Here’s a transcript of an awkward conversation for a thriller writer. Leave it to my son Mark to recognize an aspect of my novels that no reviewer has ever asked about.
Bonus points for the kid throwing in a Game of Thrones reference.
And no, Mark doesn’t actually have an evil twin in the attic.
All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray… okay, all the leaves are scarlet and it’s a vivid autumn day. The point is, songs. And not just songs I love, like “California Dreamin’,” but songs my characters love. I want to reassure everybody that my characters do have loves and hatreds. Because in a recent post — What do writers owe readers? — some commenters expressed surprise that the characters in my books are fictional. Please don’t panic. They’re as real to me as they are to you, and to prove it, here are their favorite, and least favorite, songs.
Loves:
Evan Delaney — Patsy Cline, “Crazy.” Mary Chapin Carpenter, “Jubilee.”
Jesse Blackburn — Jimi Hendrix, “All Along the Watchtower.” Foo Fighters, “Times Like These.”
Jax Rivera — Ray Charles, “Georgia on My Mind.”
Jo Beckett — Elvis Costello, “Complicated Shadows.”
Gabe Quintana — Stephen Sondheim, “Johanna.” No, only kidding. Los Lobos, “Will the Wolf Survive?”
Lt. Amy Tang — Beyoncé/Jay-Z, “Crazy in Love.”
Rory Mackenzie — Radical Face, “Welcome Home.”
Riss Mackenzie — Amy Winehouse, “Some Unholy War.”
Hates:
Jesse — “Memory,” played on a Hammond organ at the Holiday Inn in Goleta, California.
Evan — Donny and Marie.
Rory — anything that Riss has played within her hearing.
Posted in Ask Evan, Kill Chain, Ransom River, The Liar's Lullaby
Tagged Evan Delaney, Jo Beckett, Rory Mackenzie
