Dot Dead Diary

November 22

Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States. Each year since 1963, when November 22 slithers across the calendar, I remember that day and those that followed. The shock. The widow’s blood-stained dress. The riderless horse. The son’s salute.

In office President Kennedy stood for culture, for civil rights. He was a family man and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, a student of history. Now we know the truth is far more nuanced in each case. (I visited the Kennedy Library and saw his college transcript: D+ in European History.)

I do yearn for those days when we had heroes. Remember? I did have heroes growing up, but none have lasted. Even if JFK was not the hero we thought, he did perform heroic acts. I’ve read the transcripts of the Executive Committee that met during the Cuban Missile Crisis. There he deserves his reputation. The generals wanted to bomb Cuba and invade it. He did save the world from nuclear war. And I must admit his inauguration address still inspires.

So for me November 22 is more than that horrible day when our president was murdered. In retrospect my listening over the school loudspeakers as a pre-teenaged boy was the beginning of growing up, of knowing how little can be counted on in this world we live in.

Anything Good on TV This Weekend?

Guess who's going to be on TV this Sunday morning?  At 9AM on KNTV, the Bay Area's NBC affiliate (cable channel 3).  Moi.

Yesterday I went to the studio and was videotaped for my guest stint on Press:Here, Silicon Valley's version of Meet the Press.  I had a ball taping the show yesterday with host Scott McGrew, NPR's Laura Sydell, and BBC's Maggie Shiels.  It was 10 minutes, felt like two, and could have gone on for hours.  All great people and knowledgable, too.  Producer Sabrina Hughes-Lochner, it turn out, is a real crime fiction fan.  Did another interview afterwards for BBC with Maggie who looks ready to sign up for my campaign to make Silicon Valley the setting for more crime fiction. 

If you can't wait until Sunday the clip is below.  Please comment and let me know what you think.

Authors and Politicians -- Kindred Spirits?

It's only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away.
The Bee Gees

Words are the primary means of communications among us humans. By definition, we writers believe in the value of words and count on getting paid for how we put them together.

So why so philosophical? The Democratic governor of Tennessee says presidential candidate Barack Obama should stop “giving big speeches at big stadiums.” He’s not alone in his belief. Words that inspire are under fire in this campaign.

My daughter and I went to see Barack Obama last night in San Francisco. He started slow, but by the end of a thirty-minute speech he had everyone there shouting and clapping in support of his vision of a better America.

Saying a politician is too good with words is like saying a writer is. (You know, that William Shakespeare can sure turn a phrase but what else is he good for?) Words are the tools of a political leader. Without words a politician cannot do great things.

Would the British have stood alone against the most grievous evil the world has ever known without the rhetoric of Winston Churchill? After the fall of France in June 1940, he said:

Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may more forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their Finest Hour."

Churchill’s speeches were not sufficient to stop Hitler. They didn’t conjure up aircraft, ships, and rifles. But without them, we might well have slid into the abyss.  His words inspired the British people to fight long and hard to win.

Politics is indeed the art of the possible. Programs are needed, votes must be traded, and compromises made. But the first step to real change is inspiration, painting a word picture of where we are going and why we are going there. Senator Obama wants us to imagine a country again respected for its moral authority, a country where all children get the opportunity for a first-class education, and a country that does not send our wealth to other countries who misuse it. When he’s done talking, I believe it’s possible. My cynicism after decades of broken promises in Washington diminishes.

It’s no surprise that Senator Obama is a bestselling author. His memoir Dreams from My Father was written well before he started his political career. Writers and politicians are kindred spirits who both use words to accomplish their aims. Bravo!

A version of this posting also appeared on the Inkspot blog.

Crying Over What Happened 40 Years Ago

I was driving to a school meeting tonight listening to Fresh Air on NPR.  Speakers on the show were reminiscing about Bobby Kennedy who was killed on June 5, 1968.  His son Max told the story of how in April of that year, his father went into the poorest area of Indianapolis and broke the news of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.  The police had refused to follow him.  He stood up and spoke with no notes.  In over a hundred cities across the country, riots broke out that night.  Not in Indianapolis.  Take a look and see why they didn't and what we lost those four decades ago.

Two Interviews That Get You Thinking

I read two articles this week that made me think some about this writing biz.

Lee Child is interviewed in The (London) Times.  Unlike most author interviews, this one seems to focus on material matters, and I am happy to report that Lee, whom I met at Bouchercon in 2006, seems to be doing okay with his Jack Reacher series.  Well, "okay," if two apartments on Manhattan and two near St. Tropez along with such trinkets as a Faberge watch and a Jag allow one to reach the okay benchmark.  So success and wealth have prompted to Lee to turn philosophical.  He says:

"When you have plenty it is really liberating but you reach a point where you realise, 'Wow. I can have anything I want.' This just prompts the question, 'Well, what is it that you want?' and I have found that actually I don’t want very much."

