Craig Johnson - Interviewed About Longmire, Westerns and Writing

 Westerns may be evidence of my snobbishness. Romance is another. I read Shane in Seventh Grade. After that, I read a Louis L'Amour or two; The Virginian; and A.B. Guthrie's The Genuine Article and Wild Pitch. (Until looking for links today, I did not know there were three more books in the series; another set of reading I would wish there was time to do). In prison, I read The Ox-bow Incident. I think that accounts for all the Westerns I have read.

However, I got hooked on the Longmire books by Craig Johnson thanks to T2 touting the TV series. The writing is good, solid prose, that conveys a place and a people. It is those last two that got me hooked. He does what Rex Stout did with Nero Wolfe - create a milieu, a cast, and engages with some serious topics (something a.B. Guthrie also accomplished.). So, my approach to Johnson's work was as a crime novel, not a Western. After listening to the following, a change may come in my thinking.

Anyway, good advice for writers, and news for Longmire fans.

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