SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE at Kindleboards

by Libby Hellmann

Hi, all. Those of you who are on KindleBoards might be interested in a discussion about SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE. It's part of their "Read With The Author" Book Klub, which they're in the process of reviving. I am one of six authors they asked to lead a discussion, and I had the "good fortune" to be the guinea --er -- first.

So, I'd love it if you popped over and put in your two cents. There are a bunch of threads, but you really don't have to have read the book to participate -- some of them are pretty general.

Thanks. See you over here.

Overrated Classic or Favorite?

by Jamie Freveletti
The Huffington Post recently posted a list of six classics that the author thought overrated. The link is here. But if you don't want to click it they are:
1. Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett
2. Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
3. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
4. Ulysses, James Joyce
5. The Stranger, Albert Camus

I never read Ulysses-dodged a bullet on that one, and I've only seen Waiting for Godot performed as a play at the Steppenwolf Theater. Well acted, but weird.
Barely recall The Stranger and really recall Moby Dick and Catcher in the Rye. I read Catcher in the Rye when I was a teenager myself and I recall thinking it was okay, but didn't knock me out.
So this list got me to thinking. What were the novels that are the best? Worth every minute? Got you thinking, or sent your imagination flying?
For me:
1. Edgar Allan Poe. Creepy, strange and really twisted.
2. Heinlein, The Red Planet. Loved the whole concept and read it at the appropriate age, so that helped.
3. Stephen King, The Stand. Great exploration of good and evil fighting it out.
4. Goblin Market, Christina Rossetti. Interesting hidden homosexual tones that I kept pressing my college professor to acknowledge. He said, in a bland kind of rolled eye way "yes, Ms. Freveletti, that's been commented on by many over the century," but never really delved into it and seemed to want to move past this revelation. I was fascinated that she had managed to write this poem and it taught me to look for hidden meanings in literature.
5. The Second Coming, WB Yeats. Again, creepy poem that really caught me. (In reading this list I just realized that everything I like is a bit creepy. Guess that's why I write thrillers).

What is your list?

Young Man’s Death Rattles Indiana Beach Community

by Laura Caldwell

I consider the Sunday New York Times one of life’s greatest pleasures. So I was thrilled when I saw that Long Beach, Indiana, a place of hidden beauty, a place I consider a home, was featured in the Chicagoland section on July 17, 2011. But then I saw what the article was about—the 4th of July tragedy.

Two good guys (that’s the opinion from everyone who’s spoken about them) were on the beach. Some arguments were had. One good kid threw a punch. The other good kid died. I’m over-simplifying here, (to read the piece click here) but that’s the upshot and the agony of the situation.

A few years ago, when I was working on a murder case at 26th and Cal, many were surprised that my client was accused of throwing only two punches. But two punches that contribute to someone’s death is murder in the eyes of the law. As my co-counsel told the jury, “If you’re in for a penny, you’re in for a pound.”

It was in Long Beach, Indiana I wrote most of my book about that trial—Long Way Home: A Young Man Lost in the System and the Two Women Who Found Him. It’s Long Beach that has held me in its dunes and beaches while I wrote most of my twelve books.

The excruciating side of ‘in-for-a-penny’ rule is, as seen in Long Beach, there’s loss all the way around. Clearly, there’s the loss to one family already and now another has their son charged with involuntary manslaughter rolling the dice in the legal system. (My deepest and most sincere sympathies to both families).

So what are we to do with this? Is there anything we can take from such situations? Perhaps it is at least the reminder of the constant fragility of life even in the most idyllic of places. We have to remind ourselves to take the utmost care in day-to-day life—wherever we are—and we have to tell that to our kids, our students, our nieces and nephews. The shame is that this reminder comes in the shadow of such heartbreak for so many.

