Virginia Tech

At least 33 people were killed today in a shooting on the Virginia Tech campus. One gunman. Nearly 60 dead or injured. Then he killed himself.

Even after writing a book about suicide and college, I don't think I'll ever understand a situation like this. For once in a long time, news shocked me.

At one point I was thinking about pulling the book while this whole thing is settled. It felt like those NRA assholes who have gun rallies in towns after shootings. (Remember Charleton Heston in Columbine the next week?)

In the book, I make references to the "sniper in a belltower" massacre in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin. I talk about people killing themselves over a girlfriend. I talk about suicide by cop and taking other people out, too. (To clarify, I adimantly oppose all such things.)

I've even been researching workplace shootings for my next novel.

Instead, the book will go on while everything with VT is sorted out. Until then, keep the college kids who did nothing but go to class in your thoughts and prayers. May the devil have fun roasting the bastard that did it.