The Novel
Eulogy for the Stripes
A Constitutional Dystopian Thriller
A near-future political thriller about what happens when a republic does not collapse, but quietly fulfills its own procedural logic.
Book Overview
Eulogy for the Stripes is a dystopian thriller set in a fractured America in 2049, one generation from now, as the constitutional republic begins to come apart.
The story opens in the Texas Panhandle, where a faith-based community has pooled its remaining resources to escape the crime-ridden cities and establish a tiny-home settlement with a church at its center.
The novel does not rely on the familiar nuclear, viral, or EMP paths into dystopia. Its threat is more grounded. If the story has a central premise, it is reality carried several steps farther down the road.
It is a cautionary tale about institutional pressure, constitutional erosion, and a future that may feel closer than we would like to admit.
Read the official publisher synopsis Includes expanded plot details.
In the fractured America of 2049, a federal raid on a Texas religious community ignites a constitutional crisis that will force ordinary citizens and state leaders alike to choose sides in a nation coming apart at the seams. When the Proud Place community is destroyed in a midnight assault, rancher Charlie Dunne, mother Marianne Keene, and teenage Eli Mendoza find themselves swept into a maelstrom of violence and political conspiracy. Meanwhile, in suburban Dallas, AtlasPay engineer David Williams notices troubling patterns in the nation’s financial infrastructure—anomalies that suggest the crisis engulfing Texas may be orchestrated rather than accidental. His daughter Aurora witnesses firsthand how quickly civilization can collapse when she’s caught in a riot that turns deadly, saved only by the intervention of a National Guard airman who will soon face impossible choices of his own. As martial law spreads and critical infrastructure begins to fail, Governor Jones must navigate the treacherous ground between constitutional duty and raw survival. With the federal government projecting blame while systems collapse, and state governments facing crises that demand immediate action, the question becomes: what happens when the republic’s own mechanisms become tools of its destruction? In just over ten harrowing days, families will be torn apart, loyalties tested, and the very notion of constitutional order pushed to its breaking point. Some will pay the ultimate price for holding the line. Others will discover that survival demands compromises they never imagined making.
Publication Details
Eulogy for the Stripes
Michael McGehee
Eulogy for the Stripes was originally published through Defiance Press & Publishing. Following Defiance’s wind-down of publishing operations, rights have been reverted to the author.
The novel is being prepared for rerelease under a new author-led imprint.
June 25, 2026
Hardcover, paperback, and eBook.
Political Thriller / Dystopian Fiction, with elements of military/action thriller and faith-driven family drama. Near-future speculative fiction set in 2049 America.
Hardcover: 978-1-970993-16-5
Paperback: 978-1-970993-01-1
eBook: 978-1-970993-00-4
What Is a Constitutional Dystopian Thriller?
Most dystopian fiction examines tyranny after it has already taken hold. A Constitutional Dystopian Thriller focuses on an earlier moment, when legality still exists but legitimacy begins to erode. It studies how procedure, governance, and compliance can slowly replace judgment and restraint, allowing systems to remain orderly while becoming dangerous.
Rather than relying on rebellion or sudden collapse, it explores how constitutional structures can be reinterpreted over time until their outcomes no longer reflect their original intent.
Eulogy for the Stripes was written within this framework to explore how an American constitutional republic might change gradually, without ever declaring itself broken, and still arrive at a future that feels unfamiliar.
Why This Story Matters Now
Civilizations rarely change all at once. More often, they move through gradual adjustments that seem reasonable in isolation, but become harder to reverse once they accumulate. Laws remain in place. Institutions continue to operate. Public language still sounds familiar. Yet over time, the meaning beneath those forms can begin to shift.
Eulogy for the Stripes is not primarily concerned with abrupt collapse. It is concerned with the conditions that make a collapse unnecessary. The novel examines what happens when efficiency replaces judgment, when stability is valued over accountability, and when constitutional principles are preserved in language but weakened in practice.
That is what makes the story immediate. The danger is not chaos, but normalization. When exceptions become routine, and new rules feel practical, change can become difficult to recognize until the consequences are already embedded.
This is a story about responsibility in times of continuity. It asks what it means to preserve a constitutional republic not through reaction, but through attention, restraint, and moral judgment before change becomes permanent.
A Note from the Author
I want to thank Marc for suggesting an Author’s Note as a way to give readers a more invested interest in the story behind the book.
Eulogy for the Stripes began in 1998 as a horror story, but over time it evolved into a dystopian thriller about faith, family, liberty, and societal collapse.
Two vivid dreams during the COVID era brought the story back to life. They forced me to think about how institutions fail, how quickly stability can fracture, and what ordinary people choose to protect when the systems around them no longer hold.
