Justin Cronin appears tonight at 7:15 p.m. at the Decatur Library. His recent novel The Passage is a supernatural thriller and its story of six-year-old heroine Amy and her time-spanning adventures among the Virals became a best-seller of the past year. Here are excerpts of a recent interview in which the author talks with Mary Ann Grossmann of the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press about fear, anxiety, and sequels. For more information about tonight's event contact Georgia Center for the Book.
I've been thinking a lot about what fear feels like now ... I grew up during the Cuban missile crisis. The only good thing about the Cold War was that we knew exactly what to be afraid of - 10,000 nuclear missiles pointed at other nuclear missiles.
There was a brief, golden period of optimism and then everything changed overnight with 9/11. Then danger became more diffuse, harder to see. ... The Virals are meant to be a manifestation of how it feels now. Something is out there, lurking in the trees. Like images of 9/11, they come from above. You won't see it until it falls on you.
Justin Cronin
Amy's powers reside in a couple of places. ... One is scientific and one, perhaps, celestial. Although her life spans a couple of milleniums, there's something else about her. ...
As for the Virals, some readers see them as looking like gargoyles. I know what I think, but I don't want to boss the reader. I'm trying to provide room for the reader's imagination to work.
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