Scott Graham – Murder Mayhem & Mysticism

Scott Graham’s National Park mysteries combine murder, mayhem and mysticism in spectacular landscapes while embracing a keen awareness of environmental and social justice issues - a heady brew that’s winning him a growing audience. Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and in today’s Binge Reading podcast Scott talks about why he chose to set his five book series around an archaeologist sleuth Chuck and his Latina wife Janelle. Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode: An exciting new field of environmental fictionThe long road to publicationAn archaeologist sleuth leads the wayLiving in the tri-cultural South WestRocky Mountain writersBeing the 'luckiest writer on the planet' Where to find Scott Graham:  Website: http://scottfranklingraham.com/ Facebook: @scottgrahammysteryseries  Twitter: @sgrahamauthor What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions. Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Scott. Hello Scott, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us. Scott Graham: Hi Jenny, I'm happy to be here. Scott Graham - Author Entertainment-focused environmental mysteries Jenny Wheeler: You made a reputation for yourself as a journalist and a nonfiction writer before you started on the fiction. I'm just interested on what made you switch to fiction and was there something that like a Once Upon A Time moment where you felt that urge to change to writing fiction? Long road to publication Scott Graham:  Well, the truth is, I was a failed a fiction writer for a long time before I was finally a successful, published fiction author.   I've had the dream of being a fictional storyteller pretty much my entire adult life. And I've also enjoyed the writing process my entire life as well. I could make a living as a journalist, as a business writer, and I was able to then publish some nonfiction books. I was always getting up early in the morning and doing some fiction writing just for myself because I loved that idea of being a storyteller so much. It took me, probably like many fiction authors, four or five manuscripts that didn't go anywhere. That came close, came closer and closer before I got what I feel like I'm good enough to find a true publisher and get rolling with my actual published fiction. Canyon Sacrifice #1 Scott Graham National Park series The National Park series Jenny Wheeler: That's fantastic. So you've now got five books in your National Park series and these starring an archeologist called Chuck Bender and his Latina paramedic wife Janelle.  What made you decide on that theme and setting? Scott Graham: I'm from a small town that's named Durango in the far Southwest corner of Colorado in the Southwestern United States, and that area is a hotbed of archeological discovery and old civilizations that are around here. I was raised here in Durango. I'm familiar with all the archeological discoveries that have been made here and throughout the Southwest of the United States. And I'm fascinated by it, to be honest. I thought readers are probably going to be fascinated by that as well. I just built that in as one of the themes or the key aspects of the series; that there is ...