My career across the military, engineering, banking, financial technology, logistics, and global program delivery also shaped the novel. Those experiences taught me that systemic failure is rarely abstract. It moves through infrastructure, organizations, and decisions until its consequences eventually reach families and communities.
But the reason I kept returning to this story was more personal. I wanted to write about the things I believe are worth preserving—and about the cost of waiting too long to defend them.
Themes
Constitutional Collapse Fiction
Explores how a constitution can remain intact in form while changing in meaning through interpretation and application. Rather than treating collapse as a single event, this theme examines how legal frameworks can be gradually reshaped until their outcomes no longer reflect their original intent.
Near-Future Political Dystopia
Centers the story close enough to the present that social, political, financial, and legal conditions remain recognizable. Rather than distancing danger into a far future, this theme emphasizes continuity between today and tomorrow.
Government Control Fiction
Examines how authority expands through systems that remain lawful, rational, and familiar. Rather than focusing on overt tyranny, this theme explores how small procedural changes accumulate into lasting power.
Authoritarian America Novels
Explores how centralized power can emerge within a democratic society without a single visible tyrant. Rather than relying on one antagonist, this theme shows how authority can be distributed across institutions, incentives, and political culture.
Techno-Political Surveillance Thriller
Examines how technology, data systems, financial infrastructure, monitoring, and control of information can become instruments of governance. This theme explores how digital systems can quietly shape behavior, authority, and compliance through tools that feel practical, efficient, and routine.
Faith, Family, and Duty Under Pressure
Follows the human cost of institutional failure through families, neighbors, public servants, and ordinary citizens forced to decide what they owe to conscience, community, and country when the familiar order begins to fracture.
Author Q&A
Selected questions and answers about Michael McGehee, the origins of Eulogy for the Stripes, and the experiences that shaped the novel.
Special thanks to the Thriller Pod Patron Group and the Military Thriller Book Group for their thoughtful questions.
1. How and why did you start writing?
The idea behind Eulogy for the Stripes first came to me in 1998, although it was originally a very different story. At that time, I envisioned it as a horror story. I carried bits of it with me for years, believing that someday, when life permitted, I would finally write it down.
While living in California, I met Tony Todd, Max Brooks, and others involved in the horror genre. Those experiences didn’t immediately turn me into a writer, but they gave me a sense that the story I had been carrying might one day become real.
The turning point happened during COVID. Soon after the pandemic became serious, I had an unusually vivid dream that placed me inside the community that would become Proud Place. I woke up and jotted down as much as I could remember in shorthand, knowing it might fade. About a year later, I had a second dream that continued the story with even more clarity.
That’s when I realized that the idea was no longer horror. It had transformed into a dystopian thriller about families, institutions, faith, liberty, and the fragile line between stability and collapse. After spending time thinking about how to connect the two dreams and create a complete story, I started writing the novel.
The full story of that journey is detailed in Parts One and Two of “The Origin Story” on my website’s Transmissions page.
2. Could you give us a brief description of your latest thriller?
Eulogy for the Stripes is a near-future, real-world dystopian thriller set in Texas in 2049. It follows ordinary families, veterans, state leaders, and private-sector professionals as they are forced to confront what happens when public trust collapses, institutions turn inward, and survival becomes a moral decision.
3. How has your life and professional experience helped you as a thriller author?
My background has strongly influenced how I approached the novel. I have over 20 years of combined experience in the Air Force, civil engineering, banking and financial technology, logistics, supply chain automation, and global program delivery. I have collaborated cross-functionally with engineering, operations, executive leadership, and external organizations, supporting more than 100 clients in over 140 countries.
That kind of work teaches you how interconnected systems behave under pressure. It also teaches you that failure rarely arrives from one direction. It compounds across technology, finance, logistics, communications, leadership, and public trust. That perspective became central to Eulogy for the Stripes.
4. What thriller got you hooked on the genre as a reader?
Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton were the two major gateways for me. Rainbow Six and Without Remorse pulled me deep into the thriller genre. Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain showed me how suspense can emerge from science, systems, and human decision-making under pressure.
5. When not writing, you are?
I have a daytime job, and I’m doing alright as a Global Program Manager in logistics and supply chain automation. Most of the rest goes to family, faith, and whatever quiet hours I can defend for the next story.
6. If you couldn’t write thrillers anymore, what genre would you write in?
Probably horror. That was part of the original idea behind Eulogy for the Stripes. I am drawn to stories where fear reveals character, but I prefer fear with consequences, not simply shock value.
7. A reader asks for a recommendation for their first thriller read. Which author, other than yourself, do you recommend?
Tom Clancy would be my first recommendation, but the specific book depends on the reader.
