“One of the reasons I wrote a stand-alone was to break me out as a bigger household name,” John Lescroart told me during a visit to his “writing room” (a bungalow in Davis) in December 2016.

The New York Times best-selling legal-thriller novelist was referring to Fatal, published in 2017.

Now he’s returned to his trio of mainstay characters in Poison, his 28th book. For fans, it’s comforting to once again follow Dismas Hardy, Wyatt Hunt and Abe Glitsky as they carom around San Francisco, taking risks and figuring out who murdered wealthy businessman Grant Wagner.

Hardy is an ex-cop and bartender-turned-criminal defense attorney; Hunt is Hardy’s private investigator; and Glitsky is a homicide detective. They’re longtime colleagues and friends.

This time out, Hardy, now recovered from gunshot wounds, is distracted from his reverie of retiring to help a former client defend herself against a murder charge—poisoning her boss, a wealthy businessman. Or maybe the killer is one of the deceased’s heirs, who have conflicts of their own. The list of suspects grows when two more murders are committed. Suddenly, Hardy realizes he could well be a target himself.

Lescroart is co-president of the International Thriller Writers organization and recipient of its Silver Bullet Award for philanthropy. The literacy-advocacy group Libraries Unlimited included him in its book, The 100 Most Popular Thriller and Suspense Authors. His novels have been translated into 20 languages in more than 75 countries, selling more than 10 million copies.

He’s also something of a renaissance man—writer, musician, avid fly fisherman, oenophile, gourmand, seasoned cook, co-host of a private book club and, as his business card once announced, “bon vivant.” “Novels are just an excuse to write about food,” he once told me over lunch at Café Bernardo. “I try to enjoy life.”

As for his name pronunciation, he says, “It’s ‘LESS-kwah,’ not ‘MORE-skwah.’”

Visit him at www.johnlescroart.com.

Lescroart’s book-launch party will be at 6 pm. Feb. 13 at Odd Fellows Hall, 415 2nd St., Davis, featuring wine, music and plenty of schmoozing.

Q: In Poison, you’re able to take the threads of seemingly unrelated back stories and homicides and weave them into whole cloth that eventually presents a clear pattern. Shall we say that requires focus? Or is the scenario more like an organic juggling act?

A: I’ve always been a big fan of mysteries where two or more seemingly unrelated events are actually inextricably linked, and how they fit together forms the central question of the plot. It’s even better when I’m starting to put down some early scenes and I don’t have any idea how these events might be related. This goes on the theory that if I’m fooled by what comes next, my readers will be similarly fooled as well. And if I can pull off that feat, I’m probably going to have a satisfying book.

That’s what happens in Poison. Three or four separate stories converge, most unexpectedly. And Hardy’s side of this mystery—what really started off driving the plot—was something I’d never really explored before. Which is the big family riven by secrets, passions and emotions. Being one of seven children myself, I know that territory well. Everybody loves a big family drama, and I was delighted to have stumbled onto this one.

Q: Readers have come to feel they know Hardy, Glitsky and Hunt. What kind of input do your fans offer about this familiar cast of characters?

A: My readers tend to feel a connection with them, as though they are real people (as, of course, they are!).

The good side of that connection is the implied contract I have with my readers to keep these characters acting within their own context. It keeps me on my toes, making sure that, for example, Glitsky doesn’t swear and he drinks tea, not coffee.

The down side is that you need your characters to walk on the edge sometimes, and if my readers don’t agree with that, I hear about it. Oh, and heaven forfend that I need to kill one of them. Yikes!

Q: Of those three characters, who would you prefer to hang out with?

A: This is a trick question, guaranteed to tick off readers who don’t agree with my favorite, as if I could have one. They are all my children, and on any given day I love each of them, sometimes one a little more than the others.

Q: Hardy is getting a lot of pressure from his wife, Frannie, to retire. What does that portend for the series?

A : Frannie is all over Hardy to quit because she realizes, and rightly so, that his line of work is inherently physically dangerous. After all, he’s been shot three times in these books. The threat is real and present. And when it turns out that their son, Vincent, is involved with the case and might be in danger himself, Frannie goes ballistic. And who can blame her?

As to the rest of the series, let’s just say that this theme of the danger of the actual work—especially vis-a-vis the Hardy children—will continue to play a major role in Hardy’s life, his commitment to his job and the state of his marriage.

Q: Hardy’s interaction with his son, Vinnie, a tech guy, really shows the different dynamics of two generations—high-tech savvy vs. old-school, with a Grand Canyon-size gap between the two.

A: This theme popped up intrinsically on page one of Poison and winds up being a major driver of the plot. As the book progressed, I found this true-to-life dichotomy essential, and more and more fun to write because that gap relates to my own personal life as well.

In researching to get the tech stuff right, I was fortunate enough to spend a day on the Facebook campus, immersing myself in that culture, which was extremely interesting, albeit much like a visit to a foreign country.

Q: As usual in your series, you touched on San Francisco dining, with scenes set in the Pacific Café, Boulevard and Sam’s Grill, your personal favorite. But you also take us to Lou the Greek’s, which is fictitious and has made many appearances in your novels. What’s the deal with that?

A: Readers often ask if the restaurants in my books are real, and I always say that if it’s a good place, such as the Pacific Café, Boulevard or Sam’s, I include it as is. If it’s a place where you stand a good chance of getting food poisoning, I’ll change the name.

Which is what I did with Lou the Greek’s. (Yes, there are some bad restaurants in San Francisco.) It’s a place where I can write goofy stuff and have some fun on days when the plot thing isn’t advancing itself.

Q: The first murder victim in Poison was killed with “the queen of poisons,” aconite, also known as wolf’s bane and devil’s helmet.

A: The research on that was great. In all things medical, I defer to my personal physician at Kaiser, John Chuck. I asked him what he knew about poison and he turned me on to one of his colleagues, Dr. Steven R. Offerman, an expert in poisons and toxicology. Steve and I spent a very productive and fun morning at one of Sacramento’s coffee shops, at the end of which I had a very good idea of the bones of my story and especially the role aconite could play in it.

Q: In each of your legal thrillers, we learn more and more about the inner workings of the justice system, from the jails to the courtrooms. It’s not a pretty picture.

A: The criminal justice system has a host of people—cops, bailiffs, clerks, DAs and PDs, administrators and judges—who work hard and long in often dangerous situations, and who try to make the system work. But budget concerns, questionable legislation, ridiculous politics, overcrowding and bad apples of all stripes often render the entire environment hostile, ugly and unjust. I try to portray both sides of this reality in my books, but I must admit that’s sometimes a tall order.

