The Renegades - Introduction to the Chaos and 7 Chaotic Disclaimers
Introduction to the Renegades novel
INTRODUCTION TO THE CHAOS
Hi. Welcome to The Renegades. Thank you for attending.
Most people don’t read the introduction of a novel, but please do so here because it will make The Renegades more fun to read.
QUICK FACTS
You don’t need to know anything about drum corps or music to enjoy The Renegades.
Every chapter and every scene in this book actually happened; none are fictional. However, this is not the Renegades yearbook (which exists). This is a chaotic novel. Accordingly, I have taken fantastic creative liberties with the narrative, characters, and dialogue, with no regard for literary tradition or expectations. Please do not—repeat—do not take The Renegades too seriously; it is embedded with chaos and dramatic surprises from top to bottom, including 77 footnotes. There is also a ton of serious drum corps history, heartfelt memories, and commentary. Put on your sunglasses, hit the road with the Renegades, and don’t look back. It’s all about the experience. May you laugh, cry, and cheer with the Renegades and the other drum corps in this story. If you do, even once, the mission is accomplished.
Please be advised that I break every rule of writing a novel in The Renegades, most of them intentionally. A few characters come in and out of the story in a seemingly random manner. The reason is that the story spans seven years and no drum corps has the same members from one season to the other. The roster of each season in the story is the same as in real life.
On a related note, the writing changes from the past tense to the present in Acts 4 and 5. This creative choice was made because TheRenegade Journal was written online, in the present tense, and in real-time. I tried every version as I planned and wrote The Renegades. When all was said and done, I still loved the original, with the time compression and change to present tense, so I kept it for this novel. If that breaks established literary tradition, good. This is a renegade novel, no?
And now, seven disclaimers.
SEVEN DISCLAIMERS
1. There are no personal attacks or political agendas on these pages. As I write this, the USA is polarized. This book is not. This story is for all Americans, just like drum corps. Also, our business affairs counsel replaced all obscenities with a [bleep]. If it were a movie, The Renegades would probably be PG-13.
2. Writing The Renegades involved a ton of research. Still, not every historical detail may be correct, nor is perfection essential to the story—apologies to anyone left out of a scene or if any achievement is incorrectly attributed.
3. I mention the military backgrounds of a few Renegades with great admiration and respect for the men and women of our armed forces. No one in the military does anything dishonorable in this book. Hilarious, yes. Dishonorable, no.
4. A word about the depiction of alcohol use. For the record, every character who drinks in The Renegades does so legally. Nobody drinks and drives, and nobody who has a drink in this book has an addiction problem in the story or real life. I feel compelled to say this because I’m not a massive fan of alcohol; after two drinks, I get a severe headache. More importantly, I had alcoholics in my family, and I didn’t want to write a book with the theme of “get drunk, life’s great,” that’s an episode of Trailer Park Boys. Which is a hilarious television show, but not what the Renegades were all about.
As crazy as this tale might get, there are no depictions of hard drug use because it didn’t happen in real life. This story is about passionate drum corps guys chasing a dream, not hard-core party animals. Sadly, the Renegades would have a member succumb to health issues caused by addiction, but that was several years after the drum corps seasons relived in this book.
5. With all that said, I couldn’t write a novel about the Renegades without including the evenings of drunken revelry that came with it. These memories are few but precious. And the legends are true. A shopping cart of beer did get pushed across a busy highway. Pizza Orgasmica did last all night. Strippers did hold the corps hostage on a balcony. These are historical facts I cannot change; make of them what you will.
6. Warning: there are scenes of chaotic lesbian activity in The Renegades. These scenes are not fiction; they happened as depicted in this book, and we have no explanation for them to this day. If these scenes hadn’t actually happened, I wouldn’t have thought of putting them into this book in 700 years. There is no underlying message for their inclusion; it’s the historical record.
On a related note, please know that sexual orientation wasn’t a big deal in the Renegades. We had folks of all genders, preferences, shapes, sizes, ages, races, and beliefs in the Renegades, and nobody cared. Everybody was, and is, welcome into our seven world.
7. I wish you a happy, chaotic, and meaningful journey with The Renegades. Ready, go!
Lee Rudnicki
Los Angeles, July 7, 2024
ps. Click on the picture to get The Renegades on Amazon!
