Ready, Set, and Action by Gabriel Valjan

 

Plot, character, setting - how do they fit together in your work? Which do you find is most tricky (if any) and which do you have the most fun with?

 

My mind flashes back to school days (read daze) when I was subjected to Aristotle.

 

For those who think Aristotle isn’t relevant to crime fiction, think again. He was rumored (though unlikely) to have had a hand in poisoning his star pupil, Alexander the Great.

 

Aristotle defined Character as a virtue guided by Reason. Hume would say the opposite: Feelings. Plot, Aristotle said, needed a Beginning, Middle, and an End, and all three relied on Action. There were actions and reactions, start to finish, with a hiccup or two, for a reversal and an epiphany. If you dislike Aristotle’s definition of Plot, then try Evelyn Waugh’s: “The king died and then the queen died is a story. The king died, and then the queen died of grief is a plot.”

 

Aristotle didn’t concern himself with the common man either. The audience witnessed the Rise and Fall of someone great. Emphasis on great, meaning nobility. In the ‘real world,’ our Betters don’t provide us with moral examples. Not politicians and not the wealthy. Richard Sackler of Dopesick or Painkillers is, unfortunately, a real person. Time spent with his ‘story’ is educational to learn the magnitude of his crimes, but it is devoid of Justice. He kept his billions and will never serve a day in jail.

 

This last point about an absence of Justice would have been unconscionable to Aristotle. Jump forward in time, repackage his vocabulary as Three Act Structure, replace rising and falling action with ‘stakes,’ and call reversals ‘red herrings,’ and we have contemporary fiction. I would add that herrings are not a new invention. See Edgar as Tom o’ Bedlam in King Lear.

 

As a writer and as a person, I have a greater tolerance for Ambiguity and a lack of Justice. I read for character and for authenticity. I expect that both be true to time and place. A check for compliance with Aristotle’s concept of Unity. Now, this next point is where I earn my cup of hemlock.

 

I accept the World as a fallen and corrupt place. I see governments as no different from corporations, at best; the mafia, at worse. My characters inhabit such a world, and Reason does not guide them. Ambition, greed, and revenge motivate some of them. I write about common, ordinary people. There are no Betters in my fictional world; in fact, some of my criminals occasionally demonstrate virtue.

 

In my life experience, Justice has been about how much you can afford to spend on legal representation and who you knew. We are not all equal before the Law. I accept Ambiguity and lack of Justice. Readers of the Shane Cleary mysteries see ‘bad guys’ do good things and ‘good people’ do bad things. That is realistic for human nature, as is power is Power; and whoever has it—regardless of their ethnicity or gender or whatever—will do whatever it takes to maintain it.

 

You may not like my characters, but the way I write them doesn’t make you detest them. I am neither a nihilist, nor are my stories so dark that you want to contemplate the razor’s edge when you reach that last page. You may disapprove of my Tony Two-Times in my Shane Cleary series because he is a killer, a mafioso, but he is a man with feelings and an odd code of ethics.

 

Every Plot has been written; every story, told. All the possible outcomes are not unlike Monica from Friends detailing the sequence of numbers to reach an orgasm. Readers arrive at the same Destination, but their journey to Climax may vary.

 

I write historical, about the 70s. When I recreate the Boston of that era, I try to weave in real History with a capital H. I am often shocked at how Americans don’t know their own history, such as that Boston was the last city in the country to desegregate schools and housing (starting in 1974). I hope readers learn something.

 

Unlike Graham Greene, who distinguished his works as either “Literature’ or ‘Entertainment,’ I don’t. I am an entertainer who happens to write crime that is, by turns, literary. My dialogue is realistic, and I keep violence off-screen (most of the time). I try to create multidimensional characters so readers will stay the course over 200-plus pages. I want readers to spend time with my characters, enjoy them, and return for the next book. The setting of Boston in a bygone era is extra. My Setting isn’t Home, but it’s familiar, and my Characters aren’t the favorite relatives, they are Family. Plot is something that happens, like Life.

