Interview with Author Scott McCrea

 

Welcome Readers to another installment of our author interview series. Today we have the pleasure of chatting with Scott McCrea, author of The Tales of Tom Mix Series.

JMR-Welcome to the Books Delight, Scott. Tell our readers where you live, what you do for fun and what does the perfect day look like?

SM- Hello and thank you so much for this! It’s a pleasure to speak with your readers. Right now, I live in Huntington Beach, CA, but prior to that I was a lifelong resident of New York. Here’s a dirty little secret – I hated New York! Lived there almost my whole life and could not wait to get out of it. Too congested, too dirty, too smelly. No wonder I write Westerns! I spent years and years in New York, dreaming of wide-open spaces!

I do all kinds of things for fun, but I love reading. I guess all writers do. I read everything: westerns, detective fiction, thrillers, history, biography, poetry. I’m beginning to think it’s ink and not blood that flows through my veins.

There are many ways I could have a perfect day. I love to go camping and spending the day in the woods sounds ideal. But I love museums, so spending a day in an art museum would be heaven. I also love movies, so a day in front of TCM with a stiff drink would be great fun.

JMR-What’s your favorite historical time period? Why?

SM- Easy: the 19^th century! You have the West happening here in the States, the Victorian era in the UK, and perhaps the most vital intellectual and artistic moment of modern times happening on the Continent. On top of that, what a time for adventure! You could lose yourself in the American West, or exploring a world that was still largely unknown. Great books – now classics – were being written. Sign of Four. She. Huckleberry Finn. The Picture of Dorain Gray. What a time to be alive!

JMR-Who is your favorite historical figure? Why? If you could ask them one question, what would it be?

SM- I have more ‘favorite’ historical figures than I could count! I’d love to meet Conan Doyle or Oscar Wilde or Somerset Maugham or Gen. Gordon or Sir Richard Burton or Lawrence of Arabia or Wyatt Earp or Bram Stoker. But if I had to pick just one, I’d go with Buffalo Bill Cody. He was a real-life western figure, and as the frontier closed, he started Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, a traveling theatrical show that created many of the tropes we still think of when we think of Westerns. He was an expert tracker, a scout, a Pony Express rider, a businessman, a showman and writer. The whole genre – our whole myth of the American West – has its roots with Buffalo Bill. He was also a kind, gracious and open-hearted man. I’d have loved to have been his friend! He makes an appearance in my recent book, Tom Mix and the Wild West Christmas. If I had a chance, I wouldn’t ask him anything specific – I’d just let him talk!

JMR- How did you come to be a writer of historical fiction?

SM- When I was in high school, a teacher of mine said I was a displaced person in time. I’ve never forgotten that. He was so right. I don’t believe in reincarnation or past lives, but the past has always seemed more real and vital to me than the present. Certainly I understand it better!

JMR- Did you visit anyone of the places in your book? Where did you feel closest to your characters?

SM- I write two series right now, the Tales of Tom Mix and the Bradigan’s Mountain books. The Tom Mix books are westerns that take place in the final days of the West in Oklahoma and I make a point of making all of them different. Cowboy Vengeance, for example, is a grim revenge story, while Hogg Wild is a riotous comedy. The Bradigan’s Mountain books are a family saga that takes place in the mountains of Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma I write about no longer exists, though I have spent a lot of time riding, camping and learning the ways of the West and mountain men.

But the amazing thing is – I’ve never set foot in Oklahoma! Tom Mix and Bradigan’s Mountain take place in the landscape of my imagination! I spend a lot of time there.

JMR- You write Westerns; is there anything unique about this genre that sets it apart from others?

SM-Yes, I’m glad you asked that. I think, of all the genres, that there is something more honest about westerns. A good western is a morality play with the stakes pared down to bare essentials. A western connects you to a universal humanity in ways that, say, science fiction could never hope to do.

JMR- Scott, tell us about your new book,  A Mountain Man’s Revenge.

SM- My most recent book was Tom Mix and the Wild West Christmas, which may be the happiest book I’ve ever written. I had real Christmas spirit. But now that the season is over (sob!), time to get back to gritty action. Mountain Man’s Revenge will be the final book in the current Finding Bradigan’s Mountain trilogy. I’m working on the last few pages now, so keep a watch out for it in late January, early February 2024. Expect lots of action, a depiction of the trials of life in the mountains, and a touch of romance.

JMR-You are a prolific writer! What projects do you have in the pipeline?

SM- I was unusually prolific in 2023! I wrote 12 westerns and then, under different names, a thriller, a comedy and a YA novel! I hope to do another 12 westerns this year.

However, you and your readers will be the first to know that I’m publishing several thrillers in 2024. The first is a book called The Perfect Gift, about a woman criminal who balks when she gets involved in child trafficking. The other two are about an American rancher named Lucas Wheeler who gets involved, against his will, with international intrigue.

JMR- Tell our readers how to find you on social media and the web.

SM- My Web site is www.talesoftommix.com, and you can find me on Twitter @ScottMcCreaWest and under the same handle on Instagram. Feel free to follow and ask questions – I love to connect with readers.

JMR- What question were you hoping I’d ask but didn’t?

SM- Thanks for not asking where do you get your ideas! I get asked that about once a week and the honest answer is, damned if I know.

Actually, I would like to ask a question of your readers – what kind of books do you like to read? What would you like to see more of?  Do you prefer plot over character?  Romance over thrills? Moral dilemmas over adventures?

Connect with me on Twitter and let me know; I write to be read, and it’s great fun to connect with other book people!

JMR- Thank you, Scott, for stopping by. Your books look really great! Readers, I’ve included a link to Scotts’s books below. Please be sure to check them out.