This little red-headed child loves stories about drug lords.

I had a great time at the LA Times Festival of Books last Saturday.  The day started with a panel on Organized Crime in fiction with  Attica Locke, T. Jefferson Parker and Stuart Neville.  All of them were great and each had a different take on the topic and how it related to their novels.

There was a question posed at the end that brought up whether the authors felt any fear or trepidation about writing stories concerning actual criminal organizations.  Parker said that some of these drug lords actually commission songwriters to compose what are called Narcocorridos, which are basically musical stories of their illegal exploits and crimes.  (I assume it’s like gangster rap, only the subjects are actual gangsters and probably features quite a bit more accordion.)  He said they’d probably approve of his stories as long as he made sure to portray them as macho.

Neville, who is from Northern Ireland and writes fiction that involves that country’s most prominent paramilitary group, said that though their existence is common knowledge, even writing fictionally about them makes him a target.   Adds a whole new element of badass to his books if you ask me.

Though I don’t typically equate fiction writing with being dangerous occupation, I’m still going to assume it’s much safer than any job involving a deep fryer.

I met and talked with quite a few authors, including Neville, and did my best to absorb as much info. and advice as possible from the people I spoke with.   I would have liked to have seen Walter Mosley on Sunday, but a drive to USC from Huntington Beach two days in a row didn’t really appeal to me.

I always find the festival to be very inspiring and I look forward to next year with geek-level enthusiasm.

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