John Grisham's short stories long on characters

NEW YORK — It's hard to sell a book of short stories. But not if you're John Grisham.

The author of "A Time to Kill," "The Client" and other blockbusters has written his first collection of short fiction, "Ford County," set in the Mississippi community he has used often in his fiction.

Grisham's latest — much of it based on his years as a criminal defense and personal litigation lawyer in Southaven, Miss. — includes tales of a dull, dumped husband redeemed by gambling, a ruthless attorney confronted by some old victims, and a bunch of buddies who plan to give blood to a hospitalized friend, but have a few drinks along the way.

Story collections rarely sell more than a few thousand copies, but demand for "Ford County" has been so high that it was caught in the publishing price wars, with Walmart.com and Amazon.com among those offering pre-orders of the $24 hardcover for $9 or less.

Wearing a checked brown blazer and light blue shirt — no tie — the 54-year-old author met with The Associated Press on Tuesday and discussed short stories, lawyers, clients and being turned down by The New Yorker.

Q: What made you decide to publish a book of short stories?

A: There are a lot of notes that I take and still do and these ideas, these stories I thought were going to be full-length novels and they just didn't make it. They're not long enough, not complicated enough, whatever. So I kept them and I guess about a year ago got serious about finishing the stories.

The great thing about a short story — you can work on it, put it away and forget about it for a year, and go back to it with a different perspective, or different idea. So I've done that for many years with these stories.

Q: Many of the stories don't have a very uplifting view of lawyers.

A: The truth of it is that most of the lawyers I knew way back then, and still know, are honest, hardworking people who don't make a lot of money, in a small town. Nobody wants to read about those guys. That's pretty dull. You want to read about a guy who stole money and faked his death or whatever, took off.