It’s the birthday of Charles Frazier (b. 1950), who is best known for his first novel, Cold Mountain (1997), which won the National Book Award and was an international bestseller, and who was offered an $8 million advance for his second novel, which in the world of authorship is considered quite good.

Frazier was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and raised in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where some farms were still run using 19th century methods; Frazier would draw heavily on childhood memories when he wrote Cold Mountain. His great-great-grandfather and great-great-uncles fought in the Civil War, and one great uncle in particular inspired the character W.P. Inman, a Confederate deserter who walks away from the end of the war and embarks on a journey to find his love, Ada.

Frazier got his B.A. from the University of North Carolina, M.A. from Appalachian State University, and Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. He taught English at the University of Colorado Boulder and at North Carolina State before quitting to write his novel. His subsequent novels are Thirteen Moons (2006), Nightwoods (2011), and Varina (2018), and have all been bestsellers, which must be a huge relief because there’s nothing more embarrassing than not making back an $8 million advance.

If you go to Frazier’s website you will see the image of a hip, slightly grizzled man who dresses a little like Don Johnson.

Fun fact: Frazier never took a creative writer course. He said, provocatively, “…to me fiction seems too important to professionalise. Leave it to amateurs.” (I know: “professionalise” looks misspelled, but only because the interview appeared in The Guardian. Crazy Brits.)

Have a crisp fall day, making every effort to forget the load of your children’s Halloween candy in the back porch, and stay scrupulously honest to the data.