Skip to main contentYou really should read: Heartsick
Yes, former Oregonian reporter Chelsea Cain's NYT best-sellers are the literary equivalent of blood-soaked cotton candy. But her Heartsick trilogy's sexy killing machine—the scalpel-wielding, heart-on-chest-carving ice queen Gretchen Lowell—is truly the creepiest psychologist on the book scene since Hannibal Lecter left his office. And her hunting ground is Portland. 1 pm Sunday, Oct. 11. Columbia Sportswear Stage.
What's your personal writing ritual?
A food-caked MacBook Pro, lots of coffee and/or red wine. And yes, maybe a candle. One of the scented ones. (Why do I feel like you've caught me masturbating?)
What are your favorite themes to write about (or that you're most guilty of rehashing)?
Sex and violence.
The most beautiful word in the English language is: Hershey's.
What authors made you want to pick up a pen in the first place, and why?
Carolyn Keene and Franklyn W. Dixon (authors of the Nancy Drew books and The Hardy Boys books, respectively), neither of whom were real people, which means my entire life's work has been based on a lie.
Fight Club time: If you could fight one author (or critic), who would it be and why?
Zadie Smith, because after we fought each other, we would totally hang out and be friends. I would even let her win. So that she'd like me.
Name a book you think is highly overrated. Be honest.
The New Testament.
Dream project:
BBC America asks me to adapt Heartsick for a television series starring Robson Green. When it airs, everyone in "Portland" has British accents. The Queen likes it, and invites me to visit her at Buckingham Palace.
Most recent nightmare:
Some ex-coworkers came over to my house and we were having a meeting on the porch when they suddenly picked up the table we were sitting at and carried to the curb strip and started eating lunch, complaining the whole time about how loud the street traffic was, which was total bullshit. I mean, what did they expect?
Your cure for writer's block:
I write the dialogue of a scene first, and flesh it out from there. That way I have a draft, and can build on it. It was a huge breakthrough when I figured this out. I was very pleased with myself.
Pessimistic question: Will you keep writing even after people stop reading?
Sure. I wrote before they started. My basement is full of unread manuscripts. The whole thing is much less stressful without the readers.
Cautiously optimistic question: Obama? Discuss.
Obama makes everything better. My 4-year-old tears his picture out of magazines, like he's Andy Gibb or something.
Share one thing you've had to change in your every day life thanks to our current recession.
I pick up the tab more.
Please paste a short paragraph from a story you're currently working on:
"Maybe I should have taken more precautions, with a murderer on the loose. Asked someone to walk me home. It just didn't occur to me. The woman they'd found cut in half in her car up the street? It was sad and fucked up and everything, but it had nothing to do with me. She'd only been in a few times. I hardly knew her. I sound like an asshole. I'm not. I'm a vegetarian. I went to the candlelight vigil. I even sang."
WWeek 2015