Q&A with Beau L’Amour, Co-Author of Skyring Water
Louis L’Amour fans, rejoice! The preeminent Western storyteller makes his posthumous grand return in Skyring Water, an epic novel of Cold War suspense. This previously unpublished manuscript is a collaboration across time between father and son duo Louis and Beau L’Amour. Read by Scott Brick, Skyring Water brings America’s master of adventure back to the audiobook world.
We sat down with Beau L’Amour to talk about what fans can expect from this thrilling new audiobook.
Penguin Random House Audio: For diehard L’Amour fans and newcomers alike, can you tell us a bit about Skyring Water and how it came to be?
Skyring Water is a Cold War Thriller set in 1961. The cast includes an array of antiheroes and villains: struggling arms dealers, a war refugee-turned-spy, and some of the most nefarious characters the Third Reich ever produced as they hunt for a treasure that could threaten the world. Everybody is in over their heads. The trail leads from Spain, to Israel, to Egypt and Italy, Venezuela and, finally, the southern tip of Chile.
The idea actually originated as a secondary plot in my father’s first novel, No Traveller Returns, written in 1937. In the late 1980s he and I discussed various ways to improve it and how it could fit into the career he had at that time, but he died before we could do any more work. Recognizing that it had the potential to be a significant novel, I finally got around to working on it about 2020 or so. COVID stalled things a bit, but I finally got it finished and ready to go.
PRHA: What was your process like completing the work that your father began?
Skyring Water was what we call in the film business a “page one rewrite.” I memorized the original, chose the parts I wanted to preserve–many of them based on our discussions–and started fresh. The action of the original novel is mostly contained in the last third of the book, but the characters have been considerably expanded. I studied a lot of Dad’s source books, finding passages he had underlined and used the maps he had bought not only for reference, but also as story elements. Maps of southern Chile ALL have an interesting story! It was amazing to follow the story through materials my father had bought before I was born.
PRHA: What will Louis L’Amour fans be the most excited about in Skyring Water?
Skyring Water is very likely the last Louis L’Amour novel that will ever be released. It is connected to the very beginning of his career (1937), and the middle (1960), and the end (1986 – 2026). It is the book that almost became the immediate Cold War thriller follow up to Last of the Breed.
PRHA: What is the best writing advice you received from Louis?
Ha! Maybe “Just write, you’ll figure it out!” That’s true, but it’s also like being thrown in the lake to teach you how to swim.
PRHA: Scott Brick is the fabulous narrator of Skyring Water. Is there a scene from the audiobook you’re most excited to hear Scott bring to life?
Any of them. All of them. I love working with Scott. We also did No Traveller Returns. He’s one of the most talented guys in the business.
PRHA: What is the last great thing you listened to? (It can be an audiobook, a podcast, an album, a song, anything that made for a great listening experience.)
I love Megaton Café Radio, an internet radio station playing an amusing selection of Mid 20th century music, stuff from the 1920s to the 1960s. It was a lighthearted to stay in touch with the Cold War period.
Listen to a clip from Skyring Water:
Beau L’Amour is a writer, art director, and editor. He has written and produced several films, including USA Network’s The Diamond of Jeru. Since 1988 he has been the manager of the estate of his father, Louis L’Amour.
