The Death and Life of The Wise of Heart

Hans G. Schantz's controversial illustrated novel was suspended from Kickstarter after a corporate regime change, but still lives on FundMyComic.

Hans Schantz is one of the more colorful figures in the superversive literary scene—equal parts charmingly eccentric scientist, businessman and author. His brand of literature hails from the storied libertarian tradition of Heinlein’s juveniles but is, according to John C. Wright, “frankly, better.” His novel A Rambling Wreck was a finalist for the Conservative-Libertarian Fiction Alliance Book of the Year for 2018 as part of his The Hidden Truth trilogy. He’s also written short fiction and nonfiction.

Inspiration of a more provocative sort recently struck Schantz; according to his Substack, Schantz realized startling parallels in the plot of Inherit the Wind between modern academic challenges inherent in teaching current principles of gender identity in contrast to long-standardized biological sexual identifiers while watching the 1988 TV movie production of the 1960 classic film last summer.

After hunting down and studying the original Scopes trial courtroom transcripts, Schantz set to work writing an update to the tale, with the same central clash between the past and present. This time, science occupies the role of the foundational wisdom being increasingly vilified as archaic, with the ever-expanding and splintering tenets of gender-obssessed pop psychology playing the role of the dangerous new ideology being enforced by the state at the expense of individual freedom. The title is even drawn from the same passage of scripture that the title of the source material comes from: Proverbs 11:29:

”He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind; and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.”

Schantz’s illustrated novel, quite a few chapters of which are available to read on Substack as well as over at Arkhaven comics, was reviewed and approved by Kickstarter, and went live May 9. Less than two weeks later, nearing double its funding goal, the campaign was suspended for “inappropriate content, including explicit or pornographic material”, and “hateful or offensive content.” The full email, posted by Schantz on the projects’ Substack, is posted below:

Since then, the story has spread like wildfire throughout social media, with the likes of Ethan Van Sciver, The Blaze and Fox News calling attention to it; many are eyeing the recent promotion of Bryce Gold, a vehemently anti-Trump executive formerly of Comixology, as the possible reason for the sudden U-turn in moderation. Schantz took some time to answer a few questions about the project for us.

Screenshot of a now-deleted tweet from Bryce Gold, Kickstarter’s recently hired Head of Comics. (via ComicArtistPro Secrets / Ethan Van Sciver onYoutube).

What made you decide to start writing, and what was it that made you deviate from your usual wheelhouse in science fiction to this? Did your background as a scientist add any particular interest to this issue?

It's a hot-button issue and the fact that the real-life Scopes Monkey Trial gave me a ready-made template within which to tell the story made it one of the easiest projects I’ve tackled. Each successive book in The Hidden Truth series has been written at nearly the limit of my ability to master and integrate the detail necessary to describe a centuries-old conspiracy and the tendrils it casts on the events of the story. In The Wise of Heart, I’m dealing with one venue—a small town with most of the scenes in and around a courthouse. The main part of the story only covers a week-long trial. That relative simplicity allowed me to focus on creating a character-driven drama in which the character’s choices drive the action and in which the characters themselves grow and evolve in response to the unfolding events. The six principal characters all have significant character arcs, and there’s a large cast of interesting and engaging supporting characters. I’m very pleased how it all turned out, and I think my readers will appreciate it as well.

As a scientist, I’m able to empathize deeply with my hero, Mike’s, predicament. Science has become a closed hierarchy with an ingroup of connected and well-funded insiders all parroting similar political and scientific ideas, all peer-reviewing each other, and focusing on tiny incremental steps that do not defy the status quo. A wrong-thinking outsider like Mike doesn’t stand a chance in that environment. Mike has ended up a high school biology teacher because he has been unable to secure the university teaching and research position that is his dream. A big part of Mike’s character development is his coming to grips with his situation and figuring out how to cope.

My inspiration was further fueled by my outrage at how some transgender advocates are rushing children into irrevocable decisions about their health, offering them such "gender affirming care" as puberty blockers (chemical castration) and costly experimental surgeries with devastating side effects. They are doing permanent harm to children, often without parents' knowledge or consent. As a parent myself, I want to draw attention to what's happening and present both sides of the argument in the expectation that my readers will be able to draw the correct conclusions.

The dialogue, especially the legal jargon and academic buzzwords in this is superb. How much of a challenge was it to write what is essentially at its heart a legal thriller?

