Speaker 1: Good morning.
Speaker 2: How are you doing, Patricia.
Speaker 1: I'm fine, how about you?
Speaker 2: Absolutely excited to share yet another conversation with you because
I love the way that you're able to use your
words to move us, and it's done so in a
way that makes us wiser. Plus on top of that,
it teases our imaginations and it also challenges us to
create solutions. Because that's the kind of writer you are,
You get inside us to make it even greater.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you.
Speaker 2: Where does that art come from? Because you have really
mastered it, especially in sharp force. Because there's something about
this book. I can't put the dang thing down, and
I can't be the only one who was saying that.
Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you what I tried to do with
this book is I always ask a question of myself
what am.
Speaker 1: I curious about?
Speaker 3: And I've always been curious about ghosts. I mean, you're
always hearing people talk about experiences they've had, and listen,
I've had them too. And I bet some of you
where you hear weird noise or maybe you see something
that doesn't make any sense, especially in a place that
has that you suspect could be haunted. And so I thought, well,
I can't have a ghost that's going around killing people.
Obviously it has to I mean, there has to be
something plausible about this. So how could I play with this?
So I thought, well, holographic technology is very ghost like.
We all remember seeing when Michael Jackson's hologram was on
a stage and people started crying in the audience because
it looked like he was there.
Speaker 1: This, of course was after he was not, you know,
he was.
Speaker 3: Dead, and so I want to do So what I
came up with is this phantom slasher is a killer
who uses modern technology to create a hologram that he
stocks victims with. So these people will see this horrible
phantom like figure that's levitating up a street, or it
appears in their bedroom, and this is the precursor to
them being murdered by this individual because he actually uses
this not just to terrorize people, but to spy on them.
And there are technologies. Everything I have in that book
is either being done now or it will be done,
and it's.
Speaker 1: In the work. So it is not make believe technology
that this kind of thing. You could have what looks
like a ghost passed through your wall and it's talking to.
Speaker 3: You at the foot of your bed. And meanwhile it's
relaying everything straight back to the person at the controls.
Speaker 1: So that's what Scarpett is up against and and it's
but it also appeals, I think, to our kind of
childlike imagination.
Speaker 2: Please tell me that when this idea came to you, Patricia,
that you were like most creative people, when you have
an idea like this, it's so far out there, and
yet inside you're going, oh, yeah, yeah, this is the
way we're going. I like this.
Speaker 3: Well, and then what I do is I get on
the phone with one of my really smart technical people
and say, Okay, how do we make this scientifically?
Speaker 1: How does this work?
Speaker 3: Because it has to up And that's always my rule.
Speaker 1: My rule for.
Speaker 3: Every scarpet of book is whatever I show you, no
matter how futuristic it might seem, it has to be
within the realm of possibility.
Speaker 1: That's my rule.
Speaker 2: Well, Well, when doctor k is brought into a story
like this, I always sit there and I wonder does
she roll her eyes when a news story begins, or
does she sit there and become ignited by going here
we go again? Come on, it's time to.
Speaker 3: Me she doesn't roll her eyes because I don't think
she knows I exist, I think, I mean, you know,
for her, she's minding her own business and you know,
it's bleep in bed and at three o'clock in the
morning or whatever, and she and Benton are getting ready
to fly to London the next day for vacation, but
of course the phone rings and she's not going on vacation.
And by the way, this book is said at Christmas,
and that's that that makes it fun too, you know,
weather the holiday, it's snowy, it's Christmas, and she's in
the morgue and then she gets another case of this
phantom slasher.
Speaker 1: So I think people are and have a lot of
fun with it. See.
Speaker 2: I love where you are going with this. And the
reason why is because over the past two to three
years there's been a change in Christmas stories when it
comes to a little bit of a darker side, and
this fits directly into that, because we do want that
little bit of a scare, we also want that holiday feeling.
And I love this kind of energy about this.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you.
Speaker 3: I mean I love to hear that, and it is
fun because it just gives you so much.
Speaker 1: What I would say is it gives you more crayons.
In your box.
Speaker 3: When you've got a holiday season like Christmas, which is
just loaded.
Speaker 1: With all kinds of emotion and visual.
Speaker 3: Effects, and then you get a snowstorm on top of it.
