The New Entertainer

I thought I would restart my blog with a video about the remarkable designer and even better showman, Alexander McQueen. (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010).

There has been much written about him and his untimely death by more qualified than I. But more than many fashion designers, his shows represented something that I expect and hope to see more and more. And certainly not just in the world of fashion.

Recently Steve Jobs presented the iPad, and while I think the device is the greatest since the original Mac – strike that – maybe the greatest thing Apple has yet produced, I was disappointed with the show.

What does Apple need? A little more drama. A little more Hollywood. They need some explosions. Yards of sheer silk. Some fake blood.

I’m only partially joking.

In Grey, my first novel, I began to explore the idea of the combination of the entertainer, the inventor, and the CEO. The father of the protagonist thought he was such a man. Truth was, he had more in common with most of today’s CEOs — usually stiff suits who are better with numbers and org charts than people. And keep them away from a guitar or the vocal riffs of popular song!

But my forthcoming Yarn, I have a supporting character who is a great singer and dancer, an astounding fashion designer, an expert politician, and a towering celebrity.

I think this character is partly an expression of the tremendous concentrations of wealth power in this global era. There is little that makes me angrier than reading about some useless CEO floating to earth in his 40 million dollar golden parachute. Or those Wall Street making more money for themselves at the expense of everything else.

At the same time, as a writer and reader, I thirst for disaster. Things suck now. And yet, they’re don’t suck enough!

Grey was an exploration of how might things go awry between a father and son, a company and its promise and customers. It was also about a caustic culture that seemed to the protagonist (and me) to have gone mad.

Yarn explores the same culturepocalypse, but widens the scope. Up for examination is agribusiness, fast food, the idea that 1 out of 32 american is under correctional supervision, terrorism, and my usual suspects of celebrity, fashion, and corporate malfeasance.

In the coming weeks and months, I hope to write about these and other ideas from the books, share some of the inspirations, and the behind the scenes writing and editing, and the promotion of Yarn.

Join me. And please, help out!