Longmire at the Library

No one would question who was Craig Johnson when he arrived at Colorado Springs’ 21C Library. 

Car with Wyoming plates, denim shirt, dusty jeans, cowboy boots, cowboy hat – he lives in tiny Ucross, Wyoming, after all. No one in Wyoming would be confused for the people who buy boots and hats for a drunken night of  honky-tonks on Nashville’s Lower Broadway. 

At 5:30 when Johnson took to the stage. He said since he arrived early and so did we, he would happily start signing up until his 6 p.m. author talk. Johnson signed books, DVD sets, and even a few cans of Rainier beer, Walt Longmire’s go-to beverage. 

I bought two hardcovers, one for me, one for my parents, Bill and Janet. When I gave him the names for the inscription, he said, “How about we do Janet and Bill?” We posed for some blurry pictures and I spoke of my admiration for the character, then I moved onto my seat.

I missed Johnson’s last pass through the Springs, a similar library talk several years ago. This time I camped out at the library after work to prevent myself from finding a reason to cancel. 

I’m not a hardcore Longmire fan - pilgrimage to Longmire Days in Buffalo, Wyo., would be required to claim that mantle. I watched the entertaining Longmire television series and read a handful of the books. 

Johnson's work has a strong sense of place and his characters It’s not hard to like Walt and his friend Henry Standing Bear (I like the film version played by Lou Diamond Phillips better, since he has to survive on instinct and guile, not being six foot eight like the book version of Standing Bear). Native issues play a prominent role as well, as Walt's jurisdiction abuts an Indian reservation, where he has no authority. Absaroka County has to be the most violent county in Wyoming, but at least it’s fictional (the television version is far bloodier). 

Johnson’s storytelling prowess runs deep, from his own adventures to how he comes up with Longmire plots. He cut 250 pages from the original novel, and four more books sprang from those pages. He recounted what he thought was a random cowboy disparaging him for picking Rainier as Longmire's beer. Later Johnson found out the man who spoke against his choice was Pete Coors. 

A case of Rainier beer became Johnson’s standard fee for library speeches across Wyoming. The tradition began in Meeteetse, population 300, who wanted him to talk but didn’t have the funds for an honorarium. “I haven’t bought beer in 17 years,” Johnson said. 

Johnson also talked about his first use of celebrity cameos in the books. He needed a way to move Longmire toward his destination, and decided a tour bus would work. 

In The Western Star, a green Longmire rides on a Sixties rock band’s tour bus to catch a train carrying Wyoming sheriffs in danger, Johnson left out the band name except for the name of their female singer, Grace. Sometime later, Johnson received a Jefferson Airplane with an inscription from Grace Slick, affirming that if Walt Longmire were real, she would have slept with him. 

Johnson was promoting First Frost, the latest Longmire book, which heads back to the 1960s when Longmire and Standing Bear are finishing college and about to enter the Marines. For saving people from a sinking boat near Malibu, Longmire ends up embroiled in a drug investigation. 

Despite being 20-plus books into the series, Johnson reminded the audience “Walt is only five years older than when we first met him.” 

Johnson delved into the research behind the books – getting the history correct or getting a story idea from something simple, such as Wyoming being home to the nation’s longest postal route. Johnson likes touching upon Longmire at different ages, but was adamant the stories won’t get outlandish – we won’t see Longmire fighting al-Qaida or on a cruise ship. 

After an hour of talk and questions, Johnson resumed signing.  I hope the Pikes Peak Library District had a case of Rainier for Johnson. He deserved his honorarium for ignoring the boundary between author and his readers.