Writing the Florida Western with Lee Gramling

The Florida Writer Podcast

Host Alison Nissen had the opportunity to ask, what's a Florida Western to 6x author Lee Gramling. When she thinks of Westerns, she thinks cowboys in hats, barfights, and cacti come to mind. The Florida Western has all that, but it's set in sunny Florida!

Lee Gramling is a sixth-generation Floridian who grew up hearing tales of the Florida frontier from his parents and grandparents. While living in Oklahoma, he was introduced to the novels of Louis L'Amour and realized that old Florida had all the same elements featured in "Western" action-adventure stories: cattle drives, Indian wars, outlaws, boom towns, saloon shoot-outs, and rugged individualists who knew how to survive in an untamed frontier. But so far, few writers have taken advantage of this rich environment. He decided it was high time somebody took up the slack.

​"Cracker Westerns" are filled with authentic historical detail, real bad guys, upright good guys, and women who are just as strong and self-reliant as their men. But all the action takes place in early Florida, which was six-gun cattle country even wilder than the west!