Q: Why is my paperback copy of MONTANA 1948 different from my friend's?
LW: The paperback rights to MONTANA 1948 recently reverted to my original publisher, Milkweed Editions, and they have published a new edition which has a different cover but exactly the same content as the older Washington Square edition.
Q: Is MONTANA 1948 a true story or based on actual events?
LW: No, the plot and characters in MONTANA 1948 are fictional. Like many writers, I did take a detail here and there from my own life (my father and grandfather were both sheriffs, but before I was born), however the work is a product of my imagination.
Q: In MONTANA 1948, JUSTICE, and WHITE CROSSES you use the same location--Mercer County and the town of Bentrock, Montana. Is this a real place?
LW: Bentrock is a town that exists only in my imagination. I grew up in North Dakota and had family in Montana, so Bentrock resembles the small towns on the prairie that I visited (and lived in) as a child.
Q: Like David in MONTANA 1948, are you an only child?
LW: Nope, I have two younger sisters.
******Spoiler alert******
Q: How did Frank kill Marie Little Soldier in MONTANA 1948?
LW: I imagined that he killed her with some kind of lethal injection.
Q: Why did Frank kill himself?
LW: Well, this is a tough one for me. You might notice that Frank is a character whose mind I never got into, not in MONTANA 1948 obviously, but not in JUSTICE (the prequel) either. I imagined that Frank was looking to get out of a bad situation, to save himself the humiliation and shame that could come from a public trial or revelation of the accusations against him (even if it's likely that he wouldn't have been convicted). By killing himself--escaping, so to speak--he could also spare the family and its reputation. Or so he thought. I have characterized Frank's suicide as both a selfish and a selfless act.
Q: Why did you decide to write MONTANA 1948 from a child's point of view.
LW: I didn't. Not exactly. I wrote from the point of view of a man in his 50's who is looking back on a time from his childhood. That technique was a happy discovery in that it gave me a great deal of flexibility; I could offer the child's take on things, yet step back and offer the adult's commentary.
Q: Will there ever be a movie based on MONTANA 1948?
LW: The movie rights to MONTANA 1948 have been sold. I'm not sure if my experience is typical, but my work was optioned for many years before the rights were finally purchased (by Echo Lake Productions) in 2002. The last I heard (in 2007) they had a script and a director and were hoping to move forward with casting in the near future.
ORCHARD
Q: Is ORCHARD supposed to be the Andrew Wyeth story?
LW: Obviously not. Although Andrew Wyeth had a "secret" affair with his model, Helga Testorf, for over fifteen years, certainly many artists have had more than a passing interest in their models. My artist, Ned Weaver, demonstrates some of the outrageous behaviour "temperamental" artists seem to get away with. I greatly admire Andrew Wyeth for his art but I was not attempting in any way to tell his story and of course, anyone familiar with his life would know that immediately.
Q: Then what was the impetus for ORCHARD?
LW: There are several ideas that came together to eventually produce ORCHARD. One came from a poem by Robert Frost (my favorite poet by the way) called "Home Burial," in which a couple loses a child. Frost illustrates how differently each parent reacts to this very emotional death. Another is that my maternal grandmother immigrated to this country from Norway when she was sixteen years old. She and my grandfather (who immigrated from Sweden) had eight children, including two sets of twins. In one year's time, my grandparents lost their two oldest sons, one to pneumonia, the other in a horse riding accident. The final piece in the formation of ORCHARD came from living in Door County for several years. Door has long been known as an artist's colony of sorts and is full of art galleries.
Q: So is any of ORCHARD based on actual events?
LW: No, the plot, although influenced by those details I mentioned above, is entirely a product of my imagination.
*****Spoiler alert*****
Q: If Henry House loves his horse, Buck, so much, why does he kill him?
LW: Henry knows he is going to take action concerning his wife and the artist; probably he isn't even sure what that action will be, but he recognizes that he may not return to take care of Buck. He loves his horse and isn't confident anyone will properly care for Buck if Henry can't. By shooting and burying him, Henry "takes care of Buck."
Q: Does Ned Weaver intentionally walk into the bay at the end?
LW: I thought of Ned as a lost soul once he no longer had his muse, Sonja. When Ned stepped on the ice, I had in mind that he believed he was walking toward Sonja and whatever that would bring him.
SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON
Check out the paperback edition of SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON to read "A Conversation with Larry Watson" and the following "Questions and Topics for Discussion," which are also found there:
1. What does SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON say about the nature, source, and durability of young love?
2. Of the available possible explanations for Raymond Stoddard's actions, which do you favor and why?
3. Each character seems to favor a particular explanation. What does that preference reveal about his or her character?
4. Does the explanation you favor reveal something about your character and experience?
5. The narrator writes stories to explain and understand what happened in his neighborhood. Is that a universal human response, or does it stem from his personal nature?
6. Does SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON say that storytelling is a basic human impulse?
7. The narrator doesn't emerge as an entirely likable character. Why? Is he made less than sympathetic because of what he says and does, or because of what he thinks and feels? Or because of what he writes?
8. What does SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON say about the nature of memory? Of memory and imagination?
9. In some respects, the narrator is stuck in the past. What prevents him from living in the present?
10. How is the setting, both the time and the place, important to the action in the novel?
11. Because of the many stories within stories, it's not always possible to determine what "really happened" in the narrative. How does that uncertainty figure in the novel's themes?
12. If you knew the narrator based only on the stories he's written, would you characterize him in the same way you would based on his behavior, speech, thoughts, and emotions?
13. Do you have a favorite character?
14. There have been many assassinations and attempted assassinations of politicians in the United States. How does this novel comment on the social, psychological, and cultural response to such events?
15. What does SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON say about violence in America?
