Saturday, November 12, 2011

Understanding Fake Face

What about Joe Paterno? Beloved "Joe Pa"? I'd bet his lovable reputation is a media creation. That, beneath it, Joe Pa is a ruthless bastard. I'd further wager that he knew the truth about the alleged perp as far back as 1998, and has spent all these years since covering it up-- including willfully and forcefully putting the matter out of his head. My opinion only, of course. Why would he do this? Because he loved power and because the football program takes in $70 million per year. This was too much for that kind of personality to give up.
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Which brings me back to my fictional character, Fake Face, who's featured in my latest ebook, which has the title of this blog.

The character may seem out of a comic book. The paradox of pop fiction, though, is its ability to put the hidden truth directly in front of you. There's far more truth in Crime City USA than in a thousand standard genteel "literary" works, which reverse the process. Literary writers give you layers of meaningless "realistic" details about the furniture, including human furniture. The truth about people and the world is nowhere to be found. Even if you dug through the description and details like through a mountain of pine needles, you'd find: nothing. The characters are idealized versions of the writers. They give you a plastic face. That's all.

Who's the chief Fake Face in the literary world? I mean, the phoniest? Would it be someone who most urgently wears a generous smile? Is there a writer like this-- or more than one? Think about it.

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