And here's for scarpetit trying to drive somewhere where she's
dropping off personal effects to somebody's house.
Speaker 1: And it's I.
Speaker 3: Don't think one of the things that we see with Scarpetta,
and I say this is if I didn't create her,
because I sometimes feel like she exists on her own.
But she always shows compassion and she has heart towards
the people that she has to deal with, you know,
like the families. And we really see that when she
goes because of Christmas Eve when the book opens, Yeah,
and she wants to drop off this she's been doing
this autopsy and one of the things found in the
dead man's pocket is the Christmas present for his wife,
and so Scarpetta, she's it's close to where she lives anyway,
she decides to drop by the house to go bring
these things over, and of course, your that opens up
a whole nother story too, because that's unusual. We usually
medical examiners don't do that, but she wants to in
this case, you'll make more sense when you read it,
because the lady has twins, you know, to twin children,
and she just feels very bad for them.
Speaker 2: Please do not move. There's more with Patricia Cornwell coming
up next the name of her latest book, Sharp Force.
We are back with author Patricia Cornwell. Do you feel
doctor Sarpenna is also inside of you? Because I mean
the way that you go into even when you were
doing what you were doing before writing, you still had
to have those moments of fear and you can't just
you can't be stunned. You've got to keep going no
matter what.
Speaker 3: That's right. But when you ask a Scarpetta, is she
somebody that's kind of inside me? What I feel like
I do is I kind of channeled this character and
I do have a very good understanding of how she's
going to react to things and how she's going.
Speaker 1: To handle a problem.
Speaker 3: And one of the things about her is that she's
not very fear driven.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a lot more fearful than she is.
Speaker 3: If some of that stuff happened to me, and just
that happens to her in this book, I.
Speaker 1: Tell you what, I'd probably be hiding somewhere. But not her.
I mean she runs right into it and takes care
of what needs to be done. Yeah.
Speaker 2: But you know what, though, Patricia, is the fact that
when we don't have that fear factor going on, there
are so many people that judge us and they say, oh,
you must be cold in the heart end. It's not
that I'm cold. I want the damn stories. What I
and I feel that the doctor is doing exactly that.
She wants the story so that we can figure out
what is going on with this hologram. We're trying to
figure out, you know, what is going to because I mean,
if we're gonna sit here and talk about the paranormal,
I mean she's going at it where the rest of
us would run from it.
Speaker 3: Well, one thing, she knows there may be a hint
of paranormal here, but when she gets to a scene,
that body on the bed is definitely not something that's
made up. And so I mean, there is nothing paranormal
about what's going on, but it certainly does.
Speaker 1: Look like it. And if you and.
Speaker 3: I saw this phantom hologram, I mean it would be
pretty freaked out if we looked at our window and
saw this thing. And there's going to come a day
when we're going to because technology and artificial intelligence proliferating
at the speed of light, and they'll be already. There
are things we see it every day on social media
where you don't know whether something you're looking.
Speaker 1: At is real or not.
Speaker 2: It's right. See you brought up Michael Jackson. I remember
watching Queen in Concert live and they brought out Freddie
Mercury in a hologram and that scared the bajeebis out
of me. It was way too real.
Speaker 1: And wait till we start seeing more of that. And
wait till you're seeing.
Speaker 3: These sorts of creations that are computer their computer creations.
And wait till we start seeing that when in television
and movies, you know where these it's it's a very
interesting time we live in and everybody needs to pay attention,
so you make sure you know what's going on around you.
Speaker 2: I got to ask you a question only because I'm
a published author as well, and because I really am
into the marketing of a book cover. And I know
they say don't judge a book by its cover, but
whoever did the marketing on yours is brilliant because I
see sharp force, I see your beautiful name on there.
But I see also that red line. I want to
know what that red line represents. I know what my
interpretation is it To me, it represents a continuation. It's
also powerful because it's the color red. What is the
reason for that single red line on the front cover.
Speaker 3: I think what it's to evoke is the why incision.
If you think of a razor running I mean a
scalpel blade running down a body, I think there's supposed
to be a little.
Speaker 1: Bit of an.
Speaker 3: Impressionistic of the autopsy or it could you know, since
I didn't create that book jacket obviously, I mean I
did suggest that put that creepy psychiatric hospital.
