Brian Panowich’s three novels set in fictional McFalls County, Ga., have garnered him more awards than he can shake a stick at, but he wants people to know there’s more to him than the Burroughs’ clan he made famous.
“I wrote a children’s book,” said the Grovetown resident who took the literary world by storm in 2016 with his debut novel “Bull Mountain. “At the time, I was working on ‘Bull Mountain’ and ‘Like Lions,’ and I was told I needed to get established.”
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Called “mesmerizing” by The New York Times, “Bull Mountain” won the International Thriller Writers award for best first novel and was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist. He followed up with “Like Lions” in 2018 and “Hard Cash Valley” last year.
Because it was released in the middle of the pandemic, “Hard Cash Valley” hasn’t received as much attention. Panowich hasn’t been able to make the typical author tours to promote it.
The former firefighter said he was able to draw on some of his technical experience with “Hard Cash Valley” as its main character is an arson investigator. Panowich said he doesn’t use any of his former cases because he doesn’t want to exploit people’s tragedies. He simply used his knowledge of the inner machinations of the career to provide a working knowledge of the character’s job.
Panowich said “Hard Cash Valley” is his favorite book so far. What he likes best about it isn’t the crime-solving, but the study of Dane Kirby, the lead character, who is dealing with the loss of his wife.
The book caught the attention of reviewers including Marilyn Stasio of The New York Times Book Review, who called it one of the 10 best crime novels of the year.
But Panowich’s heart has always been with his kids, and the father of four has a couple of projects coming this year with them in mind.
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This year, he wants to see his children’s book, “Scarlett and the Magic Freckle” make it into bookstores.
Panowich’s daughter, Olivia, inspired the book. She is sandwiched in the middle of four and had a hard time with it. She often acted in ways to get attention, he said.
Panowich said he scoured bookstores trying to find a book that addressed this and would help her. When he didn’t find one, he decided to write it himself.
With three novels under his belt and a few other writing projects, Panowich said he feels he’s established enough as an author to branch out.
The children’s book isn’t the only project he’s working on.
He’s keeping another project under wraps for now, but Panowich loves comic books. And he’s working on a project in that arena with his 16-year-old daughter, Talia. While he can’t spill the details right now, Panowich said that he’s been in talks with some major players in the comic book industry.
Also out of the realm of McFalls County is a collection of short stories Panowich is planning on releasing through Working Title Farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Boone, N.C.
Next month, Panowich will be the first author to take part in a writers’ residency program there.
“It’s eight acres of mountains and fields, and I’ll be able to write and hike for two weeks,” he said.
The book will be a hodge-podge of pieces he’s written including some of his early attempts at writing science fiction and some flash fiction.
While he has multiple projects going on in 2021, Panowich doesn’t intend to let his McFalls County fans down. There’s another book in the saga that will be heading to bookshelves in 2022.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
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