Death Valley: The Middle of a Novel

by Jamie Freveletti

It's 95 degrees outside and even hotter in my air conditioned house. Why? Because I'm in the middle of one of my manuscripts. Yes, I'm at that lovely space about two thirds of the way that we writers like to call "Death Valley." It's when the plot is formed, the action moving along, and the characters heading toward discovery, BUT, they're not close enough for the last twenty five pages.

I love the last twenty five pages because they're all about momentum. These are the pages that write themselves. For me endings are just a blast to write.

But death valley is the most difficult part. That's because you need to be mindful of the red herrings that you've placed along the way, the plot points that you want to strike and the story arc that you need to hit. I always thought if I was one of those writers that use an outline I would breeze through this section, but I'm told by those writers that do outline that this is not true. They groan when I mention Death Valley, so I assume the pain is equal for them as well.

If you're a new writer beware this section. This is the time that most new authors throw in the towel. Doubts arise, it's difficult and you get a good sense of just how hard it is to write a cohesive story for as many pages as are required. That's why at writing conferences I get a slew of hands when I ask how many are in the middle and stuck.

The best advice I can give for this section is to do just a bit of research. Not a lot, mind you, or you'll just give yourself another reason to procrastinate, but a little. I've found that research will give me some more ideas that will often help me break through to the next level.

In the meantime, I'm just sitting here, sweating it out. I'd go outside for a quick break, but it's as hot out there as in here. I'll just keep on working, ignore the pain and struggle on through.
Back at you when I get to the other side!

Writer

by Michael Dymmoch

Every writer keeps files with ideas, plot summaries, lines of dialog. Mine are in a folder titled "Great Beginnings." Sometimes, when I access it to add something I don't want to work on but don't want to forget, I reread one of the files. I did that today and discovered something I scribbled in 2009, something I'd forgotten I wrote:

One of those rainy October mornings, with the streets imperfectly reflecting sky and traffic lights, collecting red and yellow leaves along the gutters. I was passing Saks in Highland Park. They had the bronze security gate halfway up, and a young woman was kneeling to clean the smudges off the glass doors. As she paused in her task, she gazed out at the rainy landscape. Her expression seemed to reflect the wet gray sky.


Writer.

I observe my surroundings,
especially the people around me.
I observe myself observing.
It's not unlike the glimpse of absurdity
you get in a fun house,
where a mirror reflects
a smaller reflection of itself
reflecting a smaller reflection of itself
ad infinitum.

Favorite Lines from Books on Writing

By Jamie Freveletti

Here are some of my favorite lines from books on Writing:

My students assume that when well-respected writers sit down to write their books, they know pretty much what is going to happen because they've outlined most of the plot, and this is why their books turn out so beautifully and why their lives are so easy and joyful, their self-esteem so great, their childlike senses of trust and wonder so intact. Well I do not know anyone fitting this description at all. Everyone I know flails around kvetching and
growing despondent, on the way to finding a plot and structure that work. You are welcome to join the club.

Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott

...your first writing is as delicate as a seedling. Don't show it to some yahoo who wouldn't know an orchid from kudzu.

Making a Literary Life, Carolyn See

If you use a colloquialism or a slang word or phrase, simply use it; do not draw attention to it by enclosing it in quotation marks. To do so is to put on airs, as though you were inviting the reader to join you in select society of those who know better.

The Elements of Style, Strunk and White

Sometimes you just have to be stubborn. No matter how difficult the writing task, how slowly the words come, how altogether discouraging the act of writing seems to be, your stubborn streak keeps you going.

The Daily Writer, Fred White

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing

Just for fun, agree with criticism directed toward you (then watch it go away)

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff...and it's all small stuff, Richard Carlson, PH.D

And my own: enjoy every minute of it.

From Ulcers to Audio

by Libby Hellmann

I was diagnosed with ulcers in February, and I know the exact day they started to form. It was the day I realized the entire way I’d been marketing my books over the past 10 years had, in the digital e-book age, become obsolete. I remember realizing that I’d have to learn a totally new way of promoting: all online, all “soft” marketing, all very time-consuming.

