Erik Bledsoe compiled this superb collection of interviews with novelist Harry Crews that range from his earliest novels to his latest work. My own lengthy interview with Crews, from 1979, is included in the book. Parts of my interview were originally published in two places: Southern Exposure and The Chouteau Review. They are properly combined for the first time in this book.

Crews has been a major influence of mine and I was glad to have the chance to sit down with him in '79 and talk about things. I didn't know it at the time, but my interview was the last one just before his plunge into a personal abyss that kept him from publishing fiction for nearly a decade.

I can't claim to have anything but a passing acquaintance with Crews, but I've spent an awful lot of time with his writing. If you ever wanted to get inside Crews' head and get a glimpse of the source of the grittiest fiction on planet Earth, well folks, this is the book.

Getting Naked With Harry Crews can be purchased from amazon.com at the following link: