March 22, 2006, 7:39 a.m.
Do We Have a Prayer?
A novelist speaks.

Q&A by Kathryn Jean Lopez

There is, in fact, a civil war stemming from the war on terror.

But not the one everybody's preemptively talking about in Iraq.

It's right here in the U.S. Only we're the Islamic States of America. And it's 35 years from now.

That's the set-up for best-selling novelist Robert Ferrigno's new book, Prayer for the Assassin. NRO editor Kathryn Lopez recently talked to Ferrigno about the book — which John Miller reviews here — writing, and war.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Can you really picture a day when American men can only dream of "loud music, cold beer, and coed beaches?" Or is what you're writing about in Prayer for the Assassin all fiction?

Robert Ferrigno: I'd start with the aside that, to me, the best fiction is more true than the best non-fiction, but that's for another discussion. As to your question, yes I could conceive of a future in which American men can only dream of beer and bikinis. Social and political change doesn't always occur in a neat, linear fashion. Who could have predicted that the Bolsheviks, who by most historical accounts comprised only 10 percent of the Russian population after the revolution of 1917, would dominate the country for 75 years. There are several hundred million Catholics in Latin America. They weren't always Catholic. The transformation of the nation in Prayers for the Assassin is not the result of an exterior military takeover, but of an internal spiritual battle in which watered-down Western religions are supplanted by the dynamic fundamentalism of Islam. Unlikely? Probably, but a recent article in Der Spiegel pointed out that Islam in currently the fastest growing religion in France and Germany, not just because of demographic factors like the higher Muslim birthrate, but in terms of conversion by white Europeans, particularly college-educated females. The social scientists who conducted the survey assumed that the conversions were the result of the women having Muslim boyfriends, but follow-up interviews proved this to be wrong. The women indicated that it was precisely the strict moral code of Islam, the black and white certainty in a gray world, that appealed to them. The Record, a major newspaper in suburban New Jersey, published an article on March 11 indicating that Latinos are increasingly converting from Catholicism to Islam, with regular Hispanic outreach programs part of many mosques in the Northeast. Latinos, with their "tight-knit families, reverence for their elders, and a tendency to dote on children," find many points of contact with Muslims. I just finished a three-week cross country book tour, and had the opportunity to talk with many American Muslims who attended my signings. Many of them were African-Americans who said Muslims welcomed them in a way they had not felt before.

Lopez: Is there a political message you intended to send with your book, even if it is fiction? Would you put the map of the Islamic Republic of America on any real politician's wall?

Ferrigno: The message I intended to convey — within the context of a hopefully-entertaining thriller — is that faith matters, that our avoidance of the spiritual, or our official hostility to the spiritual, has consequences. Being told by our leaders that we are in a war for survival, and that we can help the cause by going shopping, may make economic sense, but it avoids the battlefield where I think the war is truly being fought, the spiritual battlefield. As to the map of the Islamic Republic... John McCain might put it on a wall of his den. He seems like a rare politician with a sense of humor.

Lopez: Again, while acknowledging that "Prayers" is fiction, did you learn anything about Islam while researching/writing? About this war we're in?

Ferrigno: I researched the subject for a year before starting to write, not much time at all, but I gained an appreciation for the discipline and cohesion of Islam, its potential to change lives for good or evil. It made me realize the depth of the struggle we're involved in. Our war is not against any one country or any one religion, but against a worldwide network of people using Islam as a totalitarian framework to attack Western civilization. It's impossible to bomb an enemy like this into submission; they have to be engaged and either transformed or destroyed. I can't think of a more daunting challenge for our nation, particularly given the fractious nature of liberal democracies, sound-bite politics, and gotcha journalism.

Lopez: USS Ronald Reagan becomes the OBL? Is nothing sacred?!

Ferrigno: Perfectly in keeping with the spiritual and symbolic nature of the war. This is why the Taliban destroyed the ancient Bamiyan Buddhist statues. It wasn't that the Taliban weren't art lovers; they were attacking another religion by attacking its symbol. In the book, the new regime blows the faces off the presidents on Mr. Rushmore too.

Lopez: Your story wouldn't be believable if you didn't have fingers point to the Jews, would it?

Ferrigno: Unfortunately not. The scapegoat is eternal. I was not surprised when within ten minutes after the Golden Mosque in Samarra was bombed, the Iranian leadership was blaming the Jews. So much for fiction.

Lopez: When did you decide on this general war-on-terror defeat plotline?

Ferrigno: Shortly after 9/11. I thought, if 19 zealots armed only with box cutters and a rudimentary knowledge of Microsoft Flight Simulator could crash the two tallest building in NYC (and the U.S. economy), we just might be in the fight of our national life. It's always good to consider worst-case scenarios.

Lopez: Did you have any personal-safety fears writing this very post-9/11 novel? How many times did you think "I should do another 'normal' crime novel."

Ferrigno: Yes, quite a few fears. I can assure you if I hadn't been absolutely compelled to write Prayers I would have been quite happy to write another "normal" crime book.

Lopez: Were you really once a "full-time gambler"? That's, uh, quite a gamble, isn't it?

Ferrigno: For five or six years I made my living playing poker. A very happy time of my life, even when I was wiped out and forced to work as a day laborer to restore my bankroll. That was before I was married and had children, which I consider to be an infinitely greater risk. And reward.

Lopez: How did you wind up a big-time novelist?

Ferrigno: I was a feature writer for a daily newspaper in southern California for about eight years but grew restless. Decided to take a chance, quit my job and finish the book all news people have tucked away at the back of their mind. It proved to be a good gamble.

Lopez: Are you ever confused with Lou Ferrigno?

Ferrigno: Only by Google.

Lopez: Someone obviously put some time and thought and creative talent into prayersfortheassassin.com. Is that because the web is where it's at?

Ferrigno: Absolutely. I suggested to my publisher that they make a major effort to reach out to blogs and online publications, since that's where I get most of my information. I had no idea they were going to do such an amazing job of it.

Lopez: Whom do you read?

Ferrigno: Elmore Leonard, William Gibson, Franz Kafka, Haruki Murakami, Michael Ledeen, Mark Steyn, Ralph Peters, JG Ballard, John Connolly, V. S. Naipul, Hugh Hewitt, Carl Barks, and Vince Flynn.

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