Not the thing a hard-charging, results-oriented former marketing person wants to hear.

Four months later, the ulcers are – thankfully -- gone, and I’m feeling better about marketing, too. I went back to school (metaphorically) to learn the ABCs of e-book promotion. I teamed up with a couple of writers’ groups to share the load; started keeping tabs and submitting my books to new websites and blogs like Cheap Daily Reads and Kindle Nation Daily, as well as other emerging gatekeeper sites; polished my Facebook fan page; started using Twitter more; joined a couple of blogs; plus a hundred other things that, by trial and error, I’m either doing or not.

And while surviving in the digital age requires a lot more effort and has significantly slashed my writing productivity (at least for now), there are other perks. There is no question that the Digital Age has presented authors with opportunities that used to be only a dream.

Like producing an audiobook.

I am in the midst of producing the audio of SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE, my seventh novel, and I’m having more fun than I’ve had in years. Mostly because I used to be a video producer. I worked in both corporate and broadcasting jobs – in fact, my first “real” job was at KYW news radio in Philadelphia. For me audio is “theater of the mind.” You have the voices, the effects, and the words, but you get to visualize the characters – the way they look, their expressions, their body language. It’s the bridge between reading and film, and it’s a medium I’ve always cherished. There’s just nothing like closing your eyes (as long as you’re not driving) and letting your imagination wander.

So far two of my novels and four short stories have been produced on audio. However, in each case, I’ve had to wait years for them to become available.

No more.

Now, with everything digital and online, it’s possible to produce an audiobook quickly, at a reasonable cost, and still have a professional product. Which is what I’m doing. No, I’m not voicing it myself -- I’m not that crazy. But I have a friend – a published writer herself – who’s also an actress and whose voice is a dream. When she started reading a sample chapter, she read it exactly the way I wrote it, which is a testament to her talent. She changes her modulation, her volume, and her tone, depending on the character. And she does perfect accents.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I knew enough to realize that recording the book is in some ways the easiest part. The trick is to hook up with a distributor who can get it on the most popular audio download sites. While that market has coalesced -- Audible, iTunes, and Amazon are the major distributors today – there are smaller venues that I wouldn’t know. But a distributor does. So before we started recording I Googled audio distributors.
Imagine my surprise when a familiar name popped up: the wife of a friend who used to work at Mystery Bookstore of Los Angeles (RIP).

I immediately emailed my friend.

“Is this YOUR wife?” I asked.

“It is,” he said.

“How did I not know she was into audio books?” I said.

“You never asked,” he said. “She’s been doing this for years.”

We immediately connected and I emailed her a sample MP3. At the time I thought I’d be able to record on my Mac with a Snowball mic. Unfortunately, she emailed back that the quality wasn’t professional enough. Too much “noise.”

So I called an old friend who owns a video studio near my house, worked out a reasonable rate, and we started recording. We’re over half way through. The best part is that I can bring home the tape, import it into Audacity and edit each chapter. Did I ever tell you how much I love editing? Whether I’m editing words, audio, or video, I love the process of assembling raw footage, sound, or words, and creating a compelling story. What’s more, compared to film, audio is easy. Audacity makes it simple. Essentially, it’s a word processing program for sound. It even has the same commands as Word. (It’s also free, btw). I’m able to make cuts and splices, eliminate breaths and sibilants, extend pauses, and take out unexplained clicks and clacks. It’s a very satisfying process.

We have about three weeks left to go. Then we will do a final mix with a sound engineer who’s done audio books before. After that, I’ll email the final product to my distributor who will do her thing. With luck it will available by fall.

I waited two years for the audio to EASY INNOCENCE. It will be three years for A PICTURE OF GUILT. But SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE came out last winter. Barely eight months later, it will be available as an audio book.

There are times I love technology.

