Fascism in my prose…

“The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.”—Tom Clancy.

Said in another way, a novel should hold up a mirror to the real world, showing its negatives as well as its positives. Fascism is still part of our reality, maybe more so now than ever before. Shouldn’t it be considered in our fiction?

I know many readers, especially those who read mystery and thriller novels, don’t like to see politics or political violence in fiction beyond the good-vs.-bad trivial plots. The...