Speaker 1: Time's not scary. Yeah, Mercy Island. There's nothing mercy merciful
about it. But the artistic director who created that I
don't know.
Speaker 3: But that's what it evokes to me. Is I sort
of see a cut like an incision.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you dedicate the book to Stacy and Charles. I mean, wow, See,
that's one of my favorite parts in a book, because
I want to know where was the author and why
is this book so important to be able to go
to these as well? So, but we never get to
hear the story of Stacy as well as Charles Well.
Speaker 3: Stacy is my partner and she's she lives through the
book process every year with me.
Speaker 1: Poor thing. I feel so sorry for.
Speaker 3: I don't know how she stands it. Charles Charles Cornwell
was my first He was my husband a long time ago.
He was my english professor at Davidson. And one of
the reasons I also dedicated the book to Charlie is
sadly he died last fall, and I knew he was
very sick with cancer, and he was my private editor
for many years and we were very good friends, and
so I wanted to acknowledge him. And you'll hear more
about him next spring because I've written a memoir that's
coming out, and you'll learn all kinds of things about
people from my past and what my life has been like.
Speaker 1: Serious.
Speaker 2: It's about darn time, because you and I have talked
so much, but I only get pieces parts of your story.
And I've always believed that if you don't share your story,
someone else is going to write it for you. And
with all of your books and things, we're writing your
story for you. Now we get to see the real deal.
Speaker 1: Well, well, you learn all kinds of things that you
don't know, including.
Speaker 3: Very much backstage of what of the SCARPETI series? You
know how it started my very earliest years, Why I
did it, where I got even where her name comes from.
Speaker 1: Excuse me all this minutia you will you will get well.
Speaker 2: So now making or helping a story become real picture form,
Now what is that like for you as that creative person?
Because as a writer, we already see it inside our head.
But does it match what we're seeing on a screen.
Speaker 1: I don't think it could ever match.
Speaker 3: I think you know, when people imagine characters from any story,
that's that's really very personal to them, and you always
hear that nobody that somebody didn't think this actor looked
like the character as they imagined them. But the way
I the way I come come to this table the
TV show is that I really don't want to have
such a preconceived image of these characters, and I probably
have less of one than my reader.
Speaker 1: That's the truth. So I was delighted with Nicole Kittman
playing Scarpetta, and by the.
Speaker 3: Way, she's doing an amazing job. I mean, I've seen
the eight episodes that everybody's going to watch next year
and she's phenomenal as Scarpetta, and Jamie Lee Curtis as
her sister is just unbelievable. I think you can imagine
in the two of them when they're in scenes together.
Speaker 1: It's just it's like a it's epic. So I think
that everyone's going to have a lot of fun with this. Wow.
Speaker 2: Well, I got to give you compliments on this picture
of you on the back of the book. It is
absolutely stunning. It is one of my absolute favorite pictures
of you. And it's just, oh, oh my god, because
I've been a fan from the very beginning and you
just it's that warm smile that says, hey, by the way,
you think you've read all my books, wait till you
read this one.
Speaker 1: Well, it's always fun to talk to you again.
Speaker 2: Well, please come back to this show anytime in the future,
because the door is always going to be open for you.
And I really want to talk to you when that
other book about you comes out, because then we get
to break down you.
Speaker 1: Well, we will do that.
Speaker 3: We will talk about it, and I look forward to
sharing my life story with people who've.
Speaker 1: Been reading my books for all these years.
Speaker 3: I think one thing that it will show you is
that even if you're so lucky as I've been to
have success at something, there are many things in your
life that didn't feel very successful and that shouldn't be discouraged.
And don't give up, especially artists, because I've certainly had
a long string of failures before I finally wrote anything
that got published, and so I think that's important for.
Speaker 1: Everybody to know.
Speaker 2: Randy Buckman from Backwin Turner Overdrive said, you know my hits,
but you don't know my strikeouts, And that's exactly what
you just said.
Speaker 3: Wow, thank you.
Speaker 2: You've got to come back to this show anytime in
the future.
Speaker 1: We will do it.
Speaker 2: Excellent, be brilliant today, okay, Patricia, Oh yes, well, thank you,