The sequel to Einstein's Trunk is complete - or, let's just say, the tinkering and re-writing has slowed to a minimum.
Maybe it's a common tendency of authors to always think their latest book is their best - but the truth is, I'm very pleased with how World of Hurt has turned out. The humor is still there, the beginning is snappier, and Rulon is still Rulon. The one big difference is that Yohaba comes more into her own. In fact, for about 60% of the book, she is the driving character.
I can't say much without giving away the plot, but I will say that there is still some suspence around Elsa colliding with the earth, and the Russians haven't given up on dealing with Rulon after he took out their Spetsnaz team in CERN. But there is also an ensemble of new villians that, as happens in so many thrillers, just happen to gravitate towards the hero like yellow jackets at a picnic. The story begins in Idaho, but then the action moves to Zurich where some old scores get settled.
I like to include in my thrillers a little intellectual/educational meat. In ET it was the information around asteroids, CERN, and nuclear weapons. In WOH the educational side comes out as Rulon deals with some local neo-Nazis and has a chance to observe first hand the rhetorical tactics first developed by their discredited Fuhrer as he spread the Nazi message in the beer halls of Munich in the '20s and '30s.
Embedded in WOH is also my pride in the state of Idaho. As a native New Yorker, it was never clear when I moved to Idaho in the late '80s that I would be able to adjust. Let's face it - NY and Idaho are practically polar opposites in many ways. And initially it was an adjustment. But eventually I came to love Idaho and that hard as woodpecker lips toughness you see in many of the long time ranchers - just the sort of people that Rulon grew up with. I hope my love of Idaho is evident in WOH, just as my appreciation of Zurich and Switzerland may have come out in ET.
All the best,
Jim
Zurich
Showing posts with label Nazis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nazis. Show all posts
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The Super Rich make good villains
One of the things the TV series Prison Break did very well was to gradually expand the scope of the plot as the series went on. In the beginning it was a relatively simple case of a man being framed for murder. But over time it became a huge Matrix-like CONSPIRACY where even the U.S. president was a puppet whose strings were pulled by a secret shadow government run by the super rich. And to think: Prison Break came out before the 2008 financial meltdown!
Towards the end of the second season of PB, a new villain emerges, an old, well-dressed man who doesn’t communicate verbally with his minions except via short notes on little pieces of paper. What a great device for a villain! – he behaves according to the rules of an unseen world – a world of Big Brother electronic eavesdropping which he probably helped to create.
My theory is that thrillers – both books and movies – in a Darwinian way, are a reflection of society’s current attitudes towards categories of people. I say Darwinian because a book that chose, let’s say, the Royal Canadian Mounties, as the diabolical bad guys, no matter how well written, would most likely so confuse people that no self-respecting agent would represent it – and therefore never get published. So Islamic terrorists, crooked politicians, mad scientists, Nazis, eco-terrorists, super criminals, secret government agencies, and drug-kingpins – they’ve all had their day in the sun in post WW2 thrillers and have all been richly accepted as villains. And probably in their heyday all reflected a deap-seated societal fear.
Today, I’m seeing Islamic terrorists dwindle as the thriller villains dejour and the invisible super-rich rise to take their place – and I wonder if that is saying something significant about American society. When the culture chooses as its villain a shadowy, amorphous enemy with tentacles everywhere manipulating world events, does that imply that society feels pummeled by forces it can’t see, fight, or comprehend – and that the citizens see themselves as confused and manipulated. Hmmm…sobering if true.
My next posting will be on ‘bad language’ and why you won't find any in Einstein’s Trunk.
Jim
Zurich
Jim
Zurich, June 8, 2011
Towards the end of the second season of PB, a new villain emerges, an old, well-dressed man who doesn’t communicate verbally with his minions except via short notes on little pieces of paper. What a great device for a villain! – he behaves according to the rules of an unseen world – a world of Big Brother electronic eavesdropping which he probably helped to create.
My theory is that thrillers – both books and movies – in a Darwinian way, are a reflection of society’s current attitudes towards categories of people. I say Darwinian because a book that chose, let’s say, the Royal Canadian Mounties, as the diabolical bad guys, no matter how well written, would most likely so confuse people that no self-respecting agent would represent it – and therefore never get published. So Islamic terrorists, crooked politicians, mad scientists, Nazis, eco-terrorists, super criminals, secret government agencies, and drug-kingpins – they’ve all had their day in the sun in post WW2 thrillers and have all been richly accepted as villains. And probably in their heyday all reflected a deap-seated societal fear.
Today, I’m seeing Islamic terrorists dwindle as the thriller villains dejour and the invisible super-rich rise to take their place – and I wonder if that is saying something significant about American society. When the culture chooses as its villain a shadowy, amorphous enemy with tentacles everywhere manipulating world events, does that imply that society feels pummeled by forces it can’t see, fight, or comprehend – and that the citizens see themselves as confused and manipulated. Hmmm…sobering if true.
My next posting will be on ‘bad language’ and why you won't find any in Einstein’s Trunk.
Jim
Zurich
Jim
Zurich, June 8, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
