Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Killings by Crazed Fans

The killing of pop singer Christina Grimmie by a crazed fan outside a concert venue in Orlando, Florida in June 2016 is eerily and disturbingly similar to the tragic death of the young woman in my new novel, ELORA, a Goddess. It reminded me of the murder of John Lennon. Why does this type of homicide continue to happen with such frequency in American society? What is it about the culture that pushes the unbalanced to commit such horrific acts of violence? I don't have any answers, but I have a hunch that it has something to do with the overhyped media attention given to these stars. Some of their fans who are on the borderline of sanity become obsessed. Consider the number of movie stars who are stalked. What happens in the mind of a stalker that turns him into a hunter and then a killer? I've tried to address this mental condition in the novel with the portrayal of Willie Switzer.