I recently visited a library reading group for a discussion of Maximum Impact, and the Q&A segment of the evening was a little different than usual. There’s always some healthy give-and-take about exactly what various characters look like (no one ever agrees with the pictures in my mind), wild guesses at my political leanings, speculation about the plot of the next book in this 3-novel series, and debates on the various real-life conspiracy theories that MI pulls together into one grand unified scenario.

And then one question threw me for a loop. Out of the blue, someone asked, “But do you really believe all this conspiracy stuff?”

The quick and easy answer is no, of course I don’t; it’s a thriller. Granted, it’s a thriller that weaves scores of real events and circumstances from late 2001 into an alternate history of the critical weeks following September 11th. And sure, a number of big, bad things it warns of in the aftermath seem to be coming true around the world today. And yes, I do believe that extraordinary individuals really do exist out there who can be a force for change in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

But do I really believe this stuff? That all this international action and intrigue represents the way the world really is? Well, to quote a recent president of my country, I guess that depends on what your definition of is is.

Case in point: In our book discussion I asked if anyone found any particular happening in the story to be implausible. One fellow replied that a certain element was a little too much for him to swallow: the part where two fully-armed U.S. warplanes had abandoned formation during a domestic training mission and flown north, under the radar, into the hands of the bad guys in Colorado. And then another reader shyly raised her hand to say she’d been living in Arizona back in 1997 when the actual (and still unexplained) events on which this plot-point was based had hit the news.

While I’m writing, I choose to believe that major events have meaning, connection, and motivation beyond their surface appearance. World leaders (public, private, and corporate) and agendized news organizations do the same thing, I’m convinced. Hundreds of thousands of lives are lost and trillions of dollars change hands in the name of these manufactured, alternate realities. I’ve bought into their stories in the past, and been seriously disillusioned with the results. So now I’m just writing my own.

Deep down I'm an optimist; I have high hopes for positive, lasting change in the coming years, for my country and the wider world. But the answer to that original question is yes, while I'm writing, I absolutely believe all this dark conspiracy stuff. As my wife will confirm, this "method" approach can make me a little quirky and off-putting at neighborhood cocktail parties. But if the result is a more believable, exciting, and immersive reading experience for thriller lovers, it's more than worth all those sidewise glances.