Andrew Vachss

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Andrew Vachss & Honey Pit Bull, courtesy of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Andrew Vachss & Honey Pit Bull, courtesy of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

Andrew Henry Vachss (born 1942) is an American crime fiction author, child protection consultant, and attorney exclusively representing children and youths.[1] He is also a founder and national advisory board member of PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children.[2]

Vachss's last name is pronounced to rhyme with "tax".[3] He is a native New Yorker.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Andrew Vachss held many front-line positions in child protection. He was a federal investigator in sexually transmitted diseases, a social-services caseworker, and a labor organizer. He served in the relief effort in Biafra,[4] entering the war zone in 1969 just before the fall of the country.[5] There he worked to find a land route to bring donated food and medical supplies across the border[6] blocked by the Nigerian government,[7] but was ultimately unsuccessful.[8] Upon his return, he directed a maximum-security prison for violent juvenile offenders.[9]

[edit] Writings

He is the author of 21 novels and two collections of short stories, as well as poetry, song lyrics, and graphic novels.[10] He has also written non-fiction works, including numerous articles and essays on child protection[11] and a book on juvenile criminology.

Vachss' books have been translated into 20 languages, and his shorter works have appeared in many publications, including Parade, Antaeus, Esquire, Playboy, and the New York Times.[12] Vachss' literary awards include the Grand Prix de Littérature Policiére, for Strega [as La Sorcière de Brooklyn]; the Falcon Award, Maltese Falcon Society of Japan, for Strega; the Deutsche Krimi Preis for Flood [as Kata]; and the Raymond Chandler Award for his body of work.

Andrew Vachss is a member of PEN and the Writers Guild of America. His autobiographical essay was added by invitation to Contemporary Authors in 2003.

[edit] Child Protection

Many Vachss novels feature the shadowy, unlicensed investigator Burke, an ex-con, career criminal, and deeply conflicted character. About his protagonist, Vachss says:

If you look at Burke closely, you'll see the prototypical abused child: hypervigilant, distrustful. He's so committed to his family of choice — not his DNA-biological family, which tortured him, or the state which raised him, but the family that he chose — that homicide is a natural consequence of injuring any of that family. He's not a hit man. But he shares the same religion I do, which is revenge.

– "Andrew Vachss," Horror Online, April 1999.

Vachss coined the phrase "Children of the Secret," which refers to abused children, of whatever age, who were victimized without ever experiencing justice, much less love and protection.[13] In the Burke novels, some of these Children of the Secret have banded together as adults into what Vachss calls a "family of choice." Their connection is not biological, and their bond goes well beyond mere loyalty. Most are career criminals; none allows the law to come before their duty to their family.

[edit] Dogs

Another important theme that pervades Vachss' work is his love of dogs, particularly dogs of breeds considered to be "dangerous," such as Doberman pinschers, rottweilers, and especially pit bulls.[14] Throughout his fiction and non-fiction,[15] Vachss asserts that with dogs, just as with humans, "you get what you raise".

"There's a very specific formula for creating a monster," Vachss says. "It starts with chronic, unrelenting abuse. There's got to be societal notification and then passing on. The child eventually believes that what's being done is societally sanctioned. And after a while, empathy -- which we have to learn, we're not born with it -- cracks and dies. He feels only his own pain. There's your predatory sociopath." That's why Vachss posed for a recent publicity photo cradling his pit bull puppy. "You know what pit bulls are capable of, right?" he asks, referring to the animal's notorious killer reputation. "But they're also capable of being the most wonderful, sweet pets in the world, depending on how you raise them. That's all our children."

– "Unleashing the Criminal Mind", San Francisco Examiner, July 12, 1990.