Q: Poison was originally titled “The Last Death Penalty.” Why was it changed?

A: Many people are surprised to hear that authors don’t always get to keep the title they submit to the publisher with the manuscript. I’ve had this happen at least 15 times, so I’ve grown a bit of a thick skin about it.

Actually, I love the title Poison. It’s the perfect title for this book. “The Last Death Penalty,” ironically, gave me one of the major turns in the plot, but ultimately did not capture the essence of the book.

Q: Why is there a photo of Alcatraz Island on the cover? Wouldn’t the San Francisco courthouse have been more to the point?

A: This is a similar issue to the one above, in the sense that we authors often don’t get too much input on marketing ideas, such as book covers or titles. Covers and titles don’t have to connect too closely to the actual story of the book. The important thing for publishers is that the title “sings” and the cover art “pops.” Only secondarily does it matter if either of these two elements has something to do with the actual book.

Q: The last time we talked, you seemed irritated but resigned to the lack of a movie or TV deal based on one or more of your books. You said, “To some extent, you’re never under the big umbrella of a ‘made man’ until that happens.” On the other hand, you added, “I’ve purposely decided not to care about that.” Has anything changed?

A: The simple answer is that not much has changed. An author’s online presence continues to be crucial in selling books, and the number of physical books in brick and mortar bookstores (if you can find them) continue to decline.

That said, I would be churlish indeed to complain about what has been to date a tremendously satisfying career. The simple truth is that no one really needs a movie deal to be successful or happy. I couldn’t be in a better place than I am right now.

Q: What can your fans expect next?

A: Just last Friday, I handed in the manuscript of my 2019 book, which currently has a title that I’m almost certain will be changed. And it’s a Dismas Hardy book.

Q: You’re pushing 70. Is it time for another chapter?

A: I’m a brand-new grandfather and that’s a great new chapter all by itself. As to the long term, I’m gratified that for years now I’ve been able to write what I want and when I want to write it. I expect that will continue until I don’t want to do that anymore. But in the meanwhile, I’m enjoying the hell out of this ride.

Q: Career-wise, what has been your greatest triumph? Your biggest regret?

A: My greatest career triumph has been making a living for 25 years as a professional, full-time writer, something I always aspired to and which, for the longest time, proved elusive. (Regret-wise) I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.

Looking for a good read with a twist or two? Or three? Here it is:

New York Times best-selling author Laura Lippman’s edgy new novel, Sunburn, is a neo-noir, multi-layered game of hide-and-seek that serves as an homage to the noir novels of James M. Cain (1892-1977). His timeless trio was The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934), Double Indemnity (1936) and Mildred Pierce (1941).

In a starred review, Kirkus wrote of Sunburn: “A redheaded waitress, a good-looking private eye, insurance fraud, arson, rough sex and a long hot summer—some like it noir.”

It left out a few things—murder, attempted blackmail, treachery and schemes. All are the juicy elements of classic noir.

So, what is noir again?

As a clue, in his introduction to the short-story collection The Best American Noir of the Century,” crime-fiction novelist James Ellroy (“L.A. Quartet”) points out that noir “grants women a unique power to seduce and destroy. It canonizes the inherent human urge toward self-destruction. A six-week chronology from first kiss to gas chamber is common in noir.”

Adding to that, Otto Penzler, owner of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan, explained in The New Yorker magazine, “Most mystery fiction focuses on the detective, while noir fiction focuses on the villain. Noir is about sex and money, and sometimes revenge.” He added in an essay in HuffPost, “Pretty much everyone in a noir story is driven by greed, lust, jealousy or alienation.”

In other words, don’t look to Sunburn for a happy ending in the traditional sense. The character who comes closest to finding one is Pauline “Polly” Ditmars Smith Hansen, the cold-blooded protagonist. She’s a woman obsessed with a plan and possessed with “wildcat energy” (read: boundless sexuality) that serves her well. As the plot darkens, she warns her lover—in ironic understatement— “We have trouble, and very little time to decide what to do.”

The neo-noir story opens in a weary roadhouse in the nowhere town of Belleville, Del., in 1995, where Polly and Adam meet as strangers. Coincidence? Hardly. Both say they’re just “passing through,” and both are lying. As Adam thinks to himself upon first seeing her, “She’s up to something.”

As their relationship deepens, neither one trusts the other, and both are hiding secrets. Then matters get really complicated. Do we sense disaster on the horizon?

Lippman, 59, was a feature writer for 20 years at the Baltimore Sun before leaving in 2001 to become a full-time novelist. Her signature character through 12 books is Tess Monaghan, a Baltimore journalist-turned-P.I., but Lippman also has written 10 stand-alones and 16 novellas.

“I am generally referred to as ‘the author best known for her Tess Monaghan series,’’’ Lippman once told me. “Maybe I am, but the stand-alones actually sell far better, and it was the stand-alones that first got me on the New York Times bestseller list."

Lippman has won multiple Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, Shamus, Edgar and Dagger awards. She is married to writer-producer David Simon, co-creator of HBO’s Homicide: Life On the Street, The Wire and The Deuce. She often teaches at writers’ conferences and workshops in the U.S. and abroad.

Visit her at www.lauralippman.net.

Q: The publicity for Sunburn says you drew on your “passion for the works of James M. Cain” to write it. Like you, Cain lived in Maryland and worked as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. What’s going on here?

A: I’ve admired Cain’s work for years, but was dubious that my own voice could ever develop a range large enough to embody his darker worldview. Maybe I changed as I aged or maybe it was always there, waiting to be lured out by the right idea.

I found Cain when I was in college and knew very little about his Baltimore roots. But I was delighted when I found out he had worked at the Sun, and that his father was president of Washington College (in Chestertown, Maryland).

Q: Sunburn has many of the elements of classic noir, which has its roots in the hard-boiled P.I. fiction of the 1920s and 1930s. Is it a bit of a mash-up of both noir and hard-boiled?

A: I’ve always defined noir as a story in which dreamers become schemers, and the line between hard-boiled and noir is crossed when the P.I. falls for the woman he’s watching. The story is definitely a mash-up ofThe Postman Always Rings Twice and Anne Tyler’s Ladder of Years (also author of The Accidental Tourist and Breathing Lessons).

Q: Private investigator Adam knows something about on-the-lam Polly that she doesn’t know he knows, and soon Polly knows something about Adam that he doesn’t know she knows. Neither one is telling the other, but the reader finds out. A nice little standoff of deceit and dramatic irony.

