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Tyler Oaks on the Move: The "M" Word
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I was sitting at my booth at the Sonoma County Book Festival when a woman approached to ask about my book, Ruby Rest. I said it was a mystery and she asked if it really had any murder. She apparently liked the cover, but after reading the subscript, she began to back away while looking me in the eye. She appeared startled and informed me that murder was evil and that she was, in fact, against murder. I told her I was as well, but she was seemingly frightened enough to continue backing away until she had safely escaped my presence. Her last words expressed her fear and I was left sitting there made to feel like a threat to peaceful mankind; a woman with murderous intentions wrapped up in novel form.
The anti-murder woman had the same reaction to Left Coast Crime at my neighboring booth. After reading the words “Aloha Murder,” she was obviously shaken up and I can still remember her wide eyes. Although her actions and admonitions to me that day in Santa Rosa were extreme, there have been a number of times over the past year that I have been treated with contempt for writing a mystery which contains murder in the plotline. In more than one bookstore I have been chastised, as if I had written a book on how to murder innocent human beings and was then sitting there with a smile trying to sell it to unsuspecting future victims. At least the people who really know me are not concerned for their safety. Whenever a stranger eyes me warily and rebukes me for defiling the sanctity of human life I always smile inwardly, if not outwardly, and take care not to make any sudden movements.
Do we really believe writers advocate every action of every character of their creation? This would be preposterous, yet writers are often treated as guilty of the words they have written. Scientists study disease not to become infected by it but to discover cures against it. Writers do not debase themselves by studying human nature but teach mankind about himself through their observations. Though murder itself is corrupting, its use in a plotline may be empowering once we understand the author’s purpose. We must always remember to read with our brains on and not label things good and bad without even grasping what they mean or how they are used. To censor something without understanding its content or intention is to lose our power of thought and give ourselves over to superstition and fear. Not talking about things, the “M” word included, doesn’t make them go away. It only makes us less able to deal with them because our eyes are closed.