 

Enjoy the ride, and come again (um, not in Monica’s meaning of the word).

 

In Defense of the Leisurely Mystery

Q: Plot, character, setting - how do they fit together in your work? Which do you find the most tricky (if any) and which do you have the most fun with?

-from Susan

 

This question gets to the heart of my books. It also gets to the core of some not-so-great reader reviews. I think in mystery books a lot of readers have the same expectations: dead bodies right away, clever clues, and then, voila, puzzle solved. As a reader, that’s not my favorite form, although I have to admit, I re-read Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books just for fun, and that was his tried and true formula. 

 

I like to read crime fiction that’s strong on character, that invites me into settings so well-integrated into the story that it’s inevitable that they influence the plot and the characters. Can you imagine Joe Ides’ IQ books with anything less than the richly inhabited character of Isaiah Quintabe making his dangerous but smart moves in a gang-infested city near LA? Or Naomi Hirahara’s brave, quiet Aki Ito negotiating the foreign-to-her city of Chicago after release from a Japanese WWII internment camp, determined to find out what happened to her sister?

 

Sometimes, the setting isn’t a city or bit of Texas scrub land but an institution with its own culture, or a social group that makes and holds to its rules. But, for me, plot, character, and setting are woven together inexorably. I have great fun with the settings, not just rural Burgundy but cosmopolitan San Francisco, art-focused Santa Fe, rancorous college campuses, and so on. 

 

Characters lead. Who is it who said every character is a hero in his or her own mind? I agree. My protagonists, the amateur sleuths I love, are righteous or stumbling, but they all come to believe at some point that they have an essential role to play and some special expertise in solving murder that happens close to them. My secondary characters are similarly confident that whatever is taking place is, of course, their business, and they have no compunction about butting in and offering advice - good or bad. I love writing them, from the playboy ex-husband in the Dani O’Rourke series to Madame Pomfort, the self-appointed village doyenne in the Burgundy mysteries.

 

The villains have no less confidence that whatever they did, it was essential and right, right for their own interests at any rate. Making the characters believable is my job.

 

The trickiest for me? Plot. I start every book knowing who dies and who did it. But there’s an awful lot of ground to cover and plot to build between those two knowns. For me, the “why?” of the crime is so important, and that means diving into the villain’s history, and creating enough interaction with the protagonist that she can see behind the façade and figure out what happened. That can make the race to the end slow for some readers. In some ways, I don’t mind the reader-reviewers who brag that they figured out who did it before the final reveal, because my characters also have suspicions. But I want readers not to figure out why until it’s revealed. 

 

 

 

 

 

Send in the Ghosts

There seems to be a deluge of celebrity authors entering the world of crime fiction, some of whom are writing their own books, and some of whom might not be. What are your thoughts on the celebrity author phenomenon, including those utilizing ghosts?

 

By Abir

 

I tell you what, that Richard Osman has a lot to answer for. For those of you who may not have heard of him, he’s a British TV personality, actually he’s more than that – he’s become a beloved national institution. We love him. He’s like the nation’s favourite uncle. He’s also a really decent person, and immensely, ridiculously talented. A few years ago he turned his hand to writing mystery novels and they really are pretty damn good. A combination of good writing and, as my colleagues have said earlier in the week, being able to leverage the advantages that go with being a celebrity, have catapulted his books to the top of the charts. This, I think, is a good thing. Richard puts in the effort and he deserves the rewards.

 

The problem is that certain segments of the publishing industry seem to have looked upon Richard’s success and thought – ‘oh – we’re missing a trick here. Let’s jump on that bandwagon. There’s money in it.’ Now before I go on, I know that celebrities have been writing or co-writing fiction for a long time, however, I do think that in our particular part of the fiction ecosystem, there has been a significant flowering in the celebrity penned novel post Osman.