When a Character "Takes Over"

by Jamie Freveletti

When I first started writing I used to sit in conferences rolling my eyes when a writer talked about character taking over the plot line and acting in unpredictable ways. I'd think, "are these people crazy? Their character isn't real!"

Until it happened to me.

It first happened in a manuscript that I still have on shelf--my first completed novel--called Black Money. One of the characters was supposed to be a crazy, fun and irresponsible musician. In every scene where I expected to write a nutty response to a situation, this character was the voice of reason. I kept trying to make him insouciant, but I continued writing sane. Finally I bowed to whatever my subconscious wanted and wrote the character as if he wore a suit to work, did the right thing and just happened to be employed in a band. The juxtaposition worked. He ended up being one of the best characters in an otherwise uneven piece.(Black Money is staying on the shelf because the occasional flashes of brilliance are not enough to save the first draft. It needs a rewrite, which I simply don't have the time to do right now).

The phenomenon of a character taking off in another direction just happened again in my latest manuscript. There I was, minding my own business, and everything started to go haywire. This time I have no excuse. I saw it happening and just leaned into the change. Figured, "oh what the heck, just run with it." Need I say that the character is better than the synopsis I submitted to my publisher those many months ago? Need I say that my fingers are crossed that the publisher thinks so as well?

I've learned to embrace such moments because they usually herald a nice switch up from standard. By standard I mean the "serial killer is crazy," or the "killer is smarter than the rest of the world" familiar character that we've all come to know and love. While at BookExpoAmerica I did a short video interview. They didn't clear the questions first, so when the interviewer asked me "how do you keep a thriller fresh" I said, "It's genre fiction and some things are expected" which was shorthand for "you'd better have some moments that, while standard, define the genre." Don't write a long piece about the lovely scenery or readers will think they've wandered into the wrong novel. Do write some tension, action and suspense.

But having said all the above, I find that these moments "off topic" usually end up making the manuscript fresher than it would have been otherwise. I don't write from an outline and now you know why, because I can't seem to even stay true to my own short synopsis. I think this form of creation may lend itself to more tangents. Some, like the one I just took, are all for the better. Yes, one can write oneself into a corner, but I don't often find that to be a problem. Fiction writers have the world at their disposal. We just bend it to fit the story and keep on going!

Teenage mobs and Violence: Chicago Style

by Jamie Freveletti

By now probably half the world has heard about the recent attacks carried out by a group of teenagers against three different people, one a 68 year old. Crime in a big city is not so unusual as to create headlines, but mobs of teenagers heading out of their neighborhood to hit another and doing it in the early evening is news.

Earlier in the year I posted about my concerns involving Chicago's red line subway stop at Chicago/State. You can see the post here. Not surprisingly, the mobs used the red line and exited at this station to get to their victims. Also not surprisingly, the McDonalds there was the scene of an earlier disturbance, where it is alleged over 70 teens converged and the restaurant had to be shut down for several hours.

Two weeks ago I emerged at this corner on my way to the Magnificent Mile and found barrage of police. At least a dozen officers stood in front of the McDonalds. I knew that something must have happened, but this was several months after the McDonalds incident, so now we're talking new. While the show of force was good, it was another thing Chicago is, to my mind, becoming famous for: big talk and little action. And couple of weeks later the attacks happen only two blocks over on Chicago Avenue.

I'm not suggesting that the police can contain all crime, but I am suggesting that Chicago's residents are a pretty jaded group. We have several ex- governor felons, one in jail, one being tried and whole members of the infrastructure being indicted, but still the voters stay home. Our budget is in a shambles, our schools deteriorating and still the voters stay home. Now the one area that may be actually generating the tax base that Chicago needs to continue as a going concern is being attacked by roving gangs of teenagers and journalists wring their hands over whether they should identify the attackers' race (black, and they didn't) and another writes a piece on how the south side is different from the downtown area and crime there isn't reported or acted on enough, as if two wrongs somehow should make a right. And the mother of one of the attackers is quoted in the paper echoing this sentiment by complaining that the bail was too high and if her child had attacked someone on the South Side he would have gotten a lighter bond.

