Generally Horrible Questions: Scott Montgomery

MysteryPeople's Scott Montgomery

Our first bookseller profile for 2012 is the mystery guru and driving force behind MysteryPeople, the store-within-a-store at Austin's BookPeople.  Scott reads lots and lots of mysteries, the tougher the better.  (Secretly we think he loves The Cat Who series, but he won't cop to it.)  Let's ask him a bunch of questions and see if we can make the tough guy cry.

Generally Horrible Questions: Scott Montgomery

1.  How did you get into the bookselling business?
I was in LA's The Mystery Book Store so often I got mistaken for an employee. [That's funny--Liz is regularly mistaken for a Random House employee.]

2.  Favorite mystery/thriller of all time?

James Crumley's The Last Good Kiss. [...Yeah, we're not touching this one.]

3.  Three desert island books? 
Lonesome Dove, True Detective by Max Allan Collins, and HW Brands' great Theodore Roosevelt biography TR. All good, long books.

4.  What are you currently reading? 

I'm juggling four books--an involving thriller called The Dispatcher, James Carlos Blakes' engaging look at Missouri border guerrilla Bloody Bill Anderson, The Wildwood Boys, The Professionals which is living up to its hype, and Elmore Leonard's Raylan.

5.  What is your favorite part of your job?

Money for nothing and your chicks for free...oh wait, that was Dire Straits cover band days. The friendships with the authors and customers. [Gianna claims to see Scott chatting up the ladies all the time.  They MAY be talking about books....]

6.  What books changed your life? 

Swag by Elmore Leonard, The Day The Cowboys Quitby Elmer Kelton, Reed Farrel Coleman's Walking The Perfect Square. [So...no Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb?]

7.  What is your second favorite bookstore? 

Murder By The Book in Houston. Like any good niche bookstore they're out there to promote the genre and not just sell stuff.

Scott with author
Reed Farrel Coleman

8.  What did you want to be when you grew up?

A veterinarian.  [Great! Someone can start administering Zorro's medications!]

9.  I have never read ______________ and I'm so ashamed.

Jackie Collins.

10. The most important question on the list: Liz or Gianna?

Liz. It's that warm, open personality. [The correct answer is always Liz.]

11. Choose one: Craig LaMorte (Gianna’s nephew), Craig Johnson, Craig T. Nelson, Craigslist, Daniel Craig,  Craig Biggio or you know what the hell….Larry Craig?

Author Craig Johnson

Selling Craig Johnson's books pays my rent, so I'll so with him. That said, I'm a big fan of James Bond and Coach. [What, no love for Mr. Wide Stance?]

12. Which mystery series should we all be reading? 

Reed Farrel Coleman's Moe Prager series. I always suggest the first book, Walking The Perfect Square, when people say the genre can't be literary. It suppresses my instinct to yell or punch. 

13. Last good non-mystery book you’ve read?

HW Brands' American Dreams;  great look at the US from the atomic bomb to Obama.

14. Coolest author you’ve ever met? 

You two broads are trying to get me into trouble since many of my friends are authors. Outside of the writers I normally hang out with, George Pelecanos. He's the definition. The man writes, walks, and talks cool. [Scott is the only person who can call us 'broads' and not risk injury.]

15. If you could be any detective in any novel, who would it be? Please don’t say Stephanie Plum….

Since the best detective writers have haunted or wounded heroes, I'd be Richard Prather's Shell Scott. He was oddly good looking with a white buzz cut and piece of his ear cut, drove a cool car, always had a great quip, never seemed to want for cash, and slept with at least two great looking babes in under 180 pages. Don't know if I'd want to be him when the was naked on top of the hot air balloon. [There's a mental image that'll linger.....] 

Here's Scott recommending blog pal Taylor Stevens' newest book and upcoming MysteryPeople at BookPeople event.

Keep Austin Noir.

Generally Horrible Questions: Chris Hoyt

Chris Hoyt actually works in the receiving department at BookPeople in Austin.  Lots of people are in involved in bringing books to readers, though, and that includes the guys in the back rooms.  Even though he's not a front  line bookseller, Chris is a terrific reader and absolutely hilarious guy, and when he endorses one of our books we know he'll help it sell.  Enough with the niceties, though.  Chris may or may not be a liar, and therefore we suggest you take his answers to our questions with a grain of salt...or a pillar of salt.

Generally Awful Questions: Chris Hoyt

1. How did you get into the bookselling business?
It's a funny story really. At the time I had been laid off from my construction job and started mowing lawns to make ends meet. I was hired by a woman in North Austin and she paid me an extra 30 bucks to mow her lawn shirtless. I needed the money so I thought, what the hell. So anyways, I'm mowing this woman's lawn shirtless and it turns out Elizabeth is this woman's neighbor. She somehow knew that I was more than a Diet Coke break commercial and saw a real human being with great potential and hired me right on the spot. I've been with BookPeople ever since. I guess you could say she's the Coach Taylor to my Tim Riggins.
[Elizabeth refers to Elizabeth Jordan, the inventory operations supervisor at BookPeople and Chris's boss.  And as far as we know this is a big ol' lie....although Elizabeth does love her Diet Coke.]


