From the 2023 Laramie Division Grand Prize Winner for Americana and Western for his book The Last Man, we have a brand new Chanticleer Author Interview!

Thomas Goodman won the Grand Prize in the Laramie Division of the 2023 Chanticleer International Book Awards for his novel, The Last Man. The Laramie Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the Americana and Westerns fiction genre. The Laramie Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

The Laramie division includes:

Western Romance, Adventure, Caper, Classic  Western Romance, Adventure Caper Classic Western,

Civil War/Prairie/Pioneer, Contemporary Western, Americana, and First Nation

 Join us in getting to know the thrilling writing of the Western genre’s newest talent, Thomas Goodman!

Chanti: Tell us a little about yourself: How did you start writing? 

Goodman: I first heard the story of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery in the 1990s when I lived in the small Texas county where it took place. All the accounts ended with the deaths of three of the four robbers, with little information about the life of the last surviving member of the gang. As it turns out, the details of his spectacular prison escapes and eventual rehabilitation are as fascinating as the violent endings of the other three robbers. By the time he died in his 90s around the same time I learned of the robbery, he had received a full pardon and had been a married model citizen for 50 years. In his honor, I named my book, The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery.

Chanti: Let’s talk about genre. What genre best describes your work, and what led you to pick that genre for your writing?

Goodman: Identifying the genre was a challenge. It’s closely based on a true crime, so it’s non-fiction; but telling the story required some measure of speculation, so it’s fiction. Like any good novel in the crime genre, it’s a grim and violent story; and yet like any compelling novel in the inspirational genre, it’s a redemption story, too. And the story begins in the 1920s with an old-fashioned bank robbery in a small Texas town, which makes it a Western; but the story ends in post-WW2 society, which makes it historical fiction.

Thankfully, booksellers and libraries allow books to be cataloged in various genres, but my “go-to” answer when asked about the genre is “historical crime fiction.”

Chanti: What about your own personal writing structure day to day? Do you have a routine?

Goodman: Since I have a full time job, I write 3 days a week from 6:00-8:30am before the office day begins. Between the 2 approaches to writing–the “plotters,” who create a broad outline of the plot before they begin, and the “pantsers,” who start writing and just see what develops–I am definitely a “plotter.” That said, I’m often surprised at what a character decides to do or what turn my well-planned plot takes when I’m in the middle of writing.

 Look for the Chanticleer Review of this Laramie Grand Prize Winner! Coming soon and will link to this article! 

Chanti: It’s difficult finding time to consistently write. How do you approach your writing day to stay consistent?

Goodman: When I was at a writers conference six years ago, I met an author who had traditionally-published a series of cozy mysteries. She told me she would get up at 5am and write until 7:30am when it was time to go to her “real job” as an assistant elementary school principal. That gave me the idea to write from 6am until 8:30am when my office opened. Once I began to write under that schedule, I completed my book in 2 years.

Chanti: Who are a few of your favorite authors and how have they influenced your work. 

Goodman: James Wade’s All Things Left Wild gave me the confidence to believe that the Western genre wasn’t a dead genre. 

I also really like Texas author Paulette Jiles (News of the World, Chenneville, and especially Stormy Weather.) She strikes the right balance between situating her story in a world over a 100 years ago without bogging the plot down with a lot of details and explanations of how life used to be—a constant temptation for a historical fiction writer.

For prose that’s beautiful but not syrupy, I love Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, and Annie Proulx’s Close Range: Wyoming Stories. 

Chanti: Reading books in our genre is so crucial to developing voice. What else has helped you grow your author chops?

Goodman: John Trumby’s The Anatomy of Story is helpful. So is Steven James’s Story Trumps Structure. Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird is next on my list.

Chanti: Those are both great. Lamott is the starting inspiration for so many wonderful writers. Do you have any books about the business of writing that have helped you?

Goodman: Ricardo Fayet’s How to Market a Book and Amazon Ads for Authors was helpful. And David Gaughran’s book, Following, Strangers to Superfans, and Let’s Get Digital. Every author should read Tammi Labrecque’s Newsletter Ninja. 

Chanti: And from that wealth of knowledge, what are your best marketing tips? What’s helped sell more books? How have you gained notoriety? What strategies have you used to expand your literary footprint?

Goodman: Get a desirable reader magnet and build your newsletter list; sign up for the festivals that fit your genre and engage with customers at your book table; convince customers to leave starred reviews at their favorite online bookstore and review sites, and give them the direct link(s) to those sites.

Chanti: What are you working on now? What can we look forward to seeing next from you?

Goodman: I’m writing a novel around a minor character who showed up late in my debut novel. She’s in her 70s when readers meet her as a boardinghouse owner in The Last Man. I go back to 1905 when she was 35. It’s turning out to be a gentler family drama as opposed to the grim and violent story of my first novel. But I’m liking it so far. After that, I’ll probably return to the crime genre. I’ve discovered a true story from the very early 1900s in East Texas about a “pistol-packing preacher” who faced down a violent gang of bootleggers who was shredding his town to bits. Irresistible story!

Chanti: Before we let you go, who is the perfect reader for your book?

Goodman: Someone who likes historical fiction that closely tracks with real characters and events.

Chanti: Thank you, Thomas Goodman, for sharing your author journey with us. I am looking forward to seeing you at the next Chanticleer Authors Conference!

You can follow Thomas Goodman through his Facebook page here.

Thomas Goodman won the Laramie 2023 Grand Prize for his amazing true crime/historical fiction novel, The Last Man! And also, because he believed in his work enough to enter it into the Laramie division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards…

In other words, if you don’t enter, you will never know how your work stacks up against the other entries.

If you want a shot at the HONOR of Laramie Americana & Western Awards  for 2024, don’t delay, enter the Laramie B00k Awards today!