Notice how neither addresses the core problem: crime.

Enough. There is lot of handwringing, but basically a big shrug in the end. Chicagoans need to be outraged. They need to demand better and they need to get their butts to the voting booth and make a change in the best way that they can. And this new Mayor needs to crack down, and by that I mean inside his own City Hall. We've had enough crime start there as the round of indictments show and it spreads outward. As the saying goes: the fish rots at the head.

Let's hope this new fish can get it done. In the meantime, I'm headed to the dojo and then to the track to run. Looks like I'd better keep both skills honed.

Printers Row Lit Fest Chicago

by Jamie Freveletti

I attended the Printers' Row Lit Fest here in Chicago this weekend. Here's a picture of the panel I was asked to moderate. From the left: the Outfit's own Kevin Guilefoile, Andrew Gross, me and Keir Graff.


We discussed thrillers, how we wrote them, what we thought of our protagonists and writing and reading. Here are the highlights:

• Andrew Gross met Charles Manson when he was a boy (!)

Andrew's next book, Eyes Wide Open, launches on July 12th. In the book he describes a similar meeting. He told us this mirrors (a bit) of the actual event. Apparently Andrew lived in California at the time that Manson and his crew was wandering around the hills. There are several reasons that you should read Andrew's book, it's a terrifying psychological thriller, but this scene is just one more reason.

• Keir Graff received a blurb from James Grady

The Price of Liberty was not only compared to one of my favorite books: Three Days of the Condor, he actually received a blurb from the author. Keir confirmed that it was a great day when he received that news. (And see the comments below re: Three Days--any input on why all versions now retitled Three Days?)

• Kevin Guilfoile's novel is compared to Katherine Neville's The Eight

I was a huge fan of The Eight and unfortunately mistakenly sent my first edition to a charity donation. (It got caught up in a box of books). Kevin's The Thousand is every bit as good and very cool. Another must read.

• Not surprisingly, Andrew Gross outlines

I say not surprisingly, because he wrote with James Patterson for six books and Patterson is known to outline his novels.

• Kevin Guilfoile outlines as well

He says it's a loose outline and will change as he goes.

• Keir Graff has a simple, three section outline.

He doesn't get too in depth, but definitely keeps it in mind and often won't know his ending.

This last information about outlining was a bit surprising as I can't remember ever hearing a panel of writers that all outlined. Most of the time writers are evenly split between outliners and seat of the pants writers.

I never outline. I just come up with a premise and go.

The panel was a lot of fun and these panelists were a breeze for me, the moderator. They all are at ease in front of an audience and entertaining as well. Thanks to all who came out to see us!

I was unable to attend a lot of the fest this year due to a family graduation party, but I want to thank those readers of this blog who stopped by at the Mystery Writers of America tent when I was there. It's so nice to meet in person.
My next event is in NYC for Thrillerfest and would love to see you there.
Thanks all for your support!

Research for Crime Writers: Get it right.

by Jamie Freveletti


With the advent of television shows like CSI and others, those writing detective novels and crime scene investigators are under increased pressure to write details about crime detection. Which is not to say that CSI depicts in any way the actual steps that go into an investigation. I've been to many seminars put forth by forensic scientists and all roll their eyes at some of the more incredible plot lines in the television show. Likewise, many thrillers stretch the truth and the abilities of the tools out there for crime detection. In fact, there are some tools that simply don't exist, but have become embedded into the collective unconsciousness to such an extent that audiences believe they do.


