About the Author
Cain Arrington
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(From an interview, May 2009)
Interviewer: Are you surprised at the response to RACE?
Cain: I always knew this book would create a stir, so I suppose not. I’ve always had a great feeling about RACE.
Q. Can you explain?
A. Well, the title causes people to take a closer look. I mean…RACE…the perfect title at the perfect time. Once they see the subject matter they get interested…a sort of unsatisfied curiosity. We all have those events in history where we have this unsettled feeling that there is more to the story…you know…JFK…Martin Luther King Jr.…those sorts of events.
Q. And then there’s the “Trial of the Century.”
A. Exactly.
Q. This is supposed to be an interview about Cain Arrington the author. But first I want to ask another question about the book. I found it startling; is that a typical response?
A. Maybe startling is not the exact word, but there is no denying that RACE does hit you over the head.
Q. It hit me. What’s been your favorite response to the book?
A. I let someone read an early version and she said, “I felt like I was reading something I shouldn’t be reading.”
Q. I take it you liked her comment.
A. It’s perfect. I knew at that moment that I had something wonderful. I mean, who doesn’t like reading something they shouldn’t be reading? Well, except someone’s diary…that’s just wrong.
Q. Why the name Cain?
A. My publisher came up with the name. I think God gave it to her and she gave it to me; it was divine intervention.
Q. Are you serious?
A. Of course. Everything on earth is open to divine intervention. The problem is that we nearly always thwart the natural flow of things. We allow ourselves to become slaves to petty, meaningless, energy draining tasks.
Q. So…do you like the name Cain?
A. I like the way it looks and the way it sounds. Cain Arrington…it has balance and rhythm.
Q. Any reservations about the negative connotation of Cain?
A. Oh yeah. I loved the sound of it right away, but when I got home I started feeling nervous and tentative. I called Dianne Jenkins at D. Jenkins the next day and told her I was having second thoughts. But after careful study, I concluded that it was Dianne Jenkins’ genius and followed my instinct. As you may know, God forgave Cain. Cain committed the first murder in the Bible, but God not only forgave Cain, he said that anyone who harmed Cain would suffer sevenfold. If God can forgive Cain, he can forgive you, too. In fact, God wants to forgive you, all you need to do is ask. I think that’s probably the lesson: He doesn’t forgive you unless you ask.
Q. I think the name fits you.
A. Is that a good thing?
Q. I meant it as a good thing. Let’s just say that it’s edgy.
A. Great! Now I know I love it; my first interviewer said it’s edgy!
Q. What’s your background?
A. Marketing for a living, music for a passion.
Q. Not writing?
A. That’s relatively new.
Q. With this being your first book, what was the path that led you here?
A. I submitted an article to a national magazine. A few weeks later I was at a trade show and overheard the magazine’s publisher telling someone, “He can write.” That’s all I needed to know. I guess I needed to hear it from someone I respected and from someone who went out of his way to say it to someone else. That was powerful.
Q. You don’t strike me as an insecure person. Weren’t you confident as a writer?
A. Not until that moment.
Q. Why not?
A. I don’t think that’s so unusual. Fear is normal in a new endeavor. It’s human nature to be scared to death about everything; that’s why we get caught up in stupid jobs and boring lives.
Q. So there’s a security in routine.
A. Yes. And security feels good…until you get older and realize that what was once safe and secure is now merely predictable and boring. Plus, as you get older, time just moves so fast that suddenly you realize you should have taken a few more risks.
Q. Do you wish you had taken more risks earlier in life?
A. I never look back. I am where I am precisely because I DID make a few mistakes along the way—and they were all learning experiences. I’d always suggest for young people to take risks. Just be clean and clear headed when making decisions, zero alcohol and zero drugs. Then, go for it.
Q. What makes you feel secure?
A. (pauses) Love. Love is secure. I’m not sure about anything else being too secure.
Q. What about when love isn’t secure?
A. When would that be?
Q. You know, when you thought someone loved you?
A. That’s really a different love. I was talking about the giving of love, not the absorbing of love. Giving love makes me feel secure…like I’m part of something bigger and better than myself.
Q. What do you do in your spare time?
A. I have very little spare time. I work 55 hours per week and raise my daughter on my own. In my spare time I do laundry. In the very early morning I write and about three nights each week I play sax. Hopefully someday that’s all I’ll do.
Q. What type of music do you play?
A. Smooth jazz and hard rock.
Q. Single?
A. Formerly married…breast cancer.
Q. So sorry. When was that?
A. 2002.
Q. How did that affect you?
A. It kicked my ass.
Q. Want to expound on it any?
A. Not really.
Q. Your main character in the book lost his wife to breast cancer. Care to discuss that?
A. My heart goes out to anyone who has lost someone they loved. It’s a reality check and it gets to the root of why we are here, which I believe is this: We are not here to accumulate things…we are not even here to raise a family. We aren’t in this world to accomplish anything except to figure out the true reason why we are here and then to act on it.
Q. How does someone determine the true reason they are here?
A. There is really only one way: Connect with God and ask Him. Your ultimate path in life is probably not the path you would choose for yourself, but it is the only path that will give you peace.
Q. Is this your path? Writing, I mean.
A. It is.
Q. Do you think God had anything to do with this?
A. Let me answer this way. When I started doing my research for RACE in 2003, I never, ever expected it to end up as it did. The title RACE came from a scene I imagined at the end of the book where two people were trying to get somewhere first. I never imagined that anything else would surface to highlight different angles using the word race. Now, here it is ready to publish and everything is ‘race this’ and ‘race that.’ It’s like the entire world’s news media are promoting my book.
Q. What do you want people to get from RACE?
A. The book is my statement about what life is all about. People will buy RACE thinking it’s about race relations, auto racing, the Trial of the Century, all sorts of things. That’s fine with me because it’s true that RACE is about all of those things. But the message in RACE encompasses more than the concrete definitions of the word.
Q. It is definitely not at all what I thought it would be about. It is actually more about what we were just talking about…love. It’s really a book about love.
A. You just made my day.
Interviewer: Any final thoughts?
Cain: Just one: Life, Love, Fun…Race to get it done!
(Interview ends)
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Interviewer: I do have one personal question for you: Who exactly were the “ten people?” I can only come up with nine.
Cain: Well, let’s add them up. First, there was…
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