As I start my ninth month of blogging, I figure it’s about time that I respond to your letters. Remember, you too can send comments to Der Viator, provided you keep obscene tetragrams to a minimum and make a small donation to The Der Viator Institute, a non-profit organization that promotes the building of a mosque on Mount Rushmore in the little space between Lincoln’s beard and Teddy Roosevelt’s chin.
What surprises me, given the many “male-oriented” topics of this blog, is the number of women who have written in. Twaneshia of Cleveland wants to know why people of color often figure less prominently in my stories than Caucasians. That’s a good observation, Twaneshia. I can assure you that it’s not by design. We tend to write about topics or create characters that we either identify with or feel that we can describe with a degree of authenticity. That said, my next story, “Reflections of a Pregnant Filipina Woman,” takes me into uncharted waters as a writer. Brenda feels that Serbs and transvestites don’t get a fair shake on this blog. I hear you. In my next murder story a heroic forensic pathologist named Goran Živojinović discovers the identity of a serial killer when the latter mistakes him for the cleaning lady.
Eight-year-old Brady from Lublin, North Carolina wonders why I keep scatological references to a minimum (my words, not his). I understand where you’re coming from, Brady, but I’d lose half my adult readership if I were to discuss unpleasant bodily functions all the time (more so poo than pee). The next two letters demonstrate that sometimes I just can’t win. Charles of Uganda says I should learn to take life less seriously. According to him, I get too wrapped up in the evils of the world and devote an inordinate amount of attention to genocide. Kelsey of Chicago, on the other hand, expresses revulsion for my “inconsiderate dismissal of suffering in other parts of the world and a willful naïveté that virtually aids and abets crimes against humanity.” What I try to do, dear readers, is provide an honest assessment of human behavior. Keep in mind that my moral development and understanding of phenomena in the world are a work in progress.
