September/Awards and Such, by Craig Johnson

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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 for 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. Book store 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..."

Thank you.

It's a semi-busy month:

Barnes & Noble reception in Cheyenne, WY on Friday, September 18^th at 6:00pm

The Wyoming Festival of the Book, Cheyenne, WY, Saturday, September 19^th in conversation with my good friend Margaret Coel from 10:30-12:00

Barnes & Noble, Exton, PA, Wednesday, September 23 at 6:30pm

Chester County Books & Music, Westchester, PA, Thursday, September 24^th at 7:00pm with Tim Meleeny.

The National Book Festival, On the Mall, Washington DC, Saturday, September 26^th: 11-11:30, Presentation; 1:30-2:30, Signing; 3:30=4:00, Pavillion of the States, Wyoming

- Craig Johnson

Craig Johnson, The Dark Horse, Walt Longmire, Penguin Books