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On the other hand, as someone in that field, there is a lot of amazing investigative analysis going on, and I really appreciate fellow journalists who are out there rolling up their sleeves. For example, that At the Brink series what you do WJ Hennigan does the New York Times about nuclear bombs is just riveting. It really is a complete journalism that does an incredible service.
Davis: Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times has become so thin, it’s unbelievable. And this is one of the biggest newspapers in the country. So we’re in real trouble trying to get information, as people also say, “I can’t watch the news anymore.” Of course, we also now learn that it was a much closer election than people were initially talking about. It is not a blank card [mandate].
Andy, the book was written before Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden at the head of the Democratic ticket. Did you see that as a possibility and created the candidate in the book as a result?
Davis: This character is based on Michelle Obama. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and went to high school near me. I am very touched that, in our story, the main character is a copy who loses his mother at the age of 14 and comes to Chicago where he is protected by this woman from the tough kids of the neighborhood. Now he is running for president and he feels he should be involved with his campaign. It’s a very emotional piece of history for me that they have this relationship.
Jeff, as someone who had primarily written non-fiction and journalism before this, was there kind of a learning curve?
The biggest: With non-fiction you have these boundaries and protocols, while with fiction you are free to create as you wish. I’ve done a lot of work in the theater, so I was able to bring that experience to the dialogue. One of the key parts of writing fiction is having the character speak their truth in a way that you relate to and think is authentic. So that worked well.
And then, once again, I think our novel is a struggle to take these stories that are in the headlines and put them on the page in a way that makes the reader question what’s going on in the real world. When the New York Times reviewed Under Siege in 1992, they said something along the lines of: “Andrew Davis mixes art and action to ask provocative questions about nuclear weapons.” That’s precisely what we’re trying to do with Disturbing the Bones – mix art and action to ask provocative questions about the media, nuclear weapons and America’s social divisions.
The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Are there plans for a follow-up?
Davis: This is my first time in the book business, and you’re pretty much on your own. For me, it’s about whether it makes sense to spend another two or three years writing the next novel. Maybe it will be easier, because we have the fabric ready. Or we can ask the AI to take the elements of this book and give us another! [Laughs]
