All right, there are a few awards I figured I’d never get, and I got both of them this year for Another Man’s Moccasins—the Western Writer’s of America Spur Award and the other is the Mountains & Plains Independent Bookseller’s Association Novel of the Year.
The MPIBA fall meet back in 2004 was the first event I ever attended, I mean the first, and I learned a lot—namely, how to behave like an author or at least pretend.
Viking/Penguin had been kind enough to send a couple of cases of The Cold Dish, the first in my Sheriff Walt Longmire series, to the event. Basically, I was supposed to hand out advance reader copies of a book that wasn’t going to be available till January and wondered what that was all about… Like I said, I had a lot to learn.
Booksellers were kind, taking a novel from some cowboy who looked more like he should have his hind end on a horse rather than espousing on literature. They asked me questions for which I was sorely unprepared, outrageous questions like, "What’s the book about?" I’d stand there for a few long seconds thinking about a novel I’d been formulating for the last decade and with that sum of collective knowledge, say, "It’s about a sheriff who…"
Suddenly a hand would rest on my shoulder and the patient voice of Eric Boss, ace sales-rep for Penguin USA would intone, "It’s a character-driven mystery, literary in nature…" He would go on from there. By the time the day was over, booksellers would ask what the novel was about, and I would dutifully and proudly proclaim, "It’s a character-driven mystery, literary in nature…"
I learned a lot at my first MPIBA conference, but the most important thing I learned was that I liked talking to readers and book store owners about books, especially my books. It was a revelation, and one I’ve continued to enjoy. Bookstore owners would take the novels, and I’d sign them and ask them where their store was. They’d demure and assure me that I wouldn’t know the location of places like Wheatland, Wyoming. Whereupon I would assure them that not only did I, but that the Brown Derby Café (now closed) is a great place for a burger.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have had numerous successes with my books and am fortunate enough to be in a geographic area that made it all possible, all those book sellers that said to their customers about an unknown author’s series, "It’s a character-driven mystery, literary in nature…"
Craig will be signing copies of his new book in Cheyenne this month. Here are the details:
Barnes & Noble reception in Cheyenne on Friday, September 18, 6 p.m.
The Wyoming Festival of the Book, Cheyenne, Saturday, September 19 -- in conversation with my good friend Margaret Coel from 10:30 a.m.-noon. Location: Lion's Park. This event is free and open to the public.
