Dear MC Cormie

Dear Cormac McCarthy,

I want to start off by congratulating you on the great name. Was it fun to have in grade school?

But down to business. I just finished one of your books, The Road. Cormac, I gotta say, I really loved it. Well done sir. I do have some questions though. I know you're a busy guy, but I'd appreciate some answers.

I'm curious, Cormac. What was your inspiration for this book? Were you trying to send your readers a message about how we need to change our society? Or were you just writing? Now, I hate to assume Cormie, but I think you were trying to warn us. So I guess what I'm really wondering is what happened in your life, what have you witnessed, that has led you to create such a chilling account of a realistic post-apocalyptic chaos. If you could just shoot me a letter back with this explanation, that'd be great.

Here's another one for ya. Do you have something against women? I know that in many of your books you don't shed a nice light on them, and sometimes you barely shed a light at all. For instance, in The Road there are almost no feminine influences. We are briefly introduced to the mother, who leaves her family for death. This didn't effect my enjoyment of the book, I'm not asking you to insert more females characters or to make them a more vital component of the plot. Cormie, I'm just curious if you've had a bad experience, and if you have, I'm sorry. We're really not all that bad.

MC Cormie (can I call you that?), last question. Do you teach writing workshops? I really dig the poetic style you used when writing The Road and I'd like to try it out, hopefully with your help.

Your curious reader,
Hannah