"I TRIED TO USE THE GAME AS A WAY TO HOLD A MIRROR TO THE CULTURE.": ALANA MEIKE INTERVIEWS MISSISSIPPI BLUE 42'S ELI CRANOR

Eli Cranor uses the murder mystery to delve into college football and the relationship with the south. When a young player dies from a fall, it's ruled as an accident. Rookie FBI agent Rae Johnson thinks different and her search for the truth take her to some weird and dangerous places. Hard Word contributor, a veteran football mom. had some questions for Mr. Cranor.

ALANA MEIKE: Is there a specific event or story that was the inspiration for this book?

ELI CRANOR: There was a great SB Nation article called “Meet the Bag Man” that came out around 2014. That started me thinking about this. It all came together when the FBI did their investigation of college basketball. That’s when I saw the story and thought, What if they’d gone after football?

ALANA MEIKE: Your titles are always unique. I love that “Mississippi Blue 42” is a football play but also references the Blues, which are such an important part of life in Mississippi. How did you come up with this one?

ELI CRANOR: I’ve been working on this manuscript for almost ten years. It’s gone through many title changes in that time. I always just loved the rhythm of Mississippi Blue 42. It has the right bounce to it. 

ALANA MEIKE: Rae Johnson, the FBI agent who is investigating the Chiefs, and their back-up QB Moses McCloud observe a Pee Wee game that’s being played at night—lit only by the headlights of the players’ parents cars, the kids weave in and out of the lights, a scene that Rae describes as “magic.” I think it captures the “ideal” of football, a game that’s played for the pure love of competition and strategy. But at some point the game changes for a player—it becomes a “job.” Whether players are paid or not, coaches and organizations are making millions of dollars on the backs of young men—many of whom have few options, so they make tremendous physical and mental sacrifices in search of the dream of an NFL career. Do you think that loss of idealism is inevitable? Can you talk about your own experience with that shift?

ELI CRANOR: I felt that shift in college. Football became a job. It actually helped to think of it that way. Is it inevitable? Probably. Even the life of a novelist can have the same shift. But you can and should resist it. 

ALANA MEIKE: I grew up as a Yankee but lived my adult life in the South, so I’ve observed that football is different here—the game is more important, it shapes fall weekends in a unique way. Frank has a theory that the Civil War influenced the passions of Southern football fans, and racism is sadly still a fact of life. You do an excellent job of presenting that reality and how it affects the players, coaches and fans. How did you find a way to strike the right balance in examining those factors?

ELI CRANOR: Thanks so much. I hoped this book would hit on multiple levels. Not just football. I tried to use the game as a way to hold a mirror to the culture. Frank was a ton of fun for me. He’s an outsider. So I had a blast seeing the South through his eyes. 

ALANA MEIKE: Your book is set in 2013, pre-NIL, and I think I read that’s the last year you played. Can you talk about the changes you’ve observed over the past decade and how you think the game will continue to evolve?

ELI CRANOR: The biggest change is that players can get paid, which was a necessity. The transfer portal is also a huge shift. But the game itself, the players, the boys—all of that is still the same. I got to help with quarterbacks at the university where I teach last seasons. And I’m pleased to report that the kids are still kids. 

ALANA MEIKE: I think I read that this might be the first in a series? Can you tell us what will be next?

ELI CRANOR: We sold this as a two book deal, so I’m hoping there will be more to come for Rae and Frank. But I can’t say more than that at this point. 

ALANA MEIKE: Plotter or pantser? Do you have a prescribed time of day that you always write, or do you wait for inspiration? Do you stick to a schedule (number of hours, or set number of words) or does it vary? And how has that process changed or evolved since “Don’t Know Tough” was published?

ELI CRANOR: I try to get an idea of where I’m going before I start. But no hard outline. I write best first thing in the morning. I like to get around 1000 words in a day. My process changes for each book. 

ALANA MEIKE: What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve gotten? And what advice would you give an aspiring writer?

ELI CRANOR: Read a lot and write a lot. That’s really all there is to it. And don’t expect anything for a while. Bradbury said you’re not a real writer until you’ve written a million words, which I always took to mean, it takes a lot of practice to get good at anything. Writing is no different. 

ALANA MEIKE: Any authors and/or books you would recommend to your readers?

ELI CRANOR: Michael Koryta. Juliet Grames. Dwyer Murphy. Elmore Leonard. John T. Edge. I just finished a novel called Old School by Tobias Wolff that had a lot to say about the journey of an author or any artist, really.