He is a passionate advocate against animal abuse such as pitbull-fighting, and against breed-specific legislative bans. [16] With fellow crime writer James Colbert, Vachss has trained dogs to serve as therapy dogs for abused children. The dogs have a calming effect on traumatized children. Vachss notes that using these particular breeds further increases the victims' feelings of security; their "dangerous" appearance, in combination with the extensive therapy training, makes them excellent protection against human threats.[17] During her time as chief prosecutor, Alice Vachss regularly brought one such trained dog, Sheba, to work with abused children being interviewed at the Special Victims Bureau.[18]

[edit] Alice Vachss

Vachss' wife, Alice, was a sex crimes prosecutor, and later became Chief of the Special Victims Bureau in Queens, NY. She is the author of the non-fiction book Sex Crimes: Ten Years on the Front Lines Prosecuting Rapists and Confronting Their Collaborators, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.[19]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] The Burke series

  1. Flood (1985)
  2. Strega (1987)
  3. Blue Belle (1988)
  4. Hard Candy (1989)
  5. Blossom (1990)
  6. Sacrifice (1991)
  7. Down in the Zero (1994)
  8. Footsteps of the Hawk (1995)
  9. False Allegations (1996)
  10. Safe House (1998)
  11. Choice of Evil (1999)
  12. Dead and Gone (2000)
  13. Pain Management (2001)
  14. Only Child (2002)
  15. Down Here (2004)
  16. Mask Market (2006)
  17. Terminal (2007)

[edit] Other novels

  1. A Bomb Built in Hell (1973)
  2. Shella (1993)
  3. Batman: The Ultimate Evil (1995)
  4. The Getaway Man (2003)
  5. Two Trains Running (2005)

[edit] Short story collections

  1. Born Bad (1994)
  2. Everybody Pays (1999)
  3. Proving It (2001) Audiobook collection.
  4. Dog Stories Online collection.

[edit] Graphic novels and series

  1. Hard Looks (1992-93) Ten-volume series.
  2. Batman: The Ultimate Evil (1995) Two-volume graphic novel.
  3. Cross (1995) Seven-volume series with James Colbert.
  4. Predator: Race War (1993) Five-volume series; (1995) Single-volume graphic novel, collection of 1993 series.
  5. Alamaailma (1997) Finnish graphic novel, illustrating two of the "Underground" short stories from Born Bad.
  6. Hard Looks (1996, 2002) Single-volume trade paperback.
  7. Another Chance To Get It Right: A Children's Book for Adults (1993, 1995) (Reprinted with additional material, 2003.)

[edit] Plays

  1. Placebo (in Antaeus, 1991)
  2. Warlord (in Born Bad, 1994)
  3. Replay (in Born Bad, 1994)

[edit] Non-fiction

  1. The Life-Style Violent Juvenile: The Secure Treatment Approach (Lexington, 1979)
  2. The Child Abuse-Delinquency Connection — A Lawyer's View (Lexington, 1989)
  3. Articles in PARADE Magazine (1985-2006)
  4. Other Articles and Essays (1985-2006)

[edit] Honors and Awards

  • A/V Peer Review (highest rating) by Martindale-Hubbell
  • LL.D. (Hon.) Case Western Reserve University, 2004
  • First Annual Harvey R. Houck Award (Justice for Children) 2003
  • First Annual Illuminations Award (St. Vincent's Center National Child Abuse Prevention Program) 2003
  • John Hay Whitney Foundation Fellow, 1976
  • Industrial Areas Foundation Training Institute Fellow, 1970
  • Who's Who in America

[edit] References

  1. ^ Author's listing, Random House
  2. ^ National Association to Protect Children
  3. ^ Pronunciation of "Vachss"
  4. ^ Andrew Vachss Does Not Paint Pretty Pictures, Reuters, November 9, 2000
  5. ^ Andrew Vachss: Beating the Devil, Gallery Magazine, April, 2000
  6. ^ Andrew Vachss: Hot Biafra Nights, Mumblage, September, 2000.
  7. ^ On This Day: 30 June 1969, BBC News
  8. ^ Andrew Vachss, Contemporary Authors, 2003
  9. ^ Andrew Vachss, Contemporary Authors, 2003
  10. ^ Index of author's written works
  11. ^ Articles and essays on child protection
  12. ^ Magazines
  13. ^ "Children of the Secret"
  14. ^ Dogs
  15. ^ Dog stories
  16. ^ Breed-specific legislation
  17. ^ Training therapy dogs
  18. ^ Sheba, therapy dog
  19. ^ Alice Vachss website

[edit] See also

[edit] External links