A Q&A with the Houston Chronicle

There's an interview up today with me on the Houston Chronicle's Bookish blog. This is just a small part of an extensive Q&A I did with Mike Yawn, a professor at Sam Houston State University, and I'm hoping a longer version appears down the line. Here, he asks me a question I get frequently at readings:

MY: What about the future.  Are you shopping these books to film producers?

PD: I do have a film agent who is fairly active.  We’ve had producers approach me about “The Poacher’s Son,” but nobody who I have had a lot of confidence in.  And that’s one thing about my experience with the movie business: I want a movie that’s not going to embarrass me.

MY: Have you talked to Stephen King about that?

PD: (Laughs) Well, I am sure he’d like to go back in time and rethink some things.  One of the challenges, I think, is that the business just isn’t interested in making low-key suspense films.  They’re doing comic-book heroes, toy franchises, and those sorts of things.  I’m hoping, however, that as the books pile up, someone will look at them and say, “You know what this reminds me of?  ‘Justified,’ or one of those cable series that are so well done.  There’s a lot of smart drama that’s occurring on television, and I can see this on AMC or FX.  I’d love to see that.

I can always hope that someone in Hollywood stumbles on the series one of these days. Obviously, I am biased, but I can see it working well.

I'll be appearing in Houston with my friend and fellow chronicler of game wardens, C.J. Box, on August 6 at Murder by the Book.

C.J. Box Comes to Maine

This event has been postponed until September 29.

And I have the good fortune of reading with him. Chuck and I share the same literary agent, and I know that getting her two "game warden authors" together has been a pet project for a while. Well, she has finally pulled it off with a reading at the Blue Hill Library. Here's the listing from the Bangor Daily News:

BLUE HILL, Maine — Paul Doiron, author of the Mike Bowditch series of crime novels, and C. J. Box, the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen novels including the Joe Pickett series, will read from their new books at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30, at the Blue Hill Public Library.  Paul Doiron will read from his latest book, Trespasser, and C. J. Box will read from Back of Beyond. Both authors work feature a fictional game warden as their primary character.

Paul Doiron is the editor in chief of Down East: The Magazine of Maine, Down East Books, and DownEast.com. His first book in the Mike Bowditch series of crime novels, The Poacher’s Son, was nominated for an Edgar Award, an Anthony Award, a Barry Award, a Strand Critics Award, and a Thriller Award for Best First Novel. A native Mainer, he is a Registered Maine Guide specializing in fly fishing and outdoor recreation and lives on a trout stream in coastal Maine.

This event is co-sponsored by the Blue Hill Public Library and Blue Hill Books. Books will be available for sale and signing. For more information, call 374-5515.

Edgar Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author C.J. Box is one of the most acclaimed writers in the crime and suspense genres right now, and his work has been an inspiration for me in the creation of my own Mike Bowditch series. I am delighted to be his opening act. Welcome to Maine, Chuck!