Page 28 - Real Style Spring 2017

aaron Cooley
aftEr ShakEn, not StirrEd and four SEatS, aaron coolEy GrEturnS with hiS third novEl, a political thrillEr with a Strong
set in modern times. I wanted it to have a Western feel and structure.”
Like Manco, Cooley holds the government accountable for their actions, or lack of actions. “After Sandy Hook there was another big gun control push,” Cooley says. “Everyone came out, all of Congress and President Obama, and said ‘We’re going to bring back the Brady Bill.’ Then two or three months later, when the bill came up for a vote, it lost, including a lot of Democrats voting against it. What the antagonists in the book are doing is how I felt, and how I know a lot of Americans felt. It’s what I wanted to do to Congress, for not
doing their job.”
Cooley himself is just as interesting as
the characters he writes. He’s a graduate of Yale who has written for both TV and the big screen, and if he had it his way he might even decide to run for of ce one day. “I watch political TV shows every night,” Cooley says enthusiastically. “I listen to only political podcasts, I read only history and political thrillers. I guess I live and breathe it, even though I live in L.A. A book like this is my way of making a political statement, trying to do more than just marching. My wife won’t let me actually run for of ce, so I think writing these political stories is as far as I get.”
The Guns of Ridgewood might be Cooley’s third novel, but he was a screenwriter rst. After a friend suggested that he attempt a novel, he nally decided to do so in 2011. “I [thought], what the hell, I’m going to write a novel,” Cooley says, and you can tell by talking with him that the results have been very gratifying.
“Even if a screenplay gets made, it’s probably read by 300 people,” Cooley says. “I counted the number of people who had read my most widely distributed screenplay. It was 60 or 70 people. A thousand times more people have read my novel. I didn’t come out here to write things that 20 people will read. I wanted to be a writer to get as many people to read my writing as possible. For me right now where I am in my career, that’s what novels allow me.”
Of course, maybe even more gratifying is having the one person read his work whose opinion might matter the most. “My mom has read all my novels,” Cooley says.
As for “Sour” Manco, The Guns of Ridgewood doesn’t mark the end of his story, but instead it’s just the beginning. “All I’ll say about the next book is that I’ve been thinking a lot about who I’m angriest at right now,” Cooley says, “and how Sour can maybe take revenge on them for me.”
anti-violEncE mESSagE. BY RodERiCK ThEdoRFF
un control is one of those optioned by two different producers, its subject controversial topics that matter would probably prevent it from ever come up every once in seeing time on the big screen. That’s when he a while when you turn decided to turn it into a novel.
on your TV. Those who The Guns of Ridgewood follows the story
argue against it claim the of Clayton “Sour” Manco, a former FBI agent right to defend themselves and those they love, who left the bureau in a cloud of mystery. He’s and those who ght for it only have to point blackmailed by Congressman Homer Blunt
to incidents like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 that saw 28 people lose their lives, including 20 children. Like most of the world, Los Angeles-based author Aaron Cooley was upset by the shooting, and he took his anger at the incident to come up with a new story.
“I originally wrote The Guns of Ridgewood as a screenplay,” Cooley says. “I wrote it the week after Sandy Hook. I was just so angry that our government has done nothing about the gun violence in this country.” Unfortunately for Cooley, however, he slowly realized that even though the script worked and had been
to come out of retirement to try and nd, and punish, those responsible for the killing of three fellow congressional representatives and their families. Manco’s character is so well de ned that you can’t help but picture an actor playing the role, and the same rang true for Cooley as he wrote him.
“When I was originally writing it I pictured a young Clint Eastwood,” Cooley says. “One of the greatest movies that I think has ever been made, with an anti-violence message, is Unforgiven. When I wrote this, I really wanted to write my Unforgiven. I wanted to write my rst Western, even though I knew it would be
28 Real Style Spring 2017
PhotoS, aaron CooLey