The Paths of VR McCoy
By Jacqueline Trescott
We, as American readers, have enjoyed a long line of gifted writers who find new directions. And what is exciting is when a writer examines old genres and takes the reader on unexpected journeys.
As a reader who searches for new voices, especially those that take the African American experience and give you fictional wallops that you hadn't read, or thought about, I am always wishing for something more. You can settle down with a lauded writer, like Toni Morrison and Walter Mosley, and look for the literary superlatives and character surprises. But discovery of a writer who dares to try unusual storylines and presents a literary package that sings is rare indeed.
Let me introduce you to VR McCoy, who is presenting supernatural thrillers and crime thrillers, with twists that are not only the plot but the cultural innards of his work. McCoy grew up in Washington, D.C., which has been home, sometimes temporarily, to many superb authors. He attended Archbishop Carroll High School, the school of the highly popular Alex Cross/ James Patterson novels. Lastly, McCoy attended Howard University, the famed college where many of the leaders of Black Literature studied and taught. Just a few included novelist Zora Neale Hurston, poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet May Miller, novelist Toni Morrison, writer Amiri Baraka, poet Sterling Brown, poet Lucille Clifton, author and playwright Pearl Cleage, playwright and actor Ossie Davis and novelist Valerie Wilson Wesley.
Their strong tradition of placing African American characters in central roles certainly influenced his decision to put a complex black man at the center of his work. But he has gone further blending cultural identity, history, science fiction, and Afro-centrism into his work. This literary gumbo is sometimes called speculative fiction and is at the heart of a movement labeled and praised as Black Speculative Arts. Nothing is simplistic about the current school of black writers.
It's important to mention his literary forefathers and foremothers, those pioneers in science fiction and mystery. McCoy is heir to the work of Samuel R. Delany, Octavia Butler, Walter Mosley, and a lively group of younger voices, N.K. Jemisin and Nalo Hopkinson. Their work has gone way beyond dedicated African American readers to be acknowledged as must-read among mystery and science fiction devotees. McCoy counts himself among the readers who look for broad and excellent action, including Tom Clancy, Steven King, as well as Patterson and Mosley.
In a tumulous time in publishing, McCoy definitely deserves a space in the conversation about writing as social media takes over the promotion machines of legacy publishers and the methods of publishing change almost weekly. So he not only writes and thinks differently but has presented his own work through newer channels.
For the public, McCoy has created the Native Knights Collection. The first was "Shaman-The Awakening," which was a domestic and international best-seller. Here McCoy introduced us to Christian Sands, an FBI agent. Naturally Sands is tracking down a serial killer but his thought process in enabled by his ability to dreamscape. Is there truth in his dreams? Deep into this story rest the values of Native American culture. That understanding in the hands of McCoy enriches the story's action. Are those the answers in the beliefs of the Navajo Nation?
The second was "The Merchant," another domestic best-seller, set in New Orleans. The location is enough to reflect comfortably McCoy's love of history and the spirits even more interesting than the cast of characters. But J. Icarus is one to remember, as he has lived several lives and comes back in the 1920s to witness the city's growth and the development of jazz. McCoy knows how to mix up the supernatural, the unique population and the fun always present in New Orleans.
The latest is "Shaman-The Dawn's People," arriving soon on the many selling platforms. McCoy brings back Christian Sands, the FBI agent trying to put his life together but called back to solve another mystery. Sands, and McCoy, take a real sensibility about Native American beliefs into another compact detective story.
What McCoy is saying is "let's think and write differently," and we should all be grateful he has a prime imagination and skill to take a chance and bring us along on a daring journey