A: In early drafts, the book began, “Everyone hates me. You will, too.” I wanted the reader to wonder for the entire book who was going to betray whom, and how. But I cut that line eventually. Because the thing is, I don’t hate either of my main characters.

Q: Polly’s an abused wife and mother of two daughters (one a special-needs child), a convicted felon who seeks a new life, no matter the cost to those around her. Did you have a lot of sympathy for her when you were writing her character?

A: Life has been brutal to her, and that brutality has shaped her. I thought a lot about the Polly we never really get to see, the girl in the yellow bathing suit who was waiting for her life to begin. I have sympathy and empathy for her. Adam doesn’t really require any sympathy, but I had endless empathy for him as well.

Q: Polly “furnishes” her first apartment with “an iron bed with a quilt folded over the footboard, and a metal-topped table,” an image that occurs several times in the story.

A: I think they symbolize how little Polly needs to be happy. She’s really not asking for that much. But she’s very intent on having what she believes to be hers.

Q: Cooking is your hobby, so I wonder if the restaurant and cooking scenes at the roadhouse in Sunburn have ties to your own kitchen.

A : Some. They have more ties to my friendship with the chef/writer/cookbook writer Michael Ruhlman, who helped me with a lot of the details ( www.ruhlman.com).

Q: Adam’s a P.I., yes, but also a culinary school grad who transforms the roadhouse kitchen into a dining destination. Yet he thinks American cheese makes the best hamburger.

A: What else would you find in a diner in 1995? Michael Ruhlman and I ran a taste test at the Baltimore Book Festival. We did one version of a hamburger with American cheese, one with a moderately good cheddar, and one with a high-end cheddar. The secret wasn’t in the cheese, it was the mayo on the grilled buns. The moderately good cheddar won the taste test, but the American cheese was darn good.

Q: Is Coca-Cola fudge cake still your signature dish?

A: That and “banana cake,” which I make for my daughter. Mash up one banana with one beaten egg, fry in butter or coconut oil.

Q: Moving to Tess Monaghan, it’s remarkable that you were able to publish the first seven in the series while still at the Baltimore Sun.

A: I still get tired when I think about it. But I really wanted to be a full-time novelist. I wish I could harness that energy, that passion for other things in my life.

Q: You and Tess seem to have a lot in common, but you make it clear on your website that she is definitely not you. If you could invite her to dinner, what would the evening be like?

A: Fun, full of good conversation and food. She’s very good company. I designed her to be the most satisfactory imaginary friend, and I’ve never been disappointed.

Q: Like you, your writer-producer husband is a creative tsunami. How do those energy forces co-exist under the same roof?

A: It’s a lot more low-key than you’d think. We leave our work in our respective offices for the most part.

Q: What question haven’t I asked that you would like to answer?

A: I encourage my students to state their wildest dreams out loud, and I recently saw that (same advice) as a thread on Twitter, aimed at women writers. So I’ll share what I tweeted: I want a MacArthur Fellowship (a.k.a. Genius Grant). Even though I’m pretty sure that no one who has ever dared to say that out loud has ever been given one.

We at CapRadio Reads are very excited to host New York Times best-selling author Alafair Burke on Jan. 29 (details at the bottom of this column). You should be, too. As they say in the publishing biz, she’s “A-list,” and her new novel, The Wife, is a must-read.

She’s prolific, too. Through 12 novels in three crime series, and in five stand-alone books, the crime novelist has taken readers into the darkest corners of the criminal mind. In each case, justice prevailed—sometimes not the kind readers normally expect. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages.

Now, in her second “domestic thriller” after the mega-selling The Ex, she dwells behind the scenes of a seemingly blissful marriage to reveal the twisted intrigues that haunt it.

Given the ongoing unmasking of alleged sexual misconduct by men in positions of power, the main theme of The Wife is uncannily timely, seeing that it was written and went to press before the #metoo movement took off.

Everything appears ideal now that single mom Angela and university professor-celebrity author Jason Powell have married and settled in a gorgeous house in New York City. In her new persona, the tragic secrets of Angela’s past seem safely put away at last.

But her marriage begins to unravel and her past catches up to her when two women come forth to accuse her husband of sexual harassment and rape. Angela believes Jason is innocent, but is forced to question everything he says as the legal noose tightens around them. Then, much to her confusion, clues begin to surface, one of the accusers mysteriously vanishes and her safe and happy life is in jeopardy. She’s always said she’d go to extremes to save it...

The Wife is being compared to Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris,A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena, and The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware—which means a tense story told by an unreliable narrator, punctuated by a completely unexpected ending.

Burke, 48, partnered with “queen of suspense” Mary Higgins Clark in 2013 to co-write their four-title “Under Suspicion” suspense series, centered on a TV show featuring cold-case murders. Their latest collaboration is the best-selling Every Breath You Take.

Burke graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Reed College in Portland, Ore., and graduated at the top of her class from Stanford Law School. She served as a deputy district attorney in Portland and now teaches law at Hofstra University School of Law in New York.

Her father is Edgar Award-winning novelist James Lee Burke, author of nearly 40 mysteries, most notably the 21-title “Dave Robicheaux” series.

I caught up with her via email. Visit her at www.alafairburke.com.

Q: You grew up in a household with a school librarian mother and a university professor-novelist dad. It’s safe to say you were an early reader and storyteller, yes?

A: There’s no doubt (they) shaped my passions for reading and writing. Reading was a constant—our house was filled with books—and every member of our family is a storyteller.

I was convinced I wanted to write mysteries since I was a young kid, and would tinker on my father’s manual typewriter, cranking out page-turners like “Murder at the Roller Disco.” Seeing my dad write every single day, even when he was out of print for a decade, I learned (some would say the hard way as his kid!) that you need to write for reasons other than income.

Q: Your family moved from Fort Lauderdale to Wichita, Kansas, when you were a child. One of the first things to greet you was the public announcement that a serial killer was on the loose. Please tell us about the connection between that and your eventual gravitation toward crime fiction.

A: The moving boxes had barely been unpacked in Wichita when police announced a connection among seven unsolved murders of women and even children. On a map of his targets, our house was roughly in the middle. The man who claimed responsibility called himself BTK, a gruesome acronym, short for “Bind, Torture, Kill.”

Like other Wichita children of that era, I gained some pretty dark habits: check the phone line to be sure the wires aren’t cut, keep the basement door locked at all times, barricade yourself in the bathroom with the phone if you have to call 911.

My love of mystery stories and my fascination with crime and the legal system were born out of that time. I began reading mysteries after moving into a world where the killer could be anyone, and where an arrest appeared hopeless.