 

And this is where things start to get messy. I may be wrong, but I get the impression that a bunch of agents have rung up their clients and said something like ‘Hey kiddo, why don’t you try writing a novel? I can get you a hundred grand’. At which point, in my head at least, one of four things happens:

 

1.     The celebrity says, ‘nah, you’re ok. I’m concentrating on my day job. It’s what I do best.’ ;

2.     The celeb says, ‘oooh! I’ve always wanted to write a novel! I’ll give it a shot.’ And a year down the line, produces something passable;

3.     Celeby-baby says, ‘ ok. A hundred grand, I mean writing a novel, might be nice. I'll give it a shot.’ And six months later has produced either very little or something that resembles the dog’s dinner plastered over 300 pages. Said canine repast is then taken to ICU where severe and invasive surgery is carried out to try and turn it into something semi-readable;

or

4.     Our star says, ‘I like the sound of money hitting my bank account, but I ain’t writing squat.’ And the agent and publisher sing in unison, ‘No problem. We'll send in the ghosts!’

 

So here’s what I think about each of those scenarios:

 

1.     The celeb who passes up the opportunity. Good on you, Mr/Ms Celeb – you know what you’re good at. You’re going to be an A list star in your own field. One day, you’ll be bigger than Marlon Brando.

2.     To the celeb who writes their own, decent novel – I say, well done. Welcome to the world of hard graft and slow improvement. It’s a treadmill we’re all on. If this is your passion, more power to your pen.

3.     To the trier (and failer) and the subsequent industry effort to breathe life into a dead parrot, I say – why did you start this? Was it because you wanted to do it, or because it was suggested to you as a nice little earner? If the former, then stick at it if you want to. If not, I look forward to cheering on your cha-cha on Dancing With the Stars next year, even though I have no idea who you are, what you’re famous for, or what you look like.

4.     To the money-grabbing lazy shit that takes the money, might have the inkling of an idea, and then lets a ghost do the work, (and more importantly, to the industry people who enable this) I say – No. Stop it. What benefit are you bringing to the world? I appreciate there is an industry around ghost-writing – I have no problem with ghosts in the biography space, or pretty much any non-fiction. Some really knowledgeable people – scientists, historians, celebrities might have wisdom to impart but might be absolutely crap writers.  In that case, I’m happy with ghosts – as long as they’re given due credit on the cover. 

In terms of fiction, I’m less generous. A novel is so much more than just an idea or an outline – it’s the result of prose and plotting and character development, and when done well, something that comes to life and resides, sometimes forever, in a reader’s head and heart. You don’t get that from an idea or a plot summary. In my opinion, the person who put in the effort, whose prose brought the idea to life, should be the one taking the lion’s share of the credit. Anything else is hoodwinking the audience. I’d say to publishers – why not just nurture the ghost’s talent instead of pulling a fast one on the public? (yes, I understand that there’s a financial imperative here – many writers earn a living as ghosts which they might not be able to do as writers under their own name, but unless they’re credited with their work, how are they ever going to break out of that rather grubby cycle?) 

My final comment is on those books, supposedly written by celebrities, where the whole industry is aware that the thing was ghost-written, but where the ghost’s name isn’t even on the book and the publisher maintains the fiction of the celeb having written the whole novel. This, in my opinion, is fraud, and I have nothing but contempt for those who participate in it.

 

Have a good weekend.

DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM? Celebrity Writers from James W. Ziskin

There seems to be a deluge of celebrity authors entering the world of crime fiction, some of whom are writing their own books, and some of whom might not be. What are your thoughts on the celebrity author phenomenon, including those utilizing ghosts?

GHOSTS

I have no issues with celebrities wanting to write a book with one proviso. They should actually write the book that bears their name on the cover. No ghost writers.

“WRITE YOUR OWN DAMN BOOK.”

That’s what our inimitable Terry Shames grumbled under her breath after an earnest reader offered suggestions of how they might have written her book differently. Excellent advice. But aspiring authors—and that includes the ones of the celebrity variety—should approach the task of writing a novel with humility and eyes wide open. As Brenda cautioned earlier this week, writing a mystery is harder than you think. 