For a powerful character origin story, I would recommend Without Remorse. For terrorism, operational suspense, and a threat that crosses organizational and national boundaries, Rainbow Six. For espionage, Red Rabbit. For a masterclass in systems, tension, and strategic plotting, The Hunt for Red October.
If I had only one Clancy novel to make the broader case, I would probably choose Clear and Present Danger because it brings together Jack Ryan, John Clark, political pressure, covert action, and moral consequences.
For readers who lean toward science-driven suspense, I would point them toward Michael Crichton, particularly Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, or Congo. Those books were a major part of my own thriller education.
8. Describe yourself in five words.
Faith, family, service, sacrifice, country.
9. What are your writing goals for 2026?
My main goal is to give Eulogy for the Stripes the strongest launch I can and then continue building the series with discipline. I already have the working title, epigraph, and major ideas for the next book, along with concepts for a prequel and future entries.
The world is larger than one novel, but the priority is to earn the reader’s trust one book at a time.
10. What did I forget to ask?
Why I write.
I write for my family and for the future of America. I believe fiction still has the power to reach people who may no longer sit down with nonfiction, policy books, or historical analysis. A thriller can carry truth through the story. It can ask difficult questions without lecturing.
Eulogy for the Stripes is not written from a place of despair. It is written from concern, love, and warning. I believe America can and should endure, but endurance is not automatic. Civilizations do not collapse only because enemies attack them. They collapse when people stop noticing what is being normalized.
That is the heart of the book.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a post-apocalyptic or war novel?
No. Eulogy for the Stripes is not post-apocalyptic and not a traditional war novel. It is a political and moral thriller about governance, family, duty, and survival inside a country still functioning under pressure.
Is this a YA dystopian novel or an adult political thriller?
Eulogy for the Stripes is written as an adult political thriller. It avoids sensationalized apocalypse scenarios and focuses on realistic systemic decline, moral pressure, and character-driven suspense. Violence and hardship are handled with restraint rather than spectacle.
What is a Constitutional Dystopian Thriller?
A Constitutional Dystopian Thriller examines how a republic can change even as its laws, institutions, and public procedures appear intact. Instead of beginning after tyranny has fully arrived, the genre focuses on the earlier stage, when legitimacy begins to erode through normalization, compliance, and the steady reinterpretation of founding principles.
Is Eulogy for the Stripes a near-future dystopian novel?
Yes. The story is set in 2049 America, close enough to the present for its political, legal, financial, and technological pressures to feel recognizable. The near-future setting is designed to make the danger feel less like fantasy and more like continuity.
What makes the story political without being only about politics?
The novel explores constitutional pressure, public authority, civil order, and institutional trust, but the story unfolds through families, communities, state leaders, first responders, and ordinary people forced to make decisions under strain. The political stakes matter because they become personal.
Is the government the villain?
Not in the traditional sense. The danger in Eulogy for the Stripes is not a single tyrant or one evil institution. It stems from systems, incentives, and decisions that continue to operate without sufficient restraint, accountability, or moral judgment.
Is this a technology thriller?
Technology plays an important role, especially through financial infrastructure, data systems, monitoring, and control of information. But the book is not just about technology. It is about what happens when digital systems become part of governance, compliance, and public behavior.
Which constitutional rights are under pressure in the story?
The story explores pressure around due process, free expression, privacy, equal protection, and the limits of emergency authority. The focus is not on rights disappearing overnight, but on how exceptions, shortcuts, and shifting definitions can weaken protections over time.
How does this compare to classic dystopian novels?
Many classic dystopian novels begin after the system has already become openly authoritarian. Eulogy for the Stripes focuses on the quieter period before that point, when institutions still appear lawful and stable, but their original purpose has begun to fade.
Why is the book titled Eulogy for the Stripes?
The title reflects both honor and mourning. “The Stripes” refer to the American flag and the constitutional republic it represents. An eulogy is not written for something that vanished suddenly, but for something whose meaning was slowly lost. The title asks what remains when the symbols of a republic survive while its principles weaken.
Unofficial Soundtrack
A companion playlist
The Eulogy for the Stripes unofficial soundtrack was arranged like a film companion: one song for each chapter, followed by a final credits song. It is not an official soundtrack, endorsement, sponsorship, or licensed adaptation.
Special thanks to the ThrillerPod Patron Group and Brad Thor for inspiring the creation of a companion playlist. One unexpected win was discovering “Heartland” by The Sound, which captured the gritty 1970s and 1980s B-movie atmosphere I had in mind. John Carpenter & George Romero were the first reference points, with Ennio Morricone and Goblin shaping some of the darker cinematic edges.
Listen on Spotify
View chapter-by-chapter track list
Eulogy for the Stripes
A Constitutional Dystopian Thriller
Continue Into the World of Eulogy
Learn more about the novel, its themes, and the world behind this Constitutional Dystopian Thriller.