My mother would take me each week to the public library for a new stack of books. I don’t think it was a coincidence that I had an unending quench for mysteries. I moved from the “Encyclopedia Brown” series to Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie, and eventually to Sue Grafton and Mary Higgins Clark. In those books, as opposed to Wichita, smart sleuthing always paid off and order was always restored.

Q: You used your background as an assistant district attorney in Portland to create Samantha Kincaid, a Portland prosecutor who starred in your first three novels. How intertwined were Alafair Burke and Samantha Kincaid? There must be a balancing act in getting just enough of yourself, but not too much, into a signature character.

A: I spent five years in the same office as Samantha Kincaid, so there is overlap between our careers, certainly. Of the main characters I’ve created, she’s probably most reflective of my own sensibilities.

However, she’s much more brazen and confrontational than I am. She’s also funnier, taller, thinner and more neurotic, and could beat me in a race without breaking a sweat. I suppose she’s a better and exaggerated version of me.

Q: Next came NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher, who leads a five-book series that has a couple of threads running through it—serial killers and Internet abuse. Any link to that serial killer back in Kansas?

A: For half a second, I entertained the idea of writing either a book or a long-form article about the case itself. But I realized I didn’t want to give that man any more attention than he’d already gotten.

I also saw that my real desire was to talk about the toll certain crimes take upon an entire community, so I gave Ellie Hatcher a backstory in which she grew up in Wichita, raised by a cop haunted by his failure to catch a serial killer. But Ellie’s a cop in a very different time and place.

Q: Of the four stand-alones you’ve written, The Ex and The Wife could be termed “domestic thrillers.” What relationship do you see between the two?

A: The Ex and The Wife both explore how deeply we actually know those closest to us. There’s something terrifying about the idea that you’ve been sharing your life with someone who has been keeping dangerous secrets. Loving someone makes you vulnerable, and that vulnerability exposes you to all sorts of hypotheticals.

I also think we enjoy seeing characters in scenarios we can at least imagine ourselves in, and most of us have been in a relationship before.

Q: As the details of Angela’s terrible secret are revealed in The Wife, the reader sees her in a different light. Her character transforms from seemingly naïve in certain ways, to one who has the iron core of a survivor. It was one of the big reveals in a novel full of them.

A: Before I start writing, I must have a sense of who the character is as a person, so I know how she will respond. Angela Powell has a dark, traumatic past that has shaped her in ways that surface as the novel unfolds.

Q: The ending is certainly a shock, which points, I think, to the effectiveness of the “unreliable narrator,” that literary technique found in Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and, earlier, Shutter Island, to name a few.

A : Sowing doubts about the reliability of a character’s interior voice is tricky business. Part of the bargain is that a character should have an understandable reason to withhold, massage or even misremember information. The best twists I’ve ever written have come to me sideways, and always after I truly know the characters and the events that have brought them to that moment.

A good ending can’t be predictable, obviously, but ideally it should feel inevitable once revealed to the reader.

Q: You were seemingly prescient when writing The Wife, given the #metoo movement and the ongoing fraternity of powerful men being brought down by their sexual transgressions.

A : I certainly had no way of knowing that we’d be in this moment when I began the book. But accusations of sexual misconduct by accomplished and respected men are certainly nothing new.

One thing I noticed along the way was that when a man gets catapulted into the spotlight, the public gaze inevitably shifts to include the man’s private partner, his wife. We wonder if she knew, and we begin to make judgments about the kind of woman she must be. She is in a terrible position. She becomes part of the narrative, even though she is in some sense one of his victims.

Q: Mary Higgins Clark turned 90 on Christmas Eve. How remarkable that you partnered with the “queen of suspense” for the “Under Suspicion” series over recent years. How did that happen, and what’s the dynamic?

A: Mary wrote a book called I’ve Got You Under My Skin (2014), which involved a TV show that revisits cold cases. She realized there was potential for a series but still wanted to write her annual stand-alones. She decided to work with a co-author to develop the series. My understanding is that she considered a number of people who were already writing crime fiction, and I was lucky enough to get a phone call.

We’ve had a ball working together. If one pretty good storyteller like me sits down with a really, really good storyteller like her, it’s amazing how much we can get done in a day. We’ll write very little at first. We’ll talk through character, story, plot and setting, all the things that make a good book good. We get more done in one day than I get done by myself in a month.

When you’re by yourself, when you hit a wall, you think, “I’ve got enough for today, I’ll think about this problem tomorrow.” But if you have someone else to work with, she can say, “Here’s how you can fix it.” You hear about the “writing rooms” for TV shows—we have our own writing room.

Q: I think I’ve read every book your dad has written (and I’ve interviewed him twice), and especially love the Dave Robicheaux series. As you are acutely aware, Dave rescues and soon adopts a little girl in his novel Heaven’s Prisoners (1988) and he and his wife Annie name her Alafair. As she matures over ensuing novels—including his new one, Robicheaux—there are situations in the fictitious Alafair’s life that mirror your own. Is it too much to say that you became an ongoing character in your father’s books?

A: A few of the details of Alafair’s younger years were based on me, like her tennis shoes that had “Right” and “Left” written on them, and her quacking Donald Duck hat. And, of course, we share a first name with my father’s maternal grandmother.

As she grew up, my father gave her some pieces of my educational and professional path. But she is definitely a fictional character. That doesn’t stop people from asking me if my parents found me on an airplane or if I have a three-legged pet raccoon named Tripod. No and no.

Q: What can your fans expect in the next book?

A: I’m working on the next Hatcher novel, which will take her back home to Wichita.

Q: Anything else?

A: One of the best perks of a writing career is meeting readers and talking about books. I’m looking forward to my trip to Sacramento.

EVENT: Capital Public Radio's “Authors On Stage” with New York Times best-selling author Alafair Burke for her new novel, “The Wife,” in conversation with Allen Pierleoni (question-answer session to follow).

WHEN: 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, 2018 (doors open at 5:15 p.m.)

WHERE: Capital Public Radio, 7055 Folsom Blvd, on the Sac State campus

COST: $30 (includes admission and a 30 percent-discounted autographed copy of The Wife) or $10 entry fee without a copy of the book

REGISTER: At capradio.org/reads

INFORMATION: aopierleoni@gmail.com or cathleen.ferraro@capradio.org

The labyrinthine genre of crime fiction has always prowled the figurative alleyways of cities, whose darkness and dangers are caricaturized through plot and imagination. That’s what page-turning thrillers are all about.

