David Marchese

And I just lied to your face.

It honestly pops into my head as something I feel bad about.

It was fake, yes.

All right, so now I can move forward with a clean conscience.

Okay, so your new novel, Vigil, it raised a lot of questions for me, thematic questions.

including questions about determinism, about how much anyone is sort of responsible for their own life or the decisions that they make in their life.

And I'm just curious to know your answer to that question.

You said there are sort of characters who represent two sides of that question.

Just for people who will not have yet read the book, can you explain those two characters?

When I read the book, I was, I think, more in line with the Frenchman.

I really was hungry for K.J.

Boone, who's sort of an unrepentant oil magnate.

I wanted him to get some sort of judgment to be rendered on him.

And I just wonder how you think about the subject of judgment for the real-world analogs of someone like a K.J.

Boone, someone who was actually not only directly responsible for

downplaying the climate crisis, but also exacerbating it.

What you just described, how the

engagement with literature results in these positive side effects, a little more empathy, a little bit more understanding, maybe a little more patience, a little bit more interest in other people.

It's sort of a recurring theme.

theme in interviews with you and things you've written.