Featured Interview With Gary Guinn
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My family has lived in the southern Ozark Mountains since the Civil War. The landscape of the Ozarks–the hardwood forests, rivers, lakes–run deep in the family bloodstream (along with the ticks and chiggers). I live in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, with my wife, Mary Ann, and our two dogs, Seamus and Peanut. We love to read, write, travel, and I brew beer (and of course, drink it). We recently bought a classic old Safari Trek RV and plan on skipping the worst of winter in the Ozarks in future years.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My fascination with books began on my eleventh birthday, when someone gave me a copy of Treasure Island. I loved that book. I still have that copy. I gave both my sons a copy on their eleventh birthdays. Like so many young people, I wrote bad poetry for many years, with friends who also wrote bad poetry, but I didn’t start seriously writing fiction until mid-career as an English professor.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love to read John Irving, Louis Nordan, Louise Erdrich, several of the Scandinavian crime writers, especially Hakan Nesser. I love reading literary fiction, and I love reading crime fiction. The ideal book for me is a beautifully written, literary crime novel. That’s probably why I like Nordic Noir so much.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, Sacrificial Lam, is set on a small college campus, where an English professor receives a death threat, which he initially ignores. Then the violence begins, and he realizes someone really does want him dead. He and his family are pushed to their limits and forced to examine their lives and values while finding out what they will do to survive. The novel was inspired by actual events early in my teaching career, when a colleague received anonymous death threats from a student extremist.
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