In a literary sense, those territories are “owned” by certain best-selling authors. For instance, John Sandford dominates Minneapolis with two series starring Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers. Dennis Lehane rules Boston with his Patrick Kenzie-Angela Gennaro titles, and George Pelecanos reigns in Washington, D.C. with Derek Strange-Terry Quinn.

In Los Angeles in the 1930s and 1940s, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald led an exclusive brotherhood of authors who unleashed their cynical “hard-boiled” detectives on the bad guys. In Chandler’s case that would be Philip Marlowe; for Macdonald, it was Lew Archer.

In more recent decades, those mantles passed to a new generation of authors and their protagonists: Mickey Spillane (Mike Hammer), Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch), James Ellroy (who penned the “L.A. Quartet” series), Walter Mosley (Easy Rawlins) and T. Jefferson Parker (Charlie Hood).

In the midst of this fraternity is Robert Crais and his 17-title Elvis Cole-Joe Pike series. They’re partners in a “private detective agency” in a loose sense, one a yin to the other’s yang. That is, when they actually work together, as circumstances often keep them apart.

As for Crais: He’s a New York Times best-selling author whose books have been published in more than 60 countries. He has won Shamus, Anthony, Macavity and Ross Macdonald awards, among others, and holds the title of Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America.

Crais came to Los Angeles from Baton Rouge, La., in 1976 and built a resume over 10 years as a scriptwriter for hit TV shows including Cagney & Lacy, Quincy, Miami Vice, L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues. Still, he says he’s most proud of his NBC miniseries Cross of Fire, a history of the Ku Klux Klan.

Crais published his first Cole-Pike novel, The Monkey’s Raincoat, in 1987. Four years later, Hollywood bought his stand-alone thriller, Hostage, turning it into a 2005 movie starring Bruce Willis.

In something of the gumshoe tradition, Elvis Cole is wise-cracking (he calls himself “the world’s greatest detective”) and skeptical, and shoulders his share of demons. On the other hand, he’s funny and shrewd, has a turbulent relationship with the LAPD, can grill a perfect steak, works out most mornings, and lives with a feral cat in a simple frame house in the Hollywood Hills.

Then there’s the menacingly quiet Joe Pike, a former Marine combat soldier and black-ops mercenary whose skill set is much darker than Cole’s. “These two have been in my head every day for 30 years,” Crais says. One thing’s for sure: Wherever their cases take them in the violent vortex of Los Angeles, trouble is their companion.

In Crais’ new novel, The Wanted, Elvis Cole is hired by a single mother worried about her young teenage son. As in, how did he get thousands of dollars in cash, an elaborate wardrobe and a Rolex watch? Twists lead to turns, culminating in a tense, satisfying ending, all guided by a cast of three-dimensional characters.

Among them are two of contemporary crime fiction’s most entertaining (and psychopathic) villains, whose antics will make readers laugh and shudder at the same time.

I chatted recently with Crais by email, the third time I’ve interviewed him over the years. He and his wife live with their two cats in the Santa Monica Mountains. Visit him at www.robertcrais.com

Q: Your novels dwell on many dynamics, including the relationships between parents and their children. We see that severalfold in The Wanted, intensified by Elvis’ own longing for his stepson.

A: Elvis Cole had an unusual childhood in many ways. He never knew his father, or even his father's name. His mother suffered from emotional issues and often disappeared for long periods of time. Even when he was a small child, there were times when he would wake up and she'd simply be gone.

This crazy instability led to a deep longing on Elvis’ part for a stable, secure, nuclear family. When I first began writing the books, I didn't realize this, but over time his desire for a family emerged. Elvis would be a totally committed dad. He wants what he never had.

Q: One of the teenage characters, Carl, is a computer whiz kid, an irritating but sad figure who Elvis kindly treats with respect.

A: Carl is a geek and an outcast. Elvis can relate. I can relate, as well. I'm a full-on book nerd.

Q: The ending of The Wanted happens quickly, with a lot of anticipation, then satisfaction. You’ve been a master of the ending throughout your career.

A: It takes an enormous amount of work, which hopefully the reader doesn't see. It's like watching a great dancer. You see the dancer move so gracefully and beautifully, they make the dance look easy, but you don't see the thousands of hours of practice.

Q: The “bad guys” this time out are Harvey and Stemms, who are unique not only for their smarts but also for their mind-bending relationship, where humor and dysfunction meet.

A: I'm fascinated by them—who they are, where they came from, how they came to be Harvey and Stemms. I could write a novel about them, these twisted, demented, homicidal, multifaceted protagonists. I love their conversations, these men who spend—and have spent—so much time together, and have discussed everything under the sun to the point of boredom, yet still they have untouched places.

Q: There’s a great extended scene involving them in a bar in Mexico, defending a young musician from cartel thugs.

A: I hate one-note, one-dimensional characters, and this scene really allowed me to reveal their various sides. They might be cold-blooded killers, but if that's all I showed you, they would be boring.

They are also multi-faceted people with diverse interests and unique emotional landscapes. Here's Stemms, and who would ever guess he has an encyclopedic knowledge of music, and is himself a gifted guitarist? He may be a murderer, but he is moved by a young guitarist in a Mexican bar. This makes him memorable and, to me, a deeply interesting character.

Q: What did you learn on the TV-screenwriting side that you brought to the novels?

A: Working in television was the greatest writing school in the world. I was a baby writer when I began in television, and, believe me, working on scripts with actors like Jack Klugman and Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless and the others, and working with enormously gifted writer-producers, was an education you simply cannot buy. All of it plays a hand in my current work.

Q: What is it about L.A. that inspires detective fiction?

A: I love the great, sprawling size of it, the diversity, the hills and the beaches. Everything but the traffic. Los Angeles is a magnet for hope and dreams—and dreamers. I love that most of all.

Q: You’ve won all the big awards in your genre. What’s your take?

A: I'm thrilled and appreciative, the recognition is rewarding. And to be named a Grand Master? That's as good as it gets in the mystery community. But at the end of the day, each new book stands or falls on its own. I'm all about the work.

In 1982, the buzz wouldn’t stop about a controversial and groundbreaking new play on Broadway starring Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Ashley and Amanda Plummer.

The plot of Agnes of God was disturbing and philosophically challenging: A novice nun gives birth in a convent, proclaiming the baby has been born from a virgin conception. A psychiatrist is sent to investigate and runs head-on into the mother superior, who is vehemently protective of her confused young ward.

Plummer took a Tony Award for her role as Sister Agnes, while Page earned a Tony nomination for playing the mother superior. The 1985 film version starred Meg Tilly, Anne Bancroft and Jane Fonda.