2. What's the best experience you've had working at the bookstore? 
Bill Bryson teaching me how to hotwire a car. Watching a Dallas Cowboys game with Jennifer Egan and letting her cry on my shoulder. Karen Russell and I holding hands on the ferris wheel. I gave her the stuffed animal I won in the ring toss and she kissed me on the cheek. Special memories, each and every one.
[Lie, lie, and lie.]


3. What book(s) changed your life? 
When I was but a child my mother somehow thought it would be fun to read me Stephan King's Tommyknockers as a bed time story. Do you know how terrifying that is for a seven year-old with a loose tooth? I've never been the same since. My childhood is one only Mary Karr could understand.
[This could be a lie, we're not sure, but the Mary Karr part is the truth.  Ah, East Texas.  No place quite like it.]


4. What are you currently reading?

Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins by Ellen Sweets
How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive by Christopher Boucher.
Watergate by Thomas Mallon.
And American Gangbang by Sam Benjamin. Don't judge. It's a love story.


5. Boxers, Briefs…Other?
I'm a little disappointed Union Suit wasn't an option.
[...Lie.]



6. Would you rather....Alice Walker, Alice B. Toklas, Alice Hoffman, Alice Sebold, Alice Munro?

Considering the foxtrot is the only dance step I know, I'm going to have to go with Alice Munro.
Wait, this is a Dancing With The Stars-related question, right?
[No comment.]


7. What's the biggest lie ever told by a sales rep?
You NEED to see Titanic!

I love this book.
Coming Spring 2012

[Liz: I stand by this statement.  It's one of the funniest movies ever.  I particularly like the part where the guy bounces off the propeller.  And for the record, the reason I was talking about Titanic was because there's a book called The Dressmaker coming out in the spring that's set on the Titanic and I was giving a staff presentation at BookPeople.  At least I didn't sing...though I did quote the lyrics to that Celine Dion song.  ...Moving on.]


8. What's your second favorite bookstore?
Booked Up. Archer City, TX


9. Gianna or Liz?

If this were a Jon Krakauer survival sort of situation, I'd have to go with Liz on this one. I hear she's a bit of a veteran hiker. If this were a Dirty Dancing remake I'd have to go with Gianna. Cause no one puts Gi Gi in a corner. 

[As always, the correct answer is 'Liz.']


10. The most depressing book you've ever read?
My Check Book! Zing! Ha Ha. No really, it's pretty depressing. You'd think Cormac McCarthy was writing my budget.



11. I've never read ____________.  And I'm so ashamed.

Moby-Dick


12. Tattoos?  What, and where?  And why?
I got a heart on my arm after a D.C. Talk concert in Dallas one night. I was about three drinks away from getting the wrong ladies name on it when I ran out of money. At least now I have room to put "Liz hearts Gianna" around it. Real classy like.
[Lie.  We all know that it's "Gianna hearts Liz."]


13. Dish on your boss.

Thundercat?
There's a resemblance.

She's not going to like that I told anybody, but here goes. She makes us sing. She makes us sing and dance every single damn day. Just last Friday she made us perform Wicked in its entirety. I said, "Boss, me and Allan have actual work to do." She started screaming, "By Allan you mean Ephalba! Now SING Glenda SING!" and threw a Jack Reacher ARC at me. Poor Allan got the worst of it. He just couldn't hit those notes during "Defying Gravity" the way Boss likes them. He gets out of the hospital tomorrow. I don't have the heart to tell him that Boss has already started referring to him as Conrad Birdie.
[...All true.]



14. I wanted to be a ___________ when I grew up.
Thundercat.
[Ho!]



15. ________________ is my favorite book ever.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. "They say he loved that whore."

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 14

Day 14: Main Character That You Want to Marry

Okay, let me just say that I hate this category.  We're not creating the categories.  We're stealing them from some FaceSpace list.  And obviously the creator wrote this one just so a zillion people (women) could sigh longingly and then expound upon Mr. Darcy and fucking Jane Austen.  I am not a Jane Austen fan.  Also, who reads books looking for potential spouse archetypes?  Oh, wait--the people who love Mr. Darcy.

Gianna:

Easy.



Maude.

You know, from Harold and Maude by Colin Higgins. I read the book, the play, and own the movie (2nd favorite movie). The movie is far and away the best. So maybe really it's Ruth Gordon I want to marry? Or more accurately who I have been wanting to marry since I’ve been, like, 12 years old (jeesh so judgmental!), but if not let me ask you this… who else has these …

Gianna loves Ruth Gordon. A lot.



Ruth Gordon--Gianna's ideal.



And yes I know – I talk about RG a lot. I love her (you look past the creep fest of Rosemary’s Baby) and you make it work. I mean if she were alive.

Liz:

Augustus McCrae

Why I love Gus from Lonesome Dove: he's loyal, he's funny, he's willing to be a scoundrel but never compromises his sense of right.  And he's not above kicking an ornery pig once in awhile.  Sure, Gus visits the whores for a poke every now and again, but he also joined a fool-hardy cattle drive in order to see his lost love one more time. He's not afraid of being sappy, but he'll kill his horse if push comes to shove.  And he likes a woman with a little sass.  He's not Mr. Darcy.