Brad Meltzer
By Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. -- Library Journal, 8/15/2006
In 1997, Brad Meltzer landed on the best-sellers list with The Tenth Justice, a debut thriller about the Supreme Court that the author wrote while a law student. Meltzer convinced Columbia Law School to grant him credit for the book. In his latest novel, The Book of Fate, an assassination attempt shatters the life of an aide to the President of the United States.
Where did you get the idea for The Book of Fate?
It began with my own sense of frustration that I was about to rewrite a character I’d already written many times before. That’s what terrifies me most as a writer—being one of those novelists who just churns books out. At the same time, my father was diagnosed with cancer. The surgery that saved his life left an unavoidable scar on his forehead. That’s when the idea came to me: instead of writing yet another thriller with yet another young, perfect hero, what if I took that hero, broke him down in Chapter 1, and then saw if that shattered character could do the same things that his former self once accomplished so easily? I wasn’t sure of the answer, but that’s what excited me as a writer. The loss of power is fascinating. So maybe in the end, it was just fate.
How did you gain insider knowledge of the presidential life?
Former President George H.W. Bush sent me a letter complimenting me on one of my novels and then kindly put up with me after I asked to visit him at the White House to see what life there was like. I first met former President Clinton when The Tenth Justice was published, so I was happy when he allowed me to interview his staff in Harlem. This research provided the authentic details in the book that make readers think, “That’s exactly how it is.” My favorite factual tidbit was the requirement that Presidents plan their funerals immediately when they leave office.
In addition to writing thrillers, you have your hands in both the comics and television industries. How did this start?
A few years ago, CBS tried to adapt my novel Dead Even for television. So when I co-created the show Jack & Bobby, it really came from having an idea that we thought would make a better television show than a novel. I’m so proud of that show [which ran only 22 episodes] and feel so lucky to have had it on the air. Knowing that I was a comics geek, D.C. Comics asked me to write for them—I had waited my entire life for such a chance—and thus came Green Arrow, Identity Crisis, and July’s Justice League of America with Superman and Batman.
With novels, comics, and television, you use entirely different palettes. In novels, the palette is words. In comics, I paint with words and pictures. And in television, you mix words, pictures, actors, music, and all the things that make a Jackson Pollock painting. The key is learning the limits and benefits of each medium. But I hope that my experience in playing in all three is what gives The Book of Fate its depth.