Meanwhile, playwright-screenwriter-actor-poet John Leonard Pielmeier, who created Agnes of God, went on to cement his stature as a heavy-hitter—with a trophy case full of awards to prove it (including an Emmy, an Edgar and a Humanitas). He is known for his slew of plays (Voices in the Dark), made-for-TV movies (The Memory Keeper’s Daughter) and miniseries, including the screen adaptation of Ken Follett’s The Pillars of Earth.

Add “debut author” to his resume, as Pielmeier’s Hook’s Tale is now in bookstores.

Its publisher, Scribner, describes the novel as a “memoir” by the infamous pirate Captain Hook, which “allows Peter Pan’s legendary nemesis to finally set the record straight in the tradition of Gregory Maguire’s Wicked.” It explains how Hook “has been unjustly demonized, and why Peter Pan himself may be Neverland’s true menace.”

That’s a lot of finger-pointing, so I emailed Pielmeier to ask a few questions. Visit him at www.johnpielmeier.com.

Q: Where did you get the idea for revisiting Peter Pan from Hook’s point of view?

A: I have always been an avid fan of (Peter Pan playwright) J.M. Barrie and adventure novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. I even wrote a successful one-person play about Barrie, and visited Stevenson’s Samoan grave when I turned 50.

In December 2014, my wife and I embarked on a cruise of the South Seas. The first stop was Robinson Crusoe Island, where Alexander Selkirk (the model for Daniel Defoe’s character of Crusoe) was marooned.

In hiking the mountainous island, I stopped to catch my breath and observed our cruise ship anchored in the distant bay. It suddenly occurred to me that this island, mapped by Selkirk and described by Defoe, was most likely the model for Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Barrie’s Neverland.

There, where our cruise ship lay anchored, was the bay where Hook’s ship loomed! Over the crest of the mountain we were climbing we could spy Mermaid Lagoon! The far promontory was where the Indian Village was located, and all around us was jungle, suitable for concealing any number of Lost Boys.

I wondered what other islands sat near Neverland and how Hook got to this far-flung place. Those questions began to haunt me, and as soon as I returned home I began the writing of his tale.

Q: You’re an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. How did that expertise translate to writing a fanciful novel?

A: I’ve always felt comfortable writing dialogue, but I never felt competent in writing description. Then, several years ago, I thought I’d give it a try. And it was so freeing! Theater and film/TV are very collaborative media -- which is what I love about them—but suddenly I was on my own, writing for myself and no one else. Glorious!

And then Hook’s Tale came along and it was even glorious-er! For me, it was all centered around the ear—how do the words sound? In writing plays and teleplays, I always speak the dialogue aloud, again and yet again. I did the same with Hook’s Tale.

I read it aloud and rewrote it until I got the rhythm right. In a way, after all, the book is one long monologue, a much-maligned man’s fierce self-defense. The writing process was all about finding that man’s voice, his rhythm. That was the challenge and also the fun of it.

Q: Hook’s Tale is full of surprises, with major elements that in no way resemble J.M. Barrie’s “fairy play” of 1904 or his 1911 novel, Peter and Wendy. For instance, Captain Hook (ne: James Cook) and Peter Pan once were boyhood friends. Wendy calls Hook “Uncle James,” and refers to Peter as “that terrible boy...who’s like a little dictator.”

A: Well, yes. Not only is this a kind of “origin” tale, it is also the story told from another point of view. My byline on the book jacket reads “emended and edited by.” The word “emended” is very important. Not “amended.” “Emended” is all about righting a wrong.

At the same time, the book is very true to the spirit of Barrie and his seminal work. I adore Peter Pan and know it and Barrie rather well. Part of the fun of writing Hook’s Tale was taking a familiar episode and twisting it on its ear, the most obvious example being the climactic scene in which Hook claims to be rescuing the children from a life of never growing up. The heart of the book is Hook’s decision to live a full life, with joys and heartache and change. “Never growing up” is all about not changing.

The other fun I had was in finding origins for some of the elements in Barrie’s work. How did Smee get his name? Why is the ship’s cannon called “Long Tom”? How did Hook really lose his hand? My/Hook’s answers to these questions are also, I like to think, as much fun for readers to discover as they were for me.

Q: You made other changes to Barrie’s classic, in very imaginative ways.

A: There’s the story of Hook’s relationship with Tiger Lily, which eventually leads to his anger toward Peter and why Hook, for a time, sets out to destroy the boy. My favorite change involves the character of Daisy. The only thing I’ll tell your readers about this is that Daisy is a crocodile.

Q. For large part, James Cook is a sympathetic character, while Peter Pan is self-centered and frustrating. Not at all like the alluring boy in the Disney movie.

A: Even though Disney’s Peter Pan was the first movie I ever saw—and loved when I was 3—I don’t much care for it anymore. It misses the spirit of Barrie. Disney’s Peter is a bit of a spoiled adolescent, not the free-spirited child in Barrie’s play and book.

Q: Didn’t Barrie write the play for adults as well as children?

A: The opening-night audience was all adults, in spite of what that charming movie Finding Neverland says. To the surprise of many, they “clapped hands” when Peter asked them if they believed in fairies. If children were forbidden to go to the theater, I heartily believe there would still be a huge fan base for Peter Pan. Adults would throng to it.

This is because, behind all the fun and fantasy, Peter Pan is a very serious play, one that’s all about death. It’s been called “the Hamlet of children’s literature,” an odd but apt description. Which isn’t to say it still can’t be tremendous fun. “To die,” remarks Peter, “will be an awfully big adventure.” No place for that in Disney, is there?

Hook’s Tale acknowledges this theme, and goes on from there. Death goes hand-in-hand with life, and death should be embraced when it comes. Barrie’s Peter would certainly agree.

Q: The ending of your book is tragically realistic in that it mirrors the human condition. Did you ever envision a happier conclusion?

A: Spoiler alert! It’s true, it’s honest, it’s a bit sad—but I don’t think of it as tragic. Hook lives a long and fairly happy life after Neverland, with a family who loves him dearly and whom he loves in return. But his farewell to Daisy does make me cry whenever I re-read it. Hopefully all animal-lovers will feel the same thing.

Q: What reactions are you getting from readers? After all, this is not the story they have known and cherished since childhood.

A: The readers I’ve spoken to love it. Some are moved deeply, some laugh out loud. It certainly doesn’t erase any joy they might have from seeing or reading the original tale. This is just one man’s vision, and my somewhat tongue-in-cheek rendering of that vision. They love all the surprises; the book’s a bit meta in that sense, because most readers bring to it at least some knowledge of Barrie’s telling, comparing the two versions as they turn the pages.