WORKING WITH A CO-AUTHOR

There are plenty of talented writer teams out there who create wonderful books. Several friends of mine, in fact. Me, I don’t know how they do it, but the results are superb. I could never work with another writer on a project because, as my report card would undoubtedly say, “doesn’t play nice with others.” But why shouldn’t celebrities have the same opportunity as any other writer to collaborate with a co-author? Just remember it ain’t easy to write a mystery. (And, psst. You’ll never be as good at it as your co-author.)

One bit of advice I’d offer to a celeb thinking about writing a book with an established author is this: readers will probably think you came up with some of the ideas, but they’ll assume the established author actually did the writing, editing, and even the spellcheck. Of course there are some celebrity authors who truly know their subject matter, and I would hope readers would recognize their contributions to the books they write. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, for instance. Besides being a legend—ranked the third greatest basketball player EVER by ESPN.com—he’s co-authored more than fifteen books, including three Mycroft Holmes novels with Anna Waterhouse and a Mycroft graphic novel, which he co-wrote with Raymond Ostfeld. (Artwork by Joshua Cassara.) Abdul-Jabbar is a lifelong fan and student of the Sherlock Holmes canon and I doubt anyone could question his commitment and full partnership in his books.

THINK OF GOLF

I’m not sure readers feel the same way about other celebrity authors. If you’re, say, a former president of the United States and you sign on to write a thriller with James Patterson, can you really expect people to think you did half the writing? You certainly brainstormed ideas, vetted the details of the inner workings of the White House, and what it’s like to fly on Air Force One. Probably provided invaluable information that gave the novel layers of nuance and realism that no outsider could know. But when it comes to writing books, Patterson is a pro. A former president, for all his other qualifications, is not. Think of those Pro-Am golf tournaments, where they pair talented amateur players with professional tour golfers. There’s no question which one will hit the ball farther and more accurately than the other. And which player would you trust to get up and down in two out of a green-side bunker? Then there’s putting. That’s the subtle, delicate, painstakingly precise part of the game, where a putt left a half an inch short of the cup will cost the player another stroke to finish the hole. A half-inch stroke that will carry the same weight on the scorecard as a 300-yard drive off the tee. Think of putting as akin to the final brilliant plot twist in a novel. If you rim out and have to tap it in for an extra stroke, well, it might detract from the 300 pages you wrote to set it up.

WE LOVE FAMOUS PEOPLE

Okay, that was a long way to go to craft a simile, but what the hell. My point is that celebrity co-authors bring many advantages to the collaboration. Subject matter expertise, intelligence, training, know how, etc. And possibly even writing ability. But I would wager that most celebrity-author collaborations begin as a marketing idea somewhere in a corner office of a Big-Five publishing house. There are always exceptions, of course. But, if we’re being honest, publishing is a business and the greatest asset celebrity authors bring to the table is not their writing. It’s their fame. We love famous people. We want to follow them, admire them, and say we once met them. And we love to hate some of them, too. Mock them, perhaps. And publishers can sell all of those things.

By the way, the blade cuts both ways when it’s a famous author collaborating with less-well-known writers. The very same James Patterson, for example, has become, in essence, a publisher. He co-writes several books each year with very talented authors who haven’t yet achieved the name recognition he has. Other big-name authors do the same, some of whom aren’t even alive anymore… In these examples, the blade cutting the other way is that many cynical readers will assume the name in the smaller font on the cover is the person who probably did the lion’s share of the writing. With ideas, guidance, and contributions from the bigger name, of course. Just as an editor might do. I can’t say for sure that my description is true, but I believe it’s what many readers assume to be the case.

TALENTED “AMATEURS”

It’s not my intention to pick on celebrity authors. If their books are tent poles that increase sales that allow publishers to put out other books, I’m all for them. And if they write their own successful books, even more credit to them. There are, after all, famous people who’ve written brilliant books on their own, fiction and non-fiction. And the same is true of “amateurs” in other fields of artistic endeavor. Alexander Borodin, one of my favorite composers, wrote symphonies, operas, and beloved chamber pieces, yet he was a doctor and a chemist. Then there was Charles Ives, the American modernist composer. He was an insurance man and a talented college athlete. 

