly to Ridgway being offered a show at the infamous Fearless Radio studio in downtown Chicago — a station where audiences could watch live broadcasts through the street‑level windows, turning performances into a kind of urban theater.

The show’s reach expanded globally when Ridgway began producing YouTube films connected to the podcast — making him an early participant in what would become worldwide viral media. These short films were created for fun and for fans, yet they quickly developed a life of their own. The Ruby Dog Versus The Mighty Dash — a husky playing with a tiny kitten — became the number‑one film on the station, surpassing even the music programming and drawing international attention. At the time, Ridgway was living in Rogers Park with his huskies, Ruby and Red, on the neighborhood’s lakefront beaches. The dogs loved the ice in winter and the cooling water in summer, sharing the shoreline at sunrise with a loose community of dog walkers who let their animals run and play — a tradition that continues on Rogers Park’s beaches to this day. Though Ridgway no longer makes films, this early viral success positioned him as one of the first creators to bridge radio, online video, and grassroots fan culture.

Ridgway has also been a central figure in Chicago’s live literary scene. His reading series at It’s A Secret and later The Big Star Café became known for their intimate, conversational atmosphere — a deliberate contrast to the competitive slam‑poetry culture that dominated the city at the time. Ridgway himself was a frequent reader at the historic Green Mill, where his blend of humor, politics, and surrealism earned him a dedicated following.

Across all mediums, Ridgway’s work returns to the same core concerns: the fragility of society, the resilience of community, the corrosive effects of power, and the stubborn hope that persists even in collapse. Whether writing as John Scott Ridgway, blogging as John Burden, or performing as Johnny Pain, he continues to explore the intersection of politics, spirituality, humor, and human survival with a voice that is unmistakably his own.

Author Bio — John Scott Ridgway

Here is one of those books, this the post brain washing show Scott confused and Waking Up Jesus.

https://archive.org/details/waking_up_jesus

Synopsis Of Book. I will change so many things... but this AI and Me.

 

Here is the final, clean, complete synopsis of your story without the century‑later epilogue. This version reflects the full emotional and thematic arc of the novel as it stands now—collapse, leadership, mercy, restraint, and the quiet rebirth of hope.

Final Synopsis of the Story (No Future Epilogue)

Collapse and Captivity

In a fractured America dominated by privatized armies and failing institutions, decorated military officer General Elias Smedley Butler is imprisoned on fabricated charges meant to neutralize him. Inside the Midwestern prison, he tries to suppress the instincts that once made him a legend. But as the outside world collapses, the prison becomes a microcosm of the nation’s unraveling—gangs, guards, families, and refugees trapped together with dwindling food and rising fear.

When Ellisberg Security, a ruthless private army, moves to seize the prison’s supplies, Butler steps into leadership despite himself. With calm authority and disciplined strategy, he unites gangs and guards into a defensive force and repels the assault without unnecessary bloodshed. His leadership becomes undeniable.

The March North

Knowing Ellisberg will return, Butler orders an evacuation. A caravan forms—prisoners, guards, families, medics, and refugees—moving north toward rumored safety in Chicago. Along the way, Butler’s moral counterpart emerges in Kareem, a former gang leader who believes in fighting for what you love, not what you hate. Maya, a brilliant organizer, becomes the logistical heart of the caravan. Juan, a young documentarian, films everything, broadcasting their journey through improvised repeaters.

The caravan liberates a slave camp using psychological pressure rather than violence. The footage of medics with red crosses, children receiving blankets, and soldiers surrendering becomes iconic. Refugees and National Guard units join. The caravan grows into a moving nation.

Butler’s nightmares return—echoes of past wars—and the caravan sees him not as a statue, but as a man carrying unbearable weight.

The Hidden Burden

Unbeknownst to most, Butler once carried a nuclear device recovered during the collapse. He refused to use it, refused to threaten with it, and ultimately hid it far outside the city, telling only two people—Kareem and Maya—where it lies buried. When asked about it later, he simply says he “abandoned it.”

The device becomes a symbol of his restraint:
he carried the power to destroy, and chose not to.

Sanctuary Chicago

The caravan reaches Chicago Sanctuary, where leaders prepare for a last stand against a massive approaching army. Butler rejects every defensive plan. He insists the enemy can be made to surrender without a battle.

During a rare night of rest, the caravan watches Juan’s films. They laugh when they learn Butler’s middle name is Smedley, until Juan reveals he is named after General Smedley Darlington Butler, the legendary Marine who exposed war profiteering. A split‑screen of archival footage and Robert De Niro’s portrayal in Amsterdam silences the room. Respect replaces laughter.

The War That Ends Without a Battle

When the enemy army arrives—starving, exhausted, manipulated by corrupt leaders—Butler walks out alone. Juan projects footage of liberated families, deserters, and the first army’s surrender. Women and children climb out of the enemy trucks and walk past rifles toward Maya’s medics, who offer blankets and water.

Kareem speaks to the soldiers:
“Victory comes from fighting for what you love, not what you hate.”

The army lays down its weapons. The war ends without a shot.

A New Beginning

In a private meeting, Butler warns the Sanctuary council of the coming climate collapse—storms, famine, mass migration. He tells them they need unity, mercy, and a story strong enough to hold their society together. He chooses to remain the General, not as a warlord, but as a teacher and moral guide.

He asks for one thing:
to read stories to children about better times.

The next morning, he gathers children in the Sanctuary library, sits on the floor, and opens a picture book. Juan films the moment and captures something he has never seen before:
the General smiling.

It is the first real smile in all the footage of their long, hard journey.

And it becomes the moment the Sanctuary remembers as the true beginning of its new life—
not the surrender,
not the victory,
but the quiet image of a man who carried the power to destroy choosing instead to read stories to children.

If you’d like, I can now craft a back‑cover blurb or a query‑letter pitch based on this final synopsis.