But it also works for some as an adventure book, more along the lines of Treasure Island than Peter Pan. Which is one of the things I set out to do.

Q: Has writing the book had any profound effects on you?

A: I suppose it’s given me more confidence in myself as writer. It’s fun for me to re-read my “prose” and think, “My, that’s rather good.”

When British novelist Lee Child lost his job as “presentation director” at Granada Television in 1995, he sat down and wrote a thriller “to keep a roof over my head.” It starred a West Point graduate and former Army MP named Jack Reacher, a nomad who roams America making a living as a “problem-solver.”

That first book, The Killing Floor, began a 22-title franchise that has been translated into more than 40 languages and has sold more than 100 million copies globally. Tom Cruise played Reacher in two movies, Jack Reacher (2012, from the 2005 novel One Shot) and Never Go Back (2016).

Reacher has returned in The Midnight Line, which publisher Delacorte Press describes this way: “Reacher takes a stroll through a small Wisconsin town and sees a class ring in a pawn shop window: West Point 2005. A tough year to graduate: Iraq, then Afghanistan. The ring is tiny, for a woman, and it has her initials engraved on the inside. Reacher wonders what unlucky circumstance made her give up something she earned over four hard years. He decides to find out. And find the woman. And return her ring. Why not?”

What follows is adventure and mayhem, but in a good way.

I caught up with Lee Child via email and asked a few questions. Visit him at www.leechild.com.

Q: Midnight Line involves the nation’s opioid epidemic, which you treat in a realistic, well-researched way.

A: I’m not really an issues writer, and certainly not a ripped-from-the-headlines guy. I write about what’s on my mind at the time. I guess I was thinking about how to solve problems in general, and how a good place to start would be to face the actual facts, some of which are no doubt inconvenient. For instance, I thought, the opioid epidemic.

Q: In 2012, when Jack Reacher was about to be released, the obsessive issue among your fans was the disparity in physical size between Reacher and Tom Cruise. Reacher is 6 feet 5 inches and 250 pounds, Cruise is 5 feet 9 inches and 150 pounds.

A: Casting Reacher was like a Venn diagram that didn’t meet in the middle. Actors with the talent to put a largely internal character on the screen are a tiny, tiny subset. Actors 6’5” and 250 pounds are a tiny, tiny subset. Actors who can attract big financing are a tiny, tiny subset. There was no overlap. Cruise killed two categories stone dead and failed the third. In the real world, he was the perfect guy. I know he’s happy with the movies, and so am I.

Q: No Middle Name was released last summer, consisting of a new novella and the “complete collected Jack Reacher short stories.” At the same time, Night School, a novel set in Reacher’s past, came out. They formed a foundation for understanding how Reacher’s past informs his present. Are there more short stories on the way, and will you take Reacher back in time again?

A: I like the prequel novels and stories and I’m sure there will be more. I can’t truthfully say I’m planning any, but only because I don’t plan anything. For that reason, I can’t tell you much about the novel for 2018 yet, because I haven’t finished it and I don’t know what is going to happen next.

But this is how it starts: Reacher is passing through New Hampshire and he sees a road sign to a place he recognizes from old family paperwork as his late father’s place of birth. He goes to take a look, but there’s no record of a family named Reacher ever living there.

Q: You’ve been conjoined to Reacher for more than 20 years. What issues do you two have with each other?

A: I think it’s dangerous for a series writer to get too fond of his main character, so I keep him at arm’s length and I do him no favors. I aim to like him a little less than you’re going to like him. That keeps him honest. And humble. Always remember: I’m not afraid of Reacher, he’s afraid of me.

Q: You write a day-to-day blog during book tours, and by now your fans must feel they know everything about you. But what’s one thing they don’t know?

A: There’s nothing surprising about me. I’m a very ordinary guy. Except I really like ironing.

Q: What’s the question you want to answer that I have not asked?

A: I was asked a brand-new question last week: What three criminals would you like to have dinner with? I haven’t decided yet.

We’re laying tracks for our next Authors On Stage event (Jan. 29), with New York Times best-selling novelist Alafair Burke discussing her latest book, The Wife. Burke has published 12 novels in three mystery-suspense series, as well as five stand-alone books. She’s a former prosecutor and now a law school professor. 

But let’s back up: Sci-fi great Kim Stanley Robinson riveted the crowd last Monday night at the inaugural CapRadio Reads Authors On Stage at the Alumni Center on the Sac State campus.

We sat center stage and talked about his new novel, New York: 2140, segueing into conversations about the possibility of colonizing and terraforming Mars (it’s far in the future); his recent trip to Antarctica (look for his piece in the December issue of Smithsonian Magazine); what Sacramento would look like if it were flooded by 50 feet of sea water, as New York is in 2140 (the daily commute would certainly be different); and the notion of “assisted migration,” as in relocating polar bears to cooler climes.

Then we opened the discussion to audience members, who had some very smart, insightful questions. In his answers, Stan showed his vast knowledge of literature, science, history and economics, sparked by his characteristic wit.

Now, back to The Wife, on sale Jan. 23: It’s a “domestic thriller” along the lines of Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris and The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware—which means twists and turns and a surprise ending.

Here’s the synopsis: Life seems ideal now that defense attorney and single mom Angela has married Jason, a brilliant economist, and moved to Manhattan. In her new persona, the tragic secrets of her past seem safe.

But her marriage begins unraveling when two women from Jason’s past appear with accusations against him. Angela believes her husband is guiltless, but she is forced to question everything when one of the women mysteriously disappears. Now Angela must choose between defending her husband and saving herself.

Mix that with deceit, murder, courtroom drama and shocking revelations and we’ve got another page-turner from Burke.

One telling indicator is this: Burke’s publisher, Harper, is promoting The Wife as the “much-anticipated follow-up to The Ex,” which got huge buzz when it hit bookshelves last year. The Mystery Writers of America nominated The Ex for a 2017 Edgar Award for best novel, and BookBub Blog CQ included it in its list of “The 22 Biggest Thrillers of 2016.” Can Burke top that with The Wife?

A few years ago, Burke partnered with “queen of suspense” Mary Higgins Clark to co-write their subsequent four-title Under Suspicion suspense series, centered around a TV show featuring cold-case murders. Their latest is Every Breath You Take. But that’s another story.

ABOUT THIS EVENT

What: Author Alafair Burke on stage with interviewer Allen Pierleoni. A question-and-answer session with the audience will  follow.