I ran into this latter problem when writing my first, Running from the Devil. In that novel, my protagonist, Emma Caldridge, is on an airplane that's downed in the Colombian jungle. The paramilitary group that downed the plane arrange to take away the airplane's flight recorder and then bomb the remains, making it difficult for investigators to find the wreckage. Early manuscript readers, though, didn't believe that a plane's wreckage would be difficult to find. All seemed to think that a simple google earth search would reveal its exact location quickly.


Not so. In fact, there are hundreds of airplanes that crash and are never recovered or found. Most are in the Pacific Northwest in America, where the wooded areas and mountainous regions do not lend themselves to easy access, and others in countries with areas like the jungle, where dense foliage block any chance of finding it. In order to deal with the readers' lack of credulity about a fact that was actually true, I wrote in an official of the US organization in charge of finding downed planes and had him recite the actual statistics to an (equally incredulous) main character. Problem solved.


Luckily for most authors, there are now classes and workshops arranged by trusted sources that will teach you all you need to know about crime scene detection and give it to you straight. Not only are these classes informative, but they're a lot of fun. The trick to finding them is to scan the events pages of associations like the International Thriller Writers (ITW) or the museums in your area. I recently received a link from the Natural History Museum in London that is putting on a terrific forensic investigation evening on June 24th. In this evening, one can view a crime scene and learn how to determine date and time of death by insect collection (complete with maggots! Love these creatures and used them in Running from the Devil) as well as tips on how to identify sex and height of skeletal remains. I wish I lived in London. If I did, I'd attend this one for sure.


But wherever you live, if you're writing crime you'll eventually have to learn the basics of crime scene detection. Gruesome as it sounds, it's actually quite interesting.


Whatever you do, try your best to get it right or you will receive emails setting you straight. Just about every writer has had a mistake or two surface in their manuscripts and there are whole websites devoted to the continuity mistakes in movies. I guess that's reassuring. Even Hollywood gets it wrong sometimes.

Notes from Book Expo America: Books, printed or 'e' are doing fine.

by Jamie Freveletti

I've been attending the BookExpo America here in New York. What a cool convention! It's housed in the Javits center, and filled to the brim with booksellers, readers, writers, and publishing industry executives. I've been attending some of the presentations and will give you a quick overview here. I'm due back there in 20 minutes as I write this, so will update later.

1. Signing lines: long for the "Big Dogs." There are long chutes to aim the hopeful at the right author. Want to get James Patterson's signature? Get a ticket. They were free, but without them it would have been chaos.

2. Brad Meltzer's very funny video about his reviews on a book, which I blogged about on this site a while ago was a highlight of what to do as an author.

3. Five printed books are sold for every "E" book. Paper is still supreme as I write this.

4. The Employees for Amazon were enthusiastic, interesting and friendly. That company knows who to send into the field for maximum impact. Well done.

5. Saw John Lithgow at the Harpercollins cocktail party. He was friendly and smiling. Nice.

6. Some interesting books are launching. One, called "Pure" is about a dystopian future and has one of the coolest covers ever.

7. Jeremy Wagner's (horror writer) new book trailer is awesome.

Clock is ticking and I'm off onto the #6 Subway to Uptown. More, with links, later!

First Person Vs. Third Person in Fiction

by Jamie Freveletti

I've been reading a couple of mysteries and thrillers--unusual for me because I'm writing continuously now and don't like to read others while I write-in order to nominate on various awards and moderate a panel at Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago. One of the novels is written in first person, the others in third. I'm not surprised that the first person novel is a mystery, while the third person fiction is a thriller.

I love first person. Especially one as well written as the novel I'm reading: The Damage Done, by Hilary Davidson. It feels like you are right there with the protagonist as she moves through the mystery. The immediacy is wonderful, and as the clues unfold the reader experiences the "aha" moment along with the character. This novel is filled with a cast of shadowy characters that surround the sister of the main protagonist. The sister has a long history of drug addiction and collects trouble in the way that you would expect when someone deals with the fringes of society so long. When the addicted sister is found dead, her older sibling returns to New York to solve the mystery.

