Joyce Carol Oates at the Bookshop

One of America’s greatest writers came to do a reading and sign her new book of short stories, The Museum of Dr. Moses, at The Mysterious Bookshop last week and, as usual, had fascinating things to say in a pithy and, often, humorous way.

Since so many of her books have been focused on crime and its aftermath, it is perhaps no surprise that she spoke of the fact that her grandfather had been murdered. This strongly affected her mother, of course, and, by extension, Joyce herself. I think I remember her saying at another time that an uncle was murdered, too. That’s a lot of violence for a little town north of Buffalo ("I bet you didn’t know you could go north of Buffalo and still be in America," Joyce said.)

Speaking of serial killers, a subject that has fascinated her for many years, she referred to the BTK killer. "That sounds like a particularly horrible sandwich, doesn’t it?" she said.

For those interested in the methodology of writers, as I am, it was interesting to hear that she always knows the ending of a story or book before she starts to write. Otherwise, she said, "it would be like pulling the car out of the driveway, hoping it would just take you someplace you wanted to be."

Also, before I close this post, if you are looking for a good book to read (aside from Joyce Carol Oates that is), please check out my recent review of Heartsick by Chelsea Cain. Riveting stuff.   (By the way, I had to issue a retraction for the part about the CD at the end of the article.  The book does NOT come with a CD.  That was something that came with the Advance Readers Copy only.)