JUDGE NOT

No, I do not judge a priori celebrity authors. In the end, their work will have to stand on its own merits. I merely point out that they will probably face assumptions about their actual contributions to the books they co-author. For better or worse, that’s a hurdle plebeian writers like me don’t have to endure. My readers know full well I wrote the words they’re rolling their eyes at.

 

 

 

Celebrity authors

There seems to be a deluge of celebrity authors entering the world of crime fiction, some of whom are writing their own books, and some of whom might not be. What are your thoughts on the celebrity author phenomenon, including those utilizing ghosts?

by Dietrich

When I think of celebrity authors, Dick Francis comes to mind. He started out as a champion steeplechase jockey before he penned his first novel Dead Cert back in ’62. The Atlantic Monthly called him “the best thriller writer going.” And his novels went on to top just about every international booklist.

Funny man Steve Allen was one of those celebrities who seemed like he could do it all. The former Tonight Show host (going back before Johnny Carson’s time) wrote some fifty books, nine of them mysteries, and all revolving around himself as the main character. Allen added mystery author to a resume that already hailed him as a highly-regarded comedian, radio personality and talk-show host. He even won a grammy for a jazz album. 

J.K. Rowling became a household name for her writing prowess through the Harry Potter books, later entering into mystery writing as Robert Galbraith, penning the Cormoran Strike series.  

And Stephen King started out by scaring the hell out of us, then went on to add some amazing crime novels to the mix.

Recently, there have been more and more mystery novels showing up on the shelves penned by celebrities. The Thursday Murder Club was Richard Osman’s debut novel in 2020 that went on to sell a million copies and launched the series that’s still going strong.

And politicians have been getting into the game too. Britain’s former labour MP, Alan Johnson, has written several installments in his Detective Louise Mangan series: The Late Train to Gypsy Hill, One of Our Ministers is Missing, and Death on the Thames.

Then there was Seventy-Two Virgins by Britain’s Boris Johnson, written in 2016. And Britain’s former deputy leader of the opposition Tom Watson put out his thriller The House, co-written with Imogen Robertson.

Then came political journalist Robert Preston’s thriller The Whistleblower, released in 2021.

And ghostwriting or collaborating with a celebrity is nothing new, something that would appeal to a publisher and readers alike based on the celebrity’s fame. Hilary Clinton and Louise Penny; Bill Clinton with James Patterson come to mind. I mean if you’re going to take an insider’s look into the world of politics and/or the White House, who better than someone who’s been there, right?

Well, we writers probably would all want to be rock stars, so fair is fair. Jimmy Buffett’s written bestselling books for children, a collection of short stories and his novel Where Is Joe Merchant?

Leonard Cohen wrote poetry collections as well as two outstanding novels, The Favourite Game in ’63, and Beautiful Losers in ’66. 

The Doors Ray Manzarek wrote a couple of novels: The Poet in Exile in 2002, and Snake Moon in 2006.

Woody Guthrie wrote the truly amazing House of Earth, a novel of hardship set during the great depression. Nick Cave had written several novels, and Dolly Parton has written everything from novels, cookbooks, children’s books, autobiographies, to collections of poetry. Pete Quaife, founding member of the Kinks wrote a couple of novel semi-autobiographical novels. 

Others musicians who’ve written novels include Richard Hell, and Morrissey, Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickenson, Steve Earle, John Darneille from the Mountain Goats, Colin Meloy, and I’m sure there are more to add to the list.

Other celebrities who have written novels include Steve Martin, Ethan Hawke, Hilary Duff, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bella Thorne, Lauren Graham, Chris Harrison, Britney Spears, Hugh Laurie, and the Kardashian sisters.  

I may reach a celebrity author’s book from a store or library shelf out of curiosity. And like any book, I’ll read the first few pages and if I get engaged in it, then I’ll just keep right on reading.

Celebrity Authors

 

Terry answering our weekly question: What are your thoughts on the celebrity author phenomenon(i.e, celebrities writing mystery novels), including those utilizing ghosts? 