Easy for him to say. 

In an interview in our Times (the New York one, I mean) this week, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, known as Professor Happiness, says:

"We know that the best predictor of human happiness is human relationships and the amount of time that people spend with family and friends.

"We know that it’s significantly more important than money and somewhat more important than health. That’s what the data shows. The interesting thing is that people will sacrifice social relationships to get other things that won’t make them as happy — money."

Writing is, of course, a solitary pursuit.  Does that mean that we writers all have a tendency for melancholia?  We all know how important friends and family are.  But maybe the social relationships with fellow scriveners we foster at conferences, writing groups, in drinking establishments, and on Facebook help keep us sane and make us a little happier, too.

Dream Job

Newsweek reports that London's new Andaz Liverpool Street Hotel has hired a reader-in-residence.  He's journalist Damian Barr of The Times, who recently had a manicure with Paris Hilton's mom.  What does a reader-in-residence do?  He recommends books, joins guests for meals to discuss books, and is even available for in-room reading sessions.

Hey, what about me?   I love reading.  I get great satisfaction out of someone enjoying a book I've recommended. 

I live only a few blocks from a Four Seasons Hotel.  I might check with the hotel manager and see if a job posting is imminent.

Feds Target Writers Who Use Performance-Enhancing Drugs

Passing along a story from the front page of today's Palo Alto Times.

Justice Department Sniffs Out Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Writing Industry

Palo Alto – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Midpeninsula District of California today announced that it is launching an investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) by well-known authors around the country.

“We have convened a grand jury that is taking in camera testimony from authors, editors, and agents,” said Hamilton Wiener, U.S. Attorney. “It appears that some authors have been resorting to PEDs which give them an unfair advantage over their colleagues who play by the rules.”

According to grand jury transcripts obtained by The Palo Alto Times, many authors, especially of mysteries and thrillers, do their writing under the influence of a pharmacopeia of stimulants, opiates, and such. Moreover, Times sources expect a perjury indictment this week of one prolific author who has set sales records for his books and denied using any PED while writing them.

“We’ve got this guy, whose latest book was about to be named an Oprah’s Book Club choice, dead to rights,” boasted Michael Jovert of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General. “He relaxes at night by smoking marijuana according to his mistress. He denies it but she has phone tapes. He’s going down. Oprah’s so grateful that we saved her from the embarrassment.”

"The results of this investigation show our commitment to protect the integrity of America’s reading pastime from deceptive and fraudulent practices," said Inspector Jovert. "We have an obligation to pursue and bring to justice those who prey on vulnerable readers and place profits before public health.”

Bud Taper, commissioner of the Major League of Writers (MLW), said that PED use is unfair to those authors who have been writing while “clean.” He promises to rule shortly on requests to strike the books of an authors found using PEDs from bestseller lists. With the focus of the investigation on crime fiction, such lists may be drastically altered. The New York Times list of the top 15 hardcover fiction books for the week of April 6 contains nine instances of crime fiction.

Industry observers are wondering if Taper will lend his presence to the Edgar® Awards ceremony, crime fiction’s “Oscars,” on May 1.

“He can’t win either way,” said 2007 Edgar Award nominee Cornelia Read. “If he does show, it will look like he doesn’t care which of the nominees have been smoking dope or whatever. If he doesn’t, it will be disrespecting the game of crime fiction.”

In addition to its grand jury investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice is asking for reciprocity from its English counterparts. The Times has learned that descendants of Thomas de Quincey, author of Confessions of an English Opium Eater, will be asked to forfeit the royalties the book has earned over the last century and a half.

Comments from writers have been mixed.

Jeff Shelby, the best-selling mystery author, said, “Late at night, I’ve seen my colleagues take amphetamines to stay up and hit their deadlines. It’s not fair to those of us who scrupulously follow the law and still write great mysteries. I’m sure Wicked Break would have hit the top spot on the Denver bestseller list if only my fellow writers had played fair.”

Author of the hot new mystery Thugs and Kisses, Sue Ann Jaffarian, said, “Dude. I live in LaLa Land, where we do what it takes to get the muse up off her lazy ass. Sometimes that means more than sugar and chocolate. Readers benefit. Where's the harm?”

Keith Raffel, the Silicon Valley mystery and thriller writer, has concerns about the investigation turning into a witch-hunt. “I have been questioned by the grand jury,” he told The Times in an exclusive interview. “What I don’t understand is if only illegal PEDs are being looked at or if any foreign substance that enhances your writing is taboo.”