When: 6 p.m. Jan. 29; doors will open at 5:15 p.m.

Where: Capital Public Radio, 7055 Folsom Boulevard, Sacramento

Cost: $30 (includes admission and a 30 percent-discounted autographed copy of The Wife); or $10 without a copy of the book.

Kim Stanley Robinson likely knows more about Mars than almost anyone outside of NASA.   

The settlement and terraforming of the Red Planet—making it Earth-like and supportive of life—was the heavily researched subject of his “Mars" trilogy.  That story begins in 2026 and moves along for nearly 200 years.

The three novels—Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars—were published between 1993 and 1996, followed by the related short story collection, The Martians, in 1999.

Perhaps partly because of that trilogy and other cultural signposts since (such as the mega-hit movie The Martian), there’s a notion that has gained momentum recently in the public consciousness: colonizing Mars. Such an impetus is an example of how sci-fi seems so often to segue into reality (or the scheme for achieving it) as technology catches up with imagination (smart cars, anyone?).  

Consider award-winning journalist-science writer Stephen Petranek’s book How We’ll Live On Mars, in which he foresees humans dwelling there “in specially designed habitations” within two decades. 

Then there’s journalist Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. In it, she tours various space agencies’ life-in-space simulations.

On that note, a NASA-backed crew of six terranauts lived for a year (they were “released” in August) in an analog habitat in Hawaii. A report said the “purpose (was) to determine what is required to keep a space flight crew happy and healthy during an extended mission to Mars and while living on Mars.” 

Even Time magazine got onboard with a special issue titled “Mars Mission: How To Get To the Red Planet.”

NASA itself has said it plans to send people to Mars by 2030.

What does Robinson think of all this? 

"Mars is real but empty, and that attracts our attention," he said. "We can see it with our own eyes, and our Martian rovers and orbiters have given us the place in great detail. It looks like the American Southwest, and there’s lots of water, frozen on the surface and underground. 

"So for 40 years or more, there has been the idea of humans going there and settling in, ultimately terraforming it into a small, cold, second Earth."

The habitation of Mars is "a great story," he said, but he cautions would-be colonists not to lose sight of "a few new facts."

"(For one thing), since I finished my ‘Mars’ trilogy, the rovers have discovered that the Martian surface has a lot of perchlorate in the soil, and this chemical is very toxic. Also, it appears there is not as much nitrogen as we thought, and nitrogen is crucial for the terraforming project."

There is also a chance that Martian bacteria may live under the planet's surface. "We don’t want Martian life on Earth, nor do we want to contaminate Martian life, if it exists, with Terran life. This is a new issue, because when I wrote my 'Mars' books, everyone was quite sure Mars was a dead planet. As such, bringing life to it was a much less complicated issue."

Still, the concept of populating and terraforming the Red Planet "is very interesting and even compelling," he said. But that mega-project might require 5,000 years to accomplish, "removing it as a front-burner issue. Meanwhile we’ve got a planetary crisis here on Earth that is striking right now and needs solving. So it makes no sense to talk about Mars as some kind of emergency bolt-hole for humanity, there for us if we happen to destroy Earth’s biosphere" Robinson said. 

"The main story for humanity is always here on Earth," he added. "We are on the cusp of starting a mass extinction event, the sixth such in Earth's history and the first caused by humans. All that we live and hope for could be lost. In that context, Mars is simply a sideshow and a modeling exercise. 

"The real story now is to create a sustainable balance with the biosphere of this planet, our only home,” he said. “All our thoughts of space are either part of that effort, or far-future dreams, or fantasies of escape."  

Kim Stanley Robinson will appear for Authors On Stage at 6 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Harper Alumni Center on the Sac State campus. Cost is $10 per person in advance or $15 cash at the door. More information at www.capradio.org/reads. For additional information, please contact Allen Pierleoni at allen.pierleoni@capradio.org or Cathleen Ferraro at cathleen.ferraro@capradio.org

What are the most popular genres in fiction, based on sales figures and authors’ incomes? Though the answer depends on who’s compiling the data, the numbers don’t lie: Any ranking will invariably include romance, mystery-crime, young adult, action-adventure and—of course—science fiction.

Tellingly, the Connecticut-based Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has been around for more than 50 years, listing 1,900 members. 

“From the very first time someone thought of what was possible beyond their worldview, science fiction has proven both powerful and invaluable,” said Kate Baker, executive director of the SFWA. “This is a genre that can inspire, instill hope and combat fear. It can teach us how to be better if we are willing to listen and invoke change. It can define us, mold us, move us and open our eyes to the world around us, the sky above us and beyond.”

Of course, advances in technology have altered sci-fi’s tenor and story lines in recent decades.

Newer generations of writers have inherited the helm from the founders who built the ship. They owe their careers to icons such as Isaac Asimov, Ursula Le Guin, Robert Heinlein, Margaret Atwood, Theodore Sturgeon, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Doris Lessing, Frederik Pohl, Robert Silverberg and so many others.  

Which brings us to multi-award-winning Kim Stanley Robinson, author of nine novels in three series, and 11 stand-alone books. No surprise that his Ph.D. thesis was on the late Philip K. Dick, whose 1968 neo-noir sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was made into the 1982 movie Blade Runner, the remake of which was released in theaters Oct. 6.

Robinson will appear at CapRadio Reads’ inaugural Authors On Stage on Oct. 23. I asked him how he fits in with today’s (and tomorrow’s) other sci-fi superstars, such as Paolo Bacigalupi, Jonathan Lethem, Karen Joy Fowler, Connie Willis, Ted Chiang, John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow and Nalo Hopkinson.

“Science fiction is not just a literary genre, but also a very active community,” he said. “It’s like a science fiction story in which a small town got mysteriously scattered and dispersed through space and time, and now reunites in Brigadoon fashion—but more often—at science fiction conventions and other events. It’s a supportive community and I’m happy to say I’ve been part of it for about 40 years.”

Robinson calls his fellow sci-fi authors “among the most exciting writers of our time, on the cutting edge in terms of explaining this moment of history. I get a lot of pleasure from crossing paths with them and from reading their books. I’m proud to know them and I learn a lot from them.”

Next Friday: When will we colonize Mars? Kim Stanley Robinson has some provocative thoughts.

Kim Stanley Robinson will appear for Authors On Stage at 6 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Harper Alumni Center on the Sac State campus. Cost is $10 per person in advance or $15 cash at the door. More information at  www.capradio.org/reads. For additional information, please contact Allen Pierleoni at allen.pierleoni@capradio.org or Cathleen Ferraro at cathleen.ferraro@capradio.org.