 My reaction to this question is mostly curiosity. Why would someone who is famous in another field suddenly feel the need to become a genre fiction writer? But then, why do I write crime fiction? Because it fascinates me, entertains me, gives me an outlet for talking about justice, corruption, human frailty, greed, fear, anger. The list goes on endlessly. So what’s to say that isn’t exactly what drives someone like Hillary Clinton, for example, to write a mystery novel? 

 I’ve had a recent brush with the phenomenon myself. A man who writes very successful non-fiction books (including a Pulitzer prize) recently approached me to explore collaborating with him on a writing a mystery novel. He has an idea that’s intriguing to me and sounds like it could be a good book. He thinks it will be fun. But he doesn’t think he has the ability to do justice to a mystery novel. I suspect he’s wrong, but maybe he doesn’t want to take the time. But he did say “collaborate.” He’s not looking for a ghost writer. 

 So a celebrity might dip into the mystery-writing world because “it might be fun.” Or perhaps there’s an idea that nags them, just like it nags those of us who write who aren’t celebrities. Stacey Abrams wrote romance novels under another name long before her name became a household word. So now if she wants to put her real name out there to sell more books, more power to her. She’s done the hard writing work long before she was a celebrity.

But there’s another element to it. If a celebrity’s name is on a book, it’s going to sell more copies. So although I hesitate to write this, I wonder if sometimes the idea is to cash in on a very successful genre, the mystery genre. Because of their name, they’ll likely get a big advance and big sales. Does that have an impact on the financial aspirations of some of us mid-list authors who barely make enough money to pay for our book promotion? Possibly, but there’s a thought that “a rising tide lifts all boats,” so maybe the participation of celebrities serves to boost the popularity of mystery novels. That would mean even if they get a healthy slice of the pie, they would also help make the pie bigger.

I don’t know. But I say, if they want to try their hand at writing a mystery novel, or collaborate on one, go for it. 

 The second part of the question is, what about a celebrity using a ghost writer? I have a very different feeling about that. To me, it’s a way of capitalizing on celebrity without doing the hard work. I don’t know how much work some of the “collaborators” do, but at least they’re putting the name of their writing partner on the cover. I feel itchy about those who use their names to sell books, but don’t do the work. They might as well be AI.

They’re capitalizing on someone else’s expertise. I’ve heard of well-known writers using a “stable” of writers to churn out books under their name. The way I’ve heard it works is that the writer has many ideas, and turns the ideas over to their “sub” writers to develop the ideas. They check in with the unnamed writers to keep their writing on the proper course until the novel is written. And then the “famous author” get the credit. Even though, ghost writers often get paid well, It somehow feel dishonest to me. It’s like AI before there was AI. 

 But again, what about the rising tide? Yes, but…. But. It makes me itchy. I’d love to know what other people think about ghost writers. Maybe someone can help me clarify my feelings.

The Celebrity Factor

There seems to be a deluge of celebrity authors entering the world of crime fiction, some of whom are writing their own books, and some of whom might not be. What are your thoughts on the celebrity author phenomenon, including those utilizing ghosts?

Brenda starting off the week.

I've wondered on occasion about celebrities who switch from working in their chosen profession to authoring a crime fiction novel. Writing a novel isn't easy, and most people spend years gaining the skills to write a good one. They might start with short stories, have first manuscripts in a drawer never to be published, struggle to improve, and take years to finally have a book solid enough to attract a publisher. My sense - rightly or wrongly - is that celebrities get a free ride when it comes to the years of toil needed to land a publisher and possibly a readership. The question is: should they? Is this akin to jumping the queue?

Many celebrities use creativity and imagination in their primary work, and these skills can translate into new art forms, so it's not a stretch to have some of them turn their hand to penning a book. Many have written autobiographies, often with ghost writers. Some turn to crime fiction, often with lesser success. Personally, I've spent a lifetime reading in the genre, and writing a decent mystery is not as easy as it might first appear. (I haven't read a great deal of science fiction and would be less self-assured penning a book in this genre, which has its own conventions and trends.) But I digress.

