And The Interview Thing Just Keeps On Going...

OK, as mentioned a little while ago, I recently asked Greta some interview questions, and now she's returned the favor. So, here we go again! Remember, if you want to play, the rules can be found at the bottom of this post.

1) Who's your favorite author and why? Man, I always have trouble answering this one. There are so many authors whose books I enjoy, for so many different reasons, that it often seems not only difficult but kind of pointless to single out one particular favorite. However, when pressed, there is one answer I usually give. It's Terry Pratchett, who does have the distinction of being, at the moment, the only writer whose books I feel compelled to snap up as quickly as they come out. The appeal of Pratchett is hard to sum up if you haven't read him (and probably not necessary if you have), but I'd say it has to do with his ability to flawlessly do several impressive things at once. His books are generally wonderfully funny, often in an absurdly zany sort of way. They have good, involving plots that keep you reading along wanting to know what happens next. They feature wonderfully three-dimensional characters who practically leap off the pages. And they have genuine depth to them, real thematic content that, if you're so inclined, will definitely make you stop and think. I don't know how he does it, book after book after book. The guy's a genius.

2) Can you remember the first book that made you think, 'Hey, reading is *cool*'? Honestly, I have to say that the answer to that is "no." I've been in love with books since the ones I was reading consisted mainly of brightly-colored pictures and one-syllable words in giant print.

3) If you were a mythological creature what would you be? Well, according to that source of all wisdom, the internet, the answer is:

I took the What Mythological Creature Are you? test by !

How I feel about that result probably depends a great deal on just what kind of dragon we're talking about. I can't see myself as the village-destroying, virgin-eating, gold-hoarding variety of dragon at all. But a nifty Anne McCaffrey sort of dragon... Well, maybe.

4) You've been selected to be on the next episode of Survivor. What one comfort item would you have to take with you? I'm momentarily tempted to say either a toothbrush or shampoo, as there are few things that annoy me more than grungy teeth or greasy hair. But, no, I'm going to have to go with -- wait for the shocker! -- a book. I discovered in college that if I don't get at least half an hour or so of reading-for-pleasure a day, I get very cranky. And the more stressed I am, the more that seems to be true. And if I'm stuck somewhere sleeping in the rain, being asked to eat bugs, surrounded by the kind of annoying idiots that tend to appear on Survivor, I'm definitely going to need a book to escape to. Maybe a big fat fantasy novel. I know I've got a few of those on the To-Read Pile.

5) Was it really a dark and stormy night? I'm not sure I can remember the last dark and stormy night we had around here. So it was probably more like "a night when it got cloudy and everybody got excited because it looked like it was going to rain, but then it didn't."