Interview with C. J. Songer 
by Jon Jordan

Jon:  For people who have not read your books, could you give a run down of what they are about?

C. J.:  Soitenly. (Well, I can TRY... :) The two that are published so far are BAIT and HOOK, in hardcover from Scribner as well as in paperback from Harper/Avon. BAIT is the first of the Meg Gillis crime novel series which continues with HOOK, and we'll have at least two more episodes, since I've just re-upped with Scribner for more books in the series. The third story, yes, will probably be LINE, but no, these AREN'T "fishing" mysteries. I just like the multiple-meanings of the titles. :)

Meg Gillis is a female ex-cop, who's working now as a partner in a security business on the outskirts of Beverly Hills. The action in the books generally takes place in the Los Angeles/Glendale/Burbank/Beverly Hills area, where she finds herself, for a variety of reasons, putting her old cop skills to use to solve something that's bugging her. Sometimes she gets involved because somebody else asked her for help; sometimes she does it because SHE wants to know. In the process, she's coming to terms with leaving her police department, with accepting her skills and herself, with being who she is in today's less-than-perfect world. It's kind of a character-driven line of mysteries, but, eesh, gack, I also like to think the books are more interesting and faster-paced than the way I'm describing them here -- HELP!

Okay, there's suspense, right? and danger, and sometimes blood, (but not LOTS of gory detail, so I don't really qualify as "hard-boiled".) The BEST description, I think, is one a reader gave me recently: "gritty but not graphic." That pretty much sums 'em up!

Jon:  So is there any of you in Meg?

C. J.:  Nah, very little. :) Well, okay, some. We share a drive to understand things -- people, motivations, events.

And we're both a little bit stubborn -- but not so's you'd notice it, probably.

And we both know something about weapons.

Jon:  I would imagine it is an advantage having worked on a police force when you write. Do you need to be careful not to let actual events sneak in?

C. J.:  It's not so much "actual events" that I'm careful about as it is "actual people." I make up the events I'm writing about, so I don't worry about that, but I've known a lot of people under circumstances which didn't always reflect well on them or bring out the best in their behaviors, so I try to be sure that I'm not inadvertently being unfair to anyone.

One of the MAJOR advantages to being a female working at a police department (not as a police officer, by the way!) was that I got to experience the culture first-hand, and I'm therefore able to summon up memories of the feelings very easily. There's a fair amount of discrimination in police departments, believe it or not. (Shocking, I know. :) And yet it would be unfair to imply that EVERY cop behaves in such a fashion most of the time and I'm trying to present somewhat of a balanced view, without, of course, forgetting that first and foremost I'm trying to tell a gripping story that rings true.

Jon:  Why did you decide to write?

C. J.:  Well, I was getting up at 4:30 in the morning and staring at the computer screen anyway, so... :)

It's just a drive that I have. Some people express themselves by singing. Others cook. I write.

Jon:  Who do you like to read?

C. J.:  I love science fiction! I cut my eyeteeth on Andre Norton, Asimov, C.J. Cherryh, Jo Clayton, Frank Herbert and the like. My mystery idols when I was younger were Lawrence Sanders and John LeCarre, John D. MacDonald and Joseph Wambaugh (and Dashiell Hammett!), and I've read widely in the "older" romantic suspense genre -- Helen MacInnes, Mary Stewart, Georgette Heyer -- whoosh! Those ladies could write! I'm necessarily not reading much these days (time's SO limited and I have my own worlds to create) but I have a number of the more-current mysteries on my To-Be-Read pile (well, there's no mystery there -- I know all these great mystery authors now, so of COURSE I have their books!) I also have snuck in, purely for enjoyment, "A Civil Campaign" by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Jon:  Do you need to do a lot of research when you write?

C. J.:  I don't usually need to do a LOT of research because I have what I'd consider an on-going voracious interest in arcane things, so I tend to have experiences or notions in my kit-bag already. It's just a question of adding a few more details here and there if I'm going to put any of those notions into something I'm writing, and for that, yes, I do some more-specific "research." (My husband doesn't really consider it that, but my tax accountant does! :) I usually take some refresher courses during the year anyway, in weaponry or tactics, knife-fighting, alternate force, that kind of thing. I find security issues very interesting and I love the company at the classes, the give-and-take of new people, the physicality and focus, the challenge. Those feelings tend to feed back into whatever I'm writing (so if that's not "research", I don't know what is! :)

Jon:  Any movie or TV offers?

C. J.:  Yes, they're wanting me to star in a new show for series tele-- oh, you meant for the Meg Gillis books?

No, not yet.

(I'm sure they're just hanging back, worrying about being able to do me justice.)

Jon:  You do a lot of shooting. And you know guns. Do you think people in general should have a little better knowledge of guns?

C. J.:  Yes, I do. I'm not particularly gung-ho about guns, myself, because I think good defense is as much or more the grit of the PERSON as it is the weapon, and so I really take pains not to train to be "weapon-reliant", but... truly, how the heck can you understand what the issues are or what you can do about them until you understand how guns work and how other people think about them? Even if you never intend to shoot or to own one, shouldn't you know SOMETHING about their mechanical operation? What if you're the only adult around when a bad guy comes to threaten the kids? He's standing there feeling invincible because he KNOWS he's the only one with a weapon. Are you just going to stand there flapping and screaming, giving those kids no help or protection because you don't have a clue how to disarm this guy?!

Part of growing up is accepting responsibility for yourself and for others -- and part of that responsibility is knowing what your options are, making sure that you've got SOME skills, no matter how fragile, so that you can, if you need to, deal with a real danger, because there ARE real dangers out there. At least, with some knowledge, you have a chance to fight back. And with a weapon that you have access to and know how to USE, you have a much better chance to fight back, so yes, I think people should learn these things. Hey! I'm a philanthropist!

Jon:  Do you like meeting fans?

C. J.:  Oh, absolutely I do -- that's the best part of this writing thing! (Well, besides locking myself in my room for hours at a time, that is, wrestling with demon words... :)

Jon:  What is the one thing always in your refrigerator?

C. J.:  That one's easy. Coca-Cola®. "I'd like To Teach The world to sing..."