I think of prosecutor Marcia Clark, whom I remember from the O.J. Simpson trial. I was at a book event where she was promoting her first crime novel. In my mind, she had a lot of first-hand knowledge about cases and the justice system from which to draw as well as expertise. She likely had good writing skills. Each trial is like a story arc, so she'd have experience with these too. Marcia turning her hand to crime fiction seems like a logical progression and she appears to be successful.

James Patterson has written books with famous people, notably Bill Clinton. Recently, Hilary Clinton wrote a political thriller with Louise Penny. This is the only one of these celebrity unions that I read. It was good with lots of inside knowledge evident in the storyline and characters. Could Bill or Hilary have written a crime thriller on their own? Possibly, but joining up with established crime fiction authors certainly fast-tracked their learning curve.

Publishers welcome celebrities who write crime fiction because they already have a fanbase that will likely buy their books. They also have the media's interest making promotion a no-brainer. I can't fault anyone for taking advantage of their celebrity to launch a book. This is a tough business and one should employ every connection to make their novel have a leg up. Many former journalists also use their connections for promotion. Ultimately, if their book isn't good, the public will choose not to buy it or their next book (because word does get out) . 

Even as I wrote the last paragraph, I found myself thinking about not great books that become bestsellers because publishers put resources behind them while better books don't sell as well because the publishers haven't paid for adequate publicity. I also think of media that promote journalists' books while not giving equal access to other authors. None of this is fair, but then we all learn quickly enough, that fairness isn't a factor in the book business. Yet, I honestly cannot fault anyone - celebrity or not - who uses every advantage and connection they have to get their book into the hands of readers. Ultimately, the book has to be good enough to attract and sustain a readership. Crime fiction readers will prove to be the final judges in this regard.

Website: www.brendachapman.ca

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Must Read Books or Books I Needed to Read, by Josh Stallings

 

Q: Any tips for summer reading?

A: I don’t know what summer reading is vs winter reading. Beach read? I sunburn in seconds, can’t imagine that would be fun. One of my favorite places to read is in the woods, foggy or even better soft rain falling through the trees. Add a bit of fire crackling and I’m in heaven. For a more nuanced look at what “summer reads” means, scroll down to Susan C. Shea’s post from Monday. 

Like most writers and readers I read all the time. I rarely read books at the time that they are being heavily promoted. This isn’t for some punk fuck-the-mainstream-I-only-read-indy-authors stance. I wish every writer myself included, got that billboard above Times Square, full page ad kind of push from their publishers. 

Back in the long ago we had what were called water-cooler conversations. People worked together in an office and instead of a personal water vessel in every hand, there was a common water cooler. Gathering around it co-workers would chat about that great new book. If you hadn’t read it you were left out of the conversation. I now work at home. I feel no need to be of the moment, culturally.  

I ready very slooowly, I will never get through all the books in my library. The how and why of what I read is partly because of my dyslexia. I didn’t thrive in scholastic settings. And I love learning thus I am an autodidactic learner, big ass word for “self-taught.” As it pertains to my reading choices, it means school is always in session. I chase odd ideas down, make connections, one book leads to the next. Sometimes I am chewing on a bigger problem and searching books to help me solve it.

Lately I’ve been swimming in the “I’m Getting Older Creek.” It is connected with my work in progress and my life at large. I wish I could pick up the phone and call my pops, ask him about growing older as an artist. I didn’t realize when he died that he would be gone so long. Then again Pops was always too busy living and creating to think much about growing older. Up until the end he had another life’s worth of projects fermenting. Maybe that is the trick, keep working and stay in the present. Life will do what it does regardless of my plans.  

Back to the question at hand. I started my search into growing old with Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, naturally. Holy crap, what a different novel this is from the one I read in my youth. More accurately, I was a much different reader when I first read No Country For Old Men. Back then I was stunned by Chigurh the hit man, his insane but structured world view was scary as hell and oddly relatable.

