For James Lee Burke, the road to becoming one of the country's most popular and prolific crime novelists has not been an easy one.
Burke's first two novels — "Half of Paradise (1965) and "To the Bright and Shining Sun" (1970) — received promising reviews, but his third, "Lay Down My Sword and Shield" (1971), was a bomb, and Burke was not published again in hardcover for 13 years.
Before his comeback effort, "The Lost Get-Back Boogie," was published, it was rejected 111 times over nine years, Burke said, thus holding the rejection record in the New York publishing world. "Publishing is a fickle affair. You either get gushers or dusters — so it compares with the oil business."
His newest book, "In the Moon of Red Ponies," is his 24th novel.
Burke wrote and published his first short story at the age of 19 while he was still in college. Although he earned degrees in creative writing from the University of Missouri, he then had a rich work experience outside the literary world, as a pipeliner in Texas and Colorado, a truck driver for the U.S. Forest Service and a social worker on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Closer to his interests, he also worked as a newspaper reporter and a college English professor.
"The only thing I ever wanted to do was write," Burke said by phone from his home in Missoula, Mont.
LSU Press picked up "The Lost Get-Back Boogie" — and saved it — in 1986. The book was later nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Then Burke invented Dave Robicheaux, a Louisiana police detective, and Billy Bob Holland, a Montana lawyer. Both these characters have won huge followings from devoted readers who appreciate their star quality.
Although not a crime writer until his first Dave Robicheaux novel, Burke says he has always written books dealing with violence, crime and abuse of power.
Burke is fond of such famous writers as Erskine Caldwell, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Flannery O'Connor and Sherwood Anderson. "There are so many good writers in the American literary tradition to learn from — I always told my students to read the good ones, never the bad ones. Hemingway's early stories are textbooks in the craft. If one book is indispensable for the aspiring writer, it is William Faulkner's 'The Sound and the Fury.' Every literary experiment imaginable is in that book."
When Burke was a journalist, he found it difficult to churn out books. "If you want to write a book, the worst job you can have is on a newspaper. There are a lot of things you can do when you're tired — but writing is not one of them."
Burke starts a book with "a general feeling more than a story line." Then he writes seven days a week. "I don't take days off for any reason. When you work for yourself you've got to be a hard boss — and the book won't write itself. It takes a year for me to write a book if I work every day.
"Hemingway said he did not outline in advance because he would know the ending of the story, and if he knew it, so would the reader. So I don't outline either. I discover the story on a daily basis. Most writers say they try to control the story, but the characters go their own way. That's what I find, too — but you try to tell that to an analyst!"
The new book, "Red Ponies," has "evil forces who represent a darkness greater than themselves." In it, Burke demonstrates his unfailing gift for sizzling dialogue. "It's not a matter of using it, but of hearing it. A good writer is a good listener. Ninety percent of what people say is of no consequence, but 10 percent is. I used to tell my students to listen — the air is full of it."
Moreover, all of Burke's characters are "extensions" of himself. "They live in the psyche of the author. Their character defects are mine for sure, but I can't lay claim to the virtues."
Burke either focuses on Louisiana or Montana for his novels, and he has homes in both places. "The cultures are similar but they share similar historical destinies, too. The petrochemical industry is strong in both places, and the traditional way of life is disappearing in both places. Change is the nature of time and history, but it doesn't make it more palatable."
He has just finished writing several short stories about his perception of "the traditional America slipping into history," Burke said. "They're stories about my childhood. One of them is called 'Why Bugsy Siegel was a Friend of Mine.' Esquire just turned it down.
"It's hard to publish short stories. There aren't many markets for them anymore, and yet the short story is such a nice form. You can read it at lunch or on an airplane."
If you go
What: James Lee Burke
Where: The King's English, 1511 S. 1500 East
When: Thursday, 2:30 p.m.
How Much: Free
Phone: 484-9100
Web: www.kingsenglish.com
E-mail: dennis@desnews.com