MaryAlice asked Roger A. Canaff:

Did you wonder how you could turn the NYC blackout into a story, coming up with City Dark? I think the hardest part of writing novels would be the idea ~ or do you know what the story will be, then set about writing it?

Roger A. Canaff Hi, MaryAlice- thanks so much for the question. With City Dark in particular, part of what I wanted to do was to turn NYC itself into two characters. I know that sounds odd, but I wanted the story to function as a character itself in the book-- and in fact as two characters. The first is the New York City of 1977, bankrupt, struggling, and then thrust into chaos by the blackout. The second is the NYC of 2017, post 9/11. So in a sense, I built City Dark around New York City in two "personas." I wanted to take the reader through the times surrounding the characters as well as the characters' lives themselves. Beyond that, I did have the story in mind- I worked as an Assistant Attorney General myself in the same unit that Joe works in, so there was some wonderful material to choose from in terms of a mystery.

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