I also loved Llewelyn Moss, the hapless blue collar thief by accident was my kind of anti hero. The novel’s inciting incident comes when Llewelyn goes back to a murder scene to bring a dying man some water. He’s doing all the wrong things for understandable if not morally correct reasons.

Reading it today I see the novel from Sheriff Bell’s perspective. Bell is getting ready to retire from a job and an increasingly brutal world he has out lived. While wrestling with the heroic myth folks see him as, he needs to discover who he actually is.

I tried to put things in perspective but sometimes you’re just too close to it. It’s a life’s work to see yourself for what you really are and even then you might be wrong. And that is somethin I dont want to be wrong about.

           - Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

How did this lead me to read Dialogues of Plato I haven’t a clue. Plato is older than dirt, maybe that’s it.

To understand Plato and the context for his work, I went to Audible where I found The Great Courses, Plato, Socrates, and the Dialogues. Sixteen lectures by Michael Sugrue covering time, place and each of Plato’s dialogues. I would listen to a lecture while driving down to see our older son, then I’d read the dialogue discussed. 

Things I discovered —

Plato is funny, “Old age has a great sense of calm and freedom when the passions relax their hold, then, as Sophocles says, we are free from the grasp, not of one mad master only, but of many.”

Wise, “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” 

A feminist,“If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.”

He didn’t think that gender should hold a person back, but he did believe in a rigid class system. In The Republic Plato imagines a perfect society with four distinct classes. A special person could elevate one station, but not more than that. He believed the top class should never have more than four times the wealth than that of the lowest class. Any wealth above that four times would be given up to be spent on public works.

My take away, I see now how many of our thought structures come from Plato and Socrates. I also see how humans abandoned good knowledge in pursuit of amassing unbelievable wealth to the detriment of the planet and us folks living on it. 

This led me to a couple of streaming shows, one on MAX, “Fired on Mars” is a wonderful send up of what the likely outcome is of signing up for Musk’s or Bezos' Mars population plans. You think working in these billionaire’s non union factories sucks? Imagine doing it in a place where they actually control the air you breathe.

Second was “I’m a Virgo” streaming on Prime. Activist film maker and rapper Boots Riley takes on race, police, and economic disparity all while having fun with super hero mythology. It’s all the amusement of “The Boys” minus the nihilism.

Both of these projects cracked the code to dealing with hard social justice issues in a lighthearted non-medicine tasting way. These led me to…  

Titanium Noir, by Nick Harkaway. It came out this last May and might have slid under my radar if not for brother Lark who voraciously tears through books like a starving great white would dig into a surfing contest. My first reaction was, it’s more hard boiled than noir. Second, I was afraid it was a near future alternate reality Raymond Chandler pastiche. Three pages in I realized the judgey part of my brain was completely wrong, I told it to shut the hell up and enjoy the ride. This is the story of a private dick who works mostly for the cops on cases involving Titans. Titans are billionaires, the point zero-zero-zero-one percenters. They live like gods while the rest are left to grab what crumbs they can. The Titans are tech giants who have found a way to live forever, almost.

The cost of immortality is losing part of who you were, and perhaps that’s not a bad bargain anyway.

Harkaway does what masters of noir and hard boiled have always done, shine harsh light on the brutal realities of societal injustices. And he does it with this snarky humor and punishing violence of both the physical and emotional kind. 

Lastly is a book that if I’d heard the hype I might’ve never read it. 

“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin is so damn good. It feeds me on every level. Emotionally tough and accurate. Structurally breathtaking. It is about creation in an artistic sense, the collaborations that it takes to do really fine work. Love both platonic and romantic. Friendship and the cost we pay and exact from those we love over unhealed wounds. Zevin also captures something I have been searching for, she plays with structure, knowing when to zip us years into the future, when to fall back to catch a childhood memory. She is in a class with Emily St. John Mandel and David Mitchell as far as story structure goes, she is also in class of her own. There are moments that had me wetting my pillow with tears, lost in the pages of Zevin’s creation. This writer deserves every ounce of success she has achieved.

“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” may be the perfect “beach read.” As long as you don’t mind crying in public. But isn’t that why we wear sunglasses?