In recent days, the topic has appeared in a lot of my e-mail correspondence, which makes me think it's time to say a little something about the bravery of writers. Everything we believe about "right" and "wrong" can be enshrined in pages of fiction. It's been my experience that we don't always stop to think about the many shades of gray in what we do, all we really want is some degree of success. That same world view can be present in our heroes and villains, even if we don't try to put it there.
As a lifelong consumer of conspiracy fiction, I've always been fascinated by the process of "things." One action or event often leads to another, even when it's a series of outcomes that cause/promulgate something that turns out to be painfully complicated. For as long as I can remember, authors have been writing about power-hungry leaders who go too far. They are always cautionary tales intended to warn readers about what might happen. That's easy enough when the abuses of power you write about are not happening in your own country. What happens when they are?
That's rapidly becoming a difficult question for some Americans to answer because we are verging on a period of authoritarian rule we caused or allowed because nobody thought it can ever happen here. No matter how you see this--for or against--that should not change what you write as a form of story. I have always felt just a little uncomfortable when writing about imagined politicos who take power, it really bothers me. Even so, I tell myself that's what all those vibrant heroes and heroines are for--to save the day and make a point. In the long run, that's why I write in different genres, as a way to cleanse my palette when things taste too bitter. If we do not preserve and maintain the idea that it is possible to defeat evil, we will surely lose.