Raffel estimates that he drinks up to 15 cups of green tea each day he writes. “If that’s outlawed, I’ll be driven back to the software industry where the rules are far laxer.”

Closed Borders?

Yes, we writers love independent bookstores.  I myself have sold a ton of books at the independent bookstores listed below in the right hand column of this blog, but I also have done signings at Borders and Barnes & Noble.  A manager at the Borders in downtown Palo Alto was impressed with how many Dot Deads they were selling and sent an email to the managers of all the Bay Area Borders stories.  Thanks to him, I did about ten signings of up to 70 books a session at local Borders stores.

So, what's my point?  No matter how much we love the independents, it cannot be good news that Borders is in financial trouble.  Its stock is down 75% in the last year.  A story in the Times this morning cites competition from Wal-Mart and Amazon.com as a reason for Borders' difficulties.  The company took out an emergency loan at 12.5% interest to avoid "liquidity problems."

According to the news stories, Barnes & Noble, the country's largest bookseller, is the obvious candidate to take Borders over.  Such a merger/takeover would mean less competition and shuttering hundreds of bookstores, a scary prospect indeed to anyone who wants to sell lots of their books and to anyone who wants to buy them.

American Idol: Presidential Edition

The TV writers have been on strike, but I haven't missed them.  That's because the most compelling reality show ever is playing itself out in a long-running series.  It's called "Presidential Primaries" where in American elections an African-American has pulled ahead of a crown princess and a war hero has risen from the dead to beat the rich, famous, and evangelistic. 

When I was a boy, I read Convention by Knebel and Bailey and The 480 by Eugene Burdick, both about presidential contests.  Although I almost always prefer the written word to what I see on the screen, the current, ongoing reality show surpasses even my memories (from an impressionable age) of those two books in drama, pathos, arrogance, earnestness, and human failings. 

Several years ago, NBC used the slogan "must see TV."  Now watching CNN on primary and caucus Tuesday nights is must see for me.  I cannot wait till March 4 for the probable climax of the show.

I wonder if the sequel, called "General Election" and coming this fall, will be as compelling.

Let's Get Physical

The action in the book my agent is now shopping, Two Graves, takes place far away from the Palo Alto and Silicon Valley I know so well.  I had -- the horror, the horror -- to do research.  Thus, it was a relief to start working on a sequel to Dot Dead.

But as Robert Burns wrote in "To A Mouse," "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley."  It turns out that the action in the sequel occurs not only amidst intrigue in high-tech companies, but also at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).  Alas!  Research.  As I've mentioned before, I've been reading books on particle physics, but yesterday I took a tour of SLAC, where I'd never been even though it's about five miles from where I'm writing this posting.

When I was in high school, we learned that the nucleus of an atom is made of spheres known as neutrons and protons.  Wrong!  Quarks were discovered by three scientists at SLAC who won the Nobel Prize for their work.  A neutron or proton is made up of three quarks, of two different types, and is mostly empty space.  Few people seem to know this.  When I asked #1 if she'd learned about quarks in high school physics, she said no.  Her class focused on electromagnetism, acceleration, etc.  Newton probably could have done a fair job teaching the syllabus.

Why don't we care about the mysteries of "inner space?"  Breakthroughs are coming to explain more about what makes up the universe, but chances are slim that Americans will be the discoverers.  The world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator is about to become operational outside Geneva, not here.  The SLAC budget is being cut by 20% next year and the mission is being redefined to focus on medical uses of high energy particles.

In a time where natural selection has become debatable, we Americans seem to be moving away from pure science -- knowledge for knowledge's sake. During a 1969 colloquy, Senator John Pastore tried to get physicist Robert Rathbun Wilson to say that reason to fund physics research was for our national security.  Pastore was just looking for a hook to hang his hat on, but Wilson would not give it to him:

Pastore:  Is there anything connected with the hopes of this accelerator that in any way involves the security  of the country?

Robert Wilson: No sir, I don’t believe so.

Pastore: Nothing at all?

Wilson: Nothing at all.

Pastore: It has no value in that respect?

Wilson: It has only to do with the respect with which we regard one another, the dignity of men, our love of culture. It has to do with are we good painters, good sculptors, great poets? I mean all the things we really venerate in our country and are patriotic about. It has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to make it worth defending

During my tour, I stood in the hills above Stanford in the exact spot where a murky view of what makes up our universe came into clearer focus.  I stood at one end of a room that was two miles long. (See picture above).  I got chills.  There are only two tours left of SLAC.  (Sign up here.)  Budget cuts are ending them even though our wonderful and passionate tour guide has offered to give them for free.  Sigh.