Having the actual trial transcript from the Scopes trial made all the difference in the accuracy of the legal jargon and courtroom dialogue. Much of it is lifted direct from the transcript with light editing, so it is absolutely realistic – at least to the standards of Tennessee courts a hundred years ago. I’m deliberately vague on where the story is set so any idiosyncrasies can be imagined as unique practices in the jurisdiction in which the trial is set. The academic buzzwords are distilled by reading and paraphrasing the actual writings of transgender theorists and advocates. I did my best to present a “steelmanned” and faithful representation of their arguments.

You must have suspected the project would prove divisive; how would you describe the reaction to things so far versus your expectations? 

I knew all along there was a risk of cancellation, and I had my spool of pride-colored duct tape staged and ready to go, but I figured—correctly, as it turned out—that cancellation would only provide additional publicity and visibility for my project.

Until the project was cancelled, I’d received very little pushback or complaint – nothing worse than a few negative comments from friends. I knew there was a risk of cancellation, but having been approved by Kickstarter, I assumed a new regime was in play and that my project might benefit from the large ecosystem of backers who frequent the Kickstarter. I might have been correct, but earlier this week, Kickstarter hired a Trump-hating ideologue, Bryce Gold, straight from the trainwreck of Amazon’s failed Comixology project, to be their new “head of comics.” There has been speculation from comics professionals like Ethan van Sciver and Jon del Arroz that one of Gold’s first actions on the job may have been to cancel my project.

If anything, the overwhelming support I’ve received has far exceeded my expectations. My backers aren’t the least bit intimidated by the vague and unfounded accusations hurled about by Kickstarter. They don't wonder if maybe the Trust and Safety Komisars' calumnies might be true. They don't distance themselves from the designated wrong-thinker of the hour lest they be tarred with the same brush. Instead, they are running to the sound of the guns and ensuring that this cancellation will not stand.

Kickstarter in particular and big tech in general have played the isolate and ostracize game too many times, and everyone in our community is wise to it. Instead of the herd running away and leaving their wounded member to be devoured by the predator, they're all rallying around in defense. The support and well wishes and outrage on my behalf have been both amazing and humbling, and I am deeply grateful. It’s been a hassle, yes, to have to scramble to move the campaign from Kickstarter to Fund My Comic, but I’m energized and excited at the wonderful opportunity Kickstarter has handed me.

Our enemies are kind enough to tell us what and who they most fear, so we know to support them. And we do. This emerging anti-fragility is a beautiful thing to behold.

Can you elaborate on how the book will be available through Arktoons? Are they just cross-posting the free content, or will the compiled book be available through them as well? How would that differ from backer availability?

The content is mirrored on Arktoons and on Substack. Arktoons is primarily a graphical comics venue with a recently implemented capability to share illustrated text episodes. I get most of my views and traffic from there, and benefit from having my work seen beside creators like the legend Chuck Dixon, Vox Day, Jon del Arroz, Cliff Cosmic, Henry Brown, John C. Wright, Stonetoss, Bob Moran, Ben Garrison, and a host of other established and emerging talent. Substack is more like a blog, and is a great platform for hosting writing. My audience on Substack is smaller, but I can maintain a mailing list, and fans get weekly episodes and my commentary delivered straight to their inbox.

Followers on Arktoons and Substack get the same basic content – an advance reader copy of the story that hasn’t undergone the rigorous editing of the final story. For instance, there were about three episodes of legal wrangling over a motion to quash the indictment before the trial proper began. I agreed with a number of readers that it was too long, so I cut that from the final novel. Sometimes there are minor variations in the figures, because Arktoons has demanding graphical standards while Substack will allow me to use lower resolution images. Also, Substack followers get additional essays and bonus behind the scenes material about the making of the story and the history and research that went into it.

I will continue posting free episodes until the entire advance reader version of the story is free and available online on both Substack and Arktoons. That will be done in December at the current rate. A better and complete version will be available to backers within a month or so in ebook form, and not long after that backers will receive their paperback and hardcover editions. I anticipate a few weeks after the backers’ editions ship, the story will be released and widely available on Amazon. The leather-bound editions may take more time to produce.

The Wise of Heart is fundraising on FundMyComic through Jun 1. Check out the trailer and tier information below. You can also follow progress and updates on wiseofheart.substack.com.