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Stephen White is the New York Times bestselling author of 20 novels featuring Boulder, Colorado clinical psychologist Alan Gregory. This week, Dutton is releasing Compound Fractures, the final book in the popular series that began with 1991’s Privileged Information. Here at Field Notes, we are sad to see one of our favorite fictional characters reach the end of his journey, but we are also excited because Field Notes —the Colorado “County Fair Edition” and specifically a missing yellow Field Notes Memo Book— plays a critical role in the mystery at the heart of Compound Fractures.
We asked Kevin Guilfoile, novelist and author of the first Field Notes Brand book, A Drive into the Gap, to chat with Stephen about his book and Field Notes.
KG: First of all, I thought it was a wonderful end to the long arc of the series. For me, the thing that has always made each of your novels a special event is that the characters have changed so much over the course of 20 books. Unlike many series, where time is pretty much an illusion and the characters reset at the start of each story, in your novels people marry and split up, children are born and grow older, villains are vanquished only to reappear, beloved characters die, often in the most shocking ways. Was that one of the reasons you decided to end it? That this long story arc seemed to be at a natural end?
SW: Thank you. The decision to end the series was less thoughtful than it was visceral. The time seemed right, and the opportunity to end the series of my volition was available editorially and contractually. I wasn’t confident that the chance to conclude the series, rather than to have it end by disinterest or circumstance, would always be in my hands.
KG:In this book it is revealed that one of the characters has been using Field Notes Memo Books in a very specific way (red for work, blue for home), and the story actually turns on the knowledge of what might be written in a particular yellow Field Notes book. Do you use Field Notes in a similar way? Do you use them to keep notes for your novels?
SW: The Field Notes inclusion was happenstance. As I was writing the story, I arrived at a plot juncture that left me looking for a narrative device that would allow for some necessary exposition and also permit a level of acceptable secrecy, not only between characters, but also between the narrator and the reader. One day, I was using my own Field Notes in the car (mine is the “County Fair” Colorado edition, and no, not while I was driving) to write down something or other that I was otherwise doomed to forget, and I had an “of course, why not?” moment. Putting a Field Notes notebook in Lauren’s hands would provide a perfect solution to my storytelling dilemma. From my perspective, the fact that the narrative device wasn’t digital was an added bonus in a storytelling environment that is increasingly dependent on reflecting the ubiquity of digital memory. Personally? I am an unreliable note-taker, but I’m getting better at acknowledging that my memory is far from perfect. I tend to write down about half (that’s generous) of what I should write down. Most of what I jot goes into Field Notes; the rest, sadly, is often lost to decay. Field Notes are a perfect tool – simple, durable, and lean – for those of us with less-than-perfect vision, poor phone typing skills, and a propensity to doodle.
KG: You have frequently referenced real-life events and crimes in your books. The shadow of Boulder's most famous murder victim, JonBenet Ramsey, can be seen on the pages of several Alan Gregory novels. In COMPOUND FRACTURES, the characters find new evidence related to a suspicious death that occurred in Boulder back on September 11, 2001. Do you think it has been helpful from a storytelling standpoint to place these real-life mileposts in your books?
SW: I think that all contemporary storytellers are faced with a decision about how, and whether, to ground their narratives to the real world calendar. I decided long ago that I would allude to actual events without necessarily locking myself to them. I find that current events are often the creative inspiration for major themes in my books, so the decision to reflect iconic events has always felt right to me. The choice in Compound Fractures to utilize a side-story of 9/11 had almost nothing to do with wanting to supplement the story of the day’s tragic events. Instead, as a storyteller, I wanted to explore a side effect of 9/11 that has always intrigued me – the fact that thousands of air travelers were forced to spend hours and days in random cities in unpredictable circumstances when airports were closed and flights were forced to land at the nearest acceptable location. I continue to imagine there are incredible stories hidden in those interruption interludes, not only in the cities where the travelers arrived, but also in the original destinations where they did not. I play with one of those interludes in this book.
KG: Finally, I don't like that there are no more Alan Gregory novels left for me to read, but I felt very satisfied when I turned the last page of COMPOUND FRACTURES. Most series don't end, they just stop. Or else they go on and on with other authors extending the life of the protagonist beyond the life of the original author. Your characters have always felt very real to me, and they seem even more so now that they have something like closure. I don't really have a question here. I just wanted to say thank you.
Thank you. You are most welcome. As with everything else involved in this long process, the end of the series has proven to be a satisfying collaboration for me. Many readers are lamenting the end. Others are offering their gratitude for the series. It’s easy to be gracious about it all, the positive and the negative.
For me, the sense of gratitude I am experiencing is profound. I feel such thanks to the readers who have allowed me this long journey, have forgiven me my flaws, have permitted me the idiosyncrasies of my storytelling style, and have happily filled in the blanks that I have intentionally left for their creative filling.
So... what does Alan look like, anyway?