Five Random Questions with REED FARREL COLEMAN

If literary prizes were winning lottery tickets, Reed Farrel Coleman would be a very rich man. His Moe Prager series has been nominated for every major award the crime fiction world offers, and he's won most of them. He writes equally good (and very dark) thrillers under the pen name Tony Spinosa. And now he's about to take Hollywood by storm, because his latest novel -- TOWER, co-written with Ken Bruen -- has just sold to the movies. Oh, plus he's an acclaimed poet and he has a license to drive trucks that contain hazardous materials. He was kind enough to agree to Five Random Questions. Please reward him by buying one of his books.

1. What was the first car you owned? How did you get it, and how long did you have it?

The first car I owned was a gold 1969 Pontiac Tempest four-door with a big engine and lots of body rust. I bought it from a guy in Coney Island for $600 and it lasted about three years.

2. You're asked to assign one book for high school seniors to read before graduation. What book do you pick, and why?

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell because it is for me a perfect book. It is both a YA book and as adult a book as you will ever read. It is full of unforgettable imagery. It is the story of an exotic place far away that is in the heart of America. It is a crime story, a love story, a coming of age story and more. It is the Odyssey in the Ozarks. It is all of this and it is 197 pages long.

And King Dork by Frank Portman. Like Winter’s Bone it is a book that seems to be about one thing, but is about a thousand things. It’s the un-Catcher in the Rye while at the same time re-inventing Catcher in the Rye. It’s one of the ten best books I’ve read in the last decade.

3. What's the last movie you saw?

District 9.

4. If you won the lottery and could move anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Australia, Italy, and India.

5. President Obama calls and says you can have any government position you want. Which one do you take?

Forget it! Being Executive Vice President of Mystery Writers of America was taxing enough.

Thanks, Reed! Look for TOWER in bookstores later this month, and see Reed in person on his tour, starting September 30.