Cody McFadyen

I thought, since my new website is going live, that I'd take a little bit of time to talk about why I write the way that I write. By that, I mean, the content. What philosophy drives what I come up with and why I decide to include or exclude certain things.

I've found that my writing tends to create strong reactions. People either love it or hate it. I have to say, while it would be nice to be all things to all people, I'm not unhappy to have my books be a catalyst for strong emotion. Because for me, that's the point.

When someone reads one of my books, I want them to have an experience. I want them, at the end of it, to have felt that something happened to them because they took the time to read what I wrote. I'm not talking about cheap thrills here. While I'm sure some will disagree (and there will always be disagreement, that's the way the arts cookie crumbles) I never include a disturbing moment simply to disturb. I include it because when I'm writing, I have a feeling for the book as a whole, for the experience I'm trying to create for the reader, and I've decided that it fits. I'm not interested in writing about murder or death or sexual abuse as a one dimensional, purely palatable experience. You should feel these things, in my opinion. Dead bodies stink. Abused children leave a dark hole in the world. Death is forever.

Melodramatic, maybe, but not dishonest. That's how I see it.

There is the other side, too. I want readers to experience the beauty when it exists. Good is as much a part of the experience as bad. I think you can have gratuitous sorrow in the same way as you can have gratuitous violence, or a propensity of too-happy endings. Love can be as thrilling as chasing a killer. Strong emotions have sharp edges and hard impacts, and I hope to have the reader feel them.

The above isn't what every reader wants from a book. It's not even always what I want from a book. But most of the time it is. I like being grabbed by the throat and taken for a ride. I don't mind if I end up with scabbed knees and a bump on that head that requires a few stitches. When I put down a book, I like to go "F**k Yeah!" (Come on now, sometimes it is the best way to say it.) I want to be wrenched and wrangled, I want tension in my stomach. If lovers are involved, I want to root for them, to have them be the wish fulfillment of us all.

Not much literature provides it all, and I'm not immodest enough to say that I provide it all, either. But it is what I intend. And it is what I am reaching for. And it is, in the end, why I write how I write. I hope to get there someday, or to at least achieve some really magnificent failures.

For all of those who read what I write, and encourage me, and send me the enthusiastic emails, I want you to know: I read them all and appreciate every one and every word. I'm not writing in a bell jar. I live to hear about people reading what I write. I like to hear about someone picking up one of my books at a garage sale for twenty five cents and not being able to stop reading it all weekend - because that's me, too! I've mined a lot of gold in used bookstores and library time and have picked up my share of novels at garage sales. When I was ten and we lived on top of a mountain in upstate New York, we lived in a rented house (the owner was producing a play off Broadway). The house was filled with books, mostly Science Fiction and Fantasy, and I read everything I could get my hands on. I'd crank up the space heater and read until the snow thawed.

I loved the writers who made that possible. I still do. To approach, however mildly, being a member of that same fraternity is a dream. So thanks for reading. I hope you keep doing so.

So I was invited by The Mystery Bookstore to do a book signing in their booth at the LA Times Festival of Books.

Wow. Definately a going concern! I'd never been, but it was great to see that books and reading still draw such a large crowd. The festival is huge, and there are a ton of people going through it.

On my way to the signing location, I walked the gauntlet of political activism booths. There was some heavy stuff there, accompanied by some very intense photo displays. Example: one booth discussed the issue of the vast numbers of land mines still out there that have not yet been disarmed. They had terrible, nightmarish photos to back it up. I live in a quiet town, and write in a quiet room, and tend at times to be divorced from the screaming of the world. I found it both sobering and refreshing to reconnect. I came away bruised but awake.

As for the booth/signing itself, it was thoroughly enjoyable. People actually showed up to get me to sign my books (and thanks to each and every one of you!) On my right, variously, were Michael Connelly and Joseph Wambaugh. I got them both to sign their books for me, natch. (Trivia: Connelly is a leftie, just like my mom. I was ambidextrous, but a doctor told my mom to make me pick a hand, and she chose the right. ) To my left was Brent Ghelfi, writer of Volk's Game. We had time to talk since we're both relatively new authors and didn't have the long lines of Mr. Connelly or Mr. Wambaugh. Brent is a very nice guy, and I've added his book to my list of books to read.

The Mystery Bookstore, by the way, is one of those wonderful last bastions - the independent niche bookstore. It's filled with staff who know the genre because they love it and read it. They like to talk books. I went to the Gotham Bookmart in NYC for the first time in 2006, and was awed by how it practically oozed history. Little did I know that it would be closed within the year. Thankfully, The Mystery Bookstore is going strong!

Thanks again to those who showed up to the signing. I write to be read, so seeing you all is what really made my day. All the other stuff is frosting - you guys will always be the cake.