for example, in your latest book, perfidia... finally, we get to it! it's an important book.because you place it around the time of the pearl harbor attack and soon after. mm—hm. and what you portray is a southern california which is in the grip of a fear, a fifth column of an enemy within. and because of that fear, corners are cut. the constitution is sort of... mm—hm. ..adapted, shall we say, to ensure that for example 100,000 japanese americans can be locked up, can be interned in camps. i just wonder whether you see a parallel today? no, i see no parallel today. let's cut right through that right now. i write my books in a state of immersion. as far as i'm concerned, franklin d roosevelt is the president of the united states. oh, but come on... no, brother, you hold on. i know he's not, but that's the world i live in. it's19li1 — there are no corollaries to any event preceding or following december 19111. that book is written in blood, and in real time. the bombs fall on pearl harbor 80 pages in. then we're through, around the clock, up until the 29th. abrogation of civil