First person can present problems for the writer. How to describe the character's physical appearance without having her look into a mirror? Ms. Davidson does a wonderful job weaving in the protagonist's love of classic movies and physical comparison to Ava Gardner. Well done. The story's cast of characters, from a police detective to a Pakistani "import/export" specialist are dark and filled with contradiction. I wouldn't call Ms. Davidson's book noir exactly, but it has the brush of it in a new, modern way that's great to read.

Third person, on the other hand, allows a myriad of options both for the writer and the reader. In this form, the reader gets the benefit of crawling into the mind of several characters and there's nothing more chilling then being the fly on the wall when the killer starts to justify the act. The other novel I'm reading is The Outfit's own Kevin Guilfoile's The Thousand. If you like the Stieg Larsson novels, you'll love this one because it has a believable premise with a heroine that is unusual and tough. This is a great read that is a thriller but with the puzzle plot that's pure mystery. Wonderfully written, this book takes a great premise: a woman with an unusual ability that sets her apart and ties it to an ancient cult. Very very cool stuff and probably best written in third person because it goes back in history.

It's tough to keep a thriller moving when in first person. I know, because I've tried it. One of my manuscripts--written after my debut but never shown to either my agent or editor--initially started out in first. After two thirds of the way done I realized that I wanted to get into the mind of the killer and show how he was tracking the protagonist, but I couldn't because it would involve showing things that a first person character couldn't possibly know. I ended up rewriting the manuscript in third person in order to do justice to the idea that I had. What I lost in intimacy I gained in plot in that case, but that's a call that only a writer can make. Sometimes a story requires first person. Especially in a story of self discovery, as is Ms. Davidson's, where I think third person would not have been as effective.

I've seen writers that bounce between the two forms in the same novel. Harlan Coben has done this to great effect, as has Barry Eisler. It's tough to do without jarring the reader and takes quite a bit of skill. Both these writers have that skill and I think the switch up worked just fine. Notably, neither writer does this in every book. Once again a writer making a decision about form for each individual story.

I'll be reading two more novels in the next three weeks in order to moderate the panel at Printers' Row. I'll post about those soon!

Fiction in the Future: Which Books Get it Right?

by Jamie Freveletti

I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation the other evening and was astonished to see Jean Luc Picard using a tablet computer device to create his upcoming lecture on archeology. (For Trek fans, this was the episode where the woman in his life "Vash" returns). I found the above image from another Star Trek episode, but the one Picard used was larger and a dead ringer for a Kindle. I checked the date of first airing: 1991.

I loved the idea that what the mind imagines the world creates.

I have a couple of books that I've created that have predicted events that hadn't yet occurred in real life, but did shortly after. In Running Dark I wrote about pirates overtaking a cruise liner. The pirates that we take for granted today hadn't yet taken a ship, but in the months after I had submitted the manuscript they began their kidnaping spree.

My next book, The Ninth Day deals with another idea that I had but had yet to occur. Just this week I saw a splashy report discussing the issue I have written about. The book doesn't launch until October 11, so I'll keep it under my hat until then, but believe me I was astonished to see the report. Every scientist I contacted while researching my idea acknowledged that it could work, but all said it was theoretical at best. (They must have known the scientific journal would shortly confirm the idea but probably couldn't clue me in for confidentiality reasons, which I understand completely).

I have a screenplay that I wrote several years ago that also deals with tracking devices in a cell phone. We had them then, but only recently have our phones had the ability to log and store locations, much to the surprise of consumers but not so much to Apple insiders.

All of these ideas of mine, though, come from actual research into current events and technology and I simply extrapolate from there. Not so hard to do, really, if you have a knack for research, love reading about anything, and have the imagination to expand on the idea.

But my question is this: what books have you read where the author got it right? Books that were so far ahead of their time that, when the events or future did shape up that way we kind of shake our head in awe?

Got any you love? Do tell!