James Reasoner's Bookshelf

This shot is looking along some of the shelves in my office upstairs over
our garage. I have eight sets of those metal shelves back to back with
paperbacks double-stacked on them and hardbacks and trade paperbacks stacked
on top.  There's another set of metal shelves off to one side that's
double-stacked with hardbacks and trade paperbacks and some wooden shelves
along one wall where some of my pulps are. The rest of the pulps are in
boxes, as are my comic books. There's also a set of wooden shelves with
research books in them next to my computer. Somewhere in all of that there's
also room for a recliner that I use for, uh, thinking. Yeah, that's my story

 

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What books are on your nightstand?

No books on my nightstand because I don't read in bed, but on the table next
to my recliner in the living room are a paperback copy of STRIKE OF THE
MOUNTAIN MAN by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone, which I'm currently
reading, and my Kindle, where John Hegenberger's CROSS EXAMINATIONS and
Peter Brandvold's ONCE MORE INTO THE BREECH are at the top of the digital
stack.



Who is your all-time favorite novelist?

All-time favorite novelist is really tough. If I have to pick one...Dashiell
Hammett. Broaden that out to all-time favorite writer (because he wrote even
fewer novels than Hammett) and the answer is Robert E. Howard.

What book on your shelves might surprise us?

Book on my shelves that might be a surprise...also tough because people who
know me know that I read anything and everything. Maybe some romance novel
by Nora Roberts or Marsha Canham.

Who is your favorite fictional character?

Favorite fictional character...Conan the Cimmerian. With Benjamin J. Grimm a
close second.

What book do you return to?

 Book I return to...THE SUN ALSO RISES. I've read the whole thing four or
five times and assorted scenes many times. And I've ripped off--I mean, paid
homage to--the ending on numerous occasions. But the piece of fiction I
really return to is Irwin Shaw's short story "Main Currents of American
Thought", which I reread every year or two.

Well, I've managed to weasel out of a definitive answer on almost
everything, haven't I?

A lifelong Texan, James Reasoner has been a professional writer for nearly forty years.  In that time, he has authored several hundred novels and short stories in numerous genres. Writing under his own name and various pseudonyms, his novels have garnered praise from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as appearing on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. Recently, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Western Fictioneers.  He lives in a small town in Texas with his wife, award-winning fellow author Livia J. Washburn. His blog can be found at http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com .


Megan interviews me on THE LIFE SENTENCE.  
And here